LAUDIUM, JOHANNESBURG, May 30, 2001: Almost 400 Tamil children from all across the Gauteng province of South Africa attended an annual children’s eisteddfod, “cultural festival” in Afrikaans, hosted by the Gauteng Tamil Federation at the mainly Indian area of Laudium. Students were from various Tamil schools run as community service by the body. “This is a record,” said the president of the federation, Naga Moodley. “We have virtually doubled the record of the past, with 373 children participating in 41 different categories that cover the full spectrum of our language, arts and culture.” Mickey Chetty, president of the national South African Tamil Federation (SATF) and a special guest at the eisteddfod, was very pleased that the formerly dissenting organizations representing local Tamils came together in unity. Chetty said that plans were being made for World Tamil Conference to be hosted jointly by the International Movement for Tamil Culture, based in Canada, and the SATF in December in Durban.
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