Alternation Special Edition No 15 (2015) 54 – 84 54 ISSN 1023-1757 ‘Nehru is just another coolie’: India and South Africa at the United Nations, 1946-1955 Goolam Vahed Abstract From 1860, when the first indentured Indians arrived in Natal, through Gandhi’s stay in South Africa between 1893 and 1914, and the appointment of an Agent-General in 1927, India took a deep interest in the affairs of Indians in South Africa. This formal link came to an end in 1946 when India withdrew its High Commissioner (Agent-General) from South Africa in response to segregationist legislation, and pursued the matter of the country’s treatment of its black citizens at the United Nations. By the time of the death of Jawaharlal Nehru in 1964, 24 resolutions had been passed condemning South Africa’s racial policies. At the same time, Nehru, India’s first prime minister, urged South African Indians to embrace the majority African population and integrate fully as South African citizens. India remained at the forefront of international pressure on South Africa to dismantle its apartheid policies and also provided valuable moral and material support to the anti-apartheid movement in response to heightening state repression. Formal ties with South Africa were only resumed after the release of Nelson Mandela in 1990. This article examines how this issue played out at the United Nations in the period from 1946 to 1955, when relations between the South African and Indian governments rapidly ruptured. India’s strong anti - apartheid stance helps to explain why the African National Congress government in South Africa made the establishment of ties with India a priority once majority rule was achieved in 1994. The country’s contribution to South Africa’s development historically transcends trade relations and economics. The roles played by Indian political organisations in South Africa