• Abstract and Figures
• Public Full-text

SHOULD Ar~eRICAN BLACKS TOUR SOUTH AFRICA TO ENTERTAIN AFRICANS? South Africa, a country notorious tor its complete oppression. of Africans, has been making a special effort to get Afro-Amat-tean entertainers to visit them. 1) In M:ay, 1970, Percy Sledge, a Black American singer whose \'\ records are big sellers in Cape Town, broke a twelve-year boycott \ and entertained segregated black and white audiences in South Africa, as reported in the Guardian \'Jeeklyfi June 6, 1970. 2) In October, 1971, Eartha Kitt entertained white South Africans in Swaziland. Newsweek reported in its November 22, 1971 issue that "The black sex kitten from the Carolina cotton fields ••• sat on the knee of a white South Africnn and purred her famous number 'C'est Si Bon' in his ear ••• Next April (1972) Eartha will tour South Africa itself for six weeks ••• " 3} On December 21, 1971, the New~ Times reported that black golfer Lee Elder competed in a golf tournament in South Africa. 4) The i:Jashington .M!:2.-dmerican reported on October 23, 1971. th~t singer Sammy Davis Jr., would entertain South Africans in Swaziland under a ~~210 cover charge. "It is reported that the Sammy Davis Show of at least fourteen artists have been guaranteed a minimum cf ,~·'3 50,000. tt 5) ill on July 29, 1971 stated that ~Ar.titha Franklin was scheduled to entertain Africans in South Africa for a reputed ~45,000 for three weeks. 6) On August 21, 1971, the Amsterdam~ reported that negotiations were under way for Muhammad Ali to give ten lectures in South Africa for a reputed ~300,000. Fortunately these last three tours have all been cancelled. But the question all of this activity raises is: \ \ ''Should American Blacks Tour South Africa to Lecture or En.tertain Africans?~ ' · The answ~r is unequivocably NOll M.J. ACCmi!MODATION ~ !!!..§. PRES8NT HACIST R8GU1iE .Q! ..-SO,;;,.;U;...;;T..;,;H AFRICA is traitorous to the e,OOO militant Africans imprisoned in South African jails. is injurious to the liberation struggles presently being fought in Mozambique, Angola and Guinea-Bi$sau aids the confusion and disunity the white rulers in South Africa are trying to foster. A brief look at develo,ments inside South Africa today ~eveals why any traffic with this racist regime is detrimental to Africans. POPULATION According to the 1970 census, the population of South Africa is: Percent of Population Whites 3,779,000 17.7 Colored people 1,996,000 9.4 Asians 614,000 2.9 Africans 14,e93,ooo 70.0 The government in South Africa is restricted to the 17 percent white minority. The other g3 percent of the population is excluded from the franchise and have no means of bringing about social or economic change. SSPARAT~ DEVELOPHENT The South African government is presently engaged in a massive "resettlement" operation, uprooting hundreds of thousands of people and moving them to so-called homelands. The government claims that Africans constitute eight or nine 11 nationsn and that all races are free to develop as separate nations within their own territories. -z­; 1,rhen resettlement ifl com.P:~etiEf, the whites, 17 percent of the population, will be in possession of 86.3 percent of the country. The white section contains all the industries, commercinl undertakings, towns,cities, seas and airports. It contains all the gold, coAl, diamonds and other rich mineral resources. The 13.7 percent of the country designated as the Bantu homelands for Africans is almost entirely undeveloped land. Ownership of the Bantu homelands is vested in the South African Bantu Trust, an all-white body appointed by the white government. No land has been designated for the coloreds and Asians. 11 Africans are allowed to work in the whi te ii areas only under strict control. The Urban Areas Act prohibits any African from remaining longer than 72 hours in an urban nwhi te il area without special permission. In the past ten years, the government has resettled close to a million Africans, 35,000 coloreds and 22,000 Asians. Several million more Africans will be resettled in the future. The resettlement plan is intended to eliminate all residentinl rights of Africans and trans­ form African labor into migrant labor. New regulations which came into force in 1968 compel every African to register at a tribal labour bureau as a work seeker. The tribal labour bureau supplies labour to employers in the white area for a maximum period of one year. At the end of that period the African must return to his homeland area. THE BAt-'TUSLANDS The homelands, called Bantuslands, cannot really work. They are economically unsound geographical areas, overloaded with old people, sick people, women and children. Conditions in the homelands are such ·-3·,.. before reaching the age of five yenrs. Two African children die of malnutrition every thirty-five minutes. There is a scarcity of able-bodied men in the homelands and the government intends to maintain this imbalance,. Laws have been passed to regulate every able-bodied ifrican man into the migr<9to:ry labour system,. ~h~ homelands cannot provide employment for most of its inhabitants' They are deprived areas and to survive the people must work elsewhere. According to official estimates, in the Transkei homeland more than a million Africans work on a permnnent basis in the urban ''white ;'areas. Another 2oo;ooo work as migrants in the ~old mines. The men have to leave their vJives and children in the homelands and return to the urban 11 whi te 'areas to work~ There they live in single barracks provided for migrant workers, At the end of each year their employment automatically ceases and they must return to their poverty-stricken homeland •. A multiplicity of oppressive laws have been passed to force the African out of the urban ;'white 11 areas and to control his activities. * No African, lawfully residing in a tbwn by virtue of a permit, is entitled to have his wife and children residing with hi~. * An African boy, aged 16, who has left school and lives at home with his parents but does not work, may be arrested without warrant by a policeman who has reason to believe he is an idle person. ::~ An AfricAn declared to be an idle person may enter into a contract of employment with a white farmer. If he is dismissed before the contract expires, he can be committed to a penal institution for two years .• :;!-::: l\1o 1rJhite person living in town can accomodate on his premises the son of his African servant if such son has reached the age of ten years. ~:< It is unlawful for African workers to take part in a strike for any reason whatsoever, punishment for doing so is three years -4... ' ..,, imf)r1 sort... men t. -,-.£: ..-~=·'1~ .,..· ... :!!,. * An.African is prohibited from doing skilled work in the building industry in any town in South Africa. * An African factory worker who is absent from work for twenty-four hours without permission is guilty of a criminal offense punish­ able by imprisonment for not longer than three months. :~,~ An African whose employment is terminated may be required to leave the area where he works within twenty-four hours. :~,( An African who conducts a class in his home in reading and writing for his friends is guilty of a criminal offense punishable by six months imprisonment. :~,( No African is entitled to acquire land anywhere in South Africa not even in his own Bantu areas. "'~ Any Afric,qn found on any premises with a firearm is subject to the nffense of sabotage and liable to the death penalty. APARTHSID This whole system of oppression in South Africa is called apartheid. The basic purpose of apartheid is to secure an abundant supply of cheap labour for the economy. It entails an elaborate system of rules for regulating the lives of the Africans. Labour legislation, pass laws, labor bureaus, are all part of this system. Under apartheid an african who is unemPloyed and does not return to his reserve risks being arrested and sent to a work colony for up to three years. In most cases an African must accept a job offered to him. He is sent wherever he is needed. He must carry a pass book con­ taining the details of his employment and produce it on demand of the police. Apartheid deprives the Africans of any oPportunity for escaping his condition. On the whole they are denied ~ccess to education and the government has barred them from most skilled jobs. Under aoartheid the ready will to apply force results in: :~,c More than 2,000 Africans arrested dailv. ~c The detention of 8,000 political prisoners. * 100 judicial executions each year. * The torture and murder of political prisoners. S'J:'AND.\RD OF LIVING The standard of living for whites in South Africa is the highest in the i'-rorld. They have achieved fAntAstic wealth through the exploi ta- tion and subjugation of the African majority. ):c The average white income per head is about "133 per month. rhe average African income is about .:;9. 80 per month. t.c The mines and quarries of South 1\frica employed 585,851 Africans and 62,373 whites in June, 1970. 1'he earnings of Africans who constituted 80 percent of the labor force totAled 31 percent of the total wages. ):c The annual cash earnings of miners in 1968 was ~'i5, 275 for white miners and ~265 for AfricAn miners. * Africans, the poorest section of the population, are taxed more heavily than whites. * Haintenance grants paid by the government to mothers vary by race: Whites receive ''60.20; Coloreds '!~26.95 and Africans ''~8.75.

Load more

  11

Copy Link