United Nations FOURTH COMMITTEE, 1050th GENERAL MEETING Monday, 14 November 1960, ASSEMBLY at3.20 p.m. FIFTEENTH SESSION Official Records NEW YORK

CONTENTS unanimous conclusions on the situation in South West Page Africa. Requests for hearings (.continued) 4. Chapter I of part I of the report described the Requests concerning agenda item 43 (Question Committee's terms of reference, its composition and of South West Africa) (continued) • • • • • • • 301 its work since the previous session. Chapter II gave Agenda item 43: an account of the Committee's efforts to enter into Question of South West Africa (continued): negotiations with the Union of South Africa, which had @) Report of the Committee on South West so far come to nothing because the Union Government Africa.,· had persistently refused to recognize the authority of @) Report on negotiations with the Govern­ the United Nations, on the pretext that its own com­ ment of the Union of South Africa in ac­ mitments towards the Mandated Territory of South cordance with General Assembly reso­ West Africa had lapsed since the demise of the League lution 1360 (XIV) of Nations. Chapter ID dealt with the question of legal Opening statement • • . • • • • • • • • • • . . . • 301 action to ensure the fulfilment of the obligations as­ Hearing of petitioners (continued) • • • • • • • 302 sumed by the Union of South Africa and mentioned the various reports the Committee had drawn up on the 'subject (A/3625, A/3906, A/AC.73/2), Chapter IV Chairman: Mr. Adnan M. PACHACHI (Iraq). concerned the examination of petitions and communi­ cations relating to South West Africa. Since there were so many of them, they appeared in a separate Requests for hearings (continued) document (A/AC. 73/3). REQUESTS CONCERNING AGENDA ITEM 43 5. Chapter I of part II of the report gave the history (QUESTION OF SOUTH WEST AFRICA) (continued)* of the qu~stion. It showed that, at the time of the es­ tablishment of the United Nations, the Government of 1. The CHAIRMAN informed the members of the the Union of South Africa had made explicit reser­ Committee that a request for a hearing in connexion vations about the status of the Territory. Since then, with the question of South West Africa had been re­ whenever the General Assembly had recommended that ceived from Mr. Oliver Tambo. If there were no ob­ South West Africa should be placed under Trusteeship, jections, the request would be circulated as a docu­ the Union of South Africa had objected. The Union ment. Government's whole policy seemed to be dominated It was so decided.!! by its determination to integrate South West Africa into the territory of the Union and eventually to annex AGENDA ITEM 43 it. That accounted for the failure of the Good Offices Committee and of the Committee's own negotiations. Question of South West Africa (continued): In flagrant violation of the Mandate, the Charter and (9) Report of the Committee on South West Africa (A/ 4464) the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the Union ~) Report on negotiations with the Government of the Union Government seemed determined to enforce the policy of "apartheid", which denied the indigenous inhabitants of South Africa in accordance with General Assembly all political rights, confined them to "Native" Re­ resolution 1360 (XIV) serves, subordinated their interests to those of the European settlers and imposed the system of Bantu OPENING STATEMENT education on them. The subsequent chapters of the report showed that, according to the information 2. Mr. CARPIO (Philippines) (Rapporteur of the Com­ available, the situation in the Territory had not mittee on South West Africa) in the absence of Mr. changed; on the contrary, the gap between the indige­ Rodriguez Fabregat, the Chairman of the Committee nous people and the people of European origin had who had been recalled to Uruguay because of a death steadily grown wider. The outstanding event in the in his family, presented that Committee's report period considered had been the setting up of three (A/4464). indigenous organizations: the South West Africa 3. The report followed the general plan of earlier People's Organisation, the South West AfricaNational ones. Since the Mandatory Power had sent no annual Union and the South West African Coloured Organi­ report, the Committee had used information which the zation, which were fighting together for the liberation Secretariat had obtained from various sources, written of the people of the Territory. ar.d oral petitions, press cuttings and so forth. After 6. In conclusion, he asked the Fourth Committee to studying that material the Committee had reached give all due consideration to the Committee's report .!/ Resumed from the 1025th meeting, and its examination of the question of South West .!/ The request was subsequently circulated as document A/C.4/443/ Africa, at a time when the colonial peoples were Add.2. redoubling their efforts to achieve emancipation. 301 A/C,4/SR,1050 302 General Assembly- Fifteenth Session- Fourth Committee HEARING OF PETITIONERS (continued) the reserves and the restrictions on the movement of At the invitation of the Chairman, Mr. van Ismael Africans, who were relegated to reserves or employed Fortune, Mr. Mburumba Kerina, theReverendMarkus as cheap labour by t~e whites, who had become rich Kooper, Mr. Jariretundu Kozonguizi, Mr. Jacob Ku­ at their expense. A minority of white immigrants hangue, Mr. Sam Nujoina and the Reverend Michael· · occupied the whole Territory, while the indigenous Scott took places at the Committee table. majority was confined to the reserves, now known as "Black Spots". In speaking of the Hoachanas land, 7. Mr. KOZONGUIZI thanked the Committee for he was not defending the reserve system: he only giving him a hearing. He was sorry that the Minister wanted to point out that by proclaiming the Hoachanas for Foreign Affairs of the Union of South Africa, who rand a 11 reserve 11 the German Government had recog­ had spoken of his so-called 11 disparaging11 remarks nized the Rooinasie Namas as its rightful owners. about the United Nations, was not present to hear The Union Government, using indefensible legal argu­ what was said about the atrocities of the Union Govern­ ments, refused to recognize the inalienable rights of ment, l).is own political past and the nauseating remarks. the Rooinasie people over the whole of Hoachanas. about the United Nations made by Mr. van der Wath, Between 1920 and 1930 ithadalienated36,000hectares a member of the South African delegation to the four­ of their land. It had been at that period that it had teenth session of the Assembly. first urged the inhabitants to leave Hoachanas for Aminuis, the present Herero reserve. When the in­ 8. The CHAIRMAN asked the petitioner to refrain habitants had refused, the authorities had fenced off from personal attacks. Hoachanas and the Union Government had declared 9. Mr. KOZONGUIZI said that the new petitioners that it was no longer interested in their fate. That now appearing before the Committee had witnessed was how it had carried out its "sacred trust11 for the serious incidents at Windhoek in 1959. They had the last forty-one years. The Fourth Committee should been the victims of repression designed to destroy ask the Union Government to give it a detailed report legitimate opposition and had made great sacrifices on the way in which the High Court had examined to come and give evidence. He did not intend to defend the legal status of Hoachanas in 1958. the views he had expressed on the Peking radio: he 12. The barren land of Itzawisis, on which the Union was neutral in the 11 cold war" but he could not be Government intended to resettle the Rooinasie Namas, 11 11 neutral where imperialism and colonialism were con­ was itself an alienated land of the Berseba gebeit , a cerned. The Union Minister for Foreign Affairs ac­ term which, under the GerJllan administration, had cused him of building up "subversive organizations11 denoted not simply a reserve, but all the land owned from abroad. It was true that the South West African and occupied by the tribe. The present use of the term National Union had helped to transport victims of the "Berseba Reserve" was causing the inhabitants great Sharpeville incidents to Ghana. It received moral sup­ concern. The Chief Bantu Affairs Commissioner port from foreign states and from legally constituted claimed that the two terms were synonymous. If foreign organizations which were fighting racial and that were the case, why should the old term not be fascist theories. Ghana was not alone in helping the retained? In truth, a blow had been struck at the indigenous people of South West Africa. Liberia and people's inalienable right to their lands, and mining Ethiopia, with the support of the other African states, operations had even been ·carried out without their had started legal action against the Union of South consent. The Chief Bantu Affairs Commissioner, Mr. Africa; various United states organizations had helped Blignaut, had stated that the peop~e could use the the indigenous people, and the United states Govern­ surface of the land, but that the· subsoil belonged to ment had not objected; Norway and Sweden had given the Union Government; in fact, the whole Territory scholarships. The Union Government, which was ob­ of South West Africa belonged to the Union Govern­ structing even the assistance given by the specialized ment, which could do whatever it wished there, pro­ agencies, could not be expecte!i to prepare the indige­ vided it had the approval of two-thirds of Parliament. nous people for independence. . Since 1946, the African people of South West Africa 10. Pending the results of the legal action initiated had consistently refused to see their Territory become by Ethiopia and LiberiaY, should deportations and a fifth province of the Union, and it might be asked other repressive acts be allowed to continue? Must when and with whose consent that Territory had been the exiles remain exiied and their families hostages? officially declared a province. The United Nations must United Nations intervention was a matter of life and intervene before it was too late, before a series of death. The presence ofthe United Nations in the Terri­ measures such as the introduction of Bantu education, tory was essential and the people must have access removals to Katutura, and the introduction of com­ to the educational and other opportunities offered pulsory pass books and Bantu tribal funds resulted by the United Nations and Member states. The in further killings. Ghanaian plan to entrust the administration of South 13. The Union Government claimed that the United West Africa to a committee of African States was Nations had no right of supervision over the Manda­ attractive.' But the time had come for action. ted Territory. It knew that the United Nations was 11. The Reverend KOOPER described the case ofthe the successor to the League of Nations, but feared Rooinasie (Red Nation) people living at Hoachanas. that it might not be able to deceive the United Nations He said that the Union Government was still trying as it had deceived the League. It had kept none of to make the Rooinasie people leave Hoachanas. That its promises, particularly in regardtowatersupplies, was in keeping with its general policy of making South. and it always supported the settlers in their disputes West Africa the fifth province of the Union. That with the indigenous population. Consideringthe shame­ policy explained the fence laws, the encroachment on ful way in which Africans were treated throughout the Territory, the League of Nations hadsurelydonethem .11 I.CJ., South West Africa Case, Application instituting pro­ great harm in placing them under the mandate of the ceedings (1960, General list, No. 47). Union of South Africa. 1050th meeting-14 November 1960 303 14. Where the question of freedom of religion was when the specimens sent to it had been analysed, concerned, his own church, the Mrican Methodist the laboratory at Pretoria had declared that the water Episcopal Church (AMEC) was persecuted in South was unfit for use and that the two wells must be closed. West Mrica. It was a Protestant church, which was That had not prevented Mr. Miller from putting up opposed to segregation and which had been founded a windmill at one of the drill-holes in February. 200 years ago in the United states, where it had more than a million members. In South West Mrica, it had 17. After discussing the situation at Hoachanas in 5, 000 members, most of whom had joined it in 1946, detail, he briefly outlined the conditions of life of after breaking away from the Rhenish Mission Church, the indigenous population. The eight schools opened with which its members had become dissatisfied be-. by the AMEC received no assistance from the Govern­ cause of the extremely low standard of teaching in ment. The Bantu education system, which the Union its schools, and which had also "sold" them, without Government was to introduce in 1961, was inferior consulting them; to the Dutch Reformed Church of. even to the present system, and parents were de­ South Mrica. The settlers interpreted the action of termined not to send their children to the Bantu the indigenous people in joining the AMEC as an schools. indication of their intention to exterminate the Euro­ 18. In the hospitals at Gobabis and Keetmanshoop, pean settlers. The Rhenish Mission Church had vili­ which had been established to meet the criticisms fied the AMEC, accused it of spreading communist of the United Nations, Mricans were sometimes treated ideas, and forbidden its members to attend AMEC worse than dogs. In five years, the residents "Of services; it had joined forces with the Union Govern­ Hoachanas had never seen a doctor, nor had the pe­ ment in trying to eliminatetheAMECfromHoachanas. titioner seen a single doctor during the ten months He quoted sections of the election manifesto of the he stayed at Itzawisis. Nationalist Party in the Union, which set out the princi­ ples, especially the principles of church persecution, 19. Living conditions on farms, which hadneverbeen adopted by the settlers. satisfactory, had deteriorated still further. Wages, both in money and in kind, had fallen to half, or less 15. After describing the unjuslmethodsoflandregis­ than half, of what they had been. The position of the tration, especially the issue of temporary residence workers in the towns was very similar. Prisoners, of permits, by which the authorities had sought to deny whom there were more and more, provided cheap the Rooinasie Namas their permanent rights to the labour, since they received neither payment nor proper Hoachanas lands, he turned to the matter of the church food. Farmers could also, in payment of a certain at Hoachanas. In 1952, the Government had granted sum, obtain prisoners, who were generally no more the AMEC a site to build a church, but that had been than their slaves. only a ruse jointly engineered by the Government, the church authorities, the settlers and two Mrican stooges 20. There was no freedom of movement. Individuals in their pay. He referred in that connexion to the might be arrested even if they were in possession of alleged theft of karakul pelts, and asked the Com­ a pass, as he knew from his own personal experience. mittee to invite Mr. Kritzinger to give the history of 21. The pass laws legalized forced labour. By in­ that affair. At a meeting organized .atHoachanas on 16 forming the Government of improvements which they April 1956, a letter -had been read from Mr. Diehl of had intended to make to their lands, the people of the so-called Evangelical Lutheran Church, which Hoachanas had made a serious mistake, since they showed that the expulsion of the Rooinasie had been thus enabled the Government to deny them the possi­ a jointly organized plan. bility of carrying out those improvements. They had 16. In 1957, the petitioner, who had been styled the started an agricultural improvement project during the defendant of the inhabitants who refused to move, had present year, but they lacked tools and money, and received a summons alleging that he was not a were anxious for technical assistance from the United native of Hoachanas, was therefore residing there Nations. illegally, and had disobeyed the official removal law. 22. He urgently appealed to the Fourth Committee On 29 January 1959, the petitioner and his family to appoint a committee to inquire into the affair of the had been removed from Rehoboth by force, after an karakul pelts, to see that the Union Government re­ incident involving bloodshed, and set down at Itza­ turned the land which the Germans had proclaimed wisis, where they had remained.without food for several a reserve and which the Union Government had allotted days; he had refused to accept two tents and a bag to the Boer settlers, and to intervene immediately to of mealie meal from the Government, since, if he put an end to the killings and deportations of the had accepted them, the Government could have main­ indigenous people of South West Mrica. tained that he was happy in his new place of residence. The lack of water at Itzawisis was such that the earli­ 23. The CHAIRMAN, speaking on behalf of the Com­ est arrivals from Hoachanas had at first refused to mittee, expressed his sympathy with the representa­ unload the trucks which had brought them. The Welfare tive of Uruguay in his recent bereavement. Officer, Mr. Miller, had himself told the petitioner that only two drill-holes had been successful and that, The meeting rose at 6 p.m.

Litho in U.N. 77401-April 1961-2,550