The Domestic. Moral and International Reactions to Apartheid – 1957-1966 A

1 EVENTS AND ISSUES INFLUENCING THE ATTITUDES OF THE METHODIST AND PRESBYTERIAN CHURCHES OF NEW ZEALAND TO SOUTH AFRICA, FROM 1947 to 1987 Honours Research Essay Elaine E. Bolitho 12th September, 1988 2 CONTENTS PREFACE INTRODUCTION THE DAWN OF CONCERN - 1947-1956 A. Events in South Africa B. Reports in Methodist and Presbyterian Publications C. Conference and Assembly Proceedings and Reports D. Attitudes Revealed THE DOMESTIC MORAL AND INTERNATIONAL REACTIONS TO APARTHEID - 1957-1966 A. Events in South Africa B. Reports in Methodist and Presbyterian Publications C. Conference and Assembly Proceedings and Reports D. Attitudes Revealed CONCERN IN ACTION – 1967-1976 A. Events in South Africa B. Reports in Methodist and Presbyterian Publications C. Conference and Assembly Proceedings and Reports D. Attitudes Revealed RELATING IN SOLIDARITY IN THEOLOGY AND ACTION – 1977-1987 A. Events in South Africa B. Reports in Methodist and Presbyterian Publications C. Conference and Assembly Proceedings and Reports D. Attitudes Revealed CONCLUSION Summary of Catalysts for Developing Attitudes Rugby Issues Theological Issues Submissions Assessment BIBLIOGRAPHY TABLE 1 TABLE 2 APPENDIX 1 APPENDIX 2 3 PREFACE The sources researched for this essay are set out in full in the Bibliography, and I have endeavoured to cover as fully as possible both South African and New Zealand views of events and issues. I would like to thank the people and organisations who have made their material available to me, particularly the staff of the Department of Communication, Presbyterian Church of New Zealand, Wellington; the Methodist Archives, Morley House, Christchurch; Victoria University Library, Wellington, and the Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington. I am also appreciative of the help and publications provided by the Revs R.D Caughley, L.W. Fraser, E.F.I. Hansen, D.V. McNicol, D. G. and S.A. Simmers, and Mrs R. Scott, without whose help such a comprehensive survey would not have been possible. Helpful comments provided by Rt. Hon. Sir Robert Muldoon, Hon. Russell Marshall, Messrs Ces Blazey, Warren Cooper, R.H.T. Thompson, a Foreign Affairs spokesman on Africa, and the late Sir John Marshall in relation to assessing the effectiveness of the work of the Methodist and Presbyterian Churches regarding South Africa are also acknowledged with gratitude. Elaine E Bolitho 12th September, 1988 4 INTRODUCTION This essay looks at the events and issues influencing the changing and developing attitudes of the Methodist and Presbyterian Churches of New Zealand to South Africa from 1947 to 1987. This period, dominated in South Africa by the Nationalist Government’s apartheid policies, is one which has also seen the rise of influential world bodies, improvements in travel and communications, developing ecumenism and changes in the understanding of race relations. It is a period when countries become free of colonial influence, and assert their national independence. There have been moves within Christianity to interpret the gospel in ways relevant to believers in their society, separating the heart message from the colonial and European culture which clothed its initial presentation. With the improved faster travel facilities, international sporting and cultural exchanges increased in number, and the international success of teams came to be viewed as a standard of national prestige. In this world setting we view the development of New Zealand Methodist and Presbyterian attitudes to South African events and issues, but it is also necessary to take into account factors which originate in New Zealand parallel to the world setting. Chief among these is the change in race relations policy from assimilation and integration of the Maori people to bi- and multi-culturalism. From a European viewpoint this could be described as a move from “they-must-be-like-us-and-do- things-the-Pakeha-way, “ to “together-we-will-recognise-each-others-ways.” A second factor is the changing attitude towards Britain, which in the Post World War II setting is decreasingly viewed as ‘home,’ and the Empire becomes a Commonwealth of more loosely linked independent nations. At the beginning of the period there are much closer ties to Britain from New Zealand and South Africa. When South Africa leaves the Commonwealth in 1961 this tie is broken, and critical reaction from New Zealand is not seen as much as being criticism of ‘one of the family.’ The loosening of ties between Britain and New Zealand is accompanied here by closer links to world bodies, where things which unite are stressed more than those which divide. Sectarian doctrines and interests give way to wider ecumenical perspectives. This happens in South Africa too, in the churches affiliated to W.A.R.C. and W.C.C., but the Gereformeerde Kerk, N.S.K. and N.H.K. in isolation from these bodies have become more rigidly entrenched in their doctrines. 5 This period is the time of the formation and influence of world organisations where the issue of race relations comes to have an increasingly high profile. The United Nations was founded in 1945, and the World Council of Churches held its first Conference at Amsterdam in 1948. The Commission of the Churches on International affairs set up by the W.C.C. and I.M.C.in 1946 was influential at United Nations particularly in areas of racial tension.1 The World Alliance of Presbyterian Churches (later to become part of the World Alliance of Reformed Churches) and the World Methodist Conference also added to world perspective. Delegates from New Zealand played a role in all these organisations. The World Methodist Conference at Springfield, U.S.A. from 24th September to 2nd October 1947 looked at the issue of race relations, raising issues which were to be of crucial importance in the forty years ahead. Racism, the assumption of inherent superiority of one race over another raises its ugly head so widely that it has become a world issue ... One of the most serious features of the situation is the satisfied ignorance of so many of us. The first requirement is an intelligent appreciation of the facts. This lays a heavy duty upon our whole church not only in America but in all lands, to undertake a program of education, both on the general problems of the relation of the races, but specifically on the conditions which are faced in the lands where Methodism now serves.2 The following year saw the first meeting of the World Council of Churches at Amsterdam On the subject of Human Rights the report (inter alia) made significant declarations concerning the Race Question. Quite unequivocally it condemned racialism as contrary to Christian love, renounced colour prejudice as being dangerous and unchristian, and denounced all of segregation.3 Each body continued to focus attention on South Africa’s system of apartheid as it become embodied in law from 1948 on. As the information was disseminated in New Zealand, particularly through the National Council of Churches, it played a formative role in influencing the attitudes of the churches. 1 Presbyterian White Book, 1950, p. 274. 2 Methodist Times, 8/5/48, p. 409. 3 Methodist Times, 15/1/43, p. 520. 6 THE DAWN OF CONCERN – 1947-1956 A. Events in South Africa After fifteen years of trying to get the South African Government to accept proposals for racial legislation accepted, the Gereformeerde Kerk government saw their 1947 proposals utilised as the basis for the Nationalist Party’s election win in 1948.4 This win shifted the power of Government from English speaking to Afrikaans speaking white South Africans for the first time in the 20th century. Thus Afrikaaners who had first fled from British domination in 1830’s and then been defeated in the Boer War asserted their new sense of national identity and power against their former oppressors, and against the non white population whom they viewed as a potential future threat to Afrikaaner domination. 5 Legislation was passed by Dr Malan to legalise apartheid, the system of separation of races which had become traditional. This gave total domination (Baaskap) to the white fifth of the population.6 The legislation included: 1. Citizenship Act 1949 Citizenship in the Union became dependent on discretion of the crown, not the right of all as previously under common citizenship in the Commonwealth of Nations. 2. Prohibition of Mixed Marriages Act, 1950 This aimed at keeping races pure and stopping miscegenation. 3. Immorality Act, 1950 This made sexual intimacy between people of different races a serious crime. 4. The Population Act, 1950 This required all people to enter their full particulars including race in a National Register and at all times carry a pass with this information. 5. The Group Areas Act, 1950 The Act divided people into three groups, white, coloured and native, with the Government declaring the areas in which each group lives. The Government has powers to relocate those in a ‘wrong’ area, to sell property or business and assumes no authority for compensation. 6. The Suppression of Communism Act 1950 The Government was granted wide powers to suppress communism. The Act 4 W. Ivory Methodist Times, 15/5/54 pp. 55-6. 5 A. Hastings, A History of Christianity in Africa, p. 9. 6 Ibid, p. 8. 7 gave the Government the sole and unfettered rights over the persons and opinions of everybody.7 7. Bantu Authorities Act, 1951 Africans, comprising 73% of the population were retribalised into Bantustans on 13% of the poorest land. 8 8. The Separate Registration of Voters Act, 1951 Coloured and Native peoples were disenfranchised. 9. Pass Laws These required Africans to carry permits or passes for activities in a European District. Failure to do so resulted in imprisonment. 10. Bantu Education Act, 1955 Government withdrew support for Church schools and took over responsibility for providing Bantu schools, teachers and curriculum “to equip him (the native) to meet the demands which the economic life of South Africa will impose upon him.” 9 11.

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