Letters to the editor Towards truth...

Jaap Marais, As regards 'apartheid', it is neces­ 'apartheid' as an evil identified with Leader of the Herstigte sary to look beyond the present emo­ , and thus make the Anti­ Nasionale Party, : tional sound and fury. 'The policy called Apartheid Movement (AAM) equiva­ "apartheid" which now evokes such lent to Anti-Afrikaner Movement. hostility abroad', wrote L E Neame, What may rightly be described as HE article, Towards Truth: The former editor of the now defunct Rand 'the keystones of the house of apart­ GCB ssubmission to the TRC, by Daily Mail, 'is not a new and more evil heid' were laid long before 1948, as TJeremy Gauntlett SC, is in a way way of treating Blacks and Coloureds. shown by the following: correctly entitled in that it does not pre­ "Apartheid" is simply the Afrikaans In 1894 Cecil John Rhodes, as Prime tend to tell the whole truth, only con­ word for separation - and separation has Minister of the Cape Colony, intervened tributing towards truth. This applies been the underlying principle of the to prevent a Coloured man, Krom particularly to his handling of what he policy of Europeans in the African sub­ Hendricks, from being included in a terms 'The keystones in the house of continent for generations' - a truth, ac­ touring cricket team, a ruling which was apartheid' . knowledged by many objective obser­ followed by all subsequent governments He lists three laws concerning ra­ vers. up to about 1976. cial relations enacted before the Afri­ H W Hancock in Smuts 1919-50 In 1893 Rhodes enforced racial kaner National Government (ANG) says: 'Apartheid was a new name for separation in public schools. And in came to power in May 1948, namely, the segregationist policies which all 1905 racial separation in public schools the Native Land Act 27 of 1913, the previous governments had pursued on became compulsory under a Progres­ Native Administration Act 38 of 1927, this or that sector of the racial front, sive Party government under Or L S and the Native (Urban Areas) Act 25 but never as yet along the whole un­ Jameson. of 1945. broken front of racial theory and prac­ Political separation or 'apartheid' on In contrast to this, he lists seven acts tice' . racial lines dates from the previous cen­ introduced from 1949 to 1966, among So, the National Party did not in­ tury, Asiatics having been disfranchised which there is the Native (Abolition of troduce a new principle in regard to in Natal in 1896. A law of 1865 made Passes and Co-ordination of Docu­ racial relations, but co-ordinated the it almost impossible for Blacks to reg­ ments) Act 67 of 1952. Yet, there is no fragmentary prescriptions, conven­ ister as voters in Natal. In the Trans­ mention that there had been Pass Laws tions, rules and regulations. And as vaal there was no political equality introduced originally by the British The Star said about Or H F Verwoerd: between Whites, Blacks and Col­ Cape Colonial Government in 1809 'Long before he became Prime Minis­ oureds. In the Free State citizenship and subsequently administered by all ter he had started to fashion the instinc­ was restricted to Whites. governments preceding the 1948 tive but amorphous philosophy of The Lagden Commission appointed Afrikaner National Government. apartheid into a cohesive and intellec­ by Alfred Milner in 1903 recommended The 1945 Native (Urban Areas Con­ tually acceptable system'. in 1905 the separation of Black from solidation) Act was preceded by the What is pertinent is that the word White South Africans as occupiers of Native (Urban Areas) Act 21 of 1923 ­ 'apartheid' was not translated in Eng­ land and as voters. H W Hancock writes both enactments of a government led by lish, though there is the literal equiva­ in Smuts 19J9-50: 'The report of the Gen Smuts. The original section 10 im­ lent of 'apartness' and other terms. Lagden Commission was destined to posed an absolute prohibition on blacks 'There is no reason', wrote Or Edgar survive for three decades as the main in an urban area. It was the ANG that Brookes in Apartheid - a documentary blueprint of Native policy in South Af­ amended this law to allow a black per­ study of modern , 'why a rica. In 1913 Botha's government im­ son without a permit to be in an urban translation such as "separation" could plemented its recommendations with area for 72 hours, and introduced a re­ not have been used, but the intention regard to land'. So much for the ori­ laxation in regard to blacks who had was most probably to suggest, by the gins of this 'apaltheid' act. been in the service of one employer for use of a foreign word in the English The South Africa Act 1909, formu­ 10 years, or who had had lawful em­ language, something foreign and omi­ lated by the Union Convention and ployment in the area for 15 years. nous. Something so bad that there was sanctioned by the British Parliament, (The Native Land Act will be dealt no word at all in the English language restricted membership of the South Af­ with further on.) for it', the object being to stigmatize rican Parliament to 'British subjects>

NOVEMBER 1998, CONSULTUS 93 LJ:t:TfERS • BRIEWE of European descent', a distinctly The 1927 and 1957 Acts, generally tice usually the latter. The measures 'apartheid' measure. speaking, confirmed the legal situation taken by the Government in recent dec­ The removal of Blacks from the com­ in the Cape, the Free State and Natal, ades follow the same lines. mon voters roll in 1936 for separate par­ and extended the legislative scope. Not a single person has applied to liamentary representation through In regard to security laws and the the Tutu Commission for amnesty for White persons was an enactment of the judiciary, Mr Gauntlett says: 'The se­ an act committed in the years 1960 to United Party Government of Gens curity laws were clothed with virtual 1966. when Dr Verwoerd was the Prime Hertzog and Smuts. unrestricted powers of arrest and de­ Minister of South Africa. which must Enforced residential separation or tention'. Those provisions prevailed rank as the height of irony in light of 'apartheid' of races was introduced by during the time of the terrorist war, con­ the efforts to identify violations of hu­ the British Colonial Government in the ducted against South Africa from man rights with 'apartheid'. and 'apart­ Cape by means of a stipulation in every 'Front Line' states, and were essentially heid' with Dr Verwoerd. deed of transfer, which prohibited the war measures, as were the Smuts gov­ It was in defence of the country and sale to or occupation of any erfby a 'col­ ernment Acts 13 and 32 of 1940, which its people against terrorism that secu­ oured'. empowered the responsible Minister rity forces resorted to extraordinary ac­ The Immorality Act 23 of 1957 did during World War 11 'to order the ar­ tions, which are now being adjudged not introduce the prohibition of inter­ rest and detention for questioning of outside the context of an aggressive war racial sexual intercourse. Before that any person whom he suspected on rea­ and are deceitfully represented as acts Act there was the 1927 Immorality Act, sonable grounds of sabotage, or of the in defence of 'apartheid'. and before that it was already an offence intention to commit sabotage, or of pos­ It is a maxim that truth is the first in Natal, the Cape and the Free State. sessing information relative thereto'. casualty in war. That should not deter The had no corresponding Such a person might be released, us from determining facts and putting prohibition. charged in court, or interned - in prac- them in proper perspective.

Jeremy Gauntlett se, Cape Town, replies:

T is a pity that Mr Marais did not period from 1960-1995. The iniquities argument that Mr Marais once more ask to read the full three-volume of Colonel Graham, Cecil Rhodes and dusts off: certainly not in the extensive IGCB submission to the TRC before General Kitchener do not present them­ resort to forced removal, race classifi­ responding. selves for detailed consideration in that cation and its consequences, and the His first point - that racism and to­ context. systematic extension of security legis­ talitarianism pre-date the strenuous The thrust of the GCB submission lation to apply beyond anything resem­ contribution by the National Party and is, as it was put, that 'the apartheid state bling the operational area. its subsequent offshoots - is in fact took a particular form. It articulated its Mr Marais overlooks the fact that made in terms at the outset of the sub­ policies in the law. Thus, unlike cer­ in 1968 security police harassment and mission (pages nine to twelve). Indeed, tain regimes which resorted simply to surveillance against his fledgling HNP at page eleven we quote Chaskalson P extra-legal forms of thuggery, the apart­ constrained him to raise his own voice in Ex parte Chairperson ofthe Consti­ heid state carefully tabulated in legis­ against the abuse of state power. Or is tutional Assembly: In re Certification lation an entire structure of government that too to be ascri bed to the border of the Constitution of the Republic of by which it imposed its will upon the war? South Africa 1996 (4) SA 744 (CC) at majority of the country' . It was, indeed, Mr Marais himself [5] -[10]: '[f]rom the outset the coun­ It is that which the GCB - despite who in 1968 raised his voice against ex­ try maintained a colonial heritage of lost opportunities and failures of will tra legal operations when his fledgling racial discrimination'. from time to time - consistently con­ HNP was the subject of security policy. The point is not belaboured in my demned during the relevant period. It It is indeed, as Mr Marais says, im­ precis for the simple reason that the did not believe then, and does not be­ portant to put facts 'in proper perspec­ TRC is confined to investigating the lieve now, the inter armes silent leges tive'. W

"Law in Africa": Konferensie ie Suider-Afrikaanse Vereniging van Regshistorici bied 'n konferensie aan vanaf 13-15 Januarie 1999 . Door "Law in Africa: new perspectives on origins, foundations and transition". Die konferensie word in Pretoria by die Roode Vallei Country Lodge gehou. Rig navrae aan prof Andrew Domanski, School of Law, Universiteit van die Witwatersrand (Tel: 011-7165595) of prof Willemien du Plessis, Regsfakulteit, Potchef­ stroomse Universiteit (Tel: 018-2991969).

94 CONSULTUS, NOVEMBER 1998