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1949 Riots Statements

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1949 Riots Statements NI C . 1949 RIOTS REPORTS AND STATEMENTS , 4 ., NATAL INDIAN CONGRESS ~':!". - r;'.. .1 " REPORT ON THE DISTURB]INCES IN DURBhN SUBMITTED BY " THE EXECU 'l'IVE TO THE WORKING COMMITTEE MEETING ON SUNDAY, 27th FEBRUARY, 1949. ,(a) COURSE , "" At about 5 p.m. on Thursday the 13th JflnuarY1949, a n incident' at the Indian market, Victoria street, Dlirban took place. ' Rumour spread that an African youth bad been assllultod and killed. Africans in the Victoria street, area and at the non-j~liropea' nBus Rank became engaged and assults on Indian ,bus drivers and, 'Indians generally and the stonin~ of Indian buses, cars' and shops, became widespread. Indiah buses left the rank and there was a transport blockage - workers and residents, both African' and Indian from the' outskirts of town were stranded and , involved in the fast spreading disturbancoE5. By six o'clock the whole 9.rea in and around Victoria Streot Alice Street, Warwick Avenue, Old Dutch ,Rood became a mass (,f panic st:rtcken humanity, witn the constant danger of, and a,c,tual assa'ults of "'!ndians by Africans. As the hours went by and the news spread incidents and assaults took place in area s outside Durban. Over fifty cases of injured Indians were treat­ ed in Hospitals On this day. The Distric't Commandant of Police, stationed at wentworth W9$ contacted i1nd received the first information of tlie distur­ bances from Con~ress officials. The sElme evoniriL?; the Congress Executive met, an inter­ view was arrancied with the Dis,trict Commandant for the fonowing day at 11 a.m~ At the interview officials of Congress discussed vrecautionary measures to be taken and were assured that the Police had the situation under control. ' , ' On Friday the 14th January 1949, disturbances and incidents again: took place from mid-day onwards in the centro of town. By the afternoon, ,the Indian business centre, was the scene of tremendous ,damage, assaults and looti~ ,s. Burnin~ of house.s ', damaging of shops, stonin3 of Ind ian cars and buses and assaults on IndJans, became: widespread in the t;l,fternoon in the outlying are8.1,', 'Qf ~yville, Clairwood, 'Jacobs, and' other suburbs. , Con.gress' offiCia ls in co'-operation wi th 'Mr. Champion of the African National ' CongresS, the Native' Administration Department, and the Police toured the centre of town from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. apPGaling for ,caJ,.m in thedistur,bedareas of' t own. " .!.: ",,: . ' .,' .; ,The Con&iress o.ff1;ces.remaiIied..openthewhOlenl .l.ht , anet was ,8' hi''V·e, of aC,t,iv,lty, f~omthen 0Jlwarc1s , for the next f0W weekli\:'" mehibe'rs: !bei'iig on duty at all hou:rsof the day and .. nir'. ht . The tragic and gruesome events of Briday ni.ght the 14th January, 1949, need not be ~epeated here. N~arly every suburb , and espeoially Cato Manor, Clairwood, Wlalvern, Bella ir, Wentworth, Jacobs, Clare Estate and Pinetown was the scene of devastating damage, death, arson, burning, looting, rape and every c.onceiveable form of destruction, grief and injury. At _ ,4<,~.:~,t::;,: one stage it was estimated that over 300 persons has been killed ,ijI Ind ians by Africans and Africans by the Police. The officia l fi~ures,since ~iven are:­ Deaths l~\l:rl3pean'l'tnale, Indians 50 males 3 females, l\fricans 75 rna les 8 females. In,jured l~uropeans 30, India ns 685 males 83 fomales, Jlfricans 1056 males, 19 females. Most of this occurred on Friday ni~ht. /2 .... _ c~ __~:....... ..!~ _ _ . f, l,' - 2 ­ ..since- ,Friday night Indians whose' -home-shad 'bee'n burnt, whose families had been attacked, whose property hod been looted and who were in the grip of fear from what they had sutfered, seen and heard, fled and formed themselves into Refugee camps in all centres stretching from Pinejwwn and IsipingO~ ' to Greenwood Park, Durban North, and even as far afield as Stanger and P. M. BurlS. The bulk of the yamps were in Durban ~rid suburbs. On Sunday' it was estima ted thn t there were 58-camps'with a total refugee pop~lation 6f 43,800. The worst was over by the end of the weekend. Isolated incidents took 'place thereaatter but on a very, v,ery small scale. Conl?;ress made anpeals on Satl,lrda,yfor volunteers, and donations • These came forward. Food supp'lies arid medicines were distributed from the Red Cross Headq~arters" injured were tended 'by the St. Johns, Red Cross, the Hospitals and volunteer Indian and European doctors. Hundreds of YO ,lunteers ,E(lropoons and' Indians were drafted to the different camps. Many : ~ook ever on their own, and Coromi t 'bees were ostablished to look after the needs of the r~fugees. 'rhe Congress offices continue,1 its 24 hour daily services regarding s up'erv'is ion , direc tion guidance and Bssis tance, to th'e camps refugees and to the people for their various complaints, ,enquiries, disabilitios etc. The estimated damage to property' is about'a: million pounds; About 260 homes burnt or destroyed; about BO shops burnt or destroyed; about 2,000 families whose ho~es T were looted; and about 400 - 600 familie? rendered 90mpl,tely homeless. ' By Wednesday 19th January 1949, with gradual normality establishing itself, there were s1;Ul15 J 000 refugees in 32 camps. Now there are only those who are completely homeless who are housed in four schools. The remainder have returned to their homes, or are living with friends apd relatives. The main ljroblem in the lnitial stages were the care of the refu~ees, their feeding and clothipg, and other re lief required. Constan$l reports had to ' be, reforred to the Police for the,ir attention. ' Outside'Durban, comparatively Il\inor: di'sturbances took place at P. M. Burg Wherefor a day or tworefugeo C3mps automatically arose, but there was tension in a,lmost every other town and district in Na tal w1th ' few ,incidents whtch were arr,es ted timeous ly. , ," ..... /3 .... 1 .­ '. .' ~ , J ... .. ,. .:j _. ~ • (b) CAUSES In its political st~t6m~~t issued on 19th JanuQry, 1949 the Congress placed the ~rime responsibility for t~e disturbances on the Nationalist Government and its. .predecessors in office. Congress stressed the t the basic andf'undnmentnl 'C8:uses pfthe' ;d:i...SJturbanG~·s ;1:tri:3the policies o,f . apartheid and .'se·gregation whd.ch., haNe: :peen raspol1sible for ~'reating racial disharm6ny and which have retarded tho polit1cal, social and eoonomic progresfiof th.e non-E;~ropoanpeople. The African people in particular have been most hard hit under these policies which have led to a sense of frustrat­ ion among them. The terrible housing conditions arid lock of health welfare,and.recreational facilities for Africans in Durban and district accentuated this sense of frustration. There 1s sufficient evidence of this cri~inal neglect of the Africans in the J;l;roome Commission Report of 1947. The comina; of the Nationalist Government into power led to greater attacks on the African people inc~uding a threat of depriving them of even the 1ndirec.trepresentation in the House of Assembly which they enjoy at present. " '1'ha frustrated , Afrioans !ll9de tho Indian a scauen;oat of their grievances. Tha Indian was the easiest targe~ for he has' been chGrac:b8rised by the present Government as a foreign ,element who is .to be,' re,pat,ria,ted and against whom 'a most vile form: of racial propaganda had been carried on leading to the , passing of the Ghetto Act. The use of brute force by .d!u:r opanns .agetnst defenc·aless Indian T,lassive resisters and the prl)achln ,~ of "viol'ent f:l.nti-Indian propaganda by Nationalists, and members of :,the:polit.ioEilfparties, ' including ' cabinet min,is~era , has q;one a ': 16ng way to ti'reate disharmony in lnda-African relationshin. Viewing th,ed:i,stur.bances in this 'perspective W(j can swniilaTise the 'Oa ·uses. of. the dlsturbances a1;l ' fQJ,.lows:­ ., · ;1 1f . A .JB8,sicCall~:' .. y ,.: ..1 ;,,;'j, ' L Political; ' economi-cand 'social struc~ure of ,thl''; coun~ry based on discriminatory treatment of the different racial groups. 2. Accentuation of t .his policy by the coming into power of the National.ists who went further than their predec(~ssors in attacking the non-Europeans and their dub):Jlng the Indian people as a foreign element. 3. The frlls tra:tion ot' the Africans reslllt:i.ng 'from' general conditions and particularly from tho lack of proper housing and recreational.facilities. 4. Anti-Indian propaganda (a) by the City Council of. Durban and by tho candidates dla'ing the Council elections 1 (b) by the English speaking and sect5.on 0f the Ba~ltu I Pr(~ss in Durban t t (c) b,v the racialist Europeans of Durban .in whose homes this became a regular topic of conversation and which , was commnnica':ed to the African domestic workers, B. Immedia.1~~e.§. It he s been alleged in various quarters that the following have been the immediate causes of the riots:­, ;' ..... 1. Objections by Indians t o African applicants for trading :.-._ ~......o...--.:L. _.. _ _ ..:,... ... _ ~~.... __ _ ___ ~ -- _- 4 ­ B , ilinmed iate Causes :y,,'" ,[, It has been alleged in various quarters the t the _ j:, ;' , : ,:~ rollowing have been the immedi.ate causes of the riots:­ . "~ .. '., l~ Objections by lndians to African applicants for trading ' ~rid Bus licences. 2. Black rnarketeerin~ by Indian traders 3, Exhorbitant rent charged by Indian l a ndlords ' of African tenants.
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