A survey of race relations in South Africa: 1954-1955
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Author/Creator Horrell, Muriel Publisher South African Institute of Race Relations, Johannesburg Date 1955 Resource type Reports Language English Subject Coverage (spatial) South Africa, South Africa, South Africa, South Africa, South Africa Coverage (temporal) 1954-1955 Source EG Malherbe Library Description A survey of race relations in South Africa in 1954 and 1955 and includes chapters on: Policies and attitudes; The role of the SA Institute of Race Relations; Joint Councils and study circles; Constitution and powers of Parliament; Registration and control of the population; Matters affecting specific groups - The Coloured people, Asiatics, Africans; Regional group planning, Group areas and siting of industrial and African townships; Housing; Other matters affecting urban areas; Rural areas; Employment; Education - Numbers at school, Bantu education, Primary and secondary education for children of other racial groups, Universities, Technical and vocational education, Adult education; Health; Nutrition; Welfare; Recreation; Justice; Events outside the union with bearing on the South African scene. Format extent 287 pages (length/size)
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http://www.aluka.org A SURVEY OF
A SURVEY OF RACE RELATIONS IN SOUTH AFRICA. 1954 1955 BY MU RI EL HORRELL TECHNICAL OFFICER SOUTH AFRICAN INSTITUTE OF RACE RELATIONS SOUTH AFRICAN INSTITUTE OF RACE RELATIONS P.O. BOX 97 1955 JOHANNESBURG
RELATIONS: 1954-55 iii FOREWORD It gives me great pleasure to introduce the 1954-55 Survey of Race Relations by Muriel Horrell, who is to be congratulated on an excellent piece of work which can be read with benefit by all schools of opinion in the community. The Survey is more than a survey of race relations, for it traces the general trends over the past year of social, economic, and political developments in the country, all of which condition the central problem of South Africa, inter-racial adjustments. While the Survey is directed towards the general reader interested in racial problems, it contains much information for specialists and students in a variety of fields. Business men, lecturers, university students, politicians, and others in public life will find it an invaluable vade mecum for easy and handy reference. The added feature of an exhaustive index makes its usefulness greater. The Survey brings out clearly the continued determination of our Government to carry out its policy and to secure that control of the situation which it considers essential for its plans. On the whole, legislation enacted over the past year has sought to close loopholes in the existing legislative structure of apartheid, and a host of administrative acts has been directed towards implementing policy already determined. That the application of the policy has been meeting and will continue to meet difficulties is obvious from the Survey. The Minister of Labour has admitted the serious shortage of white manpower and has been outspoken about the inefficiency and lack of productivity of the white section of the community. The Government itself is being constrained to employ more and more Non- European workers, and a recent survey of the industrially developing towns in the Western Province by the Institute's Assistant Director would indicate the impossibility of withdrawing African labour from that area as has been suggested. The influx of Non-Europeans into 'European' industrial areas has drawn from Mr M. C. de Wet Nel, M.P., a member of the Native Affairs Commission and of the 'Tomlinson' Commission, the admission that such migration may be expected to increase over the next 20 years. Meanwhile, the Government presses on with the more obvious and facile forms of apartheid - in transport, on the beaches, in the nursing profession, in the universities, and, of course, politically, though more difficult, through the Senate Act. One of the most serious aspects of the situation is the extent to which the Government is rapidly extending its control over the lives of citizens. The powers of the police have been increased, serious allegations have been made about interference with mail, mass raids have been conducted, passport regulations and influx control have been tightened, the arbitrary banning of persons has been continued, and the proscription of books verges on the absurd. These and other measures have induced an uncertainty and fear in the public which are dangerous and unhealthy for the country. While rule by administrative law has grown in some of the matured
A SURVEY OF RACE countries of Europe, it is open to question whether a young, expanding capitalist country such as South Africa should be put in the straight-jacket of bureaucratic control. Though Europeans have been alarmed by some of the Government's pronouncements, they are individually little affected as yet. The 'Black Sash' movement, however, and the response to the appeal by the Roman Catholic Church for funds to maintain the independence of its schools, and individual reactions against intolerance are symptomatic of European unease. The NonEuropean communities appear to be confused in their present reactions, but not acquiescent. That they continue to suffer increasing hardships and uncertainties in living and in liberty is amply demonstrated in the Survey. That increasing pressures and discrimination will follow in the future is surely the logic of the Prime Minister's statement that his party stands for baasskap, not leadership. As a factual analysis of the position, the Survey points out a number of practical and beneficial measures. By both municipalities and central government the African housing situation is being dynamically dealt with. Under the Bantu Education Act, the two primary syllabuses produced are good and, while the withdrawal of experienced European voluntary workers from school committees and boards is to be regretted, the giving of a greater measure of responsibility to African parents for the education of their children is to be welcomed. Rehabilitation work in the reserves continues, and there is an expansion of excellent health services. The country continues to enjoy economic prosperity, and the recent loans raised for railway and other development are a measure of the confidence of investors oversea, in the country's economic future. The continued and expanding interest of the European community in the welfare of the Non- European peoples through dozens of organizations, great and small, is indicative of a practice and goodwill which cannot be ignored. What conclusions must be drawn from the facts as put before us by the Survey? The situation is complex and not easy of analysis. The trend would appear to be towards a greater acquiescence in, and possibly acceptance of, the idea of apartheid by the European public, towards a certain confusion in the minds of a large part of the Non-European people, so that they do not know whether to accept the hypothetical benefits of apartheid, or to reject them, and an over-all inability on the part of the public generally to distinguish between principle and practice. That there is no overt and concerted expression of organized Non- European opposition, seems due to the measures of control adopted by the Government, to the economic opportunities opening to Non-Europeans, and to a sense of hopelessness in face of the forces which the Government can at any moment deploy. Race relations cannot be said to have imuroved. QUINTIN WHYTE
RELATIONS: 1954--55 (a) Mission schools . . (b) State, community, private and farm schools Assistant inspectors and teachers Organization of primary schools Syllabuses .. Boycott of schools in certain areas Destruction and construction ix 174 * . 178 180 182 183 184 186 PRIMARY AND SECONDARY EDUCATION FOR CHILDRE OTHER RACIAL GROUPS Coloured Education Commission Coloured children attending school in the Cape Indian children attending school in Natal .. Effect of racial zoning proposals on Indian secondary schools in Johannesburg ...... UNIVERSITIES Numbers of University students Commission of Enquiry on Separate Training Europeans at Universities.. Events at the University College of Fort Hare Notes on specific courses of training . TECHNICAL AND VOCATIONAL EDUCATION Types of full-time education provided Part-time vocational education The Vocational Education Act The M.L. Sultan Technical College Facilities 189 for Non190 192 195 ADULT EDUCATION The need for adult education Adult education classes being conducted The Adult Education Section of the Institute of Race Relations Transvaal Non-European Library Service National Union of S.A. Students .. The Education League...... Commission of Enquiry in regard to Undesirable Publications HEALTH Vital statistics Provincial and provincially-subsidized hospitals The Nursing Amendment Bill Training and registration of other health personnel.. General health services provided by voluntary bodies Notes on work in connection with specific diseases African medicine men and herbalists .. . NUTRITION Subsidies ...... Bremer bread .. Other work of the Department of Nutrition Other research work in progress Feeding schemes provided by voluntary organizations 200 200 202 202 203 204 204 206 207 209 210 211 212 216 217 217 217 218 218 WELFARE Control of welfare work ...... 220 Pensions and grants ...... 220 Conference on social work among Non-Whites in urban areas 222 National conference on welfare of the aged ...... 222 Work of voluntary organizations ...... 222 Liquor ...... 227 Research ...... 227 4 OF 187 187 188 188
RELATIONS: 1954-55 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The very grateful thanks and appreciation of the S.A. Institute of Race Relations are extended to all those who assisted in making this publication possible. Numbers of departments of state, the provincial administrations, and many municipal officials, scientific and other research bodies, churches, educational institutions, voluntary organizations, NonEuropean bodies, political parties, employers' and employees' organizations, Regional Offices of the Institute, Joint Councils, study groups, and other organizations and individuals have given willing and gracious help by supplying material, and by answering questions. It would be invidious to single out any of these for particular mention, but their names are given in the text of this Survey. The writer is particularly indebted to all those who gave invaluable assistance by reading the manuscript and offering detailed criticisms and constructive suggestions, especially Dr Ellen Hell-, mann, the Institute's President, Prof. B. Beinart, Prof. E. E. Harris, Dr A. W. Hoernl6, Prof. Hansi Pollak, Mr A. S. Robertson, Dr Sheila van der Horst, Mr L. H. Walton, Mr Quintin Whyte, Director of the Institute, and a number of people in Durban who very kindly sent comments on individual chapters.
A SURVEY OF RACE CONTENTS FOREWORD ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS POLICIES AND ATTITUDES .. Political parties represented in Parliament Non-White organizations The Congress of the People The Churches ... S.A. Bureau of Racial Affairs S.A. Political Science Association Proposed Africa Institute .. 'South Africa First' Movement Research into matters affecting race relations 3 4 6 8 9 A THE ROLE OF THE S.A. INSTITUTE OF RACE RELATIONS Consideration of the present racial situation .. The task which the Institute has set itself .. Findings of the Institute's Council, January 1955 Public discussion meetings and lectures arranged by Regional Committees.. Work of the Institute in the field of Afrikaans/English relations The Institute's publications and library .. JOINT COUNCILS AND STUDY CIRCLES CONSTITUTION AND POWERS OF PARLIAMENT The background -- .. Constitution of the Appeal Court Appellate Division Quorum Act Constitution of the Senate at the beginning of 1955.. The Senate Act ...... Parliamentary debate on the Senate Bill Reactions in South Africa .. REGISTRATION AND CONTROL OF THE POPULATION Progress of Population Registration. .. System of classification adopted Process of classification of Coloured people Passports...... Search warrants and entry upon premises Interdicts against the Government .. Detention of persons arrested under the Public Safety Act Action under the Riotous Assemblies and Suppression of Communism Acts ...... Police raids during September 1955 ...... Alleged opening of mail for political purposes . MATTERS AFFECTING SPECIFIC GROUPS THE COLOURED PEOPLE Numbers, distribution, and patterns of living The Division of Coloured Affairs Coloured Mission Stations and Reserves Amendment Act Research ...... ASIATICS Numbers, distribution, and patterns of living.. Repatriation of Indians .. .. Inter-provincial movement of Indians Research ...... 46 47 48 49 49 . . 50 . . 50 51 2121222223242627
RELATIONS: 1954-55 vii AFRICANS 5 ander ctIldistribution1 55 Urban patterns of living .52 P>arlian-enitary representation of .\frieaiis 54 Local governinelit in urban areas 3 Local governien t ini rural areas 58 TheBunga ..58 Meetings of ii Minjister of Nati\ e \fi'airs with tribal leaders 61 Legislatioit regniating the - \fricani population of ut-ban areas 62 Influx control as afflecting African men 64 1iitlux control as afleeting Åfrican \woreii 66 Re( 'ference books, . 67 Natives (A\bolitioni of l'asses andr (io-ordiation of 1)oeuments) Act Arnendnieit Bill .. .. 68 (:onorol of so-calleri pass co
A SURVEY OF RACE Research 114 Housing schemes for members of other racial groups ..114 Coloured people ...114. Asiatics .Ii 6 White people .. .. *. 116 OTHER MATTERS AFFECTING URBAN AREAS Local Government Commission (Transvaal).. Leases for sites in urban African locations Reservation of Separate Amenities by Local Authorities (Cape) .. Motor Carrier Transportation Amendment Act Natives Transport Services Account Non-White passengers on suburban lines 118 119 Ordinance 121 121 123 124 RURAL AREAS Land owned by the S.A. Native Trust or by Africans in rural areas 125 Official policygoverninglandpurchasebyAfricans 126 Elimination of 'black spots' in White rural areas ... 128 Eventual elimination of 'white spots' in the reserves .. 128 Proposed development scheme in Northern Zululand .. 130 Present conditions in the reserves ... 131 The 'Tomlinson Report' ... . 132 Agricultural production and livestock in the reserves 133 Townships and rural villages on Trust land ... 134 Establishment of industries in or near Native areas ... 135 Policy governing stabilization, reclamation, and development work in the reserves ...... 137 Reclamation and development work completed or in progress .. 138 Soil conservation work in White farming areas 140 Stock Theft Amendment Bill 140 African National Soil Conservation Association .. 140 Ncora (Experimental) Rural Community Welfare Centre 141 The Valley Trust ...... 142 EMPLOYMENT The general economic situation in South Africa ..143 The cost of living ... 144 Incomes and budgets of Non-Whites .. 144 Developments in the farming industry .. 147 The mining industry .. ... 150 Manufacturing industries .. ... 151 Commerce 153 Building and electricity, gas and water supply 154 Transport and communications ... .. 156 Thepublicservice ...... 158 The professions ...... 160 Personalservice ...... 160 The Government's plans for protection of White labour .. 160 The Industrial Conciliation Bill ...... 165 New alignment of trade unions 166 The Native Labour (Settlement of Disputes) Act and Amendment Act...... 168 EDUCATION NUMBERS AT SCHOOL BANTU EDUCATION Organization .. .. Financing ...... Teacher training. . Control of primary and secondary schools ...... 171 ...... 171 173 174
RECREATION The theatre .. Music Literature .. .. Painting .. Other forms of recreation . JUSTICE Legislation . 1. Criminal Procedure Act 2. Amendment to Immorality Act 3. Amendment of law relating to receivers 4. Native Administration Amendment Act 5. Administrative arrangements Criminal statistics .. . Comment on specific types of cases The prison system .. . ,Juvenile delinquency .. . Camps for delinquent African youths Legal Aid Bureaux Social Services Association of S.A. Survey of crime reporting in the Union A SURVEY OF RACE 231 231 233 234 234 of stolen property EVENTS OUTSIDE THE UNION WITH BEARING ON THE SOUTH SOUTH AFRICAN SCENE The High Commission Territories ...... 250 Features of United Nations' debates on aflfirs of member states 250 United Nations' consideration of: ...... 251 Racial policies in the Union ...... 251 South-West Africa 252 The treatment of persons of Indian origin in South Africa 254 The Union's withdrawal from UNESCO ...... 255 Conference on industrialization and urban conditions in Africa south of the Sahara ...... 256 Afro-Asian Conference at Bandung ...... 256 .butexure I -- Recent publications of the S.A. Institute of Race Relations 257 .Itiexure 1-- Othe recent publications dealing with race relations .. 259 Annexure III-- Pensions and grants paid in South Africa 261 .Annexure IV African housing schemes in the major urban areas ... 262
RELATIONS: 1954-55 1 POLICIES AND ATTITUDES Political Parties represented in Parliament The Non-European policies of the political parties and groups among Whites and Non-Whites in South Africa were outlined in the booklet .f'on-European Policies in the Union and the /Ieasure of Their Success published by the Institute of Race Relations during 1954. Since then there have been no major changes: attitudes to current circumstances and events, development of Government policy, and reaction of opposition groups to the emergence of' details of this policy, are reflected in the chapters that follow. There have been some interesting pronouncements on general policy, however. The Prime Minister has made it completely clear"') that the National Party stands for White domination or baasskap, not leadership. Leadership can only be voluntary, he said, thus can exist only if there are equal rights between White and Non-White, the latter then voluntarily entrusting leadership to the former. His Party has no intention of' changing the franchise laws in such a way that the White man will no longer have the power in his hands: it is determined that the White man shall remain the master. On another occasion he said,(1) 'There are two roads we could follow. The one road can eventually lead to Native domination in South Af'rica. The logical conclusion of the other road, which one can state as an ideal, is total territorial segregation ...... In the process of achieving that-- and it will take a long timeeach generation should formulate its own attainable political policy and state what it wants to do.' The Prime Minister was quoted in Die Burger of 15 September 1954 as having said that although total apartheid is perhaps the ideal solution, it is not capable of being implemented under existing circumstances, nor is it likely that it would be accepted by the present electorate. The Government is laying the foundation upon which successive generations can build- in the direction of total apartheid, should this prove to be practicable and essential. In a Christmas message to the African people in 1954(') the Prime Minister talked of 'the preservation of' one's heritage and development on those lines.' 'Lie road of selfdevelopment towards maturity would be a long one for the African people, he said, but through the Bantu Authorities Act, the Bantu Education Act, and other measures, this road had been opened for them. The policy deemed 'attainable' by the present Government, embracing inter alia the demarcation of group areas, tighter control of' influx of' Africans to 'White' areas, preservation, so far as is (') Assembly, 11) April 1955, [Iansard 11, cols. 4141-2. () Aseml , 28 J anzary 1955, lia1isard 1, col. 199. ) roadcast speech, published sutise(Iuently in 7 hi' '/ir, 21 I)ecenber 1954, and IITlierous other papers.
A SURVEY OF RACE possible, of skilled work in these areas fbr Whites, development of traditional Bantu authorities, and diversification of the economy of the Native reserves, is described in the following chapters. During the year under review, the United Party has codified its policy. The Party, it states, stands for White leadership based on justice and fair play, and considers that a long process of training in the responsibilities of democracy lies ahead of the Africans. The door should not be closed, however, to their legitimate aspirations, and they should gradually be given a more definite and secure place within the orbit of the western way of life. The Party accepts that industrialization has led to a large and permanently detribalized African urban population which has become an integral part of the South Aftican economy. The process of integration of African workers in the various branches of economic activity is a dynamic one, bound to continue. It should be regulated and controlled, however. The United Party considers that Non-Eurpean policies should be flexible, for the situation in the Union is a developing one. Certain practical steps are advocated fbr the present. The number of senators elected by Africans should be increased from four to six, educated Africans being given a personal vote in the electoral colleges. Organizations should be established at various levels through which educated Africans can maintain liaison with existing instruments of government, the elective principle being retained and developed, and local-government bodies should be given increased responsibility. A Ministry of Housing is required to undertake far-sighted regional planning (providing, inter alia, fbr the residential separation of the racial groups) and to carry out energetic housing programmes, fbr which the state should assume financial responsibility. People displaced from their homes under regional-planning schemes should be fully compensated, and not moved until alternative accommodation is available. The wives of permanently urbanized African men should be allowed to join them, strictly controlled freehold rights being granted to such families as qualify in terms of conditions to be imposed. The impact of pass laws ought to be rendered less harsh, further classes of Africans exempted from their operation, and the emphasis switched from compulsion to guidance. Traditional colour bars should be maintained in order to protect the White man's standard of living, the United Party considers, but by means of collective bargaining between workers and employers rather than by legislation. African education should be under the Department of Education, not Native Affhirs, but the system ought to take into account the standard of living and type of work available to Africans. An energetic programme for the development of the reserves is required. A statement by Mr Strauss (the leader of the United Party) on the future policy of the Party in the event of the removal of Coloured
RELATIONS: 1954-55 voters from the common roll, led to the resignation of Dr B. Friedman (see page 31). Mr Strauss's amended statement was accepted by the seven other members who, with Dr Friedman, had dissociated themselves from the original statement. The six 'right-wing rebels' who were expelled from the United Party during 1954 formed a new political party during the year under review-- the National Conservative Party. Policies of this group and of the Labour and Liberal Parties were outlined in our last Survey(4). The main developments have been in regard to views on the political representation of Non-Whites, which are dealt with on page 54. The strengths of the parties in the Assembly at the time of writing are: National Party 94, United Party 50, Conservative Party 7, Labour Party 5, Liberal Party 2, Independent (a Natives' Representative) 1. The composition of the Senate, which is to be radically altered, is described on page 23. Non-White organizations The past year has been an intensely demoralizing and confusing one for the Non- White people. There was a great upsurge of feeling amongst them in 1952 when the Defiance Campaign was embarked upon with the aim of securing the repeal of all legislation considered to be discriminatory. Considerable fervour and willingness for self-sacrifice were revealed. As will be recalled, the campaign was suspended at the end of the year. Many of the leaders were proscribed; the Public Safety and Criminal Law Amendment Acts were passed, in terms of which, inter alia, extremely severe penalties were laid down for those found guilty of offences, or of incitement to offences committed by way of protest against the laws of the country; and the campaign was not renewed. Since then the official policy of 'control' has continued - the police have raided the homes of leaders and have taken notes at meetings, passports have been refused to those who have made 'political' speeches, teachers who associated themselves with school boycotts have lost their jobs, the presence of 'informers' in the townships is suspected. Political leaders of the African National Congress, the S.A. Indian Congress, and the S.A. Coloured People's Organization continue to work together for the implementation of a Freedom Charter and on other projects, but their following has dwindled. There has been an intense campaign by representatives of the Government to persuade Africans that their salvation lies in the preservation of their heritage by separate development along the road opened by the Bantu Authorities and Bantu Education Acts. Posts carrying prestige and good pay are available to Africans on the staff of organizations set up in terms of these measures, and increased authority is offered to African local-government bodies (4) Pages 4-6,
A SURVEY OF RACE that are willing to work in accordance with the principles of the Acts. Thousands of Africans have accepted the Government's policy. A new organization, called the 'S.A. Apartheid Association,' has recently been formed. On the other hand, particularly among many of the younger men in the towns, there has been a growth of extreme nationalism, often anti-White and anti-Indian, as opposed to the tribal solidarity and maintenance of past traditions which are encouraged by the Government. There is thus deep division and confusion among the African people. Many of the leaders of the African National Congress have striven to preserve their balance, but the complexities of the present situation have caused indecision, the younger members have sometimes gone their own way, and the organization has lost prestige. The Cape Coloured community has never been a united one: it has been tellingly described(5) as a 'statutory category,' not a race or a nation. Discriminatory legislation on the basis of skin colour has caused the Coloured people to be deeply conscious of colour: those who are light-skinned have aimed at 'passing' into the ranks of the Whites, hence have shunned association with their darker fellows. This ambition will be impossible of fulfilment when the lPopulation Registration Act is fully implemented, but even during recent months when there has been great apprehension caused by the racial classification in progress and hopelessness engendered by repeated attempts to place Coloured voters on a separate roll, no greater unity has emerged. Some Coloured people accept material advantages offered by the Division of Coloured Affairs; others consider that recognition of this division implies acceptance of a lower status; many have come to believe that their future lies with the African rather than the White man; other sections fear that if they align themselves too closely with the Africans or Indians they will in the long run only worsen their status. The position of the Indian people is even more difficult, torn as so many of them are between sentimental ties with India or Pakistan and their allegiance as South African citizens, and findin ! little encouragement in the policies of the major political parties. The Indian community, too, continues to be divided. The Congress of the People The Congress of the People, planned during 1954, was called by the 'Congress movement' -the African National Congress, S.A. Indian Congress, S.A. Coloured Peoples' Organization, S.A. Congress of Trade Unions('), and S.A. Congress of Democrats.(7) During preceding months invitations to the meeting had been very ('5) By Mr Maurice Hommel, a Coloured teacher, writing in The Star, 8 September 1955. (6) See page 170. (7) k European organization, formed late in 1952, which was in sympathy with the motives of the Defiance Campaign and set out to place opp)osition to laws deetned unjust on a non-racial basis.
RELATIONS: 1954-55 5 widely distributed to organizations and groups of workers., People were asked to form local committees, to discuss their ideas of how South Africa should be governed, and their grievances against the present system, to formulate their suggestions and 'demands' and send these to the central committee by a set date, and to elect delegates to represent them at the Congress of the People. After receiving the resolutions, the central committee drafted a 'Freedom Charter.' About 3,000 accredited delegates, including over 100 White people, gathered in Kliptown, Johannesburg, on 25 and 26 June 1955, to discuss the draft charter. They came from as far afield as Cape Town and Durban. It was alleged that numbers of them were delayed by the police on the way, some being held on minor charges and refused permission to proceed. The meeting was raided by about 200 armed White and African policemen: some formed a cordon round the area, while others, after presenting a search warrant to the chairman which stated that they were investigating a charge of treason and had come to look for 'inflammatory or subversive' literature, 'proceeded to search those present, to take all names and addresses, to photograph speakers and "White delegates, and to take possession of speakers' notes, goodwill messages, and other papers. Meanwhile the meeting continued. Each clause was debated, and when the final draft had been adopted delegates sang the anthem Mayibuye A/rica, then continued to sing until the police search had been completed. It is stated in the Freedom Charter that South Africa belongs to all who live in it, and that only a democratic state based on the will of all the people can secure to all their birthright without distinction of colour, race, sex or belief. Delegates pledged themselves to strive together until the democratic changes they considered necessary had been won. These included the introduction of a universal franchise, every adult having the right to stand for election to governing bodies and to participate in the administraton of the country, and the repeal of all laws which discriminate on grounds of race, colour or belief. The preaching of discrimination on such grounds should be rendered a punishable offence. Banks, mines, and monopoly industries should be nationalized and the land re-divided amongst those who worked it. Police raiding of private dwellings should be abolished; no-one should be imprisoned, deported, or restricted without a fair trial; there should be equality of economic opportunity, no child labour or compound labour, and freedom of speech, movement, and association. People should be free to live where they wished, slums should be abolished, education be rendered free, compulsory, and equal for all, and free medical care and hospitalization be made available to everyone. The Federation of S.A. Women(8) played an active part in the organization of the Congress of the People. (s) See last S'ur'z'ey, page 13.
A SURVEY OF RACE The Churches The views of the churches on tile policy which lies behind the Bantu Education Act are set out on pages 177 to 181 : except for the Dutch Reformed Churches they are strongly opposed to it. The Synodal Commission of the Nederduitse Hervornde of Gereforineerde Kerk considers that it is a natural development that the state should accept responsibility for the control of Bantu education, and that there is nothing in the Government's educational policy which necessarily conflicts with recognized Christian principles (see page 180). A meeting of the Board of Churches of the Federated Dutch Reformed Churches of South Africa, held during May 1955, considered the report of a commission it had appointed to inquire into the scriptural doctrines on race relations. It was stated in this report that those who preach equality between White and Black fail to realize that God willed and perpetuated the different races. On those who were spiritually and culturally advanced, however, rested the responsibility of protecting and helping the less advanced. It transpired, during discussion, that not all the members of the commission had been invited to attend its deliberations. The report was unanimously rejected by delegates from the four provinces, the commission was annulled, and a new one appointed. At this meeting three delegates who had attended the second assembly of the World Council of Churches, held at Evanston, U.S.A., during 1954, reported on the proceedings. It will be remembered that the assembly asked the churches to discontinue racial segregation among their own congregations, and to protest against any law or arrangement which is unjust to any human being or makes Christian fellowship impossible. It was made clear that the churches could not approve of any law which discriminates against persons on grounds of race. The assembly recognized that many churches found themselves confronted by circumstances which make the immediate achievement of non-segregation extremely difficult, but expressed confidence in their strength and courage to overcome such difficulties. (9) The Board of Churches of the Federated Dutch Reformed Churches agreed that, particularly in view of the struggle between Christianity and communism in the world to-day, they had to continue to associate themselves with the ecumenical movement. Two interesting articles on race relations have been published in Die Kerkbode (the official organ of the Nederduitse Hervormde of Gereformeerde Kerk) during the past year. The editorial article in an issue during August stated that clashes between Whites and NonWhites in ordinary life, resulting from small daily slights, were largely responsible for tension between the races. It pleaded for a (") Reports of the proceedings of this assembly have been printed under the title Ev'avnston, Speaks.
RELATIONS: 1954-55 Christian attitude towards life as a, basis for racial co-operation. Professor G. B. A. Gerdener, a member of the Federal Missionary Council of the D.R.C. and chairman of SABRA, contributed an article to an issue during July in which he said that White missionaries in Africa would in future have to work more in cooperation than in domination, more in partnership than in baasskap. This last word, he said, does in any case not fit into the Christian terminology. Discussions held during 1951 and 1952 between White representatives of the Dutch Reformed Churches and their African congregations, and the conference of White leaders of S.A. Protestant Churches convened by the Federal Missionary Council of the D.R.C. during 1953, were decribed in our last Survey.(10) A second conference of Protestant Church leaders, but this time an interracial one, was convened by the Federal Missionary Council in December 1954. Again the Institute of Race Relations did the organizational and secretarial work. Twenty- five other churches, including African separatist churches, were invited to participate, each being free to determine the composition of its delegation with the stipulation only that at least one member should be a Non-White person. The opening paper was given by an African. Discussions revealed a realization by delegates of their responsibilities as Christian leaders, and not as leaders of any particular race or group. There was no general agreement on the principles of apartheid or integration, nor had it been anticipated that there would be; but there was agreement that there was need for united Christian action against the many evils facing South African Christians, and that there was ground for common action. In resolutions that were unanimously adopted, delegates declared that they recognized and accepted one another as brothers in Christ, and they undertook to use every opportunity to practise the fellowship of believers. They called on all Christian persons to do likewise, and to treat every human being with honour and respect. The Conference suggested that an evangelical campaign be held throughout South Africa every year, during which there would be exchange of pulpits. It requested the government to provide £10 million annually, over and above sums already allocated, for the social, educational, and economic development of the NonWhite peoples, and stated that the transfer of Bantu education to the state placed a great responsibility on the churches to concentrate on the religious education of all young African people. A Continuation Committee, of three adherents of the D.R.C., one of the Anglican Church, two (one of whom is an African) of the Methodist, and one of the Presbyterian, was set up to arrange a similar conference at least once every three years, to arrange for consultations between the churches, to consider the establishment of an inter-church study group, to arrange a discussion with the (10) Page 16.
A SURVEY OF RACE separatist churches. and to consider the recommendations and practical suggestions made during the conference. The Institute of Race Relations is facilitating the work of this committee by lending the services of its Assistant Director. S.A. Bureau of Racial Affairs At the annual meeting of the S.A. Bureau of Racial Affairs (SABRA) held in Stellenbosch during January, its chairman, Professor G. B. A. Gerdener, restated its aims. SABRA's ultimate ideal, he said, was the achievement of a state of affairs in which the White and Non-White groups would each have the opportunity for a free existence without any clash between the two. This could best be achieved by separate development. This did not mean the creation of watertight racial groups, the complete removal of every White person from Non- White areas or vice versa, but implied that each would be in the nature of visitors in the other's territory, their civil rights and obligations existing in their own areas. One of the most important problems inherent in the policy was the use to be made of African labour outside the Native areas: the numbers of such workers would have to be reduced. The application of separate development would involve considerable sacrifices, but it was the greatest error to make economic considerations the deciding factor in the handling of racial problems. SABRA's views on the future of the Cape Coloured people are described on page 47. S.A. Political Science Association A public meeting to form the S.A. Political Science Association was held in Pretoria on 9 September 1955, Professor C. H. Rautenbach, Rector of the University of Pretoria, being in the chair. The intention is to form branches at all universities to study South Africa's political and administrative problems on a scientific instead of a party-political basis and to give the country's administrators in central and local government the benefit of academic knowledge and thought. Proposed Africa Institute The S.A. Academy of Arts and Science plans to set up an Africa Institute to gather, sift, and publish information about all affairs affecting Africa. A comprehensive library will be built up for the use of other interested bodies and the general public. 'South Africa First' Movement The 'South Africa First' movement has recently been established in Pretoria by a group of business and professional men, with the aim of promoting a broad South African nationalism and fostering better mutual understanding betwen the two White sections of the population. It is hoped later to establish branches in other towns. Among those who have promised support is Mr N. C.
RELATIONS: 1954-55 Havenga, the former Deputy Prime Minister. Study groups havebeen set up to examine particular aspects of matters that divide Afrikaans-speaking and English- speaking people. *The movement has issued a statement on its Native policy, which is the achievement of territorial segregation on a voluntary basis by providing attractive opportunities for Africans in the reserves. Research into matters affecting race relations Research projects affecting particular racial groups or concerned with matters such as employment, health, and so on are mentioned in later chapers of this Survey. One of the broader research projects now in progress is the Border Regional Survey, being conducted by the Institute of Social and Economic Research at Rhodes University and financed by the National Council for Social Research. The Border area presents a unique field of research for all branches of social science because of the long-established contact between Black and White and the close juxtaposition of commercial and industrial centres such as Port Elizabeth, progressive White farming areas, and Native reserves where primitive agricultural methods still prevail. The survey is divided into four main sections: geographical and natural resources, an economic survey, a sociological study of the White and Coloured people, and a sociological study of the Africans. Another project in progress at the Institute of Social and Fconomic Research is a study of the history of Christian missions in the Eastern Cape. The National Council for Social Research has also financed a comprehensive study of Non-White communities in the Western Cape, being carried out by the Departments of African Studies and Economics of the University of Cape Town, in co-operation with the University of Stellenbosch. The Faculty of Social Science at Cape Town is continuing its well-known intensive sociological surveys of Greater Cape Town and of Windermere. The Institute for Social Research, University of Natal, is arranging an exploratory conference of social scientists and representatives of the Institute of Race Relations, to take place in January 1956, at which plans for a research project on inter-group attitudes will be discussed.
10 A SURVEY OF RACE THE ROLE OF THE S.A. INSTITUTE OF RACE RELATIONS Consideration of the present racial situation Representative, as it is, of all groups within the country, the S.A. Institute of Race Relations is not motivated by any sectional interest. Its approach is to act in faith and according to the fundamental principles of christian living and the values basic to western civilization, in the belief that if principles are sound, the outcome of action based on them will be right and just. It has never departed from its original policy not to support any one political party, and it has during the twenty- six years of its existence frequently found itself critical of aspects of policy of the government of the day. The Institute is most sincerely convinced that White domination or baasskap is immoral, that total apartheid is impossible of achievement, and that attempts to implement this policy are causing not only further fragmentation of an already divided people, and an atmosphere of fear and suspicion, but also thousands of individual cases of bewilderment, suffering, and, indeed, heartbreak. In reaching this conclusion the Institute is fully aware that some of the practical measures adopted in pursuance of the goal of apartheid are good: it welcomes the rehabilitation of the reserves, the excellent development of health services, improvement of school syllabuses, the creation of new posts for Africans in the service of their people. But the Institute is convinced that such measures cannot justify a wrong principle. In her Presidential Address in 1955(1) the Institute's President, Dr Ellen Hellmann, pointed to the contradiction that runs through South African history: the desire of many to remain separate is always contradicted by the compulsion to co-operate. From the earliest days White settlers have needed Non-White labour, but with this need has gone the desire to keep the labourers out of the western social structure. During recent years there have been intensified attempts to define, precisely and rigidly, the status and rights of each group. As the Institute's Director, Mr Quintin Whyte, has pointed out, (2) the deluge of ideological legislation has hardly disturbed the dynamic flow of economic forces. White manpower resources are already strained, and it is inevitable that increasing numbers of Africans will be drawn into the economy of the country. The Government admits that this is happening: the new Minister of Labour has said on several occasions(3) that the country simply does not possess the trained and qualified White manpower to do the work demanded by its rapid industrial expansion, and that in spite of the infiltration of Non-Whites, there has been no ousting (1) Published by the Institute tinder the title Racial Laws versus Economic and Social Forces. (2) In 'A Review of I'ecent Legislation,' R.R.24/1955. (:) e.g., speech at National Party rally, Cape Town, 13 March 1955, as widely reported in the press.
RELATIONS: 1945-55 11 of White labour. (4) Increasing use of Non-White labour has been made by the Government itself in public industries, on the railways, in the post office, police force, and administrative branches of the public service. (5) The impracticability of total segregation is becoming ever more clearly evident. The Government and its supporters have warned the country that the White section will have to make sacrifices if the policy of separate development is to be implemented, but the Report of the Tomlinson Commission, which presumably gives some indication of the extent of the 'sacrifices' required, has not been released. In the article quoted above, the Institute's Director continued, 'Recent legislation seems to represent a superstructure with no real foundation, for surely such measures must be built on consent and co-operation, and they must also be in harmony with the fundamental social, economic, and moral forces in the country ..... It has been the contention of the Institute over the years that this legislation is unreal andunrelated to fact.' If the only effect of unreal legislation were to waste the time of Parliament, the Institute would not concern itself as deeply with Government policies as it has done. But there are far graver consequences. The apartheid doctrine is doing infinite harm by increasing group isolation, by focussing attention on sectional and racial differences rather than on common interests, by imposing divisions along racial lines in organizations in which the common loyalties and prides of members had previously overridden language and skin colour. The policy is hardening out opposition and is causing infinite misery among people forced to move from homes on land owned in freehold, among traders threatened with eviction, among those who are being racially classified according to the lower of two possible categories, among thousands of bewildered and apprehensive people. The Institute's Director recently analysed the present situation in the light of experience gained over the years and particularly during recent tours of the Union. (') His first and most important impression, he said, was that almost all sections of the community were afraid and hesitant. There would appear to be a tendency for many in public life to weigh their words carefully lest by some trick of legislation they found themselves guilty of incitement or some other offence. The denunciation of 'liberalism' and the threat of numerous sanctions make business men and many others unwilling to align themselves with an organization such as the Institute, to support an opposition party as fully as they might otherwise do, to make contacts across the colour line, or, so far as Non-Whites particularly are concerned, to voice even moderate opinions on matters which are of vital importance to their own people. A (4) Assembly, 7 June 1955; Hansard 18, col. 7154. (5) Statistics are given in the chapter of this Sumey dealing with employment. (6) The Forum, July 1955.
A SURVEY OF RACE society in which most citizens who are opposed to the Government's policy act under restraint and with hesitation cannot have any claim to being democratic. A concomitant of this prevailing attitude of fear, the Director continued, was loss of personal integrity. For White people this consisted in accepting restraints and forgoing the right of private judgment and the right to pronounce it, and in an acceptance of expediency as an escape from the rigidities of principled conduct. With few but significant exceptions acts of discrimination against Non-Whites have not given rise to any reaction of outrage amongst the Whites, few of whom have been personally affected so far by recent legislation. At the same time, there would appear to have been a considerable lowering of African morale and a turning by many towards the positive material benefits which might be obtained under forms of apartheid. Not only was the country probably more sharply divided than it had ever been before, the Director said, but this was true also of the groups within it - the White people, the Non-White communities, the churches .... Such division and confusion gave rise to weariness, to indecision, to apathy. South Africa was forging no developing unity, no common national prides, no single unifying ideal. On the contrary, bitterness was biting deeper. That there have been no ebullitions of feeling among NonWhites in South Africa during recent months, as have taken place in other African territories, cannot, in the Institute's opinion, be regarded as proof of general contentment. On the other hand, it is clear that the present mood of helplessness; if not despair, is by no means universal in South Africa. Numbers of individuals have during the past year stood out against the tide of apathy and taken action in terms of their own consciences and sense of right and justice. There is increasing questioning of the validity of the policy of apartheid, even amongst the ranks of Afrikaner nationalism. A leader of the Dutch Reformed Church has stated publicly that baasskap (the policy of the National Party according to the Prime Minister(7) is not a Christian concept. The Inter-Racial Church Conference convened by the Dutch Reformed Churches was a significant event in South African history. The task which the Institute has set itself The Institute of Race Relations, which is not a political body, does not use the party political arena to protest against the philosophy of baasskap, to prove the impossibility of apartheid, to promote unifying ideals in our diverse society. It can, however, as in the past, try to give a constructive lead to thinking, in the hope that continued economic, social, and spiritual development will knit the interests of the peoples of South Africa ever more irreversibly into one, in the knowledge that there are new forces at work in the world (7) Assembly, 19 Aprii 1955, ftansard 11, cols. 4141-2.
RELATIONS: 1945-55 outside - new evaluations of human beings and human relationswhich demand that the equal worth and equal dignity of all men of whatever colour must be recognized,(8) in the faith that reason and justice will eventually prevail. The Institute has, during the past year, continued its efforts to combat the tendency to separation and fragmentation in South Africa by maintaining 'bridges,' by making it possible for leaders of thought of various parties and races to meet, in private or in public. During July 1955, for example, it arranged a public symposium in Johannesburg on 'The Outlook for South Africa,' at which the point of view of Afrikaner Nationalism was expressed by Professor L. J. du Plessis, Professor of Political Science at Potchefstroom University, that of the African people by Mr Paul Mosaka, a business man of Orlando, and that of the so-called liberals by Mr Julius Lewin, Senior Lecturer in Native Law and Administration at the University of the Witwatersrand. (9) At all conferences it convenes the Institute strives to ensure that all representative points of view are expressed, for it believes that no solution of South Africa's problems will be found unless due regard be given to all views sincerely and honestly held. The Institute organized the two Church conferences convened by the Dutch Reformed Churches, in 1953 and 1954 respectively. It maintains as close touch as is possible with political parties, Non-White organizations, churches, and voluntary bodies whose work impinges on race relations. It arranges broadcasts and public lectures to help the peoples of South Africa better to understand one another's customs, traditions, aspirations, and trends of thought. Four broadcasts were given over the national transmission of the S.A. Broadcasting Corporation during June and July 1955: by Professor D. Hobart Houghton on 'The Need for Research on the Problems of Race Relations,' by Dr the Hon. E. H. Brookes on 'Good Manners and Race Relations,' by the President, Dr Ellen Hellmann, on 'The Emerging African Middle Class,' and by the Director on 'Signposts to Better Race Relations.'(10) Throughout its twenty-six years of existence, the Institute's method of approach has been to find out the facts of situations, to examine these facts carefully and objectively, and then to take what action is possible in the circumstances of each case. This objective fact-finding work has been continued during the past year: the various projects are described in the chapters that follow. Its work in the field of Afrikaans /English relations and adult education and its publications programme have been maintained; this work, together with the activities of the Institute on specific practical (s) Quoted from the Director's review, R.R.24/1955, op cit. ( T) Their addresses were published by the Institute in duplicated form: R.R.122/55, 121/55, and 117/55 respectively. (10) RR.125/55.
14 ASURVEYOFRACE issues, is also described in succeeding sections and chapters of this Survey. Findings of the Institute's Council, January 1955 The theme of the Institute's Council meeting held in Cape Town duringJanuary 1955, was 'South Africa's Changing Economy'. The papers given are summarized in relevant sections below. Findings of the Council were as follows:-1. The sense of insecurity felt by all Non-European groups and the failure to put to adequate use South Africa's full potentialities of land and human resources were considered to be basic elements in the present situation. 2. Reasons for such feelings of insecurity were found in legislative enactments such as the Natives Resettlement Act, the Natives Land and Trust Amendment Act, the Bantu Education Act, the Group Areas Act, in the recent statement by the Secretary for Native Affairs on the presence of Africans in the Western Province, in the expressed intention to perpetuate and extend the system of migratory labour, and in the lack of security of tenure in urban areas for all Non-Europeans. 3. The papers and discussions on the economic structure of the country revealed not only the waste of the country's resources which policies of restriction and discrimination cause but also the inextricable inter-dependence of all branches of the economy. The growing effective co-operation between the different groups constitutes the real reason for the improvement in living standards of all those brought into modern forms of economic activity. Measures which attempt to reverse this process and to restrict forms of further emerging co-operation will retard the economic growth of the country and produce undesirable effects on the relationships between the various groups. 4. The conflict between social, moral, and economic trends and legislative enactments emerged clearly from the papers and discussions, and it was the general consensus of opinion that for the progress of the country and for the greater happiness of all its peoples, legislative measures should recognize the essential unity of the economic structure of the country and should not run counter to that co-operation which forms the normal process of economic development. The Council particularly considers, (a) that a basic and essential condition tbr healthy, progressive economic development and for the lessening of racial tension is the provision of security of tenure, the acquisition of full property rights by members of all racial groups and the rapid and increasing provision of housing. (In this last connection the Council pays tribute to the great efforts made by municipalities in recent years). The Council also considers that it is essential to eliminate progressively the
RELATIONS: 1954-5 migratory labour system and to develop a settled and educated population; (b) that the Native reserves should not be retarded by the preservation of those attributes of the tribal system, such as communal tenure, which at present act as impediments to progress. In this connection the Council urges that the report of the Tomlinson Commission be speedily published by the Government and that the Executive Committee of the Institute take steps for a thorough study of this Report; (c) that the scope fbr industrial development in the Reserves depends not only upon a substantial expansion of their agricultural production but also upon the possibility of' providing such prerequisites as power, transport, and other amenities and facilities as are present in established industrial areas; (d) that while very appreciative of the efforts of many municipalities and their officials to soften the harsh impact of legislative enactments, the Council nevertheless considers that further positive steps should be taken to help the social and economic adjustment of Africans and other groups to their new complex urban environment and to reduce the number of restrictions at present imposed upon them; (e) that the Cape Coloured people are assimilated to Western culture and that they should be allowed full participation in the citizenship and other responsibilities of Western civilization; (f) that in view of the alarm aroused by the recent pronouncement of the Secretary for Native Affairs, the Government should be asked to provide a statement on its plans for the future-of the Africans in the Western Province; (g) that the Indian people are an integral part of the economic and social structure of this country and as such should be accepted as full participants in its life, development, and progress. Public discussion meetings and lectures arranged by Regional Committees of the Institute during 1954-5 Southern Transvaal Region First series of discussion meetings- People and Policies in South Africa.' Historical background - Mrs P. Lewsen. Population distribution - Miss Muriel Horrell. Africans: in the reserves and on farms - Dr E. R. Roux. Africans: urbanization and industrialization - Dr Ellen Hellmann. Indians in South Africa --- Dr A. W. Hoernl6.
A SURVEY OF RACE Indians- the international aspect -Mrs M. HaightJackson. The concept of western civilization -- Prof. E. E. Harris. The Coloured people Mr G. van der Haer. Policies for the future Mr Quintin Whyte. Second series -- 'Recent Legislation and Administrative Developments.' The Group Areas Act - Dr G. Lowen. The Bantu Education Act - Mr Michael O'Dowd. (The series was continued during October and November 1955). Public meetings: Conditions on the Gold Coast - Dr Ellen Hellmann. Hawaii a multi-racial society - Prof. C. Glick. Natal Region The Honolulu Conf'erence on 'Race Relations in World Perspective'- Mr Quintin Whyte. Law, race relations, and social change in the United States of America - Prof. Charles Nixon. The Negro in America to-day- Mr Alan Paton. Housing for survival -Prof. P. H. Connell (under joint auspices of the Institute and the Durban Chamber of Commerce). African and Indian adjustment to urbanization -Mr D. G. S. M'Timkulu, Dr S. Cooppan and Mr B. A. Naidoo. Race relations in community development -Prof' W. Hallenbach. Uganda - Dr Leonard Doob. Impressions of the Rhodesias and Belgian Congo- Prof Hansi Pollak. Cape Eastern Region The African in industry and his productivity Mr D. G. Bettison. My experiences in South-East Asia- Revd G.. B. Molefe. The African farm worker in the Eastern Province- Mr Edgar Crews. Cape Western Region Education and race relations --Dr T. B. Davie (Hoernl& Memorial Lecture) India since 1947 -- Mr David Brower. Conditions in Central Africa - Mr Gerald Gordon, Q.C. Work of the Institute in the field of Afrikaans /English relations During the year under review the Institute began the publication of' two quarterly journals entitled Thought and Perspektief. The
RELATIONS: 1954-5 first, in English, deals with trends of Afrikaans thought, while the second, written in Afrikaans, traces trends in 'liberal' thinking. These publications are issued free of charge to all those interested in having them. The independent committee set up by the Institute is continuing its investigation of the causes of friction between English and Afrikaans-speaking people. Also in progress is a survey of history text-books used in schools to determine how far their interpretation of past events may be hurtful or wounding to any section of the population. As is mentioned above, the Institute did the organizational and secretarial work for the inter-racial conference of church leaders held in December 1954, saw the conference report through the press, and is facilitating the work of the Continuation Committee set up at the conference by lending the services of its Assistant Director. The latter continues to give many talks on Afrikaans / English relations at public meetings and meetings of other organizations. The Institute's publications and library Publications issued by the Institute of Race Relations during the year are listed in Annexure I. For the convenience of readers, a list of recent books issued by other publishers which bear on race relations is included as Annexure II. The Institute's reference library, which is open to the public, is at present housed at the University of the Witwatersrand, but it is hoped that during the course of 1956 it will be transferred to the new building being erected in Braamfontein, Johannesburg, to accommodate the Institute's staff and to provide a hall and committee rooms. The library will then be extended and to it will be added the valuable collection of Africana and books dealing with race relations in other countries presented by the late Mr J. D. Rheinallt Jones. The library contains books, pamphlets, periodicals, press cuttings, government blue-books and other publications, statutes, reports of commissions, unpublished memoranda and so on covering the government, administration, and political, economic, and social development of the Union and other African territories, and, in less detail, multi-racial countries outside Africa. The press-cutting collection, taken from all daily papers in the Union, covers a period of nearly twenty years. Weekly newspapers for Whites and NonWhites' from the Union and neighbouring African territories are preserved. All this material is catalogued in great detail. The library acts also as an information bureau, its staff dealing daily with large numbers of requests for information on a multiplicity of subjects.
A SURVEY OF RACE JOINT COUNCILS AND STUDY CIRCLES The Institute of Race Relations sprang from the Joint Council movement, and has continued to interest itself deeply in these bodies. Short accounts of the work of some of them during the past year are thus included. Bloemfontein Joint Council The work of the Bloemfontein Joint Council has been mainly in the practical field, taking up such questions as the provision of bus shelters fbr Africans, inadequate water supply in the African village, and supplies of coal during the shortage. An unsuccessful appeal was made to the City Council for the repeal of the .ban on Non-White spectators at the sports stadium. The Joint Council made arrangements for a visit by the dramatic company, 'Africa Sings.' Two performances were given, one for Whites and one for Non-Whites, and after expenses had been paid the profits were given to the Non-European Child Welfare Society. Membership of the Council is small, but the open meetings it holds in the African village are well attended and are proof of the interest felt in its work. Durban Joint Councils and study groups In Durban the Joint Council of Europeans and Africans has had an active year, several meetings and lectures having been held and visits organized to places of interest, such as the Durban Medical School. The Council is working in very close collaboration with the regional office of the Institute: its chairman and secretary play an active part on the regional committee, while the Institute's Field Organizer serves on the Joint Council's Executive Committee. Also in Durban is a study group on African Affairs, conducted by the National Council of Women, which meets regularly for meetings and lectures. The Institute has assisted with the planning of subjects and speakers. Durban International Club The Durban International Club was founded in 1943 to provide a meeting place for people of different racial groups. It is in no sense political. The premises are open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on weekdays, for tea and lunch and as a place to rest with books and periodicals available. In the evening the club is the venue of more formal activities of a cultural and educational nature. Admission to membership is by application supported by two members and on approval by the Executive Committee. Germiston Study Circle The Germiston inter-racial Study Circle has done another useful year's work. At seven meetings addresses were given on subjects relating to race relations and practical work that is being done to improve inter-racial feeling; also there were two travel talks and a
RELATIONS: 1954-55 19 film evening. Members visited the T.B. settlement at Alexandra Township. Two jumble sales were organized, the proceeds being divided between organizations concerned with Non-White welfare. Ladybrand Joint Council Like others, particularly in the smaller towns, the Ladybrand Joint Council has found that representations by an inter-racial body are not always welcomed. White members have increasingly turned their attention to assisting individual Africans who are in difficulties resulting from the pass laws, those ordered to leave farms or wishing to bring in aged parents or infirm relatives to join them, Coloured people endeavouring to enter what are now described as Bantu locations, women whose husbands have absconded and thereby have rendered them illegal inhabitants of a location, and so on. Endeavours are made to secure the amelioration of harsh regulations dealing with such matters as brickfields, grazing, fencing, water supply, etc. Positive charitable work continues in clinics, school-feeding schemes, a community centre, and the distribution of blankets to the infirm aged. Pietermaritzburg Indo-European Joint Council The Pietermaritzburg Indo-European Joint Council holds quarterly meetings at which subjects such as the economic position of Indians in South Africa and child welfare work amongst Indians have recently been discussed. It has founded the Davis Youth Club with the object of providing useful activities for Indian youths after working hours. The Council has made successful representations to the Natal Education Department in regard to the staffing of a local high school, and is working for the establishment of an Indian social centre and a Non-European library. Pietermaritzburg Joint Council of Europeans and Africans General meetings of the Joint Council of Europeans and Africans in Pietermaritzburg have been addressed by speakers on the r6le of Joint Councils, the value of night schools, transport problems for workers, and housing. As a result of discussion following these talks, several literacy classes have been started in factories, and a local concern is considering improving housing facilities for African workers in accordance with suggestions made at a meeting. The Council has also succeeded in obtaining extended recreational facilities for Africans and improved train services. Representations have been made in regard to admission of Africans to concerts and plays, conditions in hostels, indiscriminate arrests, improvement of railway station waiting rooms, road transport services, and other matters. Pretoria Joint Council of Europeans and Non-Europeans During the past year the Pretoria Joint Council has held nine general meetings : one was addressed by the Institute's Director on
A SURVEY OF RACE trends in recent legislation and three were devoted to aspects of' Bantu education. The Council submitted a memorandum to-the Land Tenure Advisory Board expressing its objections to the proposed zoning of Pretoria, which involves, inter alia, the removal of Africans from Lady Selborne. A member of the Institute's staff assisted by making a survey of conditions in this township. Great interest is being taken by Council members in Vlakfontein: they accompanied City Councillors on a tour of the housing and siteand-service schemes there, and continue to urge the provision of necessary amenities, in particular postal facilities. Rustenburg Study Circle The Rustenburg Study Circle, run by members of the National Council of Women, spent the last four months of 1954 in studying juvenile delinquency and penal reform. Members decided during the first four months of 1955 to investigate colonial policies in Africa generally, in order to gain a better perspective of the Union's problems. Experts from Pretoria and Johannesburg visited Rustenburg to give talks on subjects under discussion. The next session will be devoted to studying the implementation of recent legislation.
RELATIONS: 1954-55 CONSTITUTION AND POWERS OF PARLIAMENT The Background For five years, now, South Africa has been bitterly divided on the constitutional question, and for the sake of clarity it is useful to recall the background. The Status of the Union Act of 1934, which was introduced in order to bring the constitution of the Union, as established by the South Africa Act of 1909, into agreement with the Statute of Westminster, provides that the Parliament of the Union shall be the sovereign legislative power in and over the Union. When proposals for the Statute of Westminster were being debated in the Union Parliament in 1931, it was unanimously agreed that nothing in the resolutions then passed would derogate from the validity of the entrenched clauses of the South Africa Act, which deal with existing voting rights and the equality of the two official languages and lay down procedure for amending these. Some years later, in the case Ndlwana vs Hofmeyr, the appellant challenged the validity of the Representation of Natives Act of 1936, which had been passed in accordance with the prescribed procedure, on the ground that the procedure had been incorrect. The Appeal Court ruled that as Parliament is a sovereign authority it is legally entitled to determine its own procedure. Then, in 1951, the Separate Representation of Voters Act, which provided that Coloured voters were to be placed on a separate roll from the Whites to elect certain representatives of their own, was passed by Parliament functioning as it normally does, as a bicameral institution. The validity of the measure was challenged the following year, in the case Harris vs Diinges. After the fullest argument and consideration of material not placed before it previously, the Appeal Court came to the conclusion that the entrenched clauses were more than a matter of procedure and gave legal validity to the moral obligations undertaken on all sides in 1931. The judgment made it clear that the sovereignty of Parliament was not in doubt, but that Parliament must function in the way it was constituted by the South Africa Act. For all ordinary business it is a bicameral institution, but for all matters which fall within the scope of the entrenched clauses it is a unicameral institution and functions with a two-thirds majority. As the Separate Representation of Voters Act had been passed by the Senate and the Assembly separately, and with simple majorities, it was ruled invalid. The High Court of Parliament Act was passed in 1952, providing for the establishment of a court consisting of all the members of the Senate and Assembly sitting together, which would have power by a simple majority to confirm, vary, or set aside any judgment of the Appeal Court invalidating an Act of Parliament. In turn, the High Court of Parliament Act was ruled invalid on the ground that Parliament cannot, by giving itself the name of a court of law,
A SURVEY OF RACE come to any decision which would have the effect of destroying the entrenched provisions of the constitution. A South Africa Act Amendment Bill was then introduced but failed to gain a two- thirds majority at a joint sitting. The next step was the introduction of the Appellate Division Bill, providing for a Court of Constitutional Appeal which would be the only court to hear appeals relating to Acts of Parliament. This measure was not proceeded with. Instead, a Separate Representation of Voters Act Validation and Amendment Bill was introduced at a joint session and then referred to a. Select Committee which, early in 1954, put forward a redrafted Bill seeking to revalidate the 1951 Act and to make one small amendment. This was placed before joint sessions of both Houses, but failed to gain a two-thirds majority at the third reading. Constitution of the Appeal Court Since 1950, when appeals to the Privy Council were abolished,(') the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court has been South Africa's final court of appeal. In terms of the South Africa Act as amended by Act No. 37 of 1948, it consists of the chief justice and as many judges of appeal as are required: there was a total of six members at the beginning of 1955. When there is an appeal against the judgment of one judge, the quorum in the Appeal Court is three. When there is an appeal against the judgment of two or three judges, as in civil cases which must first be heard by the bench of the Provincial Division concerned, a quorum of four has been required in the Appellate Division, with the proviso that if the fourjudges were equally divided the judgment of the lower court would stand as that of the Appeal Court. In March 1955, five firther judges of appeal were appointed, making a total of eleven. Appellate Division Quorum Act, No. 27 of 1955 The Appellate Division Quorum Act provides that five, instead of four, judges shall normally form a quorum in civil cases. When, however, the validity of any Act of Parliament (including any instrument which purports to be and has been assented to by the Governor-General as such an Act) is in question, whether the matter be civil or criminal, the quorum shall be eleven. If at any stage during the hearing of an appeal one or more of the judges should die, retire, or become otherwise incapable of acting, or be absent, the hearing shall proceed before the remaining judges; when the quorum is five, judgment must be the decision of at least three judges, and when it is eleven, that of at least six. During the second-reading debate in the Assembly, on 25 April 1955, the Minister of Justice(2) dealt at some length with past (1) These appeals could !he lodged only with the special leave of the Privy Council. (2) Hansard 12, cols. 4425-31.
RELATIONS: 1954-55 cases in which the validity of Acts of Parliament had been disputed. It was advisable, he said, to increase the quorum in case further such disputes should occur. The Appeal Court had in 1952 reversed its decision of 1937, and some certainty was now essential. This might be impossible to achieve if the quorum remained the even number of four. The Government had never taken an unlawful step, nor did it intend to do so. It accepted the latest interpretation by the Appeal Court, but would not abide by this. It would take consitutional steps to reinstate the sovereignty of Parliament and to ensure that the courts should liax~e no testing rights in regard to the legality of laws. Extremely lengthy debates ensued in both the Assembly and the Senate. All parties constituting the Opposition opposed the Bill at the second and third readings and declined to participate during the committee stage, on the ground that no amendments could render it an acceptable measure, but the Bill was passed and assented to by the Governor-General on 10 May 1955. Constitution of the Senate at the Beginning of 1955 In terms of the South Africa Act as amended by the Representation of Natives Act of 1936 and the South-West African Affairs Amendment Act of 1949, the Senate at the beginning of 1955 consisted of 48 members. Of these, 10 were nominated by the Governor-General-in-Council (eight for the Union and two for South-West Africa). Half of the nominated members (i.e., four for the Union and one for South-West Africa) were selected on the ground mainly of their thorough acquaintance with the reasonable wants and wishes of the Coloured races. Another 34 senators (eight for each province and two for SouthWest Africa) were elected, according to the system of proportional representation with the single transferable vote, by the members of the House of Assembly and of the provincial council for each province, and in the case of South-West African representatives, by the members of the House of Assembly and of the Legislative Assembly for the territory, sitting together and presided over by the Administrator. The remaining four members were elected by Africans. Under the provisions of Act No. 54 of 1926, the GovernorGeneral was empowered to dissolve the Senate within 120 days of the dissolution of the Assembly. Natives' Representatives held their seats for five years, elected members for ten years or until the dissolution of the Senate, and nominated members for ten years or until the dissolution of the Senate or until a change of government took place. Section 25 of the South Africa Act states that Parliament may provide for the manner in which the Senate shall be constituted after the expiry of a period of ten years from the establishment of the Union.
A SURVEY OF RACE The Senate Act, No. 53 of 1955 The Senate Bill was introduced into the Assembly on 11 May 1955 (the day after the Appellate Division Quorum Act became law). In its final form this measure provides that the GovernorGeneral will dissolve the Senate before the end of the year, when all members except the Natives' Representatives will vacate their seats. The new Senate will consist of: a) Sixteen members from the Union nominated by the GovernorGeneral, eight of these on the ground mainly of their thorough acquaintance with the reasonable wants and wishes of the Coloured races; b) a number of elected members from each of the four provinces equal (to the nearest figure) to one-fifth of the total number of members of the House of Assembly plus the members of of the provincial council elected in that province, but in no case less than eight; c) (as before) two elected and two nominated members from South-West Africa, one of the latter selected on the ground mainly of his thorough acquaintance with the reasonable wants and wishes of the Coloured races; d) (as before) four members elected by Africans. Elected senators from the provinces of the Union will be elected by the members of the House of Assembly(3) and of the provincial council of each province, sitting together. The system of proportional representation will no longer be used, however. Instead, elections will be by majority vote, each voter having one nontransferable vote for each senator to be elected (the bulk vote or 'ticket' system). Both nominated and elected senators will hold their seats for five years (instead of ten years as previously) unless the Senate is dissolved before this period has elapsed, and, in the case of nominated members, unless there is a change of government in the meanwhile. As a result of the introduction of the new system there will at present be seats for 27 elected members from the Transvaal, 22 from the Cape, and 8 each from Natal and the Orange Free State. Including the four from South-West Africa, the four Natives' Representatives, and the 16 nominated members, there will thus be a total of 89 senators. Because the National Party has the majority at present in the electoral colleges of the Cape, Transvaal, and Free State, all elected senators from these provinces (57 in all) will be members of that party, while all 8 from Natal will be United Party members. Smaller parties will gain no representation. When the South-West African and Natives' Representatives and nominated members are also taken into account, the party strengths in the Senate will be 77 Government to 12 Opposition members, and in both Houses 171 Government to 77 Opposition members. In the () Other than Natives' Representatives in the case of the Cape Province.
RELATIONS: 1954-55 event of a joint sitting of both Houses at which a two-thirds majority vote is required, the Government would now have five more than two-thirds of the votes. Further sections of the Act contained in the original Bill provide that the quorum in the Senate will now be 15 out of the 89 members (the previous quorum was 12 out of48 members), and that candidates for election must own property. The previous stipulation that this property had to have an unencumbered value of £500 was deleted. Two extremely important provisions were added, however, at the suggestion of the Minister of the Interior, after the, second reading debate. Opposition members had pointed out that the measure, as originally drafted, might have certain grave consequences that had apparently not been foreseen by the Government. At the next general election a party other than the Nationalists might gain a small majority in the Assembly, but would for the time being continue to have a large minority in the Senate. To provide for such a contingency the Governor-General had in 1926 been empowered to dissolve the Senate within 120 days of the dissolution of the Assembly, but this provision would no longer be of assistance to a new government because of the new system of electing senators by bulk vote. The composition of provincial councils would remain unaltered for some twelve months, and the party previously in power would thus still have majorities in most of the electoral colleges for election of senators. By the time the next provincial elections were held it would be too late to dissolve the Senate, and the new government would have to await the next general election. Only if it then once more gained a majority in the Assembly, could it reconstitute the upper House to its numerical advantage. Meanwhile a hostile Senate could refuse to pass legislation, and a conflict between the two Houses could not be resolved in joint session because the new government would have a minority of votes at such a session. The Senate could thus block the Budget and refuse money to govern the country. In effect, if the Senate Bill became law, there would be no constitutional way of bringing about a change of government. The committee stage of the Bill was delayed while the Cabinet considered this situation, and then the Minister of the Interior placed certain proposed amendments, which became law, before the Committee of the whole House. The first of these deals with procedure in case of disagreement between the two Houses. If a money Bill is passed by the Assembly but not by the Senate, or should the Senate make amendments which are unacceptable to the Assembly, the views of the upper House are to be disregarded and the Bill will become law. This procedure can be completed within one session so that the Budget cannot be blocked or the voting of money unduly delayed. All other Bills must, if there is disagreement, be held over until the next session, in the succeeding calendar year. If there is then again disagreement, all Bills except those affecting the entrenched clauses will during this second
A SURVEY OF RACE session become law in spite of the Senate's refusal to pass them. (4) The second amendment made provides that the GovernorGeneral may in future dissolve the Senate within 120 days from the expiry of the term of office of a provincial council. Parliamentary Debate on the Senate Bill The Opposition took the unusual step of opposing the introduction of the Senate Bill at its first reading, but were outvoted. In opening the second reading debate, (5) the Minister of the Interior said the Government had received a mandate from the people at two successive elections to establish the separate representation of Coloured and White voters and the sovereignty of Parliament. This Bill resulted from the fact that the Opposition would not bow to the will of the people. It was the least drastic of the possible methods which could have been followed. Even if it was more drastic than the Government would have liked, it must be remembered that drastic measures were demanded in the present situation. (6) The Minister analysed electoral statistics in some detail. Omitting the nominated senators, the Opposition would under the new arrangement have 33.5 per cent. of the seats in both Houses. It had about 50 per cent. of the votes in the country, but the Government had the majority in 95 of the 159 electoral units of the House of Assembly. If there were smaller electoral units the position might be different. Electoral units for the Senate were not the same: the Government had the majority in four out of five of these. But this did not mean, as had been contended, that South Africa was on the way to a one-party state. In 1938 the ratio in both Houses had been 153 to 37 (as against 171 to 77 under the new arrangement now proposed for the Senate), but in 1938 members of the present Opposition had not said it was the end of democracy in South Africa. In terms of proposals in the Senate Bill members of the Opposition in four of the five electoral units would admittedly now have no representation in the Senate, but Opposition voters in the Free State, who were 26.5 per cent. of the total there, had no representatives in the Assembly and there had been no complaints about that. (7) The Prime Minister, who entered the debate later, emphasized(") that the object of the Bill and the legislation that would follow was (4) The previous procedure was that if there was disagreement over a money Bill, the two Houses met in joint session, as soon as was desire(], and a majority vote then prevailed. So far as other Bill were concerned, in the event of disagreement they were held over to the next session, in a succeeding calendar year. If there was again disagreement a joint session was convened, and again a majority vote then prevailed except in the case of Bills affecting the entrenchedI clauses. Such Bills had at all stages to be placed before joint sessions and required a two-thirds majority at the third reading. (0) Hansard 16, cols. 6003-20. Assembly, 23 May 1955. (6) col. 6019. (7) cols. 6016-7. (s) Hansard 16, col. 6032-50,
RELATIONS: 1954--55 to put the Coloured people on a separate roll. His standpoint remained that no entrenchment could bind Parliament. The Leader of the Opposition said(9) that if it was true, as the Minister of the Interior had claimed, that the Government was advancing in strength daily, why did it not appeal to the country and let the people provide it with a two-thirds majority. The Act of Union was based on an honourable compromise between the four colonies: without the entrenched clauses there could have been no Union. When proposals for the Statute of Westminster were being debated in the Union Parliament in 1931, several members of the present Government subscribed to a unanimous motion that nothing in the resolutions then passed would derogate in the least from the validity of the entrenched clauses. It was unanimously understood that the bonds of good faith and honour were more binding than those of mere law. Good faith was now being brushed aside as the inconvenient dead hand of the past. Other Opposition speakers reminded the Prime Minister that the volkswil was the will of all the people, not just the National Party and not just the Whites. The Senate was to become larger but less representative. One of its functions had been to guard the rights of minorities, but minority parties would now be excluded and the representation of Africans diluted. It was also pointed out, as has been described above, that if the Bill became law in its original form there might be no constitutional way of bringing about a change of government. On the fourth day of the second-reading debate the Minister moved the suspension of the standing order relating to adjournment, and the debate then continued throughout the night and ended only on the evening of the fifth day. During the committee stage, after the Minister's amendments had been moved, Opposition members protested that the Senate was being rendered virtually powerless. In the Assembly and Senate they forced a division on every clause. The Bill finally passed its third reading in the Senate on 16 June and was assented to by the Governor-General on 20 June 1955. Reactions in South Africa to the Appellate Division Quorum Act and Senate Act The introduction of the Senate Bill led to an upsurge of feeling not only amongst members of Opposition political parties, but also among people who had previously taken little practical interest in politics. It also caused some disquiet amongst Government supporters, reflected in the pro-Government press. The proGovernment paper Die Burger, for example, said on 18 May: 'No right- thinking person can approve of the Senate Bill as seen by itself. It is acceptable to the Nationalists and to Nationalist sympathisers only as a possible means of ending the completely untenable position created by the United Party in relation to the (9) cols. 6020-30.
A SURVEY OF RACE question of the Coloured vote.' Members of the National Party, however, voted solidly for the Bill during the Parliamentary debates. Large numbers of very well attended protest meetings and mass rallies of citizens were held in cities and towns all over the Union; some of these meetings passed resolutions of protest against the Bill which were formally submitted to the Senate and the Assembly. Tens of thousands of people signed petitions or wrote individual letters to the Prime Minister asking him to withdraw the Bill. This general protest campaign reached its culminating point on Union Day, 31 May, when all over the country mass meetings of rededication to the spirit of Union were held. Special services of rededication were held in many of the churches, prayers being offered for the leaders of all political parties, and undenominational rallies of Christian men and women were arranged. Several churches, for example, the Baptist Union, the Congregational Churches (Northern Districts), and others, published official protests against the terms of the Bill. The measure was debated by several provincial and city councils. In the Cape Provincial Council, for example, the United Party introduced a motion requesting the withdrawal of the Bill, which was defeated by a narrow majority. A similar motion in the Transvaal Provincial Council met with larger opposition. In Natal, however, the Provincial Council formally expressed its disapproval and condemnation of the measure. Johannesburg City Council requested the Prime Minister to withdraw it. After this initial upsurge, however, in most Opposition quarters there ensued a feeling of perplexity as to what constitutional action could be taken. Many people relapsed into apathy: their personal interests were unaffected by the legislation and the country continued to be prosperous. Others have been afraid of speaking out in case they found themselves guilty of incitement or some other offence, or lest their business interests be prejudiced. Political uncertainty has led to demoralization in many Non-White organizations: many of the leaders have been proscribed, some of the members are opportunist, others have succumbed to despair. But resolute opposition has continued in certain circles. Thirteen professors and senior lecturers at the Universities of Pretoria and South Africa, where the environment is very largely pro-Government, protested publicly against the Senate Bill, (1') stating that their objections were based on moral and constitutional, not party-political or 'pseudo-legalistic,' grounds. There was vehement criticism of their action in the pro-Government press. Individuals at the Universities of Stellenbosch, Potchefstroom, and Bloemfontein then expressed their concern that freedom of thought and speech be safeguarded; and 286 professors and lecturers at the Universities of Cape Town, the Witwatersrand, Natal, and Rhodes associated themselves with the statement made by their colleagues in Pretoria. (ii)) Published in press on 17 May 1955.
RELATIONS: 1954-55 Large numbers of South African women have felt that more dynamic, though constitutional, action is called for than that taken by Opposition political parties. Some 97,000 women signed a petition to the Governor-General asking him to withhold his assent to the Senate Bill; and after this had proved to be of no avail, about a hundred thousand signed a petition to the Prime Minister, demanding that his Government repeal the Act or else resign from office. Hundreds of women marched in silent protest to public meetings held in Johannesburg, Pretoria, and other centres, and accompanied the delegates chosen to present the petition to the Prime Minister. They were angered by the fact that the Prime Minister did not receive them in person. Between seventy and a hundred of them thereupon decided to maintain a 48-hour vigil near his offices, at the Union Buildings, to demonstrate their determination to defend the constitution, and they camped in the open for this period at a time when the temperature was below freezing point at night. The Women's Defence of the Constitution League, a non-party political organization, then sprang into being. By September 1955 it had some 62 branches, some of them in small platteland towns. The women organized a 'black sash vigil.' Daily since July, four silent women with black sashes across their shoulders have maintained an eight-hour vigil outside the Cabinet Ministers' offices at the Union Buildings in Pretoria. The intention is to continue this vigil outside the House of Assembly in Cape Town when Parliament re-assembles. Whenever a Cabinet Minister has attended a public function or has departed from or arrived back in the Union at the international airport, a double file of silent women with black sashes has awaited him at the entrance. A day of prayer and dedication was held by the Women's Defence of' the Constitution League on 10 August. Lectures are now being arranged in various centres on the Union's constitution and problems. Interests are beginning to widen beyond the specific matter of the Senate Act. The Women's Movement has given wide publicity to a speech made by Dr A. W. HoernlI at a public meeting in Johannesburg convened by the Mayor. The Institute of Race Relations published a summary of it in the August number of its Race Relation News. Towards the end ofJune a new movement called the Covenanters was formed, initially in Johannesburg. Their declared belief is that the aim of the Act of Union was not only to bring the peoples of South Africa under a single government, but to create the attitudes and build the institutions under which these different groups could live in harmony and trust, and parliamentary government could continue to develop. Recent alterations arbitrarily made to the Appeal Court and to the Senate, they state, are in conflict with that aim and are destroying trust in the parliamentary government of the country. Because it is essential to restore that trust and to secure allegiance to a common ideal of government, they pledge themselves to work by all just means for a national
A SURVEY OF RACE convention, where the representatives of the people, fairly elected for that purpose, may agree on how the aims of the Act of Union may now be achieved. Signatures to this covenant are being collected. The Congress of the People, attended mainly by representatives of Non-White organizations, is described on page 4, under 'Congress of the People', since this did not arise specifically from the introduction of the Senate Bill. As is indicated above, there was little public reaction by Non-Whites to this measure: the main upsurge of Non-White opinion had occurred when the first steps towards placing Coloured voters on a separate roll were taken in 1951, and the aim of the campaign then embarked upon was the repeal of all legislation considered discriminatory. Since 1951 many of the Non-White leaders have been proscribed and for various reasons, outlined on page 3, there has been demoralization and confusion in a number of the leading Non-White organizations. A protest meeting of Non-Whites did take place in Cape Town when the Senate Bill was introduced, however, and in September 1955 the S.A. Coloured People's Organization issued a public statement(") reiterating its determination to fight not only for the right to remain on the common voters' roll, but for the extension of the full franchise, without qualification, to all Non-White South Africans. Six Coloured leaders issued a statement (12) saying that because of previous assaults on their rights, with continuous humiliations, there was a feeling of despair and hopelessness in the Coloured community which was wrongly interpreted as a lack of interest. The vast majority did not want to be removed from the common roll. There was division among them, not on opposition to the Bill, but on how to oppose it. These are the main overt signs of opposition to the alterations to the constitution, but there has been a stirring within the ranks of several political parties. The ferment which occurred in Natal in 1953 led to the formation of the Union Federal Party: under the auspices of leaders of this party an Anti-Republican League has recently been formed, its members pledged to refuse to recognize the authority of a republic should this be established in South Africa without the agreement of each of the four provinces, expressed separately by way of referendum. The so- called liberal wing of' the United Party has become increasingly restive, feeling that a more forthright policy of opposition is called for than that adopted by party leaders. Misgivings were aroused amongst them and their supporters by a statement by the Leader of the United Party on the Coloured vote issue. He said that if' Coloured voters were placed on a separate roll his party would 'set right the injustice in the best way possible at the time, in the best interests of South Africa as a whole.' Dr B. Friedman, one of the 'liberal wing,' ("1) The Star, 19 September 1955. (12) The Star, 1 Jtine 1955. RELATIONS: 1954-55 31 called for an unequivocal aflirmation that the party would restore the Coloured people to the common roll, and expressed his loss of confidence in the party leadership. He resigned his seat, and in the subsequent by-election stood as an independent, against a United Party candidate, on a policy of 'Oppose, not Appease.' He lost this election by 2,658 votes to 3.299 in a 59 per cent. poll.
A SURVEY OF RACE REGISTRATION AND CONTROL OF THE POPULATION Progress of Population Registration The process of registration of the African people, being carried out simultaneously with the issue of reference books, is described on page 67. Early in 1954 the Bureau of Census and Statistics made arrangements with private photographers to take the photographs of the remainder of the population which are required for identity cards to be issued under the Population Registration Act, No. 30 of 1950. Each photographer who agreed to participate in the scheme was given a supply of official forms to be handed out, and these had to be completed by members of the public and returned to the Bureau with the photographs. In certain areas, for example, the whole of the Transvaal except the Reef and Pretoria, (1) all Non-African persons aged 16 and over have been required at their own expense to furnish the Director of Census with two copies of a recent photograph of themselves by a fixed date. No penalties are laid down for non- compliance, but the Minister of the Interior has said(2) that the time may come when people will be required to produce identity cards and those not possessing these may fall foul of the provisions of the Act. Up to 13 May 1955, £423,098 had been expended on the population register(3). It was then estimated, the Minister said, that a total of 2,783,000 Non-African persons would have to be photographed. It is reported(4) that by 14 October the Bureau of Census and Statistics had 1,403,404 photographs on its files out of an estimated total of 1,848,191 already taken. In the Senate on 15 June the Minister gave details of the progress so far made.(s) Most of the work in Pretoria and on the Witwatersrand had been completed, he said, the undertaking was in full swing in the Western Cape and in a section of Natal, a provisional organization had been set up in a section of the Eastern Province, and preparatory work had been done in other areas. Except on the Witwatersrand, Coloured people and Asiatics had been included in the general undertaking, and the reaction of Asiatics in Natal and of Coloured people and Asiatics in Pretoria and district had been very disappointing. The first identity cards were issued at a special ceremony in Pretoria on 14 October 1955, to the Governor-General, the Prime Minister, the Minister of the Interior, the Mayor of Pretoria, and their wives. One of the difticulties facing the authorities is the time-lag during which more and more boys and girls attain the age of 16 (l) I terms of Governument Notice No. 820 of 5 August 1955. (2) Assembly, 9 May 1955; Hansard 14, col. 5280. (:") Minister of the Interior, Assembly, 13 May; Hansard 14, col. 5592. (4) 'The ,tir, 14 October 1955. (.') Ftansard 14, cols. 4106-7.
RELATIONS: 1954--55 and thus fall within the provisions of the Act. A second major difficulty, which frequently has tragic human repercussions, is the classification of people of 'doubtful racial origin.' System of classification adopted The extremely wide variety of definitions of racial groups in various laws points to the difficulty of classifying people into racial compartments. Scientists would probably say that the task is impossible. In an article contributed to the press,(6) Dr Edward Roux, Senior Lecturer in Botany at the University of the Witwatersrand, says that even trained anthropologists would give contradictory opinions if asked to pronounce on the racial make-up of particular persons. According to the science of genetics, although the chances of it are very small, individuals in a hybrid community may revert to one or other of the original types that went to make up the cross, even if no further intermarriage takes place with members of these original types. It is thus theoretically possible that certain people of 'Coloured' descent are, genetically speaking, completely White and others completely African. According to the Population Registration Act, which one would expect would govern classifications made in terms of the Act, (a) a 'White' person is a person who in appearance obviously is, or who is generally accepted as, a White person, but does not include a person who, although in appearance obviously a White person, is generally accepted as a Coloured person; (b) 'Native' means a person who in fact is, or is generally accepted as, a member of any aboriginal race or tribe of Africa; (c) a 'Colured person' means a person who is not a White person or a Native. In the Assembly on 9 and 17 May 1955 the Minister of the Interior said(7) that persons of mixed descent might fall into any of the three groups, depending on circumstances. Persons of Euro-Asian and Euro-African descent would be classified as Coloured or Native: this, again, would depend on a number of circumstances, for instance, how far back the union took place, what mode of living the persons had to-day, and so on. In general, the striving on the part of a lower layer to obtain a higher status would be taken into account: unless specal circumstances existed, such persons would have to assume the position of the lower layer. That was, however, a very broad generalization, he said. In most laws in which racial groups are defined, as is the case above, the definition of a 'Coloured person' is arrived at mainly by negatives. There are no less than eleven definitions of a'Native,' however, each differing in some respect from the others, and this (1) Sunday Times, 4 September 1955. (-) Hansard 15, col. 5735, and Hansard 14, col. 5228. A SURVEY OF' RACE affects the determination in each case of what a 'Coloured person' is. Moreover, the factors governing classification of a 'White person' generally include appearance and general acceptance: the first is a matter of opinion and the second may be difficult to prove. '[his again means that the line of demarcation between the Coloured group and others is certainly no clear one. A few examples are quoted to show how indefinite the legal line of demarcation between the Coloured people and Africans is. 1. In terms of laws governing residence in urban areas,(8) a person is classified as Coloured if he is not a member of any aboriginal race or tribe of Africa and, if required to do so, can prove this. 2. In terms of laws governing passes, trade unions, population registration, and education,(9) an additional factor is introduced: a Coloured person cannot be classified as such if he is generally accepted as an African. 3. Under some of the laws governing employment,(") such as those dealing with residence, a person is Coloured if he in fact is not a member of any aboriginal race or tribe. But other laws concerned with employment(") introduce further factors: in certain cases Coloured people may be considered to be Africans if they pay general or local taxes (defined sub-groups of Coloured people are excluded), or if they live in an African location under the same conditions as an African.(12). 4. Five more factors are included in laws dealing with the franchise and land apportionment. (13) A Coloured man may be classified as an African if: (a) he (or she in each case) was born of parents either of whom was an Afiican, unless: (i) this marriage was contracted prior to 1936, or (ii) the person concerned was born before 1936 and is by general acceptance and repute not an African; (b) one of his grandparents was an African, unless: (i) their marriage was contracted prior to 1936, or (8) Natives (Urban Areas) Consolidation Act, No. 25 of 1945, and Natives Resettlement Act, No. 19 of 1954. (9) Natives (Abolition of Passes and Co-Ordination of Documents) Act, No. 67 of 1952, Native Labour (Settlement of Disputes) Act, No. 48 of 1953, Population Registration Act, No. 30 of 1950, Bantu Education Act, No. 47 of 1953. (LO) Native Labour Regulation Act, No. 15 of 1911, Unemployment Insurance Act, No. 53 of 1946, Native Service Contract Act, No. 24 of 1932, Native Building Workers Act, No. 27 of 1951, Native Services Levy Act, No. 64 of 19,52. (i) Workmen's Compensation Act, No. 59 of 1934, Registration for Employment Act, No. 34 of 1945, Silicosis Act, No. 47 of 1940. (12) 1)isability Grants Act, No. 36 of 1946. (1.;) Representation of Natives Act, No. 12 of 1936, Native Trust and land Act, No. 18 of 1936. RELATIONS: 1954--55 (ii) the person concerned and his parents are by general acceptance and repute not Africans; (c) he wishes, for the purposes of the Acts concerned, to be regarded as an African; (d) he uses one or other Native language as his customary and natural mode of expression; (e) he follows in his ordinary or daily mode of life the habits of Africans, or associates generally with them under African conditions. 5. Finally, a Coloured woman who marries or co-habits with an African or Asiatic is deemed to have become an African or Asiatic respectively. (14) She is not allowed to marry a White man, but if she acts illegally in co- habiting with one she remains Coloured. Asiatic or African women who marry or co-habit with Coloured men become Coloured. (It is reported that, in practice, officials from the Bureau of Census and Statistics are classifying Coloured men married to Africans as Africans). This variety in the definitions arises from the requirements of different situations, dealt with in different laws. Action under any law has been confined to the definition contained in that law. In other words, it has in the past been possible for a man to be regarded as Coloured for some legal purposes and as an African for others. The -Population Registration Act itself does not specify what action should be taken by officials in such cases. It appears, however, that in practice they have been taking into account all or most of the factors mentioned above, from whichever Act they are derived. What legal justification there is for this remains to be seen, and will no doubt become manifest when appeals against racial classification are decided. Process of classification of Coloured people During 1954 the S.A. National Council for Child Welfare was very much concerned about the fact that the Registrar of Births was registering children born from the union of White and African parents as Africans. Cases had occurred in which Child Welfare Societies undertook to arrange for adoption or placement with foster parents of such children born to unmarried White girls. The Executive Committee of this organization, at its meeting in February 1955, urged the Council to press for the registration of this type of child as Coloured, for in the circumstances Coloured foster parents would be far more suitable than African. The Minister was urged to set up the Board of Appeal provided for in the Act. Early in 1955, when the process of registration of the population (14) Group Areas Act, No. 41 of 1950,'Asiatic Laws Amendment Act, No. . 47 of 1948, Asiatic Land Tenure Amendment Act, No. 53 of 1949.
A SURVEY OF RACE was commenced in Cape Town, officials of the Bureau of Census and Statistics set about attempting to classify the Coloured people there. The Director of this Bureau personally interviewed some 700 'border-line' cases: many of the individuals concerned claimed to be White, not Coloured. Later in the year officials visited Welkom, Pretoria, Kimberley, towns in the Western Transvaal, and Johannesburg for the same purpose. The main problem they faced in these areas was to distinguish Coloured persons from Africans. In some of these towns people who passed as Coloured received circulars asking them to report to the census officials for classification. In Johannesburg, officials visited managers of factories employing Coloured labour, requesting them to send the workers to an office at the Native Affairs Department which was temporarily occupied by the census staff. There were a number of pass raids by the police at this time: Non-Whites alighting from trains on their way to work, for example, were ordered to produce their reference books, and it was alleged that any who had the appearance of Africans and did not possess these were arrested fothwith and ordered to report to census officials for classification. Anxiety and fear mounted among the Coloured people, and hundeds who were anxious to avoid arrest presented themselves for classification. Their anxieties were very real ones- if classified as Africans they stood to lose their jobs, to have to move from their homes to African townships, to send their children to less well equipped schools, to become subject to the pass laws and influx control, to suffer humiliation and heartbreak. At the office in the Native Affairs Department building being used by census officials many of the Coloured people were subjected to mortifying tests- it was alleged that in some cases hands or pencils were passed through their hair. Those accepted as Coloured were given certificates to this effect, and the rest were sent to Native Affairs Department officials to be fingerprinted, issued with reference books, and required to pay poll tax. The press in Johannesburg ran a campaign pointing to individual cases of hardship: it was said that members of the same family had been differently classified, that numbers of light-complexioned men who had lived as Coloured all their lives, and of ex-soldiers who had served in the Cape Coloured Corps, were told that they were Africans. The B.E.S.L. took up these last cases. People who were dissatisfied were told that they could lodge objections with the Bureau of Census in Pretoria, but initially were not allowed to postpone their registration as Africans at the Native Affairs Department. The public questioned whether the Bureau of Census had the right to take the course of action it followed. In terms of the Population Registration Act, the Director of Census is required to prepare a register from the records available to him from the population census and other sources. He is entitled to ask individuals for evidence as to the correctness of particulars given by them
RELATIONS: 1954-55 37 at the time of the census, but it appears that he is not entitled to demand that they should report at any particular time to do so. The Act stipulates that copies of the register shall be made available in some official office in every district in the Union (this has apparently not been done) in order that people may check their classification. Those wishing to object may appeal first to the Director of Census, secondly to a special Appeal Board (which at the time when these classifications were undertaken had not been set up), and then, if they wish, to the courts of law. A third party also has the right to object on payment of a £10 deposit, which is forfeited if the objection fails. The Transvaal Region of the S.A. Coloured People's Organization convened a protest meeting in Johannesburg, decided to challenge certain classifications in order to establish whether methods used had the force of law, and set up a fund to assist families whose menfolk would be unable to continue in skilled occupations because they had been classified as Africans. The S.A. Congress of Trade Unions started a similar fund. Telegrams signed by Members of Parliament, ministers of religion, and others were sent to the Minister of the Interior protesting against methods used, and to the Commissioner for Coloured Affairs asking him to assist the Coloured people concerned. The Institute of Race Relations made a study of definitions of 'race' and kept in close touch with the situation. A deputation from Johannesburg City Council interviewed the Director of Census to urge that instead of having to report in droves at the Native Affairs Department, Coloured people should be permitted to come at set times and be enabled to prepare evidence in support of their claims to be registered as Coloured. Indian people have been receiving very lengthy questionnaires, apparently designed to determine not only their racial groups but also the validity of claims to South African citizenship. Large numbers of them have not replied. According to a press report(15) the Director of Census said during August that he and his officials had so far classified 7,000 people of doubtful racial origin: of these 243 had given notice of appeal against their classification as African (rather than Coloured), and 17 against classification as Coloured rather than White. It is likely that the number of objections has since increased considerably, following clarification of the procedure for appeal. On 4 September the Minister of the Interior announced(16) that although he was satisfied that the method of classification had been fair and that officials had not been inconsistent in their judgment, he was willing to make concessions. When an appeal was made, he would suspend the ruling as to a person's racial group until the appeal had been dealt with. Appeals should be lodged within 30 days of the Director's ruling, and where such rulings had (13) The Star, 17 August 1955. (113) Rand Daily Mail of 5 September 1955.
A SURVEY OF RACE already been- given the 30-day period would begin from the date oF the Minister's announcement. These 'concessions' caused some bewilderment. It was pointed out, firstly, that it was an ordinary principle of law that a person who lodged an appeal should not be prejudiced until the appeal had run its course, and secondly, that the Act placed no time limit on the noting of objections to classifications made by the Director: what it does stipulate is that appeals from the special Board to the Supreme Court must be lodged within 30 days. On 26 September it was announced that the special Board of Appeal had been set up, members being Mr J. J. Groenewald (an ex-magistrate) as chairman, Mr H. F. S. Bosman, Chief Clerk of the Native Affairs Department, and Mr D. J. Bosman,. Chief Clerk of the Department of the Interior. Passports The Departure from the Union Regulation Act, No. 34 of 1955, was introduced during the year under review. It provides that no South African citizen over the age of sixteen years shall leave the Union for any place other than the High Commission Territories unless he or she is in possession of a valid passport or permit. Citizens of dual nationality who possess passports issued, say, by India or Britain, must obtain also a permit issued in South Africa if they wish to leave the country. Departure for one of the High Commission Territories and then from there, within a year, for anywhere else except the Union, is prohibited unless the person concerned has a valid passport or permit. Very severe penalties are laid down for contravention of these provisions, and also for assisting others to contravene them and for knowingly conveying out of the country anyone who requires a valid passport or permit and does not possess it. These passports or permits, which may be withdrawn by the Minister at any time, are issued by the Secretary for the Interior or a person authorized by him to do so. They are granted automaticcally to those who intend leaving the Union permanently, but such people may subsequently not return unless special permission is granted. Those whose applications are refused may appeal within one month to the Minister of the Interior, whose decision is final and who need not state the reasons for his decision. In the Assembly on 23 March 1955 the Minister said(17) that the Bill rested on two foundations: firstly, only guilty persons should be caught, and secondly, bona.fide travellers should suffer no inconvenience. The object of the measure was to control the departure from South Africa of certain people who wished eventually to visit communist countries. Because the policy of the United Kingdom was that any British subject had free access to the country, such persons, if able to obtain affidavits to the effect that they were (17) Hansard 9, cols. 3123-8.
RELATIONS: 1954-55 British subjects, were able to enter the United Kindgom without passports. The practice sometimes had been to use someone else's passport in order to board a ship, returning it before sailing. On arrival in Britain the persons visited the embassy of one of the countries behind the 'iron curtain' and obtained travelling permits to visit communist countries. After a thorough indoctrination :there, they returned to South Africa and, if they proved they were Union Nationals, could not be prevented from landing. The United, Liberal, and Labour Parties opposed the Bill at its second reading. United Party representatives said that the Suppression of Communism Act gave the Minister power to deal with cases such as those cited : there was no need for him to interfere with the fundamental right of freedom of movement. A Labour Party spokesman pointed out that several people who had no connection whatever with communism had been refused permission to leave the country, and asked whether it was the Government's policy to deny passports to Non-Whites and also to Whites who, the Minister suspected, might criticise South Africa while abroad. The Minister did not answer this question, but said later(18) that although the Bill had been introduced to enable him to prevent certain persons from visiting communist countries, its effects would be wider than that. He was responsible for the security of the state, which was not endangered only by communists. In reaching a decision he was guided by information submitted by the police. Over 120,000 South Africans had last year left the country on temporary visits abroad, he said,(19) and of these perhaps 12 or 20 had no passports. During 1953 only 58 passports were refused out of 19,902 applications, while in 1954 there were 57 refusals out of a total of 23,117 applications. The names of all those whose applications were refused have not been.made public, but they certainly include those of persons who have never been 'named' or charged under the Suppression of Communism Act and who stoutly deny any remote connection with communism. In 1954, for example, Professor Z. K. Matthews, Vice-Principal of the University College of Fort Hare, was refused anextension of his passport to enable him to attend an international conference on race relations, held in Honolulu. During 1955 Mrs Jessie McPherson, National Chairman of the S.A. Labour Party and an ex-Mayor of Johannesburg, was refused an extension when .she wished to visit Britain. Professor W. H. Hutt, Dean of ,the Faculty of Commerce at the University of Cape Town, had great difficulty in obtaining a renewal of his passport to enable him to take study leave in Western European countries: it was granted only after there had been extensive publicity and a question in the House. Two Indians from Klerksdorp who wished to go to Mecca on a pilgrimage were refused passports, as were several students, (1s) Assembly, 4 April 1955. Hansard 10, col. 3873. (19) Hansard 9, cols. 3128-9.
40 A SURVEY OF RACE including Stephen Ramasodi, a sixteen-year-old African schoolboy from Johannesburg who had been offered a scholarship at Kent School, Connecticut, a well-known school in the United States. An official of the Native Affairs Department is reported(20) to have said that his department had recommended the refusal of Stephen's passport, on the ground that it would have been dangerous to his whole future to have unrooted a lad of such tender years and to have thrust him into strange surroundings to which he would have been unable to adapt himself. Later, when he had matriculated, he might be ripe for university study oversea. A post-graduate African student was, however, permitted to take up a scholarship offered in the United States. A study group of Americans under Dr Alfred G. Fisk, of San Francisco State College, visited South Africa in July. The 23 White members of the party were granted the necessary visas, but the one Negro member, Dr Charles Warren who is a Methodist minister, was not permitted to enter the Union. Search warrants and entry upon premises The law previously provided that a judge, magistrate, or justice of the peace might issue a search warrant if, on receiving a complaint made under oath, he considered there were reasonable grounds for suspecting that on any person or premises there was anything that would afford evidence of the commission or intended commission of an offence. If, however, a police officer of the rank of sergeant, or above, White or Non-White, considered that the evidence would be lost if he delayed the search until a warrant was provided, he might use his own discretion in the matter. The Criminal Procedure and Evidence Amendment Act of 1955(21) provided that search warrants might also be issued if if there were grounds considered reasonable for believing that an offence was being or was likely to be committed on any premises, or that the internal security of the Union or the maintenance of law and order were likely to be endangered in consequence of any meeting held on the premises. Such warrants might direct members of the police to enter premises at any reasonable time to investigate, to search the premises or anyone on them for anything that would afford evidence of an offence, and to take such steps as appear necessary to uphold the law. The amending Act also provided that in any circumstance in which a search warrant might be obtainable any policeman (and not only those of the rank of sergeant and above) might proceed without a warrant if he considered that the delay in obtaining one would defeat its object. During the second reading debate the Minister of Justice explained his reasons for these amendments.(2) During 1954, he (20) Rand Daily Mail, 22 July 1955. (21) Sections 42 to 45 of the Consolidating Act, issued later. ('2) Assembly, 21 February 1955. Hansard 5, cols, 1409-13.
RELATIONS: 1954-55 said, a party of policemen headed by a major had attended a meeting in Johannesburg. (This was a preparatory Congress of the People meeting, the people present being there by special invitation). Delegates to the meeting obtained a court interdict calling on the policemen, who were not in possession of search warrants, to show cause why they should not be forbidden to attend. The judge had known two days beforehand that an interdict would be applied for, but the police were not informed. On the return day of the rule nisi another judge examined the documentary evidence and later ruled that as the law then stood the police would have been justified in attending the meeting only if they had reasonable grounds for suspecting that seditious speeches would be made and that their presence would prevent this. The question whether such grounds existed must be decided by oral evidence. The Minister then gave instructions for the case to be withdrawn. The evidence which it was considered might have been obtainable at the meeting, he said, had in any case been lost to the police. It would be of assistance, particularly in Non-White townships, he continued, if all members of the police were empowered in emergencies to enter and search premises without first obtaining search warrants. There were not many African police sergeants, constables often had to walk miles to obtain warrants, and evidence of crime was often lost as a result. Opposition Members of Parliament considered that constables should always obtain either a directive from a sergeant or more senior officer, or else a search warrant. In regard to the extension of powers of investigation and search to cover circumstances which it is considered might endanger the internal security of the Union, it was pointed out that a very wide interpretation was possible. After lengthy debate the Minister agreed to accept an Opposition amendment providing a penalty of a fine of up to £50 and damages not exceeding £100 on conviction for wrongful, malicious, or unreasonable search or application for a search warrant. Interdicts against the Government The question of court interdicts was dealt with later, in section 35 of the General Law Amendment Act, No. 62 of 1955. This provides that no court shall issue any rule nisi operating as an interim interdict against the government or provincial administration, or against any government or provincial official in his official capacity, unless notice of the intention to apply for such a rule, accompanied by copies of the petition and of any affidavits to be used in support of the application, have been served upon the government, provincial administration, or official concerned. A period of three days' notice is laid down as a general rule, but the court may decide that in.all the circumstances of a particular case shorter notice is adequate.
ASURVEY OF RACE Detention of persons arrested under the Public Safety Act The Public Safety Act of 1953 was described on page 35 of the 1952-3 Survey. This Act empowers the Governor-General in 'certain circumstances to proclaim a state of emergency either in the country as a whole or within a specified area, then to issue such regulations for the area concerned as appear to him to be necessary. Such regulations may, inter alia, provide for the summary arrest and detention of any person, but should the person be detained for longer than 30 days without trial, both Houses of Parliament must ne notified. In the Assembly on 2 June 1955 the Minister of Justice said(23) that fortunately this Act had never been invoked. After it had been passed, however, it was found that one difficulty might arise. Should a state of emergency be proclaimed in any specified area of the Union, persons arrested there could not, as the law then stood, be removed from that area. Section 31 of the General Law Amendment Act, No. 62 of 1955, provides that persons summarily arrested and detained in pursuance of regulations issued under the Public Safety Act may be detained at any place within the Union. Action under the Riotous Assemblies and Suppression of Communism Acts The banning of all meetings in the magisterial districts of Johannesburg and Roodepoort for a short period during the year under review is dealt with on page 97. From information given in the Assembly by the then Acting Minister of Justice, (24) it appears that up to the middle of February 1955, the following action had been taken since 1950 under the Riotous Assemblies and Suppression of Communism Acts (25) (a) One newspaper had been banned. (b) The Liquidator appointed in terms of the Suppression of Communism Act had 'named' 574 persons, including 56 trade union officials, as being officials or active supporters of organizations deemed unlawful. (So far, only the Communist Party has been declared unlawful: this was done in the Act itself). (c) Eighty-eight of these 'named' persons (including 46; trade union officials) had been ordered to resign from membership of stated organizations. (d) Ninety of those 'named,' and 68 others (the vast majority Africans), had been prohibited from being in certain parts of the Union and/or from attending gatherings, for stated periods. (23) Hansard 17, col. 6906. (24) 28 January, 1 February, 4 February, 15 March. Hansard 1, col. 182; No. 2, cols. 332, 571 ; No. 8, col. 2636. (25) A full description of the terms of these Acts was given in A Sur'ey of Race Relations, 1953-4, pages 34-7.
RELATIONS: 1945-55 43 (e) Forty-seven persons (some 'named' and others not) had been convicted in the courts for promoting the aims of communism as defined in the Act or for disobeying precautionary orders. In addition, the Act had been invoked to expel two Natives' Representatives from the Assembly and to prevent the admission of a third. The Acting Minister said that the following appeals to the courts had. been made: (i) One person, before he was listed, challenged the appointment of the Liquidator, but lost the case. (ii) Three 'named' persons appealed against their 'naming': one case was withdrawn and in the other two cases the appeals failed. (Those whose names are listed may petition the courts only to investigate the correctness of the facts of their membership or active support of the unlawful organization). (iii) Seven persons whose activities had been restricted appealed, one case succeeded, and as a result the restrictions in respect of the other six were withdrawn. (It will be recalled that in the Ngwevela case the Appellate Division ruled that under the Suppression of Communism - but not the Riotous Assemblies - Act the principle audi alteram partem should apply. The Act was then amended. No hearing need now be granted before a person is banned from attending gatherings, but persons who have not been 'named' upon whom such orders are served may ask the reasons for the Minister's action.(26). One of the persons convicted was Mr Sam Kahn, who in October 1954 was sentenced in the magistrates' court, Cape Town, to three months' compulsory labour, two months suspended for three years, when found guilty of disobeying an order prohibiting him from attending any gatherings for a period of two years. He had been arrested at a party in a private house attended by some sixty people of various racial groups. Mr Kahn submitted in his defence that the alleged gathering was not a gathering as contemplated in the section of the Act under which he was charged, since it had no common purpose in the sense of an object to be achieved by concerted action. He appealed against the regional magistrate's decision, but this was upheld by the Cape Provincial Division of the Supreme Court. The judge held that those present at the party had a common purpose of social intercourse by meeting and talking to one another and spending the evening in one another's company. Later, however, Mr Kahn's further appeal was allowed by the Appellate Division. It was ruled that from the use of the words 'common purpose' in the Act it was clear that the word 'gathering' did not mean 'any gathering." There had to be a purpose shared by two or more persons who acted in concert to do something. 'Ihe Crown had failed to prove that any of those present at the party desired by concerted action to achieve any object, and that (21) Ibid, page 36.
A SURVEY OF RACE the gathering which Mr Kahn attended was thus a gathering within the meaning of the Act. His conviction and sentence were set aside. Police raids during September 1955 The searching by the police of delegates to a meeting of the Congress of the People held during July is described on page 5. On 27 September, large numbers of members of the Special (Political) Branch of the Criminal Investigation Department assisted by other detectives carried out raids simultaneously in Cape Town, Johannesburg, Pretoria, Durban, Port Elizabeth, East London, Pietermaritzburg, Ladysmith, Dundee, and other towns, on the offices of numbers of organizations and the private homes of officials. They bore search warrants authorizing them to search for evidence 'as to the commission of the offence of treason or sedition,' and to seize any account books, typewriters, recording machines, books, or documents which might afford such evidence. Among the organizations whose offices were raided were the S.A. Indian Congress, the African National Congress, the Congress of Democrats, the Congress of Trade Unions and constituent members, the Peace Council, the Central Indian High School in Johannesburg, various weekly newpapers, and others. No official information about the results of these raids has been forthcoming. There have been no prosecutions for treason. Alleged opening of mail for political purposes In the Assembly on 8 June 1955, Mrs V. M. L. Ballinger, leader of the Liberal Party and a Natives' Representative, reminded members(27) that in terms of the law, only in very special circumstances and according to defined rules could the public's mail be interfered with by the Postal Department. Yet, she said, the chairman of her party in Johannesburg had recently sent a letter to a party member in Cape Town, and when the letter was opened it was fbund to contain, instead, a communication from NUSAS to a gentleman in Prague. The two Liberal Party members then conducted an experiment. Each sent to the other, at intervals, three carefully prepared letters. In the presence of witnesses the letters were carefully cleaned, put into envelopes by people wearing gloves, and the letters were then posted under controlled circumstances. Affidavits were available. Witnesses, including fingerprint experts, also attended the opening of the envelopes at their destinations, when it was found that in four of the six cases the letters bore obvious and established fingerprints. People from all over the country, Mrs Ballinger said, had written to tell her about interference with their letters. The Minister of Posts and Telegraphs expressed (2s) his regret, (.-7) Hansard 18, cols. 7285-6, 7434. ('-2S) Col. 7291.
RELATIONS: 1945-55 gave the House his assurance that he knew nothing of the matter, and promised to have it carefully investigated and to take strong action. Members then enquired whether it was perhaps the Special Branch of the C.I.D. that was tampering with mail. The Minister of Justice said (29), 'The police received no instruction from me to open the letters of a political party. The police have certain powers which they have to exercise in terms of certain laws. These powers and circumstances are defined and by following a certain fixed procedure they are allowed to open letters in order to combat crime or subversive activities. (30) But it stands to reason that they have to comply with the provisions of the law.' He undertook to assist his colleague to have the matter investigated. (2") Col. 7435-6. (:0) Section 10 of the Criminal Law Amendment Act of 1953, for example, enables postal officials to open postal matter suspected of containing anything intended for the assistance of a defiance campaign. Section 25 (c) of the Posts and Telegraphs Act lays down procedure for opening letters suspected of containing anything in fraud of or contrary to the provisions of any law.
A SURVEY OF RACE MATTERS AFFECTING SPECIFIC GROUPS THE COLOURED PEOPLE Numbers, distribution, and patterns of living The Bureau of Census and Statistics estimates that the Coloured people at present number 1,242,000, of these 618,000 being male. They form just under 9 per cent. of the total population of the Union. By far the greatest proportion of them, some 89 per cent., live in the Cape Province, concentrated in and around the Cape Peninsula. About a quarter of all South Africa's Coloured people lived in Cape Town when the last census was taken, with smaller concentrations on the Witwatersrand (about 5 per cent. of the total), in Port Elizabeth (about 4 per cent.) and in Durban and Kimberley. The Coloured group is becoming increasingly urbanized: about 64 per cent. now live in the towns, as against 46 per cent. in 1921. While the Malays, Bushmen, and Hottentots preserve many of their distinctive customs, the patterns of life of the rest of the Coloured community, numbering over five-sixths of the total, are similar to those of the Whites. The very large majority of these, almost 90 per cent., have Afrikaans as their home language; the rest speak English or both official languages. A noteworthy fact, however, is that most of the periodicals produced by or for the Coloured people are in the English language. At the 1955 Council meeting of the Institute of Race Relations, Dr 0. D. Wollheim presented a paper (1) on the social adjustments to urban conditions of the very large group of Coloured people at the Cape, who originated in White society. Their patterns of life, he said, were derived from White people, and their development has been exactly the same except that the pace has been slower owing to the fact that they have been denied the same social amenities. Because of the significant and continuous migration of Coloured people to the towns, there are large numbers in each of the usual phases of adjustment to urban conditions: the first, in which physical accommodation is made to a new pattern; the second, in which new techniques have been learned and are used with confidence and even ostentation and aggressiveness; and the third, in which the individual becomes completely adjusted. The social and economic stratification of the Coloured people in urban areas follows very closely the same patterns as those of the Whites, although the tendency obviously is for the upper classes to be smaller and the lower classes larger in comparison. Were it not for differences in physical characteristics, considerable numbers of members of the old established families could not in any way be distinguished from the upper middle class of White society, and, of course, many of the lighter skinned have with no difficulty been absorbed into the White community. In general, therefore, the trend has been the development of social, political, (1) RR.200/1954.
RELATIONS: 1954-5 cultural, and economic patterns in every respect similar to those of the Whites.. Coloured people, Dr Wollheim said, are playing an increasingly important part in the trade union movement, and have developed their own professional and political organizations and large numbers of choral societies, string bands, church brigades, cultural organizations, and sporting unions. There is a growing sense of responsibility among the. middle and upper classes for less fortunate members of their community. As result of discrimination against Coloured people in recent. years, certain new or separate institutions have been created: the separatist church movement has become stronger, and more extreme professional and intellectual groups have been formed. The tendency has been for the Coloured community to draw together and to look to the Africans instead of the Whites as allies. After discussing this paper, the Council of the Institute of Race Relations expressed its opinion that the Cape Coloured people were assimilated to Western culture and that they should be allowed full participation in the citizenship and other responsibilities of Western civilization. At its annual meeting held shortly before that of the Institute, however, the S.A. Bureau of Racial Affairs held to its view that the Coloured people should be given the opportunity of developing as a separate section of the community in the Western Cape, their traditional home, where they should be protected against the competition of Africans. Opinions differed as to whether the long-term solution lay in the total territorial segregation of Coloured people, or in the largest possible measure of separate development within the country's political, economic, and social structure. A separate voters' roll was favoured. The Minister of the Interior was urged to appoint a commission to investigate the whole question of local government for Coloured people in their own residential areas, and to speed up the declaration of such Coloured areas. The establishment of a development fund was advocated to assist Coloured people to build their own houses, and concern was expressed at the ill health among them and the neglect of their interests by certain local authorities. Developments in regard to the Coloured vote are dealt with in the chapter commencing on page 21 The Division of Coloured Affairs In his annual report for 1954, the Commissioner fbr Coloured Affairs -stated that marked success had been achieved during the year in the separation of Coloured people and Africans in urban areas. In collaboration with the Department of Labour, the division had continued with the policy of opening more avenues of employment for Coloured people, in posts where they could serve members of their own racial group, and of recruiting and training incumbents for posts which became available. A sum of £20,000 had been made available for
48 ASURVEYOFRACE training youths for careers in government departments. The division was increasingly attempting to become the connecting link with and the mouthpiece of the Coloured community: representations were continually being received from Coloured organizations as well as numerous individuals. It is undoubted, however, that most of the Coloured leaders are opposed to the whole conception of apartheid for their people, and thus reject the Division of Coloured Affairs. Recognition of it, they consider, means acceptance of a lower status and the concession to the White man of a herrenvolk superiority: those of the Coloured people who are willing to co-operate with the Division are mere political opportunists, they say. (2). Racial classification of the people Inquiries recently conducted, for the purpose of the population register, to determine the racial classification of people who have hitherto been accepted as Coloured, are described on page 35. Coloured Mission Stations and Reserves Amendment Act, No. 35 of 1955 The Mission Stations and Communal Reserves Act, 1909, of the Cape of Good Hope, as amended, laid down procedure for the administration of land granted to missions for their work among Coloured communities and areas reserved for registered Coloured occupiers. There are four reserves, Steinkopf, Concordia, Komaggas, and Leliefontein, and eight mission stations, Ebenezer, Mamre, Pniel, Genadendal, Zoar, Enon, Shiloh, and Goshen; but the last two of these mission stations are inhabited by both Coloured and African people and are administered by the Native Affairs Department. They fall outside the terms of the Act. The remainder of the mission stations and the reserves are administered by the Division of Coloured Affairs. In the Assembly on 18 May 1955 the Minister of the Interior said(3) confusion had resulted from the fact that the provisions of certain enactments and provincial ordinances had been incorporated by reference only. These matters, for example, the powers, duties, and functions of boards of management, would now be set out in full in the Act itself. Minor changes were incorporated, bringing procedure into harmony with modern local-government administration. A new feature in the amending measure provided for the establishment of advisory boards in communities considered unable as yet to assume the full responsibility of electing boards of management. Rates payable by the boards to Divisional Councils, which had remained unchanged since 1909, were raised. (2) See statements by S.A. Coloured People's Organization, for example in The Star, 8 October 1955, by the Ariti-Coloured Affairs Department Movement, etc. (:) H ansard 15, cols. 5942-44.
RELATIONS: 1954-5 Persons holding prospecting permits issued by a magistrate were formerly free to enter areas under the jurisdiction of boards of management, and in the past such persons have damaged grazing and water supplies. The amending Act provides that no-one shall carry on prospecting or mining operations in such areas except with the consent of the Minister of the Interior, and on such terms and conditions as he may determine after consultation with the Minister of Mines. Persons already lawfully carrying on such operations are given a year in which to obtain permits. Boards of management were empowered to make regulations for the prohibition, control, or regulation of gatherings or assemblies of persons on the mission station. Research in progress The Institute for Social Research at Natal University is undertaking an inter- disciplinary study of the Coloured community at Sparks Road housing estate. ASIATICS Numbers, distribution, and patterns of living There are at present some 410,000 Asiatics in the Union (210,000 of them male) according to estimates by the Bureau of Census and Statistics. They constitute only three per cent. of the population of the Union, but because of their uneven geographical distribution, 82 per cent. of them being in Natal, they outnumber the Whites in this province. The greatest concentration is in Durban and along the coastal belt north and south of this city. They are by no means a homogeneous community, as is indicated by their home languages. The largest numbers speak Tamil, followed, in order of numerical importance, by Hindi, Gujerati, Telegu, Urdu, other Indian languages, and Chinese. An increasing proportion, however, is adopting one of the official languages, English in the main, as the home language. There has been an extremely rapid increase in the rate of urbanization: 76 per cent. now live in the towns as against 31 per cent. in 1921. At the 1955 Council meeting of the Institute of Race Relations, Mr Jack Naidoo presented a paper, prepared by Dr S.Cooppan and Mr B. A. Naidoo, on Indian adjustments to urbanization(4). The movement from the land, the authors said, had led to changes in the structure and function of the joint-family system. It is now unusual for sons and daughters to hand over their entire cash earnings to the head of the household; but married and unmarried sons still frequently live with their parents, usually as economically independent households under one roof. The head of the household still exerts a fair amount of authority, and family attachments are close. Though the number of Indian women in employment is not large, it is growing. As result of the influence of the western pattern of culture, certain of the habits of Indians in urban areas are changing. Although (4) This paper was published in Race Relations Jourimal, No. 2 of 1955.
A SURVEY OF RAGE married women have not abandoned the saree to any appreciable extent, working and adolescent girls often prefer western frocks. The cinema habit is well established, and a small section has adopted western forms of dancing. Bread has replaced rice in the diets of most of the people: in many families western dishes are served and eaten in the western way. Tastes in building, furnishing, and decorating have also been considerably modified. The competition of urban, life has stimulated the demand .br education. A number of voluntary organizations for economic', political, cultural, and recreational purposes have emerged. Urban living is not without its crop of social, pathological symptoms such-as disease, illegitimacy, delinquency and crime: contributing factors are shortage of housing, unemployment, lack of recreational facilities, and, above all, the frustration and tensions caused by racial prejudice. There are beneficial changes too,-rising standards of living and increased association across religious, linguistic, and caste lines. Religion still claims the devotion of urban Indians. The writers said, in conclusion, that while Indian society still presents the appearance of being an ethnically distinct and stable group, they could not forecast in what direction and at what rate changes are likely to take place in another generation of urban life. The whole subject awaits careful research. The Institute's Council's finding was, that the Indian people are an integral part of the economic and social structure of the country and as such should be accepted as full participants in its life, development, and progress. Repatriation of Indians The Minister of the Interior announced in Durban during March (5) that the bonuses payable to Indians to induce them to return to India were to be reduced by one half because of poor response to the scheme. A free passage is still to be provided for those desiring repatriation. Adult Indians will now receive £20 instead of the former bonus of £40 which came into operation in 1949, and children under the age of 16 will get £10 instead of £20. Since the repatriation scheme came into operation on 1 August 1927, up to the end of September 1954 about 17,000 Indians left the Union; but nearly 1,000 subsequently returned, which they could legally do within three years provided they refunded the bonus money paid to them. The present rate of repatriation, the Minister said, is only about 40 to 50 persons a year. Inter-provincial movement of Indians Proclamation No. 93 of 1928 is being strictly enfbrced and several prosecutions of Indians have taken place. In terms of this Proclamation, 'Asiatics desiring to visit or journey through the Transkei must first apply for a permit for the purpose to ( )Rand )ally ,hail and Natal Aercury, 12 March 1955.
RELATIONS: 1954-55 the nearest native commissioner or magistrate who submits the application to the chief native commissioner of his area. The abovementioned permit does not in itself entitle an Asiatic to enter the Cape Province if he is not normally resident in that province; and consequently such a person should also apply for an ordinary visiting permit.' (6) The Native Commissioner, Durban, wrote to the Natal Indian Teachers' Society on 23 May- 1955, saying: 'Application forms for permission to travel by road through the Transkei'are obtainable from the office of the Native Commissioner, Durban. As it takes anything from 5-6 weeks to obtain the permit from Pretoria, it will be appreciated ,that application must be submitted timeously-through this office'. Research Several research projects concerning Indians are in progress at the University of Natal. These include studies of the history of Indians, in that province, Indian life studies,; the use of Indian man-power resources, and indian unemployment. AFRICANS Numbers and distribution 'There was.a total of 8,53.7,375 Africans in the Union in 1951, when they formed 67.5 :per cent. of the total population. It is estimated by the Bureau of Census and Statistics that by 1955 their numbers had grown to 9,161,000 In 1951 there were some 2,290,000 in the urban areas (26.8 per cent. of the total), close on one million of them on the Witwatersrand alone. - Many of these are, of course, migrant workers, but Professor J. L. Sadie estimates(7) that at least 65 per cent. of them, or about 1 1 million, fall into the category of a settled urban population. The movement to the towns has been a very rapid one in recent years: only 12.5 per cent. were in urban areas in 1921. The actual increase in the African urban population was some 1,044,000 between 1936 and 1951; Professor Sadie says that of these, 210,000 represented the natural increase, 326,000 came from White farms and other rural areas, 328,000 from the reserves, and the remaining 180,000 from non-Union territories. At the:time of the 1951-census about 31.2 per cent. of the total number of Africans were in so-called White rural areas, which (6) Quoted from a letter from the Commissioner for Immigration and Asiatic Affairs in 'Pretoria to the Hon. General Secretary of the ..Natal Indian Teachers' Society, Durban, '30 April 1Q55. ,(7) The estimates by Prof. J. L. Sadie quoted in this section were contained in articles entitled 'The Bantu Areas of the Union' (Bantiu, )ecember 1954) and 'Some Notes on Bantu Demography' (Journal of Racial Affairs, April 1955).
A SURVEY OF RACE include rural townships and labour camps, White farms, and unalienated crown- land, The remaining 42 per cent. were in the reserves. On the basis of the 1946 census figures it can be calculated, Professor Sadie states, that about 542,000 persons (487,000 of them men) were temporarily absent as migrant labourers. Taking these temporary absentees into account and allowing for foreign-born Africans, it can be concluded that at least half of the Union's settled African population had their homes in the reserves in 1946. Of the total de jure population of the Native areas, he continues, about 1,020,000 men would be in the productive ages 15 to 65. Subtracting the 487,000 away as migrant labourers and about another 10 per cent. who cannot enter the labour market because of one or other disability, he concludes that in 1946 there were at least 300,000 able-bodied men in the reserves. The Minister of Native Affairs states that there are between 600,000 and 800,000 foreign-born Africans in the Union, including 100,000 from the High Commission Territories.(8) In Professor Sadie's opinion some two-thirds of these must be considered as temporary immigrants, the rest having already settled as permanent inhabitants. Since 1936, he says, the Union has been absorbing very nearly the whole of the natural increase in the population of Basutoland. His research has led him to the conclusion that the Union is responsible for satisfying the economic needs of nearly half the Basutoland population, corresponding proportions in the case of Bechuanaland and Swaziland being 20 and 35 per cent. respectively. Urban patterns of living Mr 1). G. S. M'Timkulu presented a paper on 'African Adjustment to Urbanization' at the 1955 Council meeting of the Institute of Race Relations. (9) He confined attention to those Africans who live in urban townships with their families, leaving out of consideration the migrant labour gToups whose attitudes are still largely tribal. African immigrants to the towns, he said, are faced with the difficult problem of adjusting themselves to a new situation which is itself in the process of change, for the society of urban dwellers has not attained stability. Such an immigrant's first impact with urban life is likely to be the shanty-towns with their degraded living conditions and debased moral standards. After the initial shock he gradually comes to accept these, and his demoralization is likely to set in. In the course of time he may be allocated a municipal house. His environmental conditions are then greatly improved, but his social rehabilitation is not an easy process. The authorities in (8) Assembly, 28 February 1955; Hansard 6, col. 1805. 0) RR36/1955.
RELATIONS: 1954-55 general do not assist as they might in helping him to adjust himself, or in selective placement of families so that those who share similar backgrounds and ideas may be neighbours. The emergence of a community spirit is thus impeded. The effect of a move to a municipal scheme may be that while new social values and the outward patterns of western living are adopted, the family retains the degraded moral standards of the slums. Overcrowded living conditions, lack of privacy, and the presence of migratory workers who upset the balance of the urbanized group have been factors leading to the breaking up of many unions, and it is from these broken homes and from families with degraded moral standards that the 'tsotsis' come. The vast majority of Africans, however, have set their faces steadfastly to the west, and are eager to find a place in the new society. They display four main characteristics: a passionate belief in education, a belief in private property, a strongly individu-* alistic outlook, and the acceptance of Christian teaching. There is a growing desire among them for the comforts as well as the necessities of life. They are increasingly providing financial support for the Church and the running of their own cultural and sporting organizations. The development of mutual benefit societies is an indication of their growing reliability, and, more than anything else, perhaps, the emergence of women's social welfare organizations proves that the African has arrived as an urban dweller. A heightened civic sense is developing. Yet there is a great sense of bewilderment among members of this solid core of the African urban population. They make every effort to adjust themselves to western ways of life, but in a propertyowning society they cannot own property, in a society which has grown and prospered largely through workers' organizations, their own organizations are restricted. In spite of this, Africans retain their spiritual resilience, their ability to endure much injury to human dignity without breaking. This spiritual quality is enabling them to take the strides they have in adjusting themselves to urbanization. Later, in July 1955, the Institute's President, Dr Ellen Hellmann, gave a national broadcast on 'The Emerging African Middle Class'. (10) There were, she said, differences in rank under the Bantu tribal system, but these were in the main hereditary, depending on birth. Outstanding performance in war, and eminence as a so-called witch-doctor, were practically the only two ways open to a commoner to achieve social distinction. To-day, a social class hierarchy much like that in White society is emerging among urbanized Africans. Partly because of disabilities artificially imposed, this hierarchy does not as yet extend upward to the same extent; but an African middle class, with upper and lower subdivisions, already exists. (10) See RR.125/1955.
A SURVEY OF RACE Educational attainment is possibly the attribute among Africans which confers social prestige, and because this frequently determines occupation, the thin upper layer of the middle class includes mainly the highest qualified professional people. Below these is the stratum composed of teachers, nurses, ministers of religion, social workers, and others. Money is also an important factor, because it makes possible an approximation to western cultural patterns and because it enables children to be educated. Prosperous traders and skilled artisans thus find their place amongst the middle class. Others who occupy positions of social eminence are leaders in the world of entertainment and sport, and political leaders. In other words, as amongst the Whites, success is what matters; and increasingly the middle-class way is coming to mean the -western pattern of living. Africans are tending more and more to marry within their own social class. The external signs of class structure are clearly visible, Dr Hellmann concluded, but too little is known of internal structural patterns, for example, stability of marriages, systems of values, and so on. There is great need for a comprehensive study on the lines of that carried out in Chicago and published under the title Black .VletropoliU A dark picture was painted by Mr F. W. C. Buitendag in his presidential address to the annual meeting of the Institute of' Administrators of Non-European Affairs at Umtali during September 1955. Amongst the majority of urban Africans, he said, marriage has ceased to be a sacred institution. Their society has largely become a polyglot one without a social conscience. The average member of it nourishes a deep-seated distrust of the White man, based on the conviction that no matter how hard he tries to be law-abiding, some clause in some dusty statute will be found by means of which he can be charged with an offence. He has ceased to care for the White man's law or justice, and has become a man with a grouse who cannot see any good in anything. Mr Buitendag advocated compulsory education for urban African children, and special education for White children to help them to understand the African's peculiar problem of readjustment to a new environment. He suggested that, replacing a multiplicity of laws, a single urban code be devised, to give in clear language the basic rules of conduct which Africans must observe if they are to be permitted to remain in the towns. These rules would be aimed at establishing the sanctity of the family as a disciplined social unit, to serve as the foundation on which a new society will eventually arise. Parliamentary representation of Africans The five-year period of office of the Natives' Representatives in Parliament expired during 1954, and elections where held in Decem-
RELATIONS: 1954-55 her. Registered African voters in the Cape Province elected the following representatives to the House of Assembly: Cape Eastern circle : Mrs V. M. L. Ballinger (Liberal) Cape Western circle : Mr L. B. Lee-Warden (Independent) Transkei circle : Mr W. P. Stanford (Liberal). Amendments to regulations for the election of representatives to the Senate were gazetted on 1 December, the principle of a secret ballot being introduced where feasible in the voting units, which in many cases had previously voted by show of hands. The voting units of the electoral college for the Transkei are the African members of the United Transkeian Territories General Council. In other areas they consist of local councils, Bantu authorities, or urban advisory boards in areas where they exist, otherwise the chief votes on behalf of his tribe, or, in districts where there are more than 300 Africans not covered by any of the voting units described, an electoral committee is usually set up consisting of four or five members each representing a ward and chosen at an informal meeting of residents of the ward. Each voting unit is given a numerical value equivalent to the number of tax-payers resident in its area of jurisdiction. Weaknesses in this system, pointed out by one of the candidates who was returned, are that there is no practical method by which the unit can accurately ascertain the wishes of the voters whom it represents; a unit could cast its vote irrespective of the wishes of those for whom it purports to speak; and the numerical result of an election can be misleading because the candidate who receives the support of a unit is credited with all the votes in that unit, including those cast against him. The candidates returned were: Transkei: ...... Senator the Hon. W. M. H. Campbell (Independent) Rest of the Cape: ..... Senator the Hon. L. I. Rubin (Liberal) Natal: ...... Senator the Hon. Major C. Cowley (Independent) Transvaal and Orange Free State: Senator the Hon. W. G. Ballinger (Liberal) In the Assembly on 8 February 1955 the leader of the Labour Party moved the following resolution :(11) 'That this House is of opinion that in addition to the present right of Natives in the Cape Province, the Native people of the other provinces should also be entitled to elect members to this House'. His party's suggestion was that as well as the three Natives' Representatives from the Cape Province in the Assembly, elected as at present, there should be three from the Transvaal, two from Natal, two from the Orange Free State and, possibly, one from (Ii) Hansard 3, cols. 720-6.
56 ASURVEYOFRACE Sout-West Africa, elected by individual vote on the basis of a literacy test, voters being on communal rolls. The four nominated senatorships should be abolished, eight senators being elected by Africans according to a system of direct individual vote. Voters should have the right to elect Africans if they wish. Mrs V. M. L. Ballinger, M.P., leader of the Liberal Party and a Natives' Representative, introduced the following motion(12) : 'To omit all the words after "That" and to substitute "recognizing the interdependence of all racial groups in our population and the rights of all to aspire to full citizenship based on a common franchise, this House urges the Government as a first step in this direction : (a) to abolish the separate roll now existing for Africans in the Cape Province and to transfer the Africans registered on that roll to the common roll; and (b) to place on the common roll all Africans of 21 years and over whose educational attainments equal those acquired by Europeans under the terms of existing Provincial ordinances and to embark upon a policy of expanding educational opportunities for Africans which will aim at providing them with this qualification".' A counter-proposal by the leader of the United Party("a) was that representation in the Assembly should remain as it was; that the number of senators elected by Africans should be increased from four to six; and that Africans should be given the necessary opportunity to develop experience in the discharge of democratic responsibilities by the creation of representative local institutions in their own areas subject to White guidance and supervision, and by the extension and development of the Bunga (General Council) system. An amendment moved by the Prime Minister, which was finally carried, was(14) : 'To omit all words after "That" and to substitute "this House expresses its full confidence in the policy of the Government in regard to the representation of Non-Europeans in Parliament".' The policy of his party, he said, had previously been that Africans should be represented in the Senate only, not the Assembly; but as the result of an agreement with the Afrikaner Party before it amalgamated with the National Party it was decided that the position would remain as it was. The Government did not pursue this matter. In terms of its policy, the political institutions of Africans must be in their own areas, and there they must exercise their political rights under the guardianship of the White man. (12) 22 February, Hansa- d 5, col. 1538. (1") 8 February, Hansard 3, col, 750. (14) Mansard 3, cols. 765-75.
RELATIONS: 1954-55 'As that policy unfolds and develops this whole matter will have to be taken into review.' In the 'European areas,' the Prime Minister continued, the White man must remain the master. It was deceit of the worst kind to refer to White leadership in such areas. 'One can only talk about leadership if it is on a vuluntary basis, that is to say if the European and the Non-European have equal political rights and the Natives then say, "I entrust the leadership to you on account of your greater capabilities." But one cannot talk about leadership as long as the laws of the country vest the political power in the hands of the White man.' During the year under review, Dr J. N. Nhlapo has been granted reporting facilities in the Assembly and Senate, as the first African representative of the Bantu press. Local government in urban areas No further progress has been made with the Urban Bantu Authorities Bill of 1952. (15) It is of interest, however, that Benoni Municipality is introducing a new system, approved by the Native Affairs Department, in Daveyton. The township is divided into wards planned on an ethnic group basis. Each ward will be represented by one member who remains in office for three years. The chairman of the board is the chairman of the Non-European affairs committee of the town council; but the vice-chairman and chairmen of committtees are elected by members. A full-time secretary is appointed. The vice-chairman is paid £10 a month and other members £5; and £1 is forfeited for any meeting not attended or for late arrival. Each member serves on two of the standing committees, which are: (a) Social services, to be concerned with clinics, health, welfare, churches, the creche, schools, the social centre, sports, etc. (b) Development, concerned with roads, houses, lighting, sanitation, water-supply, parks. (c) Transport and licences, dealing with taxis, trading sites and licences, dog licences, buses, stop streets, etc. (d) Administration, concerned with regulations, police, staff, wages, labour, Native revenue account, and disputes referred by ward committees. This administration committee will approve resolutions of other standing committees before these are referred to the board. Its chairman will be the vicechairman of the board. The annual session of the Union Location Advisory Boards Congress was held in Uitenhage during January. No government officials attended it. The Congress, inter alia, expressed opposition to ethnic grouping, urged the repeal of the Bantu Education Act, (15) The Institute of Race Relations issued commentaries on this in the documents RR.36/1952 and 78/1952.
A SURVEY OF RACE and voiced its concern at the rising cost of living and the proposed introduction of 'economic rentals.' Local government in rural areas It will be recalled that the Bantu Authorities Act of 1951 provides for the establishment of Bantu tribal, regional, and territorial authorities which may, after consultation with the people concerned, be substituted for existing local or general councils. Each authority is to have its own treasury and possess administrative and executive powers. Tribal authorities, which are also granted judicial powers, consist of a chief or headman of a tribe or community in association with tribal counsellors: the elective principle is excluded. In the Senate on 20 June 1955 the Minister of Native Affairs said :(16) 'The Bantu Authorities will have to undertake many obligations which were unknown in the old Bantu tribal life. One of their most difficult tasks will be created by the establishment of rural towns in their area. They will in course of time be expected to look after educational matters, to assist in the stabilizing of the youth against "tsotsi" tendencies, to plan the care of the aged on a sound basis, and to take part in the establishment of health services.' In a press statement issued on 14 June 1955(11) the Chief Information Officer of the Department of Native Affairs said that each authority would be empowered to impose levies for specific purposes such as local road building, educational facilities, and construction of dams. They would also be assisted financially by the S.A. Native Trust and from ordinary departmental appropriations. So far, 49 Bantu tribal authorities have been proclaimed, all of which should be functioning by the end of September. These were mostly in the northern and western Transvaal, northern Natal, and the Transkei. Later, numbers of these authorities would be linked on an ethnic basis in a regional authority, and regional authorities would eventually be linked in territorial authorities. United Transkeian Territories General Council (Bunga) It will clarify matters if before recording the decision made by the Bunga at its meeting in April 1955, the present constitution of the district councils and the General Council of the Transkeian Territories is outlined. District councils, forming the executive organs of the General Council in local administration, exist in each of the 26 Transkeian districts. Twenty-two of the councils are presided over by the district magistrates, while the remaining four have elected African chairmen: the intention has been that Africans should take over as soon as the councils are considered to be ready to handle their own affairs. Each council hs six members (except that in four districts (16) Hansard 15, col. 4538. ( 7) Published in Rand Daily Mail and other papers of that date.
RELATIONS: 1954-55 the paramount chiefs are additional ex-o{Iicio members). In districts other than Pondoland two of the six members are nominated by the Governor-General and the remaining four are appointed by electoral colleges from amongst their members. These electoral colleges are composed of three members elected by taxpayers and quitrent payers in each of four sections of the magisterial district concerned. In Pondoland the electoral colleges appoint two instead of four members, two are appointed by the paramount chiefs, and, as before, two are nominated by the Governor-General. It appears that, in practice, a minority of the electorate exercises its voting right. Teachers, who form the majority of the educated group in rural areas, are not permitted to stand for election unless special approval is granted; but chiefs and headmen are, and if they decide to stand their election is almost a foregone conclusion. The district councils carry out such duties as are allocated to them by the General Council, such as road maintenance and dipping operations. The central body remains financially responsible for their actions, however; there is one common treasury into which all revenues flow, and which is chargeable with the cost of services authorized. The expenditure from this treasury is in the neighbourhood of 300,000 a year. The General Council sits under the chairmanship of the Chief Magistrate of the Transkei, who is also its chief executive officer. It is composed of three African members from each of the 26 districts, the four paramount chiefs, and the White district magistrates who take part in deliberations but have no vote. Outside Pondoland two of the three African members from each district are nominees of the district council and the third is nominated by the Governor-General. In the districts of Pondoland the district council, the paramount chief concerned, and the Governor-General each nominate one member. In recent years the GovernorGeneral's nominees have all been chiefs or headmen, and, for the reason outlined above, a large proportion of the councillors appointed by district councils are chiefs or headmen too. The General Council meets in annual session to consider its budget, motions submitted by members (including magistrates), and matters referred to it by the government or by district councils. It may levy rates and, with the Governor- General's approval, make regulations binding on Africans in its area of jurisdiction. It has an Executive Committee consisting of the Chief Magistrate, three magistrates appointed by him, and four African councillors elected by the Council, which deals with staff matters, scholarships, agriculture, and public works. All the chief officials are White, and since. 1944 they have been members of the public service and thus not employees of the Council. There are a number of standing committees (including one that deals with any draft legislation referred to it by the government) which carry on business between sessions of the Council.
A SURVEY OF RACE This Council systein is a long-standing one: the first district councils and a general council linking them were created in the Transkei in 1895 and in Pondoland in 1911. The general councils of Pondoland and of the remainder of the territories were amalgamated in 1930. Particularly in recent years, there has been mounting criticism of the effectiveness of the system, however. Africans have felt that too much of the responsiblity is carried by White officials, that African councillors have no real function beyond that of advisers, that the executive and standing committees do not keep the Council fully enough informed of their actions, that too much money is spent on roads to White trading stations and seaside resorts. Educated Africans have taken little interest in the working of the system. Since the Bantu Authorities Act was passed in 1951, officials of the Native Affairs Department have explained its implications and proposed working at numerous meetings with chiefs and commoners. In this new system, it will be remembered, the elective principle is excluded in the composition of tribal authorities, which consist of chiefs or headmen in association with a number of tribal counsellors. Regional authorities (on the district council level) will be composed of members elected or selected from amongst the membership of tribal authorities in the area; and territorial authorities (corresponding to general councils) will consist of members elected or selected from amongst the members of the regional authorities. On the other hand, these authorities will all have their own treasuries (as is stated above, district councils in the Transkei do not have individual treasuries), and will also be granted considerable administrative and executive powers. While officers of the public service may be designated by the Minister to act in an advisory capacity to regional or territorial authorities, it is intended that White officials, in general, shall play a smaller part in the affairs of the Bantu authorities than they at present do in those of the Transkeian Bunga. There is, of course, nothing to prevent the government from extending the powers of the Bunga, of its district councils, and of the African members and officials. At its 1953 session the Bunga resolved to request the government not to apply the Bantu Authorities Act in the Transkei. The 1955 session was opened by Mr M. D. C. de Wet Nel, M.P., a member of the Native Affairs Commission. He said(18) that through the imposition of a western system of local government the Bantu had lost all initiative in the handling of their local affairs. Councils had been grafted on to traditional forms of government, but this had been done in such a way as to destroy the traditional authority without putting anything in its place. The Under-Secretary for Native Affairs (Native areas), Mr C. B. Young, addressed the Council on the working of the Bantu Authorities Act. A resolution previously tabled by members of the Council ('s) As. reported in the As'senibly, 20 April 1955, Hansard 11, col. 4259.
RELATIONS: 1954-55 61 sought to vote the Bunga out of existence, replacing it by Bantu authorities. The chairman pointed out that the Bunga could not disestablish itself: necessary machinery would have to be provided by the government. Mr Young explained that the establishment of tribal authorities must precede that of regional or territorial authorities. The Act, he said, aimed at building up the power of the chiefs and restoring a Bantu aristocracy. A nation could fulfil its destiny only if it was based on the development of the whole people, and not on that of a comparatively few individuals only. After some debate, in which the absence of the elective principle in the constitution of Bantu authorities was mentioned, the Council adopted a motion accepting the principle of the Act, but requesting that in order to preserve the solidarity of the Transkei, a committee be appointed to consider how best to integrate the council system with the scheme for Bantu authorities. A committee of 20 African councillors and six White magistrates was appointed, to report to the next session of the Council in 1956. This decision, which appeared to be nearly unanimous (there were some abstentions but no votes were cast against it) (19), was hailed by the Minister of Native Affairs as a triumph for apartheid. It gave rise to considerable astonishment among educated Africans and many White people. It appears to be undoubted that Africans have lost faith in the efficacy of the Bunga as an organization representative of their people, in the continually postponed promises of increased power for African councillors. On the other hand, it would not be necessary to replace the Bunga by a territorial authority in order to enlarge its powers. As is explained above, a large majority of the councillors present were chiefs and headmen; and the Bantu Authorities Act offers them greatly enhanced authority and prestige. It also provides for the establishment of tribal treasuries. Moreover, at the time of the meeting, there was much talk of the elimination of 'White spots' in the Transkei.(20) The Ciskeian General Council later accepted by 15 votes to one against and two abstentions a report recommending that the Bantu Authorities Act be accepted and requesting the government to apply it to the Ciskei. Meeting of the Minister of Native Affairs with tribal leaders During the past year the Minister of Native Affairs, accompanied by a number of senior officials of his department, has held discussions with leading representatives of the Sotho, Venda, Tsonga, and Zulu tribes. In November 1954, just before the Senate elections, an indaba was held at Oliphants River, near the Zebedelia citrus estates, attended by 71 Sotho chiefs accompanied by some 170 headmen and counsellors from the central and nothern Transvaal. (9) The President and the Director of the Institute of Race Relations were present at the meeting an(l recorded their impressions. (21) See Page 128.
A SURVEY OF RACE The following week the Minister and officials met 17 Venda and Tsonga chiefs with about 43 followers at Sibasa, near Louis Trichardt. Tents were pitched to accommodate the visitors, oxen were slaughtered, and, in the evening, entertainment and educational films were shown. Talks were given on the Bantu Authorities Act,-this would build up the power of the chiefs and restore the African aristocracy, it was said,-and on the Bantu Education Act and proposed ethnic grouping in towns. Through these measures, the people were told, each tribe would have its own government conforming to its traditions and custom; tribal bonds would be retained, urban children would be taught in their own languages, and subsidies for Bantu education would go to the government's 'rightful heir,'-the African people themselves,-rather than to the missions. Questions were invited. No further, similar meetings took place until after the parliamentary session, but early in October 1955 a three-day indaba with about 300 Zulu chiefs and some 200 headmen and counsellors was arranged at Nongoma in Zululand. Again the principles of the Bantu Education Act and Bantu Authorities Act and of ethnic grouping in towns were explained. Officials pointed out that every African could not be a farmer, and said that after detailed maps showing tribal and ethnic groups had been prepared, rural villages would be established to accommodate those who would have to be diverted to other occupations. The Minister of Native Affairs announced that houses were to be built at Pretoria and other large centres for the leading representatives of each ethnic group, where they could stay when consulting the departmental officials or visiting their tribesmen. Training schools for the heirs of chiefs of each main tribe were to be established; and after the course of training the men would be temporarily absorbed into the Native Affairs Department to gain experience in administration. At the conclusion of the conference, spokesmen for the chiefs told the Minister that they would prefer to consult their tribesmen before deciding whether or not to accept Bantu authorities. Educational courses for chiefs, as described in previous issues of this Survey, have been continued. During February 1955, for example, departmental officials arranged a three-day course for Zulu chiefs at Vuma Trust Farm, Natal. Mr W. A. Maree, M.P., a member of the Native Affairs Commission, stressed in his opening speech the Government's desire that chiefs should interest themselves in education and in the exercising of judicial functions according to Native law and customs. Lectures were given on law and administration, agriculture, forestry, Bantu education, and Bantu authorities. Legislation regulating the African population of urban areas At the 1955 Council meeting of the Institute of Race Relations, Mr D. B. Molteno presented a paper on Urban Areas legislation. (21) (21) Since published in R ace Relations Joitrnal No. 2 of 1955.
RELATIONS: 1954--55 It is an extraordinary phenomenon of mass psychosis, he said, that the illusion has persisted that the Union can be divided into 'White areas' and 'Native areas,' since the fact is that more than half the African population lives outside the reserves, possessing no right of residence or property there. Security of tenure and the prospect of economic independence in other rural areas are denied to this majority of the Africans; and, furthermore, they are afforded no enforcible right to reside, acquire property, carry on independent economic activity, or freely to seek and take up employment in the towns. A narrow range of exemptions exists from the provisions of section 10 of the Urban Areas Act, which lays down conditions for residence of Africans in urban areas, but these exemptions are themselves subject to other provisions of the Act which authorize their being entirely whittled away. The powers conferred on local authorities to set apart land for African townships and to provide housing or to require employers to do so are purely permissive (although the Minister may compel them to exercise these powers). If such land or accommodation is not provided, or if the accommodation is inadequate, Africans may yet be prohibited from residing elsewhere in the urban area. Nor can they live in an urban area adjoining that in which they are employed. Hence the growth of illegal slums. Residential rights within African villages are as much a matter of grace-not of right-as is the case outside, since discretion has been conferred on local authorities to prescribe by regulation, subject to the approval of the Minister and the Administrator, the terms and conditions of residence in locations or villages. The newer type of regulations makes the issue of a site, residential, or lodger's permit dependent not only on the location superintendent's opinion as to whether the applicant is a 'fit and proper person,' but also on the applicant having employment. The Urban Areas laws deny the African freedom of movement not only from country to town, but from one town to another. Restrictions on movement impose drastic limitations to his opportunities for productive employment. It is needless to emphasize that the vast and discretionary powers described are exercised by persons of a race alien to the Africans. It may be contended that so long as discretionary powers are equitably exercised, the interests of the individual are as effectively safeguarded as by rule of law. But a system exercised by administrative bodies or officials without any obligation to observe legal principles, to hear evidence, or even to accord the individual affected a hearing, constitutes in essence a charter of tyranny. A municipal representative present said that regulations are applied with a large measure of give and take. Local authorities accepted the fact that they had to provide for a permanent urban African population. But, he considered, there was some justification A SURVEY OF RACE for a controlled economy, for elimination of waste of labour, fbr avoidance of conditions which in the past have led to squatter movements. Influx control, he said, was a form of social security for those Africans already in the towns. Influx control as affecting African men The Natives (Urban Areas) Amendment Act, No. 16 of 1955, provides that an African whose home is in the Union may be permitted to re-enter an urban area after being away for not more than twelve months provided that he is returning to his previous employer and will be engaged in the same class of work that he carried out fbrmerly. When the Bill was under debate in the Assembly, the Minister of'Native Affairs said (22) that this was in accordance with his policy that the migrant worker should be given the opportunity of becoming stabilized : that is, he should be able to return to the same employer time and time again, his family remaining behind in one of the reserves. Skill he acquires would thus not be wasted. While welcoming this concession, the Opposition and the Institute of Race Relations(23) regretted the provision that a man could return only for employment in the class of work in which he was previously engaged. The operation of influx and efflux control and labour bureaux was described in detail in our last Survey.(24) Johannesburg Municipality has related its housing policy to influx-control measures. Those Africans from the Union who were legally resident and working in the city before 1 January 1953 (approximately the time when labour bureaux and reference books were first introduced), are to be allowed to take up any type of housing and employment that is offered, except that houses will be sold only to those who have been legally in the area for five years. Of those who arrived in the city after that date and are in employment, any who already have their families with them will be permitted to rent houses, while the rest will be housed in single accommodation and warned not to bring their wives or families to Johannesburg unless special authority is obtained. In the allocation of employment, first preference is given to Union Africans who have been legally resident in Johannesburg since before 1 January 1953, second preference to those who arrived legally in the city after that date and lose their present jobs,(25 ) and third preference to bona fide residents of Alexandra Township which is just outside the municipal boundary. This means that (12) 3 February 1955; Iansard 2, col. 523. 2":1) R R.32/1955. (24) 1 ,Surzcy of Race kelatimis, 1953-4, page 39. (25) Members of this group are endorsed out of the proclaimed area if they are unwilling to accept whatever work is available. The position of non-lion Africans is dealt with later.
RELATIONS: 1954--55 legal residents of Alexandra are seldom able to obtain the muchsought-after clerical or operative posts and often have to choose between labouring work or domestic service in the city, or employment on farms outside. Men who have recently arrived illegally in Alexandra Township (i.e., without permission from the native commissioner in their home area) are unable to obtain any employment in the city. The result is that there are large numbers of unemployed men in the Township. Youths leaving school are often unwilling to accept the type of work offered them, decide to await a better opportunity, and meanwhile drift into delinquency. There are no street lights, few police, and fewer telephones in Alexandra, and in consequence of the number of unemployed persons and the deplorable social conditions, it has become the most gangster-ridden township in the country. Yet, according to the annual report of 1954 of the Entokozweni Family Welfare Centre, the majority of the people of Alexandra are decent, hardworking, thrifty people, in most cases engaged in a grim struggle for survival. Dr M. W.Susser, of the Health Centre and University Clinic in the Township, estimates(26) that 34,000 of the 80,000 Africans there live even below the 'sub-human level of the poverty datum line.' Officials of Johannesburg Municipality are, at the time of writing, holding discussions with the Native Affairs Department and the Alexandra Township Health Committee on the employment position. The Department of Native Afiirs recently prohibited Africans from the Ngotshe, Ngwavuma, Ubombo, Nongoma, and Hlabisa districts of Zululand from seeking work in Durban, and the Durban and District local authorities have been requested by the Chief Native Commissioner, Natal, to stop issuing work-seeking permits to Africans from these districts, even if they have previously worked in the urban area concerned, and irrespective of such other influxcontrol policies as may be in operation. The only exceptions permitted are that Africans who have been genuinely on leave may return to the same employer, and that with the permission of the Chief Native Commissioner, Natal, certain types of African workers may be imported to meet special requests. A case of much interest, arising from the tightening of influxcontrol regulations, was that of Mr E. Mathebhula who was born in Ermelo and lived there for some years. Later he moved to Johannesburg, but although he ran a business in that city for eighteen years he continued to regard Ermelo as his home, paid his poll- tax there, and voted there in Senate elections. He is in possession of an exemption certificate. Towards the end of 1954 he decided to return permanently to his home town, but soon after arrival was served with a municipal order requiring him to leave. (26) In speech at conference oni Non-European Social W\rork, Johannesburg, July 1955.
A SURVEY OF RACE After an unsuccessful appeal to the native commissioner he lodged a further appeal, which was upheld by a bench of three judges in the Supreme Court, Pretoria. The court was of opinion that as Mr Mathebhula was born in Ermelo and regarded it as his permanent home, he was entitled to remain there. The municipality then asked leave to appeal to the Appellate Division as the matter was of great importance to local authorities; and leave was granted on condition that the respondent undertook to pay all the costs. This case has yet to be heard. Influx control as affecting African women While several local authorities, including Johannesburg, have been asked by the Secretary for Native Affairs to give attention to the possibility of limiting the influx of African women and of requiring 'undesirable' women to leave their areas, it is in the Western Cape only(21) that women have so far been issued with 'passes.' The Minister of Native Affairs is reported(28) to have informed the National Party Congress in Pretoria, however, that identity books for African women were being prepared, and that their issue would commence on 1 January 1956. These books would differ in some respects from the reference books men were required to carry. For the past eighteen months, however, local authorities in the Western Province of the Cape have been required to exercise strict control of the influx of African women into their areas. The new section 10, enacted in 1952, of the Natives (Urban Areas) Consolidtion Act, has been applied there. In terms of sub-section (2) of this, permits are being issued to African women authorized to remain in the urban areas of the Western Province, indicating the purposes for which and period during which they may remain there. Up to November 1954, some 5,000 of these permits had been issued in Cape Town.(29) It became known that in terms of section 10 bis it could be deemed an offence to employ aiy African not in possession of a permit to seek or take up employment, and many employers of African women sent them to obtain these documents. Then, in November, a small number of women who could not satisfy the authorities that their presence in the area was lawful, were prosecuted and 'removed to their homes or last places of residence.' After that, African women became anxious to safeguard themselves, and the demand for permits grew to such an extent that (27) See page 90 for Government policy in regard to Africans in the Western Province. (28) 7he Star, 23 September 1955. (29) Information in this section from letter from Town Clerk of Cape Town to National Council of -Women of S.A. (Cape Town branch), 25 March 1955.
RELATIONS: 1954-55 67 several special offices were opened, between them issuing another 8,550 permits by the middle of March 1955. The maximum period of validity of these documents is twelve months; such permits are given to applicants who fall in the 'exempted' classes, that is, who really require no permission to remain in the urban area because (a) they were born and permanently reside there, or (b) they have worked continuously there for one employer for not less than ten years, or have lawfully remained in the area for not less than fifteen years, and fulfil certain requirements as to character, or (c) they are the wives, widows, or unmarried daughters of men who fall into either of the two classes mentioned above. Permits for lesser periods, as short as one month in some cases, are issued to women lawfully in the area who do not fall into one of the 'exempted' classes or who cannot produce proof that they do so. Should a woman remain longer in the proclaimed area than the date stamped on her permit, without applying for and being granted an extension, she is liable to arrest and prosecution. By mid-March some 20,000 or more women had been registered, not only in the Cape Town municipal area but also in the divisional council area and in adjoining municipalites such as Goodwood, Pinelands, and Fishhoek. The Cape Town branch of the National Council of Women of South Africa has been very deeply concerned about the threatened separation of husbands and wives, the grave sense of insecurity felt by Africans, and the possible ejection of many women who have no homes in the reserves. It has set up an ad hoc committee, on which members of the Cape Western Regional Committee of the Institute of Race Relations are serving, to consider how best to assist the African women. It was decided that volunteers would visit the locations and 'black spots' to advise the women there on their rights under the Act: many are unaware that provision is made for 'exempted' classes, do not know how to set about proving that their presence is lawful, do not realize that they have the right of appeal to the native commissioner. A leaflet setting out this information has been prepared for circulation among the women. In a press statement issued on 20 July 1955(30) the Christian Council of South Africa urged that the implementation of Government policy should not have the effect of further weakening ties of family life. The evil effects in the sphere of morality of the migratory labour policy have long been recognized, the Council said. Reference Books The Minister of Native Affairs said in the Assembly on 13 May 1955("') that 1,465,982 reference books had so far been issued to African men. Most of the Transvaal and certain areas of Natal and the Orange Free State, including the larger towns, had been covered. (30) Rand Daily Mail, 21 July 1955. (31) Hansard 14, col. 5591.
A SURVEY OF RACE Since then, teams from the Native Affairs Department have visited Cape Town, East London, and other towns. Port Elizabeth, for so long opposed to the scheme, has now asked the government to introduce in its area the registration of service contracts. The Cape Western Regional Committee of the Institute of Race Relations pointed out early in 1955 that information given on an explanatory card supplied with reference books was confusing, creating the impression that Africans were permitted to move freely f'rom one town to another in search of work. The Institute submitted to the Secretary for Native Affairs a suggested rewording of the text, which is to be adopted when new stocks of the cards are printed. Meanwhile, the first sentence, which is the one causing confusion, is being deleted. Natives (Abolition of Passes and Co-ordination of Documents) Act Amendment Bill This Bill was read for a first time on 29 April 1955, but was not proceeded with. It contained two main provisions, the proposal to issue a special document of the nature of a passport in place of a reference book to 'foreign' Africans, and a suggested measure to overcome abuses by 'pass consultants' and the forging and exchange of reference books. It sought to make it possible to prosecute not only a person who forges an entry in a reference book, but also the person in whose book the false endorsement is made. Control of so-called pass consultants Since influx-control measures were tightened, pass consultants and forgery gangs have conducted flourishing businesses in the proclaimed areas. Some Africans, bewildered by the complexities of urban legislation and unsure of how to present their cases to overworked officials at registration offices, have been willing to pay someone with more leisure to assist them. Others, who are illegal entrants to the urban areas, are prepared to pay large sums for documents authorizing them to remain. It was said(32) that pass consultants were charging as much as £7 10s. a time for their services. As the Bill mentioned above was not proceeded with, the Government decided to deal with this matter for the time being by means of a notice in the Government Gazette. Notice No. 1080, of 27 May 1955, set out regulations approved by the GovernorGeneral, under the Native Administration Act of 1927, as amended, for the control of persons acting as consultants fbr Africans. The notice forbids anyone (other than an attorney or advocate in cases of appeal) to take money from an African for giving advice about service contracts, permission to enter or remain in urban areas, the issue of reference books or making of entries therein, (3) e.g., The ,Star, 24 Jainiary 1955.
RELATIONS: 1954-55 or the registration of workseekers. The penalty for contravention of these regulations is a fine of up to £50 or up to six months' imprisonment. The regulations apply on the Rand and in Pretoria and Vereeniging. The Field Officer of the Institute of Race Relations is preparing in brochure form a guide to urban Africans, written in three African languages and entitled Signposts. It explains what official assistance is available and how to set about obtaining it. The railways have agreed to provide Johannesburg Municipality with an office at the main station where Africans arriving by train may seek advice about regulations applying to them. Position of Africans from outside the Union Section 6 of the Natives (Urban Areas) Amendment Act, No. 16 of 1955, considerably tightens influx-control measures applicable to Africans whose homes are outside the Union. Those who contract to work on the mines are not affected, since they are returned to their homes on expiry of their contracts. Africans from Portuguese East Africa, Rhodesia, and territories to the north are now not permitted to be in urban areas or proclaimed areas (which include certain peri-urban areas) at all, unless with the written permissin of the Secretary for Native Affairs issud with the concurrence of the local authority concerned. New permits of this nature are not being granted. Those already lawfully employed in such areas and in possession of temporary immigration permits are now likely to be refused permission to remain after the date of expiry of such permits, even if they remain with the same employer. If they lose their jobs they are in any case ordered out. Africans from the High Commission Territories also now need the written permission of the Secretary for Native Affairs or his deputy, issued with the concurrence of the local authority, to be in an urban or proclaimed area. In their case, however, those already lawfully in such an area at the date of commencement of the Act may stay so long as they remain there uninterruptedly. During debate the Minister said (33) that they may be allowed to return home for holidays without forfeiting this right as long as they obtained prior permission from the local labour bureau or native commissioner. As the Minister repeatedly said that they must not be placed in a more favourable position than are Africans domiciled in the Union's reserves, it is assumed that even if lawfully in an urban area at the date of commencement of the Act, Africans from the High Commission Territories may be endorsed out on losing their jobs if no other suitable employment exists (unless they fall into the 'exempted' classes). When this Act came into operation the S.A. Police set up blocks on the main roads into Basutoland, and warned all Basotho who ( ) Assembly, 28 February 1955. Hansard 6, col. 1809.
A SURVEY OF RACE passed that they were liable to prosecution if they entered urban areas without a permit from the Union Government. In consequence, traders in nearby towns, particularly Ficksburg in the Orange Free State, were hard hit: Basotho tribesmen had for many years come there to buy their provisions and other requirements. It was reported (34) that both the Afrikaanse Sakekamer and the Chamber of Commerce of Ficksburg sent telegrams to the Minister of Native Affairs, and that as result the police were withdrawn, the Basutoland Administration being informed unofficially that Basotho could continue to visit neighbouring towns in the Union until machinery for granting permits could be established. About eight years ago a number of members of the Apostolic Church of Zion migrated from Southern Rhodesia to Port Elizabeth. Some of them subsequently married Union Africans, and to-day there is a community of some 600 of them, living a communal life and running a large and prosperous cabinet-making, furniture and basket manufacturing and tin-smithy business in Korsten. None of the members has been convicted of any offence, nor has any trouble been experienced with them. The municipality planned during 1955 to ask them to move to Bethelsdorp, where a new factory was to be erected, but the Minister of Native Affairs has ruled that the whole community is to return to Southern Rhodesia. Control of meetings or gatherings of Africans In terms of Government Notice No. 2017 of 1953, as amended, the Governor- General may impose control of meetings or gatherings of Africans in any area. The permission of the Secretary for Native Affairs or a chief native commissioner, native commissioner or magistrate is then required before a meeting, gathering, or assembly at which more than ten Africans are. to be present may be held. Certain exceptions are made: Members of Parliament or of Provincial Councils, or those nominated for election as such, may hold meetings of over ten Africans in the area concerned without obtaining permission, and bona fide church services, weddings, funerals, and sports gatherings are excluded. These provisions were during 1954 brought into effect throughout the Transkei and in the magisterial districts of Mafeking, Vereeniging, and Grahamstown. The municipal area of Kimberley has since been added. (35) A case of some interest, which has not yet been settled, took place in Johannesburg towards the end of 1954. Municipal traffic by-laws in this city provide that the Town Clerk's permission must be obtained before meetings are held in public places. Two Africans were prosecuted for convening such a meeting in Orlando on 23 September without having sought the Town Clerk's authority. At their trial in the magistrate's court during February, counsel for the defence contended that the traffic by-laws were in conflict with (34) The Star, 18 June 1955. (:G5) ('overnment Notice No. 2508 of 10 )ecember 1954.
RELATIONS: 1954-55 the Natives (Urban Areas) Consolidation Act of 1945, in terms of which Africans are free to hold meetings in African locations or townships other than those to which Government Notice 2017 of 1953 has been applied, unless such meetings have been prohibited by a magistrate after consultation with the police and municipal officials. The magistrate upheld this contention and ruled that the by- law could not be held to apply to meetings of Africans in African locations. His ruling was upset in the Supreme Court, Pretoria, during May, the court considering that the provisions of the by-law and those of the Act were not in conflict, but were complementary. Because the matter was one of considerable public importance, however, the respondents were granted leave to appeal to the Appellate Division. Removal of certain Africans from urban areas Mr P. M. M. Kuena, a spiritual healer from Evaton, who has a wife and five children, was in December 1954 served with an order signed by the Governor- General and the Minister of Native Affairs directing him to move at once to a Trust farm at Frenchdale in the Mafeking district, and to remain there for an indefinite period. He applied to the Supreme Court, Pretoria, for an order declaring his removal order to be null and void. He was entitled, under 'the Native Administration Act of 1927, as amended, he submitted, to be given full details of the nature of any charges against him and to have opportunity of replying to these before the Governor-General or the Minister could make any order. The Minister, in his replying affidavit, said that the Governor-General-in-Council had decided on sufficient and reliable facts that Mr Kuena's behaviour was detrimental to peace, order, and proper administration. He was aware of the complaints the department had against him. In terms of the Native Administration Act it was unnecessary to give him the opportunity of making representations. The judge said that the application involved principles of constitutional law and was one of considerable importance. It was, therefore, referred to a full bench, and was heard during August 1955, together with a similar application by MrJ. H. Saliwa who had been ordered to move from the Glen Grey district, in the Cape, to the Pietersburg district. Their applications were dismissed, the two judges who heard them being in agreement. The relevant parts of the Act, they said, must be considered against their ethnological background, which included the principle of autocratic authority in the person of the GovernorGeneral as Supreme. Chief of all the Africans. In terms of the Native Administration Act, the audi alteram partem rule fell away because the legislature apparently intended the Governor-General to act in the public interest, even when his action might affect a tribe or individual who might be blameless. The GovernorGeneral's decision, except that it must be made in good faith, was unlimited.
A SURVEY OF RACE In the Assembly on 13 June a Member of Parliament asked for information about a similar removal by administrative order, without trial, of Mr E. Monare from Benoni to Glen-Red in the Vryheid district. The Minister of Native Affairs replied(36) that such removals of Africans who harm their own communities were from time to time ordered, and the process was no new one. More rural than urban Africans had so far been affected. Each was sent to a different area. They were not confined in any labour camp, and were, on application, entitled to have their wives and children sent to join them at the state's expense, and to claim state support for their dependants. Taxation of Africans The Minister of Native Affairs has indicated that he may find it necessary in the next three to five years to increase the direct taxation of Africans in order to pay for the development of Bantu education. In the Assembly on 31 January 1955 he said(37) that such an increase 'need not, of course, take place ... bymeans of an equal all-round increase of the poll-tax. Great differences have arisen in the income of the individual Bantu. There are those who cannot contribute more than they are doing now, but there are others who are still not paying ordinary income tax who could certainly contribute £1 or £2 more per annum in the form of general tax than they are doing now .... I have already appointed a committee and .... there is a report from them in which it has been worked out how we can obtain a considerable increase of revenue in a reasonable way without placing an unbearable burden on a single Bantu.' Research in progress The Institute for Social Research at the University of Natal has completed an inter-disciplinary study of an urban African community at Baumanville, Durban. The results will shortly be released. The significance of the study lies not so much in analytical presentation of the data covering a wide variety of aspects of the life of the African town dweller, but in interpreting their interrelatedness and indicating the processes of adaptation in the economic, cultural, spiritual, and sociological fields. Research workers of the Institute of Social and Economic Research, Rhodes University, are making studies of African systems of morality, and of the education of Africans in the Union. These projects have been financed by grants from the Nuffield Foundation. The National Institute for Personnel Research, in Johannesburg, is validating for secondary industry its battery of tests for illiterate and semi-illiterate Africans. Methods for selecting African civil servants are also beirng developed. In connection with these (36) Hansard 19, cols. 7612, 7627-30, (:37) Hiansard 2, col, 313
RELATIONS: 1954-55 projects new tests, such as educational achievement and a pictorial test of occupational preferences, are being constructed. Studies are also being made of attitudes towards various types of work, occupational preference and character formation in Africans. In collaboration with physiologists and nutritionists, investigations on the work capacity measurement of African miners with special reference to motivation, are being carried out. The effect of humidity, temperature, and acclimatization on the learning ability, vigilance, quality of output, endurance and personality responses of African mine workers is also being studied. Laboratory investigations of psycho-motor learning and perceptual ability are in progress. The relationship between developmental curves and nutritional status, socio-economic and cultural backgrounds of a group of African children is being investigated. Dr S. Biesheuvel, Director of this Institute for Personnel Research, contributed an article to Race Relations Journal No. 3 of 1955 entitled 'Mind, Manners and Morals: Some Problems in Cultural Readjustment.' Among research projects in progress at the University of the Witwatersrand are studies of changes in African marriage and family systems, and reactions of Africans to advertising. Professor D. T. Cole is continuing his research into the tonal structure of Tswana, while Professor L. Maingard is studying Bushman and Koranna linguistics. Projects in progress at the University of Natal include studies of the influence of the school curriculum on the way of life of an African rural community, Zulus in towns, economic aspects of African urbanization, conditions in the reserves, passive resistance, and problems of an African educator, the social structure of the Southern Bantu, marriage, family and kin among the Lobedu, passive resistance, and completion of the Zulu dictionary.
A SURVEY OF RACE REGIONAL GROUP PLANNING, GROUP AREAS, AND SITING OF INDUSTRIAL AND AFRICAN TOWNSHIPS LEGISLATION DURING 1955 1. Group Areas Amendment Act The principal object of the Group Areas Amendment Bill, now Act No. 6 of 1955, was to give the Land Tenure Advisory Board(1) discretion to decide who should have the right to appear before it. During the second reading debate in the Assembly, on 2 February 1955, the Minister of the Interior gave his reasons for introducing the Bill.(2) The process of public hearings, he said, which was not a necessary ingredient of the Act, had been abused by the adoption of delaying tactics. This policy had emanated largely from the Indian Congress. During a public hearing in Lydenburg, Congress made application to the Board for certain members of it to recuse themselves. This application was dismissed. The applicants then asked for an adjournment of the Board to allow them to test the ruling in a court of law. Althouigh the Board agreed to an adjournment, no steps were taken by Congress for nine months. Another hearing was arranged for 29 March 1954. Some days beforehand the chairman of the Board was served with a rule nisi calling on him to show why the hearing should not be adjourned in order that his refusal to recuse himself might be tested. The matter went before the court, judgment being given in favour of the chairman's decision. When the Board met it ruled that the Indian Congress was not a party interested in terms of the, Act. It later gave similar rulings at hearings in Brits and Pietermaritzburg. In each case there was a request from Congress to adjourn the hearing so that the ruling could be tested. Each time the Board refused, went on with its proceedings, and no further steps were taken by Congress. The same procedure followed at a hearing in Johannesburg; but this time Congress did apply to the court to stay the proceedings while the point was being tested. The judge set aside the chairman's ruling, saying it seemed clear that the term 'interested party' should be interpreted more widely than he had done. The meaning the court had suggested, the Minister continued, was wide enough to permit argument about the principles of the Act, when the matter to be discussed was the merits of whether it should be applied in a particular area, and, if so, to what extent. One solution would be for the Board to decide to have no further public hearings, but that was undesirable. A second way out would be by continous rulings to keep the argument within the bounds of the enquiry, but that would mean continous wrangle, loss of time, and increased costs for those appearing to give their views in regard to concrete proposals. (1) Since re-named the Group Areas Board. (2) Assembly Hansard 2, cols. 382-8.
RELATIONS: 1945-55 The Government's solution was to grant the Board unfettered discretion to decide which of the persons or bodies who had submitted written representations should be permitted to appear before it at public hearings. The Act provides that the only persons entitled as by right to appear are representatives of the state or of a local authority within whose area is situated any property to which the enquiry relates, or persons to whose application the enquiry relates. This section was made retrospective to 29 March 1954, to prevent any re-opening of the rulings by the chairman of the Board in Lydenburg, Brits, and Pietermaritzburg. The second object of the Act was to facilitate procedure. The Board was previously empowered, with the Minister's approval, to appoint regional committees consisting of two or more of its members, to carry out certain specified functions of the Board. These functions may now include authority to report direct to the Minister on matters of a routine nature, such as those relating to permits. Recommendations affecting the proclamation of group areas will still have to be adopted by the Board itself before they are forwarded, however. Other committees to conduct specific enquiries may also be appointed by the Board. They must consist of at least two members of the Board or (with the Minister's approval) at least one member and one or more other persons. A new provision is that the chairman of such an ad hoc committee, need not necessarily be a member of the Board. Lastly, it was provided that rulings by a committee on a point of procedure need not be confirmed by the Board before they could be either attacked or defended in a court of law. All political parties constituting the Opposition, and the Institute of Race Relations, (3) opposed the principle of empowering the Board to refuse a hearing to persons it deemed to have no direct interest in proceedings; but this clause was retained in the Act. 2. Group Areas Further Amendment Act The Group Areas Further Amendment Act, No. 68 of 1955, which was introduced later in the session, makes numerous further amendments to the original Act of 1950. (a) Group Areas Board One group of amendments deals with the Land Tenure Advisory Board, which is renamed the Group Areas Board, and the membership of which is increased from nine to twelve. The amending legislation provides that the Minister of the Interior may delegate to the chairman of the Board, who is now also its chief administrative officer, such of his functions as authorizing the issue of permits and determining the group character of unoccupied buildings and premises. An additional amendment introduced at the Opposition's suggestion is that anyone who is aggrieved by a decision of the chairman on any of these matters may within sixty days appeal to the Minister. (3) In statement RR.33/1955.
A SURVEY 01 RACE (b) Border Strips The border-strip policy, introduced in this Act, is described on page 84. (c) Proclamation of Group Areas Section 19 makes possible the speedier proclamation of group areas in cases where a full public hearing by the Board is considered to be unnecessary. In introducing the Bill the Minister of Lands, acting for the Minister of the Interior, said(4) that in many instances it was highly desirable for his colleague to state what the ultimate future of certain areas would be, but he had previously been unable to make any public announcement until after a full investigation had been held by the Board. The amending Act provides that on receipt of proposals for an area, submitted in response to the usual preliminary notice, the Board may examine these, sort out any which appear to be fantastic or merely obstructive, and offer the persons responsible for these the opportunity of being heard or of submitting further written representations. If the Board then still considers that it is unnecessary for the proposals to go to full investigation, it may, with the Minister's approval, reject them without further ado. In some cases, the Minister of Lands said, it would in future be possible to proclaim group areas without first convening public hearings. (d) Exemptions from disqualification as occupants in a controlled area(5) Persons occupying premises under any statutory right were formerly exempt from disqualification as occupants in a controlled area. The Minister said(6) that officials had encountered the difficulty that a disqualified resident of an area had sometimes entered into a lease before the Group Areas Act came into operation, and under the Rents Act could not be ejected. The paragraph mentioning statutory right is now replaced by one allowing occupation by a lessee under a permit. Bona fide employees of lawful occupiers were formerly exempt from disqualification unless the exemption had specifically been withdrawn by proclamation, but will in future be exempt only if there has been an authorizing proclamation in respect of the area concerned. Otherwise disqualified persons could formerly occupy premises by virtue of a permit issued to the owner, lessee, or occupier of the property. The occupier himself must in future be in possession of such a permit. Further exemptions from disqualification may be made in the cases of registered squatters as defined in the Native Trust and (4) Assembly, 14 June 1955. Hansard 19, col. 7742. (5) An analysis of the Bill prepared by Mrs. Kentridge for the S.A. Institute of Race Relations (RR.129/55) has been of much assistance in the preparation of this summary. (6) Assembly, 17 June 1955. Hansard 19, col. 8177.
RELATIONS: 1954-55 Land Act, lawful residents in emergency camps, scholars attending state or state- aided schools, and bona fide employees of persons lawfully carrying out prospecting or mining operations. in the area. (e) Repeal of certain sections of other laws The amending Act repeals certain sections of the Gold Law, Precious and Base Metals Act, Asiatic (Cape Malay) Amendment Act and Transvaal Asiatic Land Tenure Act. These sections deal with the occupation of property and are now superseded by provisions of the Group Areas Act. The amendment provides that any person who owns or Occupies property by virtue of laws thus repealed, may continue to do so even if the area is zoned for members of another racial group. Members of the Opposition said that these persons would, however, now be unable to bequeath the properties to their heirs if the latter were members of disqualified groups. The vested rights of land title of some 8,000 Coloured and Asiatic families in Johannesburg would, in terms of this amendment, be removed. (f) Areas set aside for Africans Another amendment makes it unnecessary in future for the Minister of the Interior to consult the Administrator of the province concerned before proclaiming group areas for Africans. The Minister of Lands said (7) that this applied in released areas only, where the Administrators had no function. Areas for African occupation in the towns would be proclaimed as locations under the Natives (Urban Areas) Act, and not as group areas. The amending measure renders it unnecessary for the Minister of the Interior to give rulings in regard to occupation of property by Africans: it was explained that as the Minister of Native Affairs in any case dealt with the acquisition or lease by Africans of immovable property, it would be simpler if he also controlled the occupation and us6 of property by them. (g) Disposal of illegally held property Section 20 of the principal Act provided that if property was illegally held, the Minister could cause it to be sold out of hand on conditions agreed to by the person concerned, and if that failed, by public auction. In practice, the Minister of Lands said,(8) illegal holders had frustrated sales out of hand by exercising their veto rights. If public auctions were then held, the highest bid had to be accepted and this was frequently made by a nominee of the holder. The amending Act provides that the Minister need only consult the person concerned; his agreement is not necessary. Sales by public tender are substituted for sales by public auction: this, the Minister said, wouldmake possible the selection of a tender deemed acceptable. (7) Assembly, 15 June 1955. Hansard 19, cols. 7922, 7916-7. (s) 14 June. Ilansard 19, cols. 7740-1.
A SURVEY OF RACE (h) Provisions relating to conpanzes In terms of the principal Act, the group character of' a company is determined by the racial group of those possessing controlling interest. If the controlling interest in a company owning immovable property is acquired by members of a disqualified racial group, the company will have to dispose of its property. The Minister of Lands said(9) that a loophole had emerged. An Indian, for example, would give money to a Coloured woman to enable her to obtain the controlling interest in a company owning property in an area where he was prohibited from doing so. He would then marry her, whereupon in terms of the Group Areas Act she became an Indian and could transfer her property to her husband. Section 6 of the amending Act prohibits anyone from continuing to hold immovable property if he or she changes his or her group by reason of marriage or of co-habitation with a member of another group. Previously, if shares in a company were equally divided between members of two racial groups, it was impossible for the authorities to determine who held the controlling interest. This provided another loophole. The Minister said(10) that bogus companies had been formed, with a European and an Indian, for example, holding equal numbers of shares, but with capital provided by an Indian. The amending Act provides that if shares are equally divided between members of two racial groups, the race of any person who has invested money in the company will serve as the determining factor. Section 16 of the principal Act provided that no company which had issued bearer shares to an extent of over one-third of its share capital could acquire property in controlled or group areas without a permit. The reason for this was that the owners of bearer shares were not reflected in the company's books, and its group character might thus be obscured. This restriction was apparently considered to be not tight enough, for section 12 of the amending measure makes it obligatory for companies having any bearer shares to obtain permits to hold immovable property in controlled or group areas. Provision is made for the exemption, by notice in the Gazette, of mining and similar companies from this restriction. (i) Trading licences Applicants for trading licences have in the past been required to declare that the person who would be in active control of the business and in occupation of the premises was lawfully entitled, under the Group Areas Act, to do so. If the declaration proved to be false, legal steps were necessary to have the trader evicted. The Minister said(") that owing to congestion in the courts this process took time, and meanwhile disqualified persons could continue (o) Assembly, 14 June 1955. Hansard 19, col. 7739. (10) 15 June. Hansard 19, col. 7915. (11) Assembly, 14 June. Hansard 19, col. 7741.
RELATIONS: 1954-5 to trade. The amending measure provides that befbre a new licence can be obtained or an existing one transferred to new premises, the applicant must produce a document signed by an authorized representative of the Group Areas Board, certifying that the person who will occupy the trading premises is a qualified person in terms of the Act. 3. Group Areas Development Act The object of the Group Areas Development Act, No. 69 of 1955, was as far as possible to eliminate speculation in property values which might arise as a result of the institution of group areas. As was mentioned in previous Surveys of Race Relations, the Parliamentary Opposition, the Institute of Race Relations, and others had pointed out previously that such speculation was likely. The new Act makes provision for a Group Areas Development Board, the functions of which are as far as possible to stabilize property values in areas affected by the principal Act, to assist disqualified people to dispose of property in such areas and to acquire or hire other property in areas demarcated for members of their group, when necessary to develop new townships for displaced groups, and to render vacated properties suitable for occupation by incoming groups. The Board will consist of a chairman and not more than six other members appointed by the GovernorGeneral, of whom at least one each shall be nominated by the Ministers of the Interior, Finance, Native Affairs, and Lands and the Minister responsible for housing. During the second reading debate the Minister of the Interior said(12) the intention was that the sixth member should represent either the provincial administration or municipal association concerned. The necessary staff would be seconded by the Public Service Commission. This Development Board would function only in areas to which the Development Act had by proclamation been made applicable, on the recommendation of the Group Areas Board. When the Development Act is applied to any area (this will generally be pari passu with its proclamation as a group area), the Board's first task will be to draw up a list of all affected properties, held by disqualified persons in terms of the Act, including affected properties in border strips and areas destined later to become border strips. Owners of these properties must be notified. The basic values of all affected properties will then be determined by valuators appointed by the Administrator of the province, the valuators to be one or more but not exceeding three in number. This basic value is defined as the market value of the land at a date immediately prior to the proclamation which rendered it an affected property, plus the cost of erection of the buildings, less their depreciation. Valuators must afford the Board, the owner, and any mortgagee reasonable opportunity of submitting their views. Lists of (12) Assembly, 20 June 1955. Hansard 19, col. 8248.
A SURVEY OF RACE afkcted properties and their basic values will be open to public inspection. The Board will have pre-emptive right in regard to all affected properties. If the owner of such a property wishes to sell it he must notify the Board and, unless the sale is to be by public auction or public tender without reserve, is required to state what price he is asking. The Board will then inform the owner whether it wishes itself to purchase the property or whether it is willing to waive its pre-emptive right, thus permitting him to sell to a third person, who must be a member of a qualified group. If within fourteen days the Board has not replied it will be deemed to have waived its pre-emptive right. Should the Board wish to purchase the property, the price will be a figure agreed upon by the two parties, except that if a third person wishes to buy it and offers more than the Board does, the latter must pay this larger amount or else waive its pre-emptive right. The property may also, by agreement, be exchanged by the Board for another in a district where the person concerned is entitled to purchase, any difference between the prices of the properties being settled between the two parties to the transaction. Should the Board and the owner be unable to agree on the price to be paid, the matter will be settled by arbitration, three arbitrators being appointed for the purpose by the Administrator of the province concerned. Once a sale has been agreed upon, the procedure fbr stabilizing prices to some degree is applied. If the owner receives more than the basic price, he is required to pay an appreciation contribution to the Board, while should he receive less, the Board pays him a depreciation contribution. In fixing the amount of an appreciation contribution the price the owner originally proposed is taken into account: if this is moie than the amount he received, the proposed rather than the actual selling price is the figure used. The appreciation contribution payable to the Board will be half the difference between this figure and the basic value fixed for the property. The amount of any depreciation contribution payable by the Board to the owner will be 80 per cent. of the diffeience between the basic value and the lesser amount of the actual selling price. (The proportion originally suggested was 75 per cent. but was increased as result of the debate in Parliament). This is the procedure in cases where the owner wishes to sell. He may, however, wish to retain the property for the time being, hoping that its value will rise. He may then request the Board to remove it from the list of affected properties, and if the Board is willing to do so the present market value of the property is determined by agreement between the two parties, or, failing this, by arbitration. The owner pays the appreciation contribution at once, and the Board is relieved of any further responsibility. The owner may then choose his own time for selling the property to a
RELATIONS: 1954--55 qualified person, and may determine his own price. The Board may take the initiative in cases where the market value exceeds the basic value, offering to remove the property from the list if the appreciation contribution is paid at once. Should a property be expropriated by the state, the railways, a local authority, or some other body entitled to do so, appreciation or depreciation contributions as described above will be payable. The Board may itself find it necessary to expropriate properties which owners are unwilling or unable to sell, and in this case the market value at the time of expropriation will be paid, as adjusted by appreciation or depreciation contributions. If the owner should be dissatisfied with the price received, the matter will be settled by arbitration. In determining present market values, the purpose for which the property is used, besides its original cost and present valuation, will be taken into account. If someone ignores the provisions of the Act aid sells or exchanges affected property without reference to the Board, the transaction will not be cancelled (unless the sale was to a disqualified person), but the Board may claim an appreciation contribution of 75 per cent. instead of 50 per cent., and need pay no depreciation contribution. The Board may apply this scheme itself in any area where it operates, or may come to an arrangement in terms of which the local authority concerned or any other relevant body may carry out the work, being vested with the necessary powers. It was envisaged, the Minister said,(13) that in practice the Board would act mainly as the controlling body. This suggestion had been discussed at a widely representative conference with local authorities held during March 1955, and had proved acceptable to most of them. Local authorities need not agree to operate the scheme, but the Act provides that if they do agree and subsequently fail to carry out their obligations the Board may take over the work at their expense. The Board itself, and any local authorities or other bodies operating the scheme, must establish Group Areas Accounts for each area concerned. Into these accounts will be paid loans made by the state, appreciation contributions received, and amounts derived from sale or lease of properties. The money received will be used for purchase of affected property, development of new areas, renovation of vacated buildings, payment of depreciation contributions and general administrative expenses. Local authorities who agree to co-operate may accept full financial responsibility, themselves floating any necessary loans; may assume no financial responsibility whatever, the state bearing all losses or receiving all profits; or may agree to bear any agreed proportion of the financial responsibility. ('.) Assembly, 20 Juie 1955. Hansard 19, col. 8208.
A SURVEY OF RACE The United Party and Natives' Representatives moved, unavailingly, that the Bill be referred to a Select Committee before its second reading. It was likely, they said, seriously to affect the property market in all mixed residential areas. Specific points of criticism follow. (a) It was argued that local authorities were unlikely to agree to co-operate unless they anticipated profits in their Group Areas Accounts, even after payment of interest on loans and expenditure on development and renovations. Such profits could be made only at the expense of property-owners. If, however, the local authorities misgauged the position and incurred losses, the ratepayers would suffer. The Minister pointed out('4) that local authorities operating the scheme need not undertake any financial responsibility. He anticipated, however, that there would generally be profits. In most areas where the Group Areas Act had been in operation properties had appreciated in value. (b) A Natives' Representative pointed out that in nearly all areas where proposals for implementing the principal Act had been made, it was the Indians or Coloured people who had been called upon to make sacrifices. Property-values in areas where Indians could purchase had for years past been much inflated because these areas were extremely limited in size. Valuators were unlikely to take this into account, consequently basic values fixed for Indian-owned properties would bear little relation to amounts these properties would fetch on the open market. The Minister maintained (15) that the market value of properties had already depreciated in mixed residential areas, 'depressed areas,' he called them. Basic values of properties owned by disqualified persons at the time of proclamation of such areas might, indeed, be higher than concurrent market values, thus a man receiving market value plus depreciation contribution would certainly not be penalized. As and when these became areas reserved for members of one racial group, the properties were likely to appreciate in value, and the Board or local authorities could then dispose profitably of properties acquired or count on receiving appreciation contributions. Argument in this matter appears to turn on the point of who the purchaser is to be. Market values in mixed residential areas will be far lower if the market is restricted to Whites through proclamation of a group area for White ownership than they would be on an open market. (c) In a memorandum(16) sent to Members of Parliament the Institute of Race Relations urged that persons forced to sell because of the implementation of the Act should receive at least the basic (14) Assembly, Hansard 19, cols. 8251-2. (15) Assembly, 20 anl 21 June; Hiansard 19, cols. 8255-6, 83-14. ('6) IR.94/1955. RELATIONS: 1954-55 value fixed for their properties. Depreciation contributions paid by the Board should cover the full difference between this basic value and any lesser selling price obtainable by the owner. On the other hand appreciation contributions payable by the owner shoud never be larger than the entire sum received by him in excess of the basic value: this position might arise if he set a very high value on his property in his first approach to the Board. 4. The removal, curtailment, or abolition of African locations or villages When the Natives (Urban Areas) Amendment Bill, which subsequently became Act No. 16 of 1955, was again presented to Parliament during the 1955 session, the original clause dealing with the removal, curtailment, or abolition of African locations, townships, and hostels had been redrafted partly to meet objections previously raised by the Association of Municipal Executives, the Opposition, the Institute of Race Relations, and others. The powers to be vested in the Minister were more clearly defined, and provision was made for some slight measure of consultation with local authorities. The new draft, which became law, provides that on receiving representations by a neighbouring local authority, or for health reasons or reasons of safety, or because regional or town planning requires it, the Minister of Native Affairs may invoke machinery for the removal, curtailment, or abolition of an African location, township, or hostel. He is required first to refer the matter to the Administrator, then to arrange for an enquiry to be held in public, the presiding officer to be appointed in consultation with the local authority concerned. After the enquiry, at which the local authority and all other interested parties will be entitled to give evidence, the Minister may require the local authority to remove, curtail, or abolish the location, village, or hostel. The principal Act already empowers a local authority to abolish a location or township within its own area on its own initiative, subject to the concurrence of the Minister and the Administrator, and provides that when a location or township is abolished it shall be upon such terms and conditions as to compensation and otherwise as the Minister, after consultation with the local authority, may direct. Opposition parties considered that the powers of discretion vested in the Minister were still too wide. The measure made further encroachments on the autonomy of local authorities. In pursuance of the apartheid policy the Minister might order the removal of a township where housing conditions were good, and the local authority, missions, and other bodies who had provided churches, schools, and other amenities, and African householders might well be involved in serious financial loss. Africans might lose freehold title. If removal was at the Minister's discretion, full compensation should be paid by the state. The United Party asked that the till
A SURVEY OF RACE be referred to a Select Committee after its second reading, but this was not agreed to. Further points made by the Institute of Race Relations in its commentary on the Bill(17) were that the power to remove people from their homes is so drastic that it should be exercised only under proper judicial safeguards, which had not been provided. A statutory obligation should rest on the appropriate authority to provide alternative housing, or, provided the person to be removed so elects, a serviced plot on which he can build for'himself. 5. Buffer Zones and Border Strips The Native Affairs Department's buffer zone policy, outlined in our last Survey, has during the past year frequently been confused with the 'border strip' policy of the Department of the Interior. The difference appears to lie not in fundamentals, but in the exigencies of the present situation. Since 1923 urban local authorities have been required to provide segregated locations for African occupation; where such locations are now considered to be too close to expanding White areas, or where Africans are living in freehold townships proclaimed in earlier days and now of a mixed racial nature or contiguous to areas occupied by other groups, removal schemes are in operation or are apparently contemplated. The 'buffer zone' policy is thus, on the whole, not unduly difficult to enforce. The Native Affairs Department has laid down, as a general rule, that African locations should be separated from areas oc'cupied by members of any other groups by buffer strips 500 yards wide, and from all other external boundaries by strips 200 yards in width, unless such external boundaries are main roads, in which case the buffer strips must be 500 yards wide if the boundary is a national road, and 300 yards wide if it is a provincial road. Rows of trees may be planted in buffer zones, but the land may not be developed. In some areas, for example, Umlazi Glebe in Durban, this policy, even if modified in the light of circumstances, has seriously reduced the area available for African housing; but on the whole, as is stated above, it is possible, if costly to implement. The 'border strip' policy of the Department of the Interior, which will so far as is feasible be applied concomitantly with the proclamation of group areas fbr members of other racial groups, is of necessity more flexible. Section 3 of the Group Areas Further Amendment Act, No. 68 of 1955, lays down that where no natural -boundaries exist, the Governor-General may (his power is permissive) by proclamation declare that any strip of land contiguous to the whole or any portion of the perimeter of a goup area is or is destined later to become a border strip. In the former case, as from a specified date (which must be at least twelve months after the date of the proclamation), those owning land or premises within the border (17) RR.32/1955.
RELATIONS: 1954-55 strip will, except under permit, be prohibited from disposing of their property except to the state, a provincial administration, a local authority, or other statutory body. They will also be prohibited from occupying or using the property after the specified date except under the authority of a permit. In the latter case, that is, when the proclamation states that an area is destined at some future date to become a border strip, private property owners may in the interim period (except under permit) not sub-divide their land or use it for any purpose other than that for which it was being used at the date of proclamation. Mining activities and lawful prospecting for metals are excluded from this prohibition. During the Committee Stage in Parliament, the Minister of Lands (for the Minister of the Interior) said(18) that proposals for border strips would be advertised in the same way as proposals to declare group areas, and any interested individual, organization, or local authority could then submit its view to the Group Areas Board. (19) These strips would be introduced in new areas and where feasible in existing residential areas too, but in built-up areas it might be impracticable to set land aside for the purpose. (20) The Department of the Interior was not bound by the definition of buffer strips given by the Minister of Native Affairs. If nothing else could be done, a wall or a row of trees might be considered to be'a suitable boundary, while in some cases it might be impossible to create any form of boundary at all.(21) Where border strips could be set aside, profitable use of the land would be encouraged: it could be used, for example, for the erection of factories employing labour from each side of the strip, for slime deposits by the mines, and sD on.(21) Members of the United and Labour Parties, who requested that the Bill be referred to a Select Committee before its second reading, pointed out how costly it would be, even in new areas, to set land aside for border strips, and asked who would bear this cost. For every mile in length of the perimeter of a group area, 182 acres of land would have to be acquired for a border strip 500 yards wide, 109 acres for a strip 300 yards in width, and 73 acres for a strip 200 yards wide. The Minister replied that the question of compensation would be dealt with in terms of the Group Areas Development Bill. (23) 6. Limitation of the number of Africans living in 'European' areas The clause of the Natives (Urban Areas) Amendment Bill of 1954 dealing with 'locations in the sky' was several times amended, (Q8) Assembly, 17 June 1955. Hansard 19, cols. 8166-7. (19) Previously known as the Land Tenure Advisory Board. (20) Cols. 7806, 7937. ( 21) Cols. 8167, 7806. (22) Col. 7739. (23) See Page 79,
86 A SURVEY OF RACE partly to meet requests by the Opposition and municipal representatives, before it became law as section 4 (b) of Act No. 16 of 1955. The principle of providing for some form of consultation with local authorities was introduced. In its final form this sub-secton of the Act provides that no owner of a building in a proclaimed area shall permit more than five Africans to reside in that building at any time, unless the Minister of Native Affairs, or an officer designated by him, after consultation with the local authority concerned, has authorized him to house a specified number in excess of five. At a local authority's request the Minister may delegate to it his powers under this sub-section, but such delegation of power may at any time be withdrawn. A transitional period of one year is allowed: for this period owners of buildings may continue to house the number of Africans who were there at the date of commencement of the Act. Soon after the Bill was first published the Federated Ho tels Association of Southern Africa sent a circular to all Members of Parliament stating that this clause threatened the development of the hotel and tourist industries. During the second reading debate in the Assembly on 3 February 1955,(24) the Minister said a proper survey would be made in conjunction with the hotel industry to ascertain how their labour requirements could be adjusted to fit in with the new policy. An hotel would be permitted to house more than five Africans if this was essential for the conduct of its business. The situation must be taken in hand, however. More Africans were already housed in a few blocks of flats in Killarney, Johannesburg, than in the location of an ordinary small town. In the course of time, unless action was taken, there would be about 30,000 living on the tops of flats in the one square mile of Hospital Hill in the same city. Serious overcrowding existed in dormitories for African servants in some of the hotels, there was often lack of adequate sanitation, and it was not feasible to provide recreational facilities because the land in these areas was too expensive. The department would, naturally, have to proceed gradually during the period of adjustment because there would not immediately be adequate housing or transport facilities for Africans likely to be displaced. Representatives of the Opposition maintained that much good accommodation already erected would be wasted. It was possible that between 10,000 and 18,000 Africans in Johannesburg would have to move if the Act was strictly implemented; this addition to the city's very grave housing problem would be well-nigh intolerable. Africans working in flats or hotels were mostly provided with free accommodation at present, but if moved would have to pay rent and transport costs. They would be forced to demand higher wages, and in turn flat rentals might have to be increased (24) Hansard 2, cols, 530-8.
RELATIONS: 1954-55 The real problems were the unauthorized Africans sharing accommodation, and, in certain cases, the unhygienic living conditions; but these matters could be dealt with in terms of existing legislation. In its statement(25) the Institute of Race Relations pleaded that alternative accommodation and adequate transport facilities should be provided before any Africans were displaced. In the Assembly on 13 June 1955(26) the Minister of Native Affairs said that an organization was being developed to deal with the implementation of this sub- section of the Act. The first objectives were to obtain full information and to seek the co-operation of local authorities. The Chief Information Officer of the Native Affairs Department is reported(27) to have said that, during the next twelve months, owners of flats, hotels; or institutions, or others wishing to have more than five Africans living on their premises, would have to apply to their local authorities. The department's first aim was to remove the Africans unlawfully occupying rooms in White residential areas. Availability of alternative accommodation(28) would be a very important factor to be taken into account when the Act was applied. In the past, African domestic servants working for private householders could be exempted from living in African locations or townships if accommodated by the employer to the satisfaction of the local authority. The new Act tightens this provision: to gain exemption the domestic servant must now be accommodated on the residential premises where he is employed. Furthermore, no African women servants can in future have their babies or small children living with them unless permission has been granted by the local authority: the Opposition pointed out that this will mean that many women with children will be unable to seek work as domestic servants. A further sub-section of the Act empowers local authorities to cancel licences for the housing of Africans before the period of validity of such licences expires; and provides that if the Minister deems it necessary, after consultation with the local authority he may cause notice to be served on a licensee and the local authority that he objects to a certain licence, whereupon it will lapse from the date specified in the notice. Establishment of Industrial Townships Procedure in the various provinces differs, but, in general, persons wishing to sub- divide land in order to establish a new township must apply to the local authority having jurisdiction in the area concerned and, through the Administrator, to the townships board of the province. The townships board consults various (25) RR. 32/1955. (26) Hansard 19, col. 7597. ( 27) Raid Daily Mail, 1 July 1955. (2-8) The term 'accommodation' has been widened to include a placement in sitt-and-service schemes.
A SURVEY OF RACE authorities, such as appropriate government departments (including the Native Affairs Department), the Electricity Supply Commission, the Natural Resources Development Council, and so on. who forward their views. The Natives Affairs Department has in recent years taken a firm line in regard to the policy that should be adopted. During March 1955, for example, the Secretary furnished the Transvaal Townships Board with a guide to the Minister's policy. (a) Applications for the establishment of townships in areas being planned on a regional basis should be held in abeyance pending finalization of the planning. (b) The establishment of new residential townships for Whites should not be approved until the department is satisfied that suitable and adequate provision is being made for the housing of Africans to be employed there. (c) No new township for Africans only should be approved. (d) No new industrial townships should be established (unless a special case is made to the satisfaction of the Minister), because these encourage more Africans to enter White areas. Already approved industrial areas must be developed fully before new ones are created. In the Assembly on 1 April 1955 the Minister elaborated on his policy. (29) In order to protect the future of South Africa, he said, new industrial development should take place increasingly in the vicinity of the reserves. Established concerns would not be required to move from existing industrial areas, however; in fact the country would pass through a transition stage during which development would continue there, on land already approved for industrial use. He had recently opposed an application for a. new industrial township at Boksburg. The position was that, of 734 morgen already planned for industrial use there, only 318 morgen were yet taken up; yet it was suggested that another 1,600 morgen should be added. At a conservative estimate one morgen of fully developed industrial ground attracted 60 Africans, while another 30 Africans would be needed in connection with commercial services, domestic service, and other activities. Boksburg was already required to house 33,000 Africans; if the area already zoned for industry were fully developed another 33,000 at least would enter the area; while should another 1,600 morgen be added and fully utilized Boksburg's African population would in time total 250,000. In the entire Southern Transvaal industrial area (including Pretoria and Vereeniging), 10,296 morgen had been approved for industrial use, but as yet only 5,315 morgen had been developed. The remainder would be quite adequate for a transition period of 15 years. In this wh >le area housing for some 1,500,000 Africans (29) Halisard 10, cols. 375Q-65.
RELATIONS: 1954-55 was now required; were unoccupied ground already'approved for industrial use (and -also other areas zoned for industry by local authorities) to be fully developed, the African population would grow to 2,750,000, one million of them in Johannesburg. The Minister pointed out( 30) that he could exercise no influence over areas already zoned for industry, and said, 'I shall have to try to see whether at some time or another power cannot be obtained to deal more carefully with the already approved but vacant ground.' Proclamation of defined and group areas Broadly speaking, the present position under the Group Areas Act is. that the whole Union is a controlled area, in which inter-racial transfiers of ownership and occupation of property are subject to permit. The basis for control of occupation is the racial group of the owner of a property. Urban areas in the Cape, Transvaal, and Natal are specified areas, in which the basis for control ofoccupation is the racial group of the lawful occupant of a property at the date specified in the relevant proclamation. Portions of specified areas have been made defined areas, within which, whenever a building is erected or extended, the Minister of the Interior will determine by which racial group it may be occupied. Only six very small group areas have so far been proclaimed: one for Coloured people at Roodepoort, one for Whites at Amalinda, East London, -two areas, for White and Coloured people respectively, at Carnarvon, and two similar areas in Brandvlei, Calvinia district(31t). Before the proclamation of the five latter areas the Minister of the Interior is reported to have said(32) that investigations into 23 places had been partly completed, and the Land Tenure Advisory Board had reported on 11 of them. Five of these reports had been approved, while the remainder had been or were being sent to Provincial Administrators for comment. At a number of hearings of the Board, particularly in the Transvaal, the main point debated has been the future of the Indian communities. The municipalities have generally suggested that the Indians should be removed from areas they now occupy, in most cases to completely undeveloped stretches of land, while other parties have urged that they should remain and be granted room for expansion. At a sitting of the Board in White River during November 1954, counsel for the municipality called for a clear official statement of policy. The Roodepoort- Maraisburg Town Council subsequently decided(33) to advise the Board that it was not prepared to assist with investigations under the Group Areas Act (30) Col. 3764. ('1) The five latter areas were proclaimed during the year tinder review. (82) The Star, 23 March 1955. (23) According to report in The Star, 25 November 1954.
A SURVEY OF RACE until it was notified whether the official policy was to grant Asiatics portion of existing townships or to establish them on new sites outside, and if the latter, whether this was to be for residential purposes only or also for business purposes. No such policy statement has been made, however. Racial Zoning in the Western Cape (a) Official proposal that all Africans should eventually leave the Western Province At the annual meeting of the S.A. Bureau of Racial Affairs on 14 January 1955, the Secretary for Native Affairs said that it was the Government's policy eventually to remove all Africans from the Western Province, since this was the natural home of the Coloured people who had the moral right to ask to be protected against competition by Africans in the labour market. The juxtapositon of the two groups was leading to the disappearance of social and cultural differences between them. In the Western Province (i.e., the Cape south of the Orange River and west of the magisterial districts of Gordonia, Hopetown, De Aar, Hanover, Richmond, Murraysburg, Aberdeen, Willowmore, Uniondale, and Knysna), the number of Africans had grown from 30,000 in 1921 to 178,000 at present, industrial development being the main cause of the influx. The Government planned, as a first stage, to remove foreign Africans, to 'freeze' the present position as regards families, and to allow only limited entry of single migratory workers to provide for the most urgent needs of the area. (This policy is already being carried out, as is described in chapters of this Survey dealing with influx control, page 66, and with re-settlement, page 95). The next stage would be the removal of Africans from the High Commission Territories, the reduction of the number of families, and the gradual replacement of migratory labourers by Coloured workers. Meanwhile investigations would be made of the extent to which manual labour could be dispensed with through greater mechanization, and of how the Coloured people could be reconverted into a progressive and productive community. Further industrial expansion in the Western Province would have to be controlled carefully: official policy was that the labour requirements of industries there should in time be based on the carrying capacity of the Coloured people alone. It must not be overlooked that the natural rate of growth of this group was increasing and that in consequence their numbers would grow rapidly. This statement caused much concern in many circles. In a statement issued on 18 January the (Coloured) Teachers' Educational and Professional Association voiced their opposition to the proposals, expressing their view that what the Coloured people needed was economic opportunity, not economic protection. The president of the Coloured People's National Union agreed that the
RELATIONS: 1954-55 labour market must be open to members of all racial groups. In a statement issued on 20January(34) the Cape Chamber of Commerce said that the policy was completely unrealistic and impossible to implement. Any attempt to do so must cause grave economic disruption. Africans comprised the essential working force in industries such as asbestos products, building, cement, quarrying, tanning, timber, certain types of textiles, and wine-distilling; were an indispensable part of the labour force in agriculture, domestic service, and commerce; and were employed in very considerable numbers in many other industries. There was no unemployment among Coloured workers, and no likelihood whatsoever of their being able to fill the labour needs of both agriculture and industry. The effect of the introduction of African workers had been the promotion of Coloured people to higher semi-skilled jobs, certain skilled trades, and posts such as storemen and factory clerks. The Worcester Industrialists' Association sent an urgent message to their Member of Parliament, who is the Minister of the Interior, asking him to request that a reassuring statement be issued in Parliament. The proposals represented a shattering blow to the industrialization of the Cape-West platteland, they said. The Council of the Institute of Race Relations, which met in Cape Town during the week following the pronouncement by the Secretary for Native Affairs, urged the Government to clarify whether this pronouncement in fact represented its policy. In the Assembly on 25 January, the Minister of Native Affairs said :(35) 'No statement of policy was made by the Secretary for Native Affairs. In his personal capacity he analysed figures and discussed aspects of declared policy.' The Minister referred members to his speech in the House on 2 June 1954.(36) Later, on 28 January, he said(37) that the Western Province was the area where, due to a whole series of circumstances, the policy of apartheid in regard to the Africans could be applied with the greatest ease. It was estimated that the 1,250,000 Coloured people in the Union would within 50 years brcome 3,000,000, the greater majority of them being domiciled in the Western Province, particularly the Boland. In time they would fulfil labour requirements. It was not the intention that Africans would be removed suddenly, but they could not be allowed to become permanent inhabitants of the area. Industrialists must rationalize their concerns so as to do with a minimum of labour. Influx of Africans was merely part of a curve which was still rising but which would have to fall in due course until eventually none remained. Later, in reply to a question, the Minister said (38) that in the (: 4) Subsequently published in The Manufacturer (Official Journal of the S.A. Federated Chamber of Industries), February/March 195S. (:3) Hansard 1, col., 22. (36) See Survey of Race Relations for 1953-4, page 65. ( 7) Hansard 1, cols. 200-3. (s) Assembly, 2 February 1955; Hansard 3, col. 718.
A SURVEY OF RACE Western Province there were 37,000 Africans employed in industry, 24,000 in commerce, and 6,500 in agriculture, additional seasonal labour being placed with farmers through the medium of labour exchanges. It is of interest that the Minister of Transport stated(a9) that 9,063 Africans were employed in the Cape Western Railway System. (b) Siting of African townships Resettlement plans for Africans in the Western Province have been clarified during the year under review.(40) So far as Cape Town, Goodwood, Parow, Bellville, and the Cape Divisional Council area are concerned, all Africans now living in scattered 'black spots' will be moved to an emergency camp at Nyangai, where a complete census will be taken, illegal entrants being repatriated. Of the remainder, families who have been a long time in the area will gradually be rehoused, and migrant workers authorized to remain will be accommodated in single quarters. Langa township is gradually to be reserved for 'single' men only, new housing here taking the form of hostels which in time can be converted into cottages for Coloured families. The Cape Western Regional Committee of the Institute of Race Relations points out that African families will be called upon to make great sacrifices if they are removed from Langa (where some of them have lived for 20 years) to a comparatively undeveloped township at Nyanga, much further from the places where wage-earners are employed. Existing amenities will be lost to them: there are, at Langa, 16 church buildings, six schools accommodating 2,000 children, a creche, playing fields, a hospital, and other facilities. The Minister of Native Affairs has said that officials from his department have visited each town in the Western Province, asking it to repatriate recently-arrived African families and to concentrate in future on building hostels for 'single' men. Stellenbosch, Paarl, Worcester, and other local authorities have agreed to do so. (c) Proposed group areas in the W"estern Cape The Cape Town City Council has from the outset refused to put fbrward proposals for group areas within the municipality to the Land Tenure Advisory Board, and did not co-operate with the Board by conducting a survey of the occupation of property. The Council has, however, maintained contact with the Land Tenure Advisory Board in an attempt to ameliorate its proposals, and has pressed for the exclusion of industrial and commercial premises from the consequences of the proclamation of group areas fbr one group or another. (: 1) Assembly, Hansard, 1, col. 176. (40) In speeches by Minister of Native Affairs, 2 June 1954 (Hansard 17 of 1954, col. 6146), 28 January 1955 (Hansard 1, cols. 203-5), and 18 March 1955 (Hansard 8, col. 2902), also information kindly supplied by the Cape )ivisional Council.
RELATIONS: 1945-55 In March 1955, the Board published its own zoning proposals for White, Coloured, and Malay groups in the southern suburbs of Cape Town, including Constantia and Hout Bay on the west of the suburban railway line and the Cape Flats area on the east. It proposed that the entire area between the Atlantic coast and the railway line, and also a considerable portion of the land east of the railway, between Observatory and Wynberg, should be reserved for Whites. The officials consider that one small area, Battswood Estate, Wynberg, should be reserved for Malays, and that the group area for Coloured people should be on part of the Cape Flats, in certain portions of the area east of the railway line between Diep Rivier and Retreat, and near Princess, Zeekoe, and Ronde Vleis. The Cape Western Regional Committee of the Institute of Race Relations sent a memorandum(41) to the Group Areas Board requesting that in due course it be permitted to give oral evidence. It pointed out that the proposals would mean the uprooting of stable Coloured communities from parts of the city such as Constantia, Hout Bay, Protea, Newlands Avenue, and parts of Claremont, Rondebosch, and Mowbray. Some properties in these areas had been owned by Coloured families for generations. Implementation of the proposals would do grave injustice to very many law-abiding and valuable ,citizens, depressing their economic position and striking a well-nigh mortal blow at their self-esteem. In the course of the year Non-Whites have frequently been represented by counsel before the Land Tenure Advisory Board on matters affecting the transfer and occupation of property; but fbllowing the publication of the proposals the Non- White community, Coloured, Malay, and Indian, decided to form a common front to make representations to the Board. At a meeting attended by representatives of many of their organizations, a Group Areas Co-ordinating Committee was appointed under the chairmanship of Dr R. E. van der Ross. In July the Board recommended that an area off the Klipfontein Road should be set aside for the Chinese community, and this evoked a protest from Coloured residents of the proposed Chinese area. Zoning proposals have also been published for an area stretching from Woodstock to Kuils River, including Milnerton and Tygerberg. The Municipalities of Goodwood, Bellville, and Parow drew up their own schemes for submission to the Board. Representations from interested parties in these areas were heard in April and May 1955 before a committee of the Land Tenure Advisory Board. The Bellville Town Council recommended that the whole of the existing municipal area, except for part of Bellville South, should be reserved for Whites, and an area along the south-western border of the municipal area should be declared a future residential area for the Coloured people. (41) RR.134/1955.
A SURVEY OF RACE Zoning proposals for Paarl and Wellington were published by the Land Tenure Advisory Board in August, and interested parties were invited to submit representations before 17 September. In Paarl, memoranda have been submitted to the Board by the Coloured Ratepayers' Association, by the churches, and by other interested parties. If the proposals are implemented it is estimated that some 11,000 Coloured people will be uprooted from their present homes, many of which are owned by them, and will also be removed from their churches, schools, and recreation centres. The Athlone Teacher Training Institute falls in the proposed White zone. The Berg River and the railway line divide Huguenot, a chiefly Coloured area, from the rest of Paarl, but one township on the Huguenot side of the river has been marked for Whites and another for Whites or Coloured. A public hearing of representations by interested parties will be held later in the year. (d) Demarcation of beaches In terms of the Reservation of Separate Amenities Act, No. 49 of 1953, the Divisional Council of the Cape has divided the beaches at Blaauwberg Strand and the Cape of Good Hope Nature Reserve into areas for Whites and for Non- Whites. Racial Zoning in the Southern Transvaal (a) Siting of African townships The Native Affairs Department announced during August 1955(42) that recommendations by the Mentz Committee for the siting of African townships on the East Rand had been adopted, after discussion with the local authorities concerned. Present locations serving Germiston, Alberton, Boksburg, and Elsburg, which are overcrowded and cannot be extended, will all be moved several miles south to the Natalspruit area near the old Palmietfontein Airport which will be absorbed. Payneville Township, Springs, and the Brakpan and Dunnottar locations are to be moved to the Kwa-Thema and Vlakfontein areas, south-west of Springs. Heidelberg location, sited between two White areas which may in future want to amalgamate, will be moved to Boschhoek, south of theHeidelberg-Standerton road. A move is already under way from the existing Benoni location, south of the town, to the DaveytonKlipfontein area, some miles to the north-east. In all these new areas there is full possibility of development in accordance with future needs. Nigel location will be left where it is, but any future development will be in the Vlakfontein area between Nigel and Springs. So far as the West Rand is concerned, African townships will in general be sited south of the railway line. The RoodepoortMaraisburg location is to be moved to land adjoining Meadowlands. (42) Statement published in the Ranid Daily Mail arid The Star, 26 August 1955.
RELATIONS: 1954--55 A new township, ultimately for some 160,000 Africans, is planned for Kaalfontein, midway between Germiston and Pretoria, to serve Northern Germiston, Bedfordview, Edendale, Modderfontein, and other towns and villages south of Pretoria. The Mentz Committee proposed that one large African township to serve both Vereeniging and Vanderbijlpark be established in the corridor between these towns; but certain aspects of this plan were opposed by the Vereeniging Town Council in evidence before a committee of the Land Tenure Advisory Board. The Committee's proposals for Johannesburg were detailed in our last Survey(43) and are discussed below, under proposed group areas in Johannesburg. (b) Western Areas removal scheme (i) Preliminary planning The history of the Western Areas removal scheme has been recounted in detail in previous issues of this Survey. (44) Briefly, the Government decided to move about 57,000 Africans from Sophiatown, Martindale, Pageview, and Newclare, in the western section of Johannesburg, to a new township to be established at Meadowlands, about 10 miles south-west of the city. The large majority of these Africans were ill-housed tenants and sub-tenants, but a significant, if comparatively small, number had good homes built on freehold plots. The maximum tenure to be offered at Meadowlands was 30 years' leasehold. Public opposition to this scheme was vociferous. Johannesburg Municipality laid down certain conditions for co-operation, but the Government decided to proceed with or without the City Council's assistance, and set up a Natives Resettlement Board to provide housing at Meadowlands and to undertake the removal scheme. In terms of Proclamations 243 and 244 of 1954, the Resettlement Board was from 1 December 1954 designated an urban local authority and vested with appropriate powers. State loans were made available to it,-of £850,000 in 1954-5 and £1,000,000 in 1955-6. Some of the money expended on erection of housing, purchase of properties, administrative costs, and so on will be recovered from the re-sale of properties acquired by the Board in the Western Areas; but Africans themselves, by means of rents paid in Meadowlands, will pay the interest and redeem the remainder of the capital over a period of 30 years.(45) By the end of 1954 the Resettlement Board had obtained options to buy or had purchased many properties in the Western Areas, especially in two 'buffer zones' to be created between Sophiatown and the White suburbs of Westdene to the east and Newlands to the (43) A Survey of Race Relatioms, for 1953-4, page 59. (44) e.g., Ibid, pages 60-4. (45) Statement by Mr F. E. Mentz, M.P., member of the Native Affairs Commission, Assembly, 13 June 1955, Hansard 9, col. 7585. ii
A SURVEY OF RACE west. Some of the properties purchased were acquired from Asiatic landlords and others were obtained as result of sales in execution. A few African owners have agreed to sell but a number have refused. Prices paid have been based on current market values as assessed by the Public Works Department. The Native Affairs Department announced in January(46) that provided they obtained authorizing certificates from the Land Tenure Advisory Board, White persons might purchase properties in Sophiatown and Martindale from Africans, at agreed prices. Early in January, 152 Africa n tenant families in the Sophiatown 'buffer zones' were served with notices requiring them to vacate the premises they then occupied by 12 February. Each family was offered a house at a stated address in Meadowlands or, if they pref rred this, a serviced stand, not less than 40 feet by 70 feet in extent, on which to build for themselves. Free transport to Meadowlands was promised. Attached to each notice was a letter to the resident's employer, asking him if necessary to allow the employee to be absent from work on the removal date, and enquiring his wages so as to enable officials to fix his rental at Meadowlands. (ii) Public opposition to the scheme In the meanwhile, public opposition to the scheme had mounted. The formation of the Western Areas Protest Committee was described in our last Survey. This organization arranged meetings in a number of'White' suburbs and in the Western Areas themselves; at the latter meetings, according to the Minister of Justice,(.47) speakers said they were willing to 'die in the cause' and that 'blood would paint the streets of Sophiatown.' A general strike was planned, and youths were urged to don uniforms and persuade people to refuse to move. On 6 January the African National Congress issued a statement once more expressing its opposition to the removal scheme and warning the Government that if this scheme was implemented an extremely dangerous situation might arise. On 31 January it made a public appeal to the 'tsotsi' element to refrain from acts of violence. The Institute of Race Relations had made its view clear from the start(48) the need was for slum clearance and not for the compulsory removal of an entire community. When it became clear that the scheme was to be carried out, the Institute was gravely concerned about the possibility of' disturbances. At its Committee's request, the Director wrote to the Chairman of the Resettlement Board re-emphasizing suggestions made by the Institute's Southern Transvaal Regional Chairman and Secretary at (4,) Statement p)ublished in a niumber of papers, e.g., The Star, 24 January 1955. (47) The Minister was quoting police reports. Assembly, 9 Uebruary 1955. Haiisard 3, col. 865. (I,) See Rk.24/1954.
RELATIONS: 1954-5 a meeting with the Secretary of the Board. He urged that all members of the police force detailed to the area during the removal be experienced, that every effort be made to control the 'tsotsi' element, and that White people in adjoining areas be asked to refrain from any ill-considered action which might tend to exacerbate feelings. Copies of this letter were sent to the Ministers of Justice and Native Affairs, and, after 36 hours had elapsed, to the press. (49) It happened that the Minister of Native Affairs saw the press report before his copy had come to his attention. He immediately wrote to the Institute, at the same time releasing copies to the press, expressing amazement at 'further uncalled-for interference by a body which by its sustained inimical attitude to the scheme must be held co- responsible with others for bad feelings, aroused and dangerous attitudes created, making for active opposition.' The Institute's Director replied to this letter, sending copies to the press.(5) He pointed out that the Institute had not only the right derived from principles of democracy, but also the obligation, to concern itself with proposed measures which had significant implications for race relations. Once a law had been passed, the Institute conceived it as its function to study its operation and to try to mitigate, within the legal and consitutional framework, any harmful effects the law might have on race relations. It had on no occasion encouraged resistance to any law, including the Natives Resettlement Act. It could not be held responsible for any 'bad feelings' aroused: the Director pointed out that the combination of what should have been a slum clearance scheme with the deprivation of freehold tenure was bound to generate resentment and opposition among the African people. The Government's reaction to the Institute's representations as well as to those made by certain other bodies raised doubts as to whether all forms of democratic opposition were to be suppressed. The Minister of Justice clarified the position when he said in the Assembly on 9 February: (51) 'No steps are taken against people who object to the laws passed by Parliament and who agitate to get these laws altered. Everyone has that right; but that right must not be exercised by inciting people to lawlessness and to opposing the law with crime and violence.' (iii) Implementation of the removal scheme As is stated above, the first 152 African families were required to move from Sophiatown by 12 February, on which date transport to Meadowlands would be provided. On 8 February the Minister of Justice(52) banned all public (49) RR.34/1955. (51) RR.39/1955. (51) Hansard 3, col. 867. (52) By virtue of powers vested in him by sub-section 4. of Section 1 ol the Riotous Assemblies and Criminal Law Amendment Act, No. 27 of 1914, as amended.
A SURVEY OF RACE gatherings in any public place, or place to which the public had access, in the magisterial districts of Johannesburg and Roodepoort, until and including 27 February, on the ground that there was reason to apprehend that feelings of hostility would be engendered between the White and Non-White sections by the assembly of any such public gathering. It was thus rendered necessary to obtain police permission even to hold church services, cinema shows, or sports meetings. The Minister explained the reasons for his banning order in the Assembly on 9 February.(a3) He was convinced, he said, that there was the possibility of violence and bloodshed. The gravest threat of danger came from a group of 'tsotsis, incited by 'certain people.' They had firearms and explosives in their possession, and, according to police reports, intended attacking the police, setting fire to public buildings and places of business in the Western Areas, holding diversionary demonstrations, and picketing the area to obstruct the removal scheme. A few hours after this banning order had been issued the 152 families were instructed to move early the following morning instead of on 12 February. Before dawn the next day some 2,000 armed policemen arrived, proceeding to throw cordons round the area from where people were moving and the houses at Meadowlands to which they were going, to line the route to Meadowlands, and to patrol the Western Areas in squad cars with sten guns. The White policemen were senior and experienced men, and the police acted with restraint. Army lorries were provided to transport the families' possessions to the new houses at Meadowlands, where food was awaiting the arrivals. A school was ready there and the train service had been augmented. The new housing scheme is described later in this Survey. As buildings were evacuated in Sophiatown they were pulled down by demolition squads. A few families-the Minister of Native Affairs later said 19 although reports at the time indicated that the number was higher-had left their homes during the previous night, seeking shelter with friends or at a mission school in the area. The Minister said, however,(54) that 14 of the 19 families subsequently applied for accommodation at Meadowlands. Seven further batches of approximately 150 families each time had been moved to Meadowlands by September 1955, chiefly from 'buffer zones' on the east and west boundaries of Spohiatown. Each time diminishing numbers of police were in attendance. African property owners in the 'buffer zones' who have not sold their properties to the Resettlement Board have so far been left undisturbed. It became apparent that the methods adopted by the Government had proved effective in preventing active oppositionAfricans in the area say that a prevailing fear of 'informers' is partly the reason for this; and the ban on public gatherings was (53) lansard 3, cols. 862-5. (54) Assemibly, 16- February 1955. Flansard 4, col. 1159.
RELATIONS: 1954-55 withdrawn from 16 February instead of 27 February as originally planned. The Minister of Native Affairs said (55) that there would be no further large-scale removals; instead, gradual and continuous resettlement is taking place as houses become available at Meadowlands. (c) Proposed Group Areas in Johannesburg It will be recalled that the first sitting of the Land Tenure Advisory Board in Johannesburg had to be adjourned sine die pending a decision as to whether persons with no direct financial interest in the proposals had the right to give oral evidence. Following the passage of the Group Areas Amendment Act, described on page 74, which empowered the chairman to exclude such persons, the Board resumed its sittings on 14 February. The chairman had previously informed representatives of the press that Sophiatown and Martindale were to become group areas for Whites. He subsequently said that this statement had been made at the request of the Native Affairs Department, to induce Non-Whites to co-operate in the Western Areas removal scheme. The decision was a Government one, the Board thus being precluded from dealing with that issue. When the hearing was resumed, however, counsel for the Indians in the Western Areas requested that the chairman and two members of the Board recuse themselves on the ground that they might have prejudged the issue of setting aside group areas in Johannesburg. This request being refused, counsel then asked for adjournment until the point had been tested in a court of law. Again the Board adjourned sine die. When the case came before the Supreme Court, Pretoria, it was announced that the chairman and two members concerned had undertaken not to sit in the Johannesburg enquiry and to pay the costs of the applicants. An order of court in these terms was made. A further sitting of the Board, under a different chairman, commenced on 9 May and lasted until 17 June. The President of the Institute of Race Relations, who attended certain of the sessions, gave a brief report on the proposals in the July issue of Race Relations News and a fuller account in the document RR.111/1955. The basic plan for Johannesburg as a whole, she said, was submitted by the City Council, other representations taking the form, in the main, of supporting, modifying, or opposing the City Council's proposals. The Transvaal Indian Congress opposed the demarcation of any group areas, as did certain groups of Indian traders. In order to avoid panic on the property market and to allow alternative areas for displaced groups to be developed, the City Council urged that any proclamation of White group areas be postdated for 25 years; but it emphasized that there is urgent need for demarcation of areas where Coloured people and Indians may (5) Assembly, 13 June 1955. Hansard 19, col. 7597.
A SURVEY OF RACE live, for hundreds of families, displaced by factory development, have at present literally nowhere to go, and housing schemes cannot be undertaken until there is some certainty as to the future. The City Council proposed that, with the exception only of Alexandra Township and certain 'contentious' areas in the west, the two-thirds of the city north of the main railway line should be reserved for Whites. Coloured people, numbering about 42,000, should retain Corona tionville, Noordgesig, Albertsville, and Protea, while portions of Claremont and Newclare North, and, after the Africans had been removed, Western Native Township, should be set aside for them. Objections were raised to a number of these proposals, particularly those relating to Noordgesig (which adjoins the African township of Orlando), and Albertsville (which is surrounded by White suburbs). If the original proposals of the City Council are accepted, accommodation on a single-storey detached basis should be available fbr 27,100 Coloured people in the municipal area. The remainder would have to be housed in multi-storey buildings, or else would have to go to Protea, 17 miles out. Should Albertsville and Noordgesig be zoned for other groups, a further 9,000 Coloured people will be displaced. Proposals for group areas fbr the small Chinese and Malay communities met with little opposition, but the suggestions tbr Afiican areas proved to be more contentious. The City Council agreed with the Mentz Committee that Eastern Native Township and Alexandra Township should be retained, the latter with reduced population. It agreed, too, that all other Africans (except domestic servants and those in hostels and compounds) should be moved to an area south- west of the city, where Orlando and Meadowlands are to-day. But it considered that this area should be extended, not only to the west, as the Mentz Committee suggested, but also to the south,. Pimville being retained for Africans. This proposal was contested by the Peri-Urban Areas'Board. The most contentious question was that of finding some place where the 25,000 Indians could live and trade. The City Council proposed that Burghersdorp, Fordsburg, Newtown West, and the Diagonal Street area be set aside for them, to be developed 'vertically,' that is, as areas for flats, with additional areas at Mooifontein and Lenasia (both undeveloped at present). It suggested that the industrial and commercial area south of the main railway line should for the time being remain merely a controlled area, Indians retaining their present rights there, and that Indian traders outside these areas be permitted to retain their trading rights under permit, but not their present residential rights. Mining groups were opposed to the Mooifontein area being used for housing, while Indians have strong objections to moving to Lenasia which is 19 miles out of town. Representatives of the Indians suggested that Pageview be set aside for their group as they own 450 of the 474 stands there - the City Council was 'neutral' on that point - and
RELATIONS: 1954-55 that Diepkloof and Vierfbntcin be alloca.ted to them : this proposal met with firm opposition by White interests. There was great divergence of opinion and lengthy argument, but the trend of the hearing indicated that some 1.6,000 Indians (as against about 700 Whites) are likely to be displaced and that the position of very many of the traders will be rendered most insecure. Proposed racial zoning in Pretoria As was reported in our last Survey, suggestions by an ad hoc planning committee, appointed by the Government, for African township development in the Pretoria area were accepted by the Municipality. Three large African areas are envisaged, at Vlakfontein in the north-east, Atteridgeville and Saulsville in the south-west, and, eventually, Klipfbntein in the north. Families now living in Lady Selborne (where many have freehold title), in the old location of Bantule and in scattered townships and squatter camps., are to be moved gradually to one or other of these main areas. The Pretoria City Council drew up proposals for racial zoning, and considered suggestions from farmers' associations, the Land Tenure Advisory Board itself, and others. The composite plans and counter-suggestions were then advertised. Briefly, one suggestion is that Coloured people should be moved from the Cape Location, fairly near the centre of the city, and from other districts now occupied by them, to a new area north-east of Pretoria (to the north-west of Vlakfontein). There are conflicting suggestions in regard to Lady Selborne and Claremont (the latter occupied mainly by Coloured people at present): the difference of opinion is whether they should be zoned for Whites or for Coloured people. It is proposed that Asiatics should move from the Asiatic Bazaar in town, either to an area about 16 miles west of Church Square along the Hartebeestpoort road (the City Council favours this proposal), or else 'to an area south-west of the city beyond the industrial township. A number of' organizations and individuals will apply to give evidence when the Group Areas Board sits in Pretoria, among them the Pretoria Joint Council of Europeans and Non-Europeans. A member of staff of the Institute of Race Relations assisted this body by collecting information about Lady Selborne where some 38,000 Africans live and where since the township was laid out in 1905 they have been entitled to own property in freehold. Proposed racial zoning in Durban In the plans originally drawn up by the City Council of Durban, which together with proposals by a Reference and Planning Committee and others were examined when the Land Tenure Advisory Board sat in Durban during 1953, it was suggested that the commercial and industrial areas in the centre of the city should
A SURVEY OF RACE not be zoned. The Institute of Race Relations strongly supported this proposal. During the year under review, however, the Council's Technical Sub-Committee on the Group Areas Act has been re-constituted to consider this matter again. The Mayor explained in a public statement(56) that although the Council had acceeded to the Government request to re-establish the Sub-Committee, this did not mean that the Council had thereby agreed to the racial zoning of these areas. If Non-Whites should be forced to move from these commercial and industrial areas, the effects of the Act will, of course, be far graver so far as Non-Whites are concerned than was originally thought. The Institute of Race Relations estimated in 1952 that in terms of proposals then current some 151,000 Non-Whites (63,000 of them Indians) would be forced to move, as against only 3,000 Whites, and that, according to much out-of-date valuation figures, Indians would be required to dispose of property worth £9 million. A prominent member of Durban's Indian community has now calculated that if the business centre of the city is zoned, 239,000 Non-Whites will be affected as against 3,500 Whites, and that, according to present market values, Indians will have to dispose of £25 million worth of property. The recommendations of the Board are awaited, and since they will be most far-reaching and will probably affect no less than two-thirds of the Non- White population of Durban, there is very considerable uneasiness. The Minister of Native Affairs has stated that he will not consider the question of further housing developments to the south until a start is made to the north, namely, at Duff's Road. Approval has been given by the Minister to the purchase of between 2,000 and 3,000 acres of land, at present under sugar cane, at Duff's Road which is approximately 12 miles from the city to the north of Durban. Considerable opposition to this scheme has been expressed by leading industrialists, business men, and City Councillors in Durban, because of the concentration of industry in the south, the long distance involved and the inadequacy of present transport facilities, and the multi-various negotiations necessary which will render the scheme a long-term project. In view of the Minister's ultimatum and because the immediate need is for housing to the north, the City Council is proceeding with negotiations for the acquisition of the land. Over the years luxury hotels and flats have been erected which overlook the present beach for Non-Whites, and, in consequence, the City Council has decided to set aside other areas for their use. Whites will have the large central area, Coloured people and Asiatics will have beaches further to the north, and a bathing zone for Africans will be provided south of the area allocated to Whites. Between each area there are to be neutral buffer strips 300 feet wide. These plans are subject to confirmation by the Group Areas (56) Natal Daily News, 28 January 1955. 102
RELATIONS: 1954-55 Board. The City Council afforded opportunity for interested persons and organizations (including Non-Whites) to present their views and has undertaken to provide the necessary life-saving and general amenities for each racial group. Proposed Racial Zoning in Port Elizabeth The first sitting of the Land Tenure Board in Port Elizabeth was adjourned at the City Council's request because complete zoning plans had not been advertised. Since then the Reference and Planning Committee, the Divisional Council, and the City Council have each formulated proposals which conflict in some aspects, particularly in regard to suggested areas for Asiatics. Briefly, the general proposals are that with comparatively few exceptions Whites should be left undisturbed, a large area northwest of New Brighton should be set aside for future African expansion, the Bethelsdorp area, adjoining this, should be allocated to Coloured people, and small areas south of this should be proclaimed for the Chinese and Malay groups. The Reference and Planning Committee and the Divisional Council suggest that Indians should go to Woolhope North (south of Bethelsdorp), while the City Council proposes for them one of three areas inland from Humewood. The City Council will urge, however, that extensive areas in South End and the centre of the city should be mixed business areas, and that Korsten should be a free area where members of any group may live or trade. Furthermore, the City Council suggests that members of 'disqualified' groups be given a period of 60 years in which to dispose of their property to 'qualified' persons. A member of the staff of the Institute of Race Relations assisted the Indian community by collecting information about properties owned or occupied by them and the municipal valuation of these(57). Proposed racial zoning in the smaller towns Except in Cape Town, where zoning plans so far published affect mainly the Coloured community, it is the Indian section which is most likely to suffer if and when the Group Areas Act is implemented. This is particularly the case in the cities and towns of the Transvaal and Eastern Cape where for various reasons an especially high proportion of the Indians are traders, likely to lose most of their custom if forced to move their businesses out of town. Even if they are allowed to continue to trade in some central areas under permit, their position will be rendered most insecure. It is mentioned on page 89 that the counsel who has been appearing for the local authorities of several towns has requested that an official ruling be given as to whether Indians are or are not to be required to move their homes and businesses outside the towns, for this has been the main point of argument at sittings of the Board. In Klerksdorp, for example, there are some 600 Indians (total population about 39,850) who live mainly by trade and (.7) See RR,137/1955.
A SURVEY OF RACE occupy three blocks in the town. '[hey want to remain there and be provided with room tbr expansion, but the Town Council proposes that they be moved five miles out of town along the Wolmaransstad road. At a sitting of a committee of the Board the Town Clerk, under cross-examination, said that his Council had not considered the proposed Indian area from the point of view of possible trade, but had merely been interested in implementing the Group Areas Act. Counsel for the local authority said it would be futile to deny that the Indians would suffer financial loss, but the scheme would be applied gradually and the Indian community would have to adapt itself to changed conditions, seeking occupations other than trade. The plans originally proposed by a large number of other local authorities (some of these plans have since been modified) also envisaged the complete removal of Indians and their businesses: this was the case at Carolina, Balfour, Wohnaransstad, and Nylstroom in 1953, at Lydenburg, Dundee, Glencoe, Brits, and Bloemhof in 1954, and at White River, Nelspruit, and Rustenburg during the year now under review. At a resumed sitting of a committee of the Board in Wolmaransstad in September 1955, counsel fbr the Indian community said that he had been instructed to withdraw from the proceedings because his clients considered that the proposals by the Town Council made a mockery of every principle of' natural justice. Another noteworthy incident occurred when the committee of the Board visited Rustenburg, in May 1955. Again the Town Council proposed moving the entire Indian community to an undeveloped area outside the town. Thirty-seven White residents of the town submitted a memorandum to the Board outlining a counter- proposal. The existing Indian area, they said, was homogeneous, and with the addition of some adjacent uninhabited town land could conveniently be proclaimed the Indian group area. Proposals by the Town Council, but not those by the group of private White citizens, were advertised by the Board. At the public sitting counsel for these citizens maintained that in consequence the Board was precluded from hearing evidence on any proposals except those by the Town Council. He requested an adjournment until other proposals had been advertised, and eventually the committee agreed to adjourn. sie die so that the matter could be placed before the full Board. Since than, at hearings in Wolmaransstad and in White River, it has been pointed out that new proposals made during the proceedings were irregular as they had not been advertised. It has yet to be seen what use will be made of the section of the Group Areas Further Amendment Act which empowers the chairman of the Board, wit, the Minister's approval, in certain circumstances to reject prop sals for racial zoning before throwing them open for discussion at a public sitting (see page 76).
RELATIONS: 1954-55 HOUSING The Housing Bill A Housing Bill was introduced in the Assembly in 1952, but was not proceeded with. The Minister of Health recently said(') that the Government subsequently decided to introduce certain amendments and new features (according to the press(2) these include the creation of a central housing fund, abolition of the Natal Housing Board, transfer of the powers of the National Housing and Planning Commission in respect of housing for Africans to the Native Affairs Department, etc.). An interdepartmental committee was appointed to investigate the whole matter, and meanwhile the operation of provisions of sections 2 and 3 of the Housing (Emergency Powers) Act of 1945 were extended fbr another three years: these give the Government wide powers in regard to the purchase or expropriation of land, control of prices of materials, and so on. These emergency powers were again due to expire during 1955. At the Minister's request they were extended for a further two years. In the light of the interdepartmental committee's report, he said, and of proposals by the National Housing and Planning Commission, the Housing Bill had been redrafted. The comments of provincial and local authorities were now being sought. Provisions of the Natives (Urban Areas) Amendment Act dealing with housing It is the duty of local authorities to provide accommodation for Africans lawfully employed within their areas. In the Natives (Urban Areas) Consolidation Act of 1945 'to accommodate' was defined as to provide with housing or lodging. During 1954, the first draft of the amending Bill, which after numerous alterations became Act No. 16 of 1955, sought to add to this definition the words 'or to make available for occupation any land or premises.' In the re-draft of the Bill, tabled in 1955, the Minister of Native Affairs to some extent met objections which had been raised by the Opposition, the Institute of Race Relations, and others, by qualifying this addition to read 'or to make available for occupation any land or premises provided with water, sanitary and other services approved by the Minister or an officer acting under his authority;' and in this form the amendment to the original clause became law. During the second reading debate(3) the Minister pointed out that the amendment was necessary to cover accommodation on site-and-service schemes. The Parliamentary Opposition considered that such schemes did not meet the requirements of single or migrant Africans, or of heads of families who could not afford to build for themselves. In its commentary on the Bill(4), the Institute (1) Senate, 21 Jtuie 1955; Hansard 15, cols. 4600-1. (2) The Star, 14 September and 3 November 1955. (8) Assembly, 3 February 1955. Hansard 2, cols, 519-520, (4 1) RY. 32/195151
(4 Race Relations urged that Africans should not be compelled to build for themselves, irrespective of' their own wish or capacity to do so. Those forced for any reason to remove from their existing accommodation should be offered the choice of alternative housing or land on which to build. In further sections of the new Act, the law relating to the lay-out of African locations was brought into line with that for African townships in that plans needed no longer to be approved by the Townships Board as well as the Native Affairs Department in cooperation with the National Housing Board. The terms of the principal Act were extended to cover existing practice in that local authorities were empowered to dispose of the right of occupation of houses (i.e., to sell the houses, but not the plots of which those houses were built, to African occupants); also to supply materials on credit for the construction of dwellings. Local authorities which had acquired large areas for the future development of African townships were empowered to use parts of these areas temporarily for agricultural purposes or brickmaking. In terms of the amending Act, it is no longer necessary for payments from the Services Levy Fund to be scrutinized by the Advisory Boards, as other payments from Native Revenue Accounts must be. Funds allocated for housing schemes In his Budget speech, the Minister of Finance said(5) that in view of the continued shortage the provision for housing had been increased from £8,500,000 to £10,000,000. In addition, the Treasury had agreed that a guarantee up to a maximum amount of £1 million be furnished to building societies in respect of losses that may be incurred on houses for which 90 per cent. instead of the customary 60 per cent. of the cost had been advanced: this arrangement had been made in order to assist people earning under £100 a month, and would make it possible to provide additional housing to the value of about £3 million. Furthermore, £7 million would be spent on houses for railway officials. The total expenditure on housing for income groups which could not normally be assisted by the building societies would thus amount to £20 million in 1955-6. Financing of housing schemes Money provided for housing schemes in the Loan Estimates is administered by the National Housing and Planning Commission in respect of the Cape, Transvaal, and Free State, and by the Natal Housing Board for that province. Infbrmation about the use to which housing funds have recently been put in Natal is, unfortunately, not immediately available. In the other three provinces during the year ended 31 March 1955,(6) the Housing Commission (5) Assembly, 24 March 1955. Hansard 9, cols. 3222-3. (11) Information from National Housing and Planning Commission in letters 118/1 dated I l)ecember 1954 and 7 October 1955. 106 A SURVEY OF RACE
RELATIONS: 1954-55 itself erected 226 houses for White people. Loans were made, either directly by the Commission or through local authorities, to enable 1,077 White and 29 Coloured people to build their own homes. In co-operation with building societies another 729 houses for Whites were provided, and 129 dwellings for aged or infirm White persons were erected. Local authorities may obtain loans up to the full cost of land, development works, and buildings, at rates of interest fixed by the Treasury (usually below the current rate on loans from private sources) for the erection of economic houses, which are sold or let on a 'no-profit-no-loss' basis. The redemption period is 30 years. Loans totalling £9,138,741 were made by the Housing Commission for such schemes during the year 1954-5, with which 1,830 houses for Whites, 1,212 for Coloured people, and 17,096 for Africans (none for Asiatics) were built. (N.B. A few houses for Asiatics were built in Natal with loan funds from the Natal Housing Board.) In past years, sub-economic loans have also been obtainable by local authorities, although this scheme is now being severely curtailed. Money is advanced at a per cent. interest rate, repayable over 40 years, with redemption calculated on an investment return of 34' per cent. During the year 1954-5, a total of £108,211 was lent to local authorities in terms of this scheme for the erection of subeconomic houses for Africans. The approval of the Native Affairs Department as well as that of the Housing Commission is required for housing schemes for Africans. This department has recently decided that the cost of individual houses must be limited to £250, including the cost of fencing and services on the plot. Site-and-service schemes for Africans It was estimated by officials of the Native Affairs Department(7) early in 1955 that according to the rate of building over the previous three years in the 16 main urban areas, it would take at least another seven years to catch up with immediate housing needs for Africans by conventional building methods. This estimate excluded the housing requirements that would necessarily follow on the development of' existing proclaimed industrial townships, and also excluded new requirements occasioned by resettlement schemes. It was essential to find some method of speeding up building programmes, and site-and-service schemes were decided upon. Circular letters describing these schemes were sent to local authorities by the Native Affairs Department during August 1954. The conception was not a new one: local authorities such as Bloemfontein and Germiston had previously provided serviced stands on which African applicants built their own homes according (7) Article by Mr W. C. Mock,, Senior Urban Areas Commissioner of the Native Affairs Iepartmnent, published in the issue of Bantu for September 1955.
108 A SURVEY OF RACE to iniimurm requirements and with the assistance of loans and expert advice. The new features were(8) that site-and-service schemes were to be an adjunct to normal housing schemes --.... a tbundation for future township development -that rudimentary services only were provided, and that local authorities embarking on these schemes were required at the same time to continue erecting houses. Site-and-service areas must be fully planned, providing for future hospitals, parks, playgrounds, civic centres, cr&ches, clinics, shops, markets, and so on. Different areas must be set aside for the various ethnic groups. The greater proportion of stands are required to be detached, but provision has to be made also for some higher density areas where semi-detached and row houses will later be erected. For each 33 acres set aside for married quarters, one acre must be allocated for hostels for migratory workers. (The Native Affiirs Department bases this calculation on a proportion of one hostel inmate per two families). A school must be provided by the local authority fbr every 400 stands. Services for the fully developed township must be planned, but., lbr a start, only sufficient services to make the scheme habitable may be provided. These are defined as communal water supplies at convenient points, not further than 1,000 feet apart, untarred roads (except for bus routes), stormwater drainage, street lighting of, in general, every third street in addition to the bus route, and one convenience per plot, sanitation by way of pit privy, bucket system, or, in cases where it can be provided without delay, waterborne sewerage. The financing of' these schemes is Etairly involved. National Housing loans may be obtained for the purchase of the land, for erection of permanent buildings, including schools, and, in approved cases, for providing more elaborate services than the rudimentary ones described above. Future tenants will be responsible for the redemption of these loans. Link services and approved rudimentary services within the schemes are charged against Service Levy funds. Methods of financing building loans made to African standholders vary in different areas and circumstances. Families moving in to the schemes may erect temporary shacks (usually at the back of' the stand) using materials from their previous homes, or may obtain a loan of building materials up to £35 in value with which to erect either a temporary habitation or one permanent room of a future house, or in some cases they may obtain larger loans with which to build their permanent homes at once. They may choose whether to do the building work themselves or to employ!a contractor. Conditions vary in different towns. They must, however, undertake to build a permanent dwelling within five years. The Native Affairs Department considers that site-and-service schemes need not (s) lnformnation ablout site-anid-service schemies from article by Mr MockC, op. cir.
RELATIONS: 1954-55 degenerate into slums. Local authorities are required to continue erecting houses (for which National Housing loans may be obtained), and when accommodation is available, it can be offered to standholders who have not built their own houses to approved standards. The department points out that Native village and location regulations can be amended to provide for the summary demolition of temporary structures at this stage. In some areas, for instance Johannesburg, the local authority is itself building permanent houses on site-and-service plots on which temporary structures had been erected. The Minister of Native Affairs has insisted that these site-andservice schemes be embarked upon by local authorities who are faced with a large backlog in housing: Johannesburg, for example, was denied funds for continuing its building schemes until it had agreed to provide a stipulated number of serviced sites over a set period. Prevention of illegal squatting In spite of the considerable progress made recently in the provision of housing for Africans, the Government has found it necessary to amend the Prevention of Illegal Squatting Act of 1951 so as to render it more flexible in operation. Section 5 of this Act provided that when a magistrate was satisfied that persons had occupied land without the owner's permission or were remaining there against his will, and that the conditions under which they were living were such that the health or safety of the public would be endangered unless they were removed without delay, he might after consultation with any local authorities concerned take steps to effect the immediate removal of such persons. In terms of section 30 of the General Laws Amendment Act, No. 62 of 1955, the words 'without delay' and 'immediate' were deleted. It was provided that the magistrate might in these cases consult the representative of a local authority concerned instead of, necessarily, the local authority itself. Use made of the Services Levy In the article quoted above, the senior Urban Areas Commissioner said that the Native Services Levy Act of 1952 was automatically applicable to towns which had an African population of over 20,000. This meant initially that employers of African labour in some 19 centres were responsible for levy contributions. Other local authorities subsequently applied for the imposition of the levy, and the Act is now in force in 30 centres. Nearly E5 million has to date been collected in these centres. Up to the end of 1954, according to the Minister of Native Affairs (9), ('9) Senate, 2 March 1955; Hansard 2, col. 36.
A SURVEY OF RACE £995,967 had been spent on provision of services, subsidization of' transport services, and administration of the fund, schemes to cost £1,975,456 had been approved, and schemes that would cost £2,188,222 were under consideration. He said earlier(1") that a total of £440,519 had been paid to the Minister of Transport by the end of 1954: this total has now risen to £599,732, according to the senior Urban Areas Commissioner. Some of the schemes so far approved are as follows: ...(11) Benoni : Access road, water, electricity, and latrines, for Daveyton. Bloemfontein: Water tanks at Bochabela. Cape Divisional Council area: Access roads, streets fbr bus routes, water supply, and latrines, for Nyanga. Germiston : Electricity and sewerage disposal works to serve Natalspruit. Johannesburg: Access roads, sewers, water supply, electricity, for various townships. Kimberley: Road and link services. Port Elizabeth: Sewer, road, and water supply including reservoir. Pretoria : Water, access roads, and latrines, fbr Saulsville and Vlakfontein. Randfontein: Water, sewerage, access road. Springs: Sewer, pumping station, and water, at Kwa Thenia. Vereeniging: Street lighting and cycle tracks at Sharpe Township. Welkom : Water supply for Thabong. The establishment of a separate Native Transport Services Account is dealt with on page 123. Housing schemes for Africans A detailed schedule of housing schemes fbr Africans in 24 major urban areas is given in Annexure IV. Towns serving the new gold fields in the Free State and Western Transvaal (with one exception), and new industrial towns like Sasolburg, are not included as information about their housing schemes is not immediately available, nor are the smaller country towns included. Estimating from the figures given, one finds that in these 24 urban areas there are already over 100,000 houses for African families, about one-third of them owned by Africans (in the vast majority of cases, of course, these African-owned houses are on leased plots.) The immediate shortage of housing in these urban areas is 121,700, while about another 36,700 houses will have to be provided for those forced to move under re-zoning schemes. (if)) Assembly, 1 February 1955; Hansard 2, col. 327. (i) Information froni speech by Minister of Native Affairs in Senate, op. cit., from article mentioned above by Senior Urban Areas Conimissioner, and from speech by Mr F. E. Mentz, M.P., Assembly, 13 June 1955; Hansard 19, cols. 7613-4. &
RELATIONS: 1954--55 Hostel accommodation for many thousands of migrant workers and single men and women is also required. In four areas ---Benoni, Germiston, Johannesburg, and Pretoria - site-and-service schemes are already being implemented, seven further local authorities are planning them, and three others are considering their introduction. Some 6,500 sites have already been serviced and occupied, while plans for the provision of another 48,500 sites are in preparation or already approved. During the past year, in the 24 major urban areas, teams of African building workers have erected some 10,600 houses, private White contractors about 2,800, and African contractors or private individuals about 200. Numbers of hostels have likewise been provided. It emerges then that in these areas the over-all shortage of some 158,400 houses has during the past year been reduced by about 20,100 (6,500 serviced stands and 13,600 houses). Much greater progress can be expected as further site-and-service schemes are implemented and following finalization of racial zoning plans. Income limits for rental of sub-economic houses During 1954 the Government decided to require the payment of economic rentals by all those deemed able to aflbrd to do so. Previously, assisted housing had theoretically been reserved for those whose incomes were below a certain level, but in most cases it proved impossible to eject people when their incomes rose above this level because there was nowhere else fbr them to go. With the assistance of the National Housing and Planning Commission, a sliding scale for rentals was worked out, based on the internationally accepted basis that these should not exceed one-fifth of a tenant's income and on the assumption that a rental equal to ten per cent. per annum of the over-all capital cost of the dwelling should cover all expenses and repay the loan and interest thereon over a thirty-year period. (12). The sliding scale decided upon for Africans was published in Government Notice No. 1516 of 1954. The full position is that an income limit was fixed for each racial group to qualify them to live in assisted housing projects at sub-economic rentals. For each 10s. per month by which a family's income rises above the income limit, 3s. per month will be added to the rent, until the full economic rental is payable. The income limit varies according to whether the housing project is or is not in an area where wages for the building industry are regulated. Within such areas (which include all the larger towns) the income limits are £30 a month for White people, £20 for Coloured families, and £15 for Africans. Outside these areas they are £25, £16 10s. and £12 10s. respectively. The calculation of family incomes for the purpose of fixing rents ( 2) lIformation from National Housing Office, letter H8/1/6 of I I )ecember 1954.
A SURVEY OF RACE was a complicated process according to the formulae published by the Government. The entire average monthly earnings of the tenant were to be included, together with half of the fixed income of each child, and either half of amounts paid by lodgers in the case of White and Coloured people, or the full amount so paid in the case of Africans, up to maximum amounts per child and per lodger of £8 a month for Whites, £6 for Coloured people, and £4 for Africans. Several local authorities urged that the income limit ftr Africans in urban areas should be £20, not £15. At its meeting in January 1955 the Location Advisory Boards Congress agreed that £15 was too low, and urged the Government and local authorities in any case not to charge economic rentals for sub-economic houses. The Federation of S.A. Women convened a protest meeting in Johannesburg, and an African Anti-Rent Increase Co-ordinating Committee was set up during December to represent African tenants' protection associations in townships of the Transvaal. The Institute of Race Relations has pointed out on several occasions that it is impossible for the majority of African families to meet other essential expenses if a rental of one-fifth of their incomes is charged. According to cost-of-living studies it conducted in Johannesburg during 1954(13) an 'average' African family there paid £1 10s. 101d. a month in rent out ofanincome of £15 18s. lid. Yet its essential minimum monthly expenses, including rent, would total £23 10s. 4d. if the family diet and clothing approached standards necessary for maintenance of health and decency. It is of interest that the National Welfare Organizations Board, at a meeting held during 1952,(14) approved in principle of the Government's intention, but urged that income limits for subeconomic housing should be on a sliding scale with lower and upper limits related to scientifically-calculated poverty datum lines for households of various sizes, revised annually or at other suitable intervals, and with a reasonable ceiling. So far as White people are concerned, the Board suggested that £30 a month might in 1952 be a suitable limit for a family with no children, but in the case ofa family with four children the limit should be £50. The National Building Research Institute ibund (15) that only 16 per cent. of Africans in Springs could afford to pay full economic rents. Another 23 per cent. had more than the minimum requiremerits for subsistence (poverty datum line) but not enough for decent living. Of the rest, 14 per cent. could afford to pay some rent, and 47 per cent. could afford none at all. The results of -(1:;)Compiled by Ole Gibsoin arid paiblished unIer the title 7Th- Cost of Li viutq for Ifricwis. (U) See para. 60, of report of the Board for the year ended 31 October 1952. (I') From lHoutsing for the Urban J3anlu--i problem in Whole I{.ngiJte(ri ig by 1. E. Jennings, pulblished by the National Building Research In1stituite. 112
RELATIONS: 1954--55 113 subsequent studies have not yet I)een published, but the N.B.R.I. states it is apparent that although the proportions vary slightly, the same general pattern applies in all urban African communities. The validity of Government Notice No. 1516 of 1954 has been challenged in several court cases. During November 1954 Mr G. Xorile, of Orlando, applied to the Transvaal Provincial Division of the Supreme Court for an order setting aside both this Notice and a Provincial Notice subsequently issued in which new scales for rents payable by Africans in Johannesburg were published. An order was granted declaring the Government Notice to be invalid on the ground of vagueness, and the provincial order thus to be of no force or effect. The judge said that many Africans to whom the notices applied would genuinely be unable to ascertain whether or not they fell within the sub-economic group. On the application of Mr P. Vundla, also of Johannesburg, a similar order was granted by consent in the Witwatersrand Local Division, counsel for the respondents stating that his clients were not opposing because of the judgment in the case mentioned above and also because it had emerged that the Native Advisory Boards had not been consulted in the required manner. A third such application was made by Mr C. M. Mapona to the Cape Provincial Division of the Supreme Court. In this case the judge ruled that the relevant sub- section 20 (1) bis of Act No. 25 of 1945, as amended, did not authorize the form of differentiation created by the Government Determination. It envisaged the division of Africans into two groups only -sub-economic and others -within these two groups the rental chargeable to be of uniform application. The Government Notice, after excision of this provision, was declared to be void for vagueness and was set aside. A further Notice redefining the qualifications of Africans lbr sub-economic housing, couched in simpler language and making provision only for economic and sub-economic groups, was published in the Government Gazette on 28 October 1955 (Government Notice No. 2123). As before, the limits are £15 a month in areas where wages for the building industry are regulated, otherwise £12 10s. There will now be an abrupt jump from sub-economic to full economic rentals, the sliding scale being eliminated, unless local authorities decide individually to remit a portion of the rent in cases where this is deemed necessary, in terms of powers granted them under section 20 (4) of the Natives (Urban Areas) Consolidation Act. Building plans for African housing schemes The National Housing and Planning Commission has available 30 different approved plans for houses for Africans, from which local authorities may select the type they prefer. The competition conducted by the Institute of S.A. Architects, in which designs for low-priced homes for Non-Whites were invited,
114 A SURVEY OF RACE was mentioned in our last Survey. During the year under review the National Building Research Institute has issued a free brochure of 21 house plans to serve the need for 'simple yet well-designed houses suitable for better-to-do'. House types were selected from plans submitted in the competition. Each design is supplemented by a sketch plan and a list of materials and quantities required. Working drawings are obtainable at 10s. per print from the Secretary for Native Affairs (Urban areas). Research The National Building Research Institute has also recently issued an excellent publication entitled Research Studies on the Costs of Uirbau Banltu Housing, which summarizes the results of recent research. It contains chapters on the costs of building houses for Africans, technical considerations, efficiency of labour, materials, overheads and profits, and unorthodox methods of construction. Housing schemes for members of other racial groups Throughout the country generally, it is the African housing position which creates most difficulties, hence attention has been focussed on this. In particular areas, however, the problem is very acute indeed so far as other Non-White groups, and in some cases even Whites, are concerned. 1. Coloured people The Cape Western Regional Conmittee of the institute of Race Relations points out that the 6,000 Coloured families at present on the official waiting list fbr housing obviously represent a small proportion only of the total number of Coloured people who are now living in overcrowded, unhygienic, and totally inadequate accommodation, both in Cape Town itself and on the Cape Flats. It has been unofficially estimated that 20,000 houses would be required to accommodate them all. In accordance with Government policy of concentrating on economic, as opposed to sub-economic, schemes, the City Council has in the past year erected 368 three-roomed cottages at Athlone, the cost of these having been kept within the C410 limit prescribed by the Government. Rents, varying from £1 2s. to £1 10s. a week, are calculated to cover interest and redemption on 30-year loans and the cost of providing essential services. Another 541 cottages out of the total of 1,727 planned for this estate should be ready for occupation by the end of 1956. A pilot scheme of 22 houses of a superior design for sale on hire-purchase to council tenants whose incomes exceed the limit set for sub-economic rent has been completed. Approval has been sought for a scheme embracing the construction of 90 sub-economic and 488 economic dwellings at Factreton (adjoining Windermere), which area is to become a garden village or the Coloured community. The Cape Divisional Council has over the past year built 710 detached and semi- detached houses for Coloured people at Matroos- fontein, Elsies River, which accommodate some 3,200 people. Rentals have been fixed in accordance with the Government's sliding scale. Voluntary organizations are helping to alleviate the housing shortage. CAFDA has been planning a scheme for the rehabilitation of some of the poorest Coloured families on the Cape Flats. Those admitted will live for some months under fairly close supervision and discipline so that their pattern of living may be improved, later being moved to better-type houses where they will assume greater responsibility for their own welfare. A loan from the National Housing and Planning Commission has now been received, and work on the first 200 houses is to start almost immediately. The Servitas Housing Utility Company has been erecting houses in garden villages at Da Gama, Somerset, and Van der Stel, which are bought by Coloured people on hire-purchase terms: Servitas assists with the deposit and arranges a building-society loan for the balance. Over the past year 50 houses have been built, and work is to start shortly on villages of 46 houses at Grassy Park and 260 at Somerset West, designed for lower-income groups. Apart from the magnitude of the Coloured housing problem in in the Western Cape, there is the further difficulty that many of those needing accommodation earn just too much to qualify for sub-economic rents and at the same time not enough to enable them to afford economic rentals. Coloured people in Johannesburg are being squeezed out of some areas they previously occupied by industrial development, no new areas can be set aside for them until racial zoning plans are finalized, and possibly two-thirds of them are consequently living in overcrowded slum conditions. The Medical Officer of Health recently said (16) that the removal of one slum immediately creates another: Coloured people required to move have no alternative but to crowd into insanitary premises or buildings already congested. It is estimated that some 5,000 houses are immediately required. The problem is acute in Port Elizabeth, too, where between 3,000 and 4,000 houses are needed to relieve serious overcrowding. Schemes embracing both home ownership and houses for letting are being planned. In Durban about another 1,000 houses are required: over the past year 93 have been built at Sparks Estate and other areas, some detached and others semi-detached, 14 of them sub- economic and the remainder for sale by hire-purchase. A scheme for 143 more is in progress. In Bloemfontein, where about 120 houses are needed, the local authority has over the past year employed Coloured artisans to erect 20 semi- detached dwellings at Heatherdale, for letting at economic rentals. Another 15 houses were provided by Coloured people themselves under the 'ownerbuilder' scheme, materials being advanced on loan by the City Council. King William's Town, which needs 80 houses, is awaiting ( ) As reported in The Star, 30 May 1955. RELATIONS : 1954-55 1,15
A SURVEY OF RACE approval of an assisted home-ownership scheme. In other Reef towns besides Johannesburg there is a shortage of houses for Coloured families: 500 are needed in Boksburg, 270 in Benoni, 260 in Springs, 75 in Roodepoort, and 50 in both Germiston and Krugersdorp. 2. Asiatics As is natural, the housing needs of Asiatics are most acute in Durban, where the shortage amounts to some 9,000. The City Council has over the past year provided 153 houses, detached and semi-detached, at Springfield and other areas, 18 of them subeconomic and the rest for sale by hire-purchase. A scheme to provide another 170 is in progress. In Durban, along the Reef, and in many other towns the position has been aggravated by uncertainty caused by the Group Areas Act. In Johannesburg, for example, at least 5,000 dwellings for Asiatics will be required to cover present needs and to cater for those likely to be displaced in terms of racial zoning plans, but agreement cannot be reached as to the areas to be set aside for them. At present (i.e., while Asiatics are free to own property in certain areas of the city) there is no problem in Port Elizabeth so far as the Gujerati, Moslem, and Chinese sections are concerned, most of them being in a position to provide for themselves. Many of the Tamilians, however, who are employed as fttctory workers, waiters, fruit and vegetable merchants and hawkers, live in overcrowded slum conditions at South End and Korsten. There is serious overcrowding, too, in Pretoria and many other urban areas pending clarification of zoning plans. 3. White people In an effort to render the civil service a more attractive field of employment, the Government recently announced a 100 per cent. housing loan scheme for approved applicants.(17) It will stand surety to building societies for the full amount until the loan is reduced to the 70 or 75 per cent. the societies are prepared to advance, payments being collected from the officials by means of stop orders. At this stage the loan will be accepted by the societies under normal arrangements. The Railway Administration and Public Servants' Association have undertaken large housing projects, in Bloemfontein, fbr example, while the National Housing and Planning Commission continues to erect dwellings for White people of the lower-income groups. It has been found in Springs and other cities that there is a large demand for houses costing under £2,500, the initial deposit not exceeding some £150, and monthly instalments approximating (17) A full explanation was given by the Minister of the Interior, Senate, 15 Junle ]1.5;; Haiisard 14, col, 4113, 116
RELATIONS: 1954-55 117 to £12. The Springs Municipality has built 860 such houses since 1938, 60 of them during the past year, and has recently acquired 208 stands in order that this scheme may be continued. Durban Municipality, too, is providing housing for Whites: over the last twelve months 140 flats and 148 detached or semidetached houses for rental or sale by hire-purchase have been built. The Divisional Council of the Cape has in the year under review provided 410 detached houses, averaging £3,000 in value, at Bergvliet Township, and another 50 at Fish Hoek for people in the middle income groups, also 22 at Ottery, of an average value of £1,400, for lower income groups. To take one more example, Bloemfontein Municipality has over the past year built seven economic houses for Whites, has just accepted a tender for the erection of 45 flats, and has made available 309 residential sites in the Dan Pienaar Township.
A SURVEY OF RACE OTHER MATTERS AFFECTING URBAN AREAS Local Government Commission (Transvaal) The enquiry by the Transvaal Local Government Commission was referred to in our last Survey (1). Two interim reports of this Commission have now been published, the first dealing with licensing and the second with local government. They will in due course be debated by the Provincial Council. In its second report the Commission suggests the creation of a full-time Board for the Advancement of Local Government, to guide local authorities and to assist in future development. 'his would take over the functions of the localgovernment branch of the Provincial Administration. It will be recalled that in the questionnaire it circulated to interested organizations and persons befbre public sittings were held, the Commission enquired, inter alia, whether a system of appointed burgomasters, commissioners, and city managers was favoured. The weight of evidence was apparently against this, for the Commission stated it considered that, despite its shortcomings, local government is an indispensable part of the government of the country and should not be replaced by agents of the central or provincial authority. Nor, on the other hand, should it be replaced by a system of local selfadministration. No change was recommended in the election of councillors or of mayors. The Commission made two far-reaching proposals, however. All significant work at present, it said, was done by committees behind closed doors, and the function of the council as a debating chamber was tending to disappear. It recommended the replacement of all standing committees by a single executive committee composed of three members when the total number of councillors is twelve or less, otherwise of five members, which would be the counterpart of a provincial executive committee or a Cabinet in miniature and would be responsible to the full municipal council. Members would be elected by proportional representation and be paid tbr their services. Secondly, the Commission recommended the creation of a post for a principal officer, who would replace the town clerk and would be the chief accounting officer, analagous to the secretary of a state department, undertaking responsibility lbr the efficient administration of the work of all municipal departments. He would be the only channel of communication between councillors and municipal employees. The proposed Board for the Advancement of Local Government should sanction the appointment of all principal officers. Members of Johannesburg City Council pointed out(-) that if' these recommendations were adopted, control would be centralized in the hands of three or five councillors who would work through an approved principal officer. Domination by the provincial administration would become possible. The direct contact of councillors (1)P vage51. ("' ) eg., Pond JDaily i/ail, 18 [July awl 28 September 1 )55
RELATIONS: 1954-55 with officials and the work of their departments would be destroyed, and those councillors not elected to the executive would do no work except participating in debates. At its meeting on 27 September 1955, Johannesburg City Council rejected all three of the Commission's main recommendations and resolved to place its criticisms before the Provincial Secretary. The outgoing Executive Committee of the Transvaal Municipal Association, at a meeting on 4 October(3), supported the creation of a Board for the Advancement of Local Government, provided that the functions, duties, and powers envisaged were delegated to it by regulation. On the other hand, it opposed the abolition of the committee system and the creation of a post of principal officer. The Executive Committee considered that in general greater freedom and less control from above were desired by local authorities. The report was not debated at the annual meeting of the Association. The Commission has now distributed questionnaires dealing with details of the system it recommends. Evidence submitted by the Southern Transvaal Regional Committee of the Institute of Race Relations(4) was summarized in our last Survey. Briefly, the Regional Committee considered that the function of the province should be to stimulate local authorities so as to ensure at least a common minimum level of essential services, providing technical and financial assistance where necessary. Its control and guidance should be limited to this. So far from any limitation, it was an extension of the elective principal that was required: measures should be introduced to enable Non-Whites to be directly represented on local-government bodies. Leases for sites in urban African locations During the year under review a new form of lease of sites in urban African townships for churches, clinics, nursery schools, community centres and so on has been introduced.(5) Section 42 (f) of the Natives (Urban Areas) Consolidation Act of 1945 allows for the grant to a White person or organization of a limited interest in land in a Native location, subject to the approval of the local authority and of the Minister of Native Affairs. In the old form of lease it was laid down that the Minister could in his discretion cancel the agreement if in his opinion the lessee used the site, or allowed it to be used, for activities which encouraged or tended to encourage deterioration of the relationship between Africans and the government or its representatives. The new form of agreement empowers the Minister to base his decision on the activities of the lessee or his representatives, whether these take place on the leased prenises (8) As reported in The Star of that date. (4) R1U.176/1953 and 62/1954. () Mrs Felicia Kentridge prepared for the Institute of Race Relations a comparison of the old and the new form of lease. See RR,23/1955.
A SURVEY OF RACE ,,;r elsewhere, and states that should a lease be cancelled at the Minister's discretion the lessee will have no right to compensation for improvements, which include the value of any buildings erected. This new provision has caused much concern. Members of the Christian Council of South Africa have pointed to the inequity of holding a church responsible for anything which any of its members may be alleged to have done or said. The matter was clarified to some degree in the Report of the Native Affairs Commission for 1953,(6) where it is stated, 'Where a church denomination renders itself guilty of participation in incitement, resistance movements and the like, its activities may be completely stopped, for example, by terminating its right of occupation without compensation.' It appears from unofficial reports that such action would be taken only if a church through some responsible body such as its synod passed a resolution advocating resistance to the law, or if. after twelve months' warning, a church did not itself take steps to deal with any of its representatives who might advocate such resistance; but no oflicial reassurance has been forthcoming. Whereas the previous form of lease ran for an indefinite period terminable on three months' notice in writing given by either side, the new lease is a periodic one running from year to year with a twelve months' period of notice. In this respect the lessee has greater security than he possessed formerly. But another new provision has the opposite effect: no compensation for improvements will be payable after a lease has been in operation for twenty years. Further clarification of the Government's intentions is badly needed, for in present circumstances private organizations and persons are deterred ftom investing money in buildings in African townships. On hearing of the new conditions the Grahamstown Joint Council of Europeans and Africans, for example, decided against spending a sum of £4,000, collected mainly by students of Rhodes University, on a community centre for Africans on a site in the location offered by the municipality. Private organizations are not being encouraged to provide amenities for urban Africans, whether without or within the locations. A sub-committee of the Natal Regional Committee of the Institute of Race Relations recently investigated the great need for better-class accommodation for African visitors to Durban. Capital to provide such accommodation would have been forthcoming from a group of White businessmen, and permission was accordingly sought from the Minister of Native Affairs through the Native Administration Department of the Municipality. His reply was as follows : (7) 'I have to inform you that current departmental policy requires that accom nodation and boarding facilities for Native (6) U.G. 58/1954. (7) 1Dated Aulutist 1955.
RELATIONS: 1954-55 visitors coming to urban areas should be provided within municipal Native locations or Native townships. If Natives are not willing or able to provide such a service, this could be done by the local authority. 'The suggestion that the boarding house be sited somewhere within the city and be financed and run as a business proposition by Europeans is in direct conflict with policy and could not be agreed to by the Department.' Reservation of Separate Amenities by Local Authorities Ordinance (Cape) Following its passage through the Cape Provincial Council, the Reservation of Separate Amenities Ordinance came into operation as from 1 October 1955. It provides that after consultation with the local authority concerned, the Administrator of the Cape may direct it to reserve any, or all, or parts of any public premises, counters, benches, seats, or other amenities under its control for the exclusive use of persons belonging to a particular race or class. The definition of the word 'premises' includes any land, beach, enclosure, building, hall, office, or convenience. Ifthe local authority fails to carry out these instructions, the Administrator may direct the Provincial Secretary to carry out any work (including structural alterations) necessary to give effect to the instructions, at the local authority's expense. In a press statement issued on 12 June 1955, the Cape Western Regional Committee of the Institute of Race Relations drew attention to the extremely wide powers over local authorities to be given to the Administrator. In terms of the Ordinance he might compel the City Council of Cape Town, for example, to divert money which had been contributed by rate-payers of all races and which was sorely needed for housing and other amenities, to the construction of physical barriers desired by a section of one racial group only. The people of Cape Town had considerable experience of living together as a mixed society with a minimum of compulsory segregation. Any application of the provisions of the Ordinance would increase the already overcharged racial tension in the country and drive still further apart the racial groups on whose co-operative efforts Cape Town and South Africa were built. Motor Carrier Transportation Amendment Act It will be recalled that from 1948 (in accordance with preparations made the previous year), apartheid was introduced in suburban trains in the Cape (the only railway service where Coloured people had until then been permitted to share compartments with Whites). In terms of the Reservation of Separate Amenities Act of 1953, private companies operating public vehicles are permitted, if they wish, to reserve vehicles or any portions thereof for the exclusive use of persons belonging to a particular race or class; and it is laid down that such action cannot be ruled invalid on the grounds
A SURVEY OF RACE either that provision is not made for all races or that the separate facilities provided for the various races are not substantially equal. The Motor Carrier Transportation Act of 1930 had authorized the National Transport Commission (since re-named 'Board') to stipulate that certain motor vehicles might be utilized for the conveyance of a particular class of person only. The process of implementing apartheid in transportation services was carried further by the passage of the Motor Carrier Transportation Amendment Act, No. 44 of 1955. The National Transport Board, or local boards (the members of which are now all appointed by the Minister) (8), or local boards at the central board's direction, are empowered to issue motor carrier certificates for the conveyance of members of more than one racial group, specifying that separate portions of the vehicle are to be set aside for each such group. The boards are also empowered to impose apartheid in trolley-bus or tramway services conveying members of more than one racial group: they may in their discretion serve notices on the companies or persons operating such services specifying which racial groups may be conveyed, and if more than one group is involved, laying down that separate portions of the vehicles are to be reserved for each. Local authorities are in every case to be consulted if the motor vehicle, trolley-bus, or tramway service operates partly or wholly within their areas. In the Senate on 6 June 1955 the Minister of Transport elaborated on the procedure that will be followed. (9) Each local board, he said, will have to satisfy itself (in a manner decided by itself) as to the general wish of the public in its area. (10) Care will be taken to ensure that companies operating the services do not suffer financially. If the public wants separation and this can only be achieved by increasing the fares, then the fares will be raised. The fares of African (but not Coloured or Asiatic) passengers will where necessary be subsidized. The feeling of Members of Parliament, even the Natives' Representatives, was divided. These provisions of the measure might conceivably be to the advantage of Africans and of local authorities in some towns: Johannesburg, for example, is prohibited from conveying White people and Africans(11) on the same vehicles. But, on the other hand, much dissatisfaction would undoubtedly result from the imposition of apartheid in road transport services in towns such as Cape Town and Port Elizabeth. : It is of interest that in December 1954 Johannesburg Municipality applied to the Local Transportation Board for authority to (8) These local boards consist of three members. The Minister is required to consult the Administrator and local authorities in the area in regardl to the appointment of two of the members. (9) Senate Hansard 13, cols. 3236-41. (10) The word 'public' ~'esumably refers here to the White 'public.' Iocal authorities concerned are, however, to be consulted. (1) Except for African servants accompanying their emiployers.
RELATIONS: 1945-55 run all-class buses, with segregated seats for the various racial groups, on certain routes during off-peak hours. Separate buses for Whites and Non-Whites would continue to be provided at peak times. Permission being refused, the Municipality appealed to the National Transport Board, but its appeal was dismissed. The General Manager of the city's transport department is reported(12) to have said at a conference of the Institute of Traffic Officers that if the apartheid policy was abandoned, Johannesburg could make a profit of £500,000 a year on its bus and tram services, instead of running these at a loss as at present. The effect of section 7(c) of the Motor Carrier Transportation Amendment Act will be that Africans may be granted certificates to convey goods from one African township to another, through a 'White' area. In the past such permits have often been refused. Section 11(e) provides that when issuing or renewing motor carrier certificates, the boards may in their discretion give preference to an applicant who belongs to the same racial group as the majority of the persons to be served by the vehicle concerned. Natives Transport Services Account The Native Services Levy Act of 1952 provided for the payment of an amount not exceeding sixpence per African employee per week to a fund created for the subsidization of transport services for Africans. These amounts have until now been paid into a separate account of the Consolidated Revenue Fund. In terms of Section 16 of the Motor Carrier Transportation Amendment Act a separate Native Transport Services Account is created, to be administered, subject to the Minister's approval, by the National Transport Board under the financial supervision of the Controller and AuditorGeneral. Local authorities, private companies, or individuals who run transport services for Africans in areas where employers contribute to the Services Levy Fund may apply to the Board for subsidies or loans for the purpose of maintaining fares at a level Africans can afford. Such subsidies become increasingly necessary as African townships are moved further away from the industrial and business centres, especially since suburban rail fares were increased in September 1954 by an overall average of 15 per cent., but by 20 per cent. in the Cape Town area. (13) In a memorandum to an interdepartmental committee considering transport services, the Cape Western Regional Committee of the Institute of Race Relations pointed out that even before this increase, 68 per cent. of African families in the Cape Town area were living below the poverty datum line. Africans at Nyanga (where it is Government policy that all families should live) are at present spending up to 25 per cent. of their earnings on (12) Rand Daily Mail, 7 October 1955. (1a) hformation given by Minister of Native Affairs, Senate, 16 Mar&, 1955. Hansard 4, col. 685.
A SURVEY OF RACE transport costs. Aftican wage-earners accommodated in the siteand-service scheme at Vlakfontein East, Pretoria, have to pay £2 12s. a month in bus fares to and from the city. Subsidies friom the Native Transport Services Account will be of much assistance in such cases. Non-White passengers on suburban lines During the six months ended 31 March 1955, the railways recorded 61,485,395 Non-White passenger journeys in the third-class of suburban services, (14) and, of course, far from all Non-Whites travel third class. In the last six months of 1954 amounts collected in fares from these services amounted to 45 per cent. of the total revenue from suburban train traffic.(15) New railway lines are to be built to cater for Africans in Meadowlands, Johannesburg, the Natalspruit area in Germiston, and the Atteridgeville/Saulsville area in Pretoria. (14) 5outh ,itfricait Railway News, August 1955. (15) Percentage calculated from figures given by Minister of Native Affair., Senate, 16 March 1955, Hansard 4, col. 685.
RELATIONS: 1945-55 RURAL AREAS Land owned by the S.A. Native Trust or by Africans in Rural Areas Africans may own land in scheduled areas and, in certain circumstances, in released areas or other parts of the country. As the position is confusing, a fairly full account is given below. (a) Scheduled Areas A legal pattern of segregation was imposed in rural areas in terms of the Native Land Act of 1913, which demarcated as Native reserves areas occupied mainly by Africans at the time. The extent of these areas, listed in a schedule to the Act, was 10,422,735 morgen. Section 3 of the Native Trust and Land Act of 1936, as amended in 1939, provides that the Governor-General may by proclamation include in the scheduled areas any land in a released area which is the property of the S.A. Native Trust, or a tribe, or an individual African. With the approval of both houses of Parliament he may also excise land from the scheduled areas, provided that land of at least equivalent agricultural or pastoral value is substituted in the province concerned. During the year under review, certain farms in the Letaba district, owned by a tribe, were at the tribe's request declared scheduled areas. (') The extent of scheduled areas has thus altered from time to time, and at present is 10,729,435 morgen.(2) (b) Released Areas In terms of the Native Trust and Land Act of 1936, 71 million morgen of land, defined in a first schedule to the Act, were earmarked for transfer to the reserves (these are the released areas); Parliament undertook to vote £10,000,000 over a ten-year period for purchase of land; and the corporate body called the South African Native Trust was set up to control and develop land acquired. All crown-land within the released areas, except land reserved for public purposes or legally held by persons other than Africans, has been vested in the Trust; this now amounts to 1,784,731 morgen. The Trust has bought farms in released areas totalling 2,057,231 morgen in extent, while African tribes and individuals have bought 1,161,906 morgen of land. Altogether, then, 5,003,868 of the 71 million morgen constituting the released areas have been acquired in these areas by or for the use of Africans. (') (;ozernment Gaz-ette of 27 May 1955. (2) Present figures quoted in this chapter were kindly supplied by the Secretary for Native Affairs in a letter, No. 76/276, dated 8 September 1955.
A SURVEY OF RACE (c) Outside Scheduled and Released Areas Certain crown-land outside the released areas, about 90,000 morgen in extent, which in the past had been set aside for the occupation of Africans, was in 1936 vested in the Trust. It was also provided that the Trust might purchase land outside scheduled or released areas, provided that this land adjoined farms owned by itself, or by tribes, or by individual Africans: to date 337,124 morgen have been purchased under this provision. A total, then, of about 427,124 morgen has been acquired by the Trust outside released areas. Since 1913 in the case of the three northern provinces, and since 1936 in the Cape, Africans have been prohibited from purchasing from Non-Africans farms outside the scheduled or released areas, unless with the Governor-General's permission. Before these dates, however, such purchases could take place freely. Tribes or individual Africans continue to own 188,660 morgen outside scheduled or released areas. Outside these areas, too, is some crown-land and a number of mission stations occupied by Africans, who, in' the case of the crown-land, are officially considered to be squatters. The present extent of this land in African occupation is not known; in 1949, according to the Native Education Commission, it was 1,319,528 morgen, but it is less than this now because from time to time certain farms previously owned by the Crown have been disposed of to Whites. (d) Total Extent of Land Owned by the Trust or by Africans in Rural Areas Altogether, then, the scheduled areas are 10,729,435 morgen in extent, and the Trust or African tribes or individuals own 5,003,868 morgen in released areas and 615,784 morgen outside these areas; a total of 16,349,087 morgen. There is roughly another 1,000,000 morgen outside scheduled or released areas, owned by the Crown or by missions, which is occupied by Africans. (e) Total Sum Spent by the Trust As is mentioned above, it was decided in 1936 that an additional 71[ million morgen of land should be acquired by the Trust or by Africans, and that over a ten-year period the Trust should spend £10,000,000 on land purchase. To date (19 years later) the Trust has spent £9,345,779 on purchasing 2,394,355 morgen, another 1,874,731 morgen have been vested in the Trust, and Africans have bought 1,161,906 morgen in released areas. Of the 71 million morgen, 1,819,008 remain to be acquired. Official Policy Governing Land Purchase by Africans The 1936 Act provides that tribes or individual Africans may purchase farms in released areas with the proviso only that if
RELATIONS: 1954-5 Africans want to buy from a Non-Aftican a farm completely surrounded by properties owned by Non-Africans, the GovernorGeneral's permission is necessary. Other restrictions are being imposed in practice, however. The present policy is outlined in the Report of the Native Affairs Commission for the years 1948 to 1952 inclusive.(3) One of the members of this Commission said in the Assembly(4) that these were merely recommendations, but it emerged from his speech that they did reflect the policy being followed, and the Minister of Native Affairs announced that he was fully in agreement with the recommendations. (5) Tribes and sub-divisions of tribes, the Commission said, must be encouraged themselves to purchase land in released areas, but must be guided in such a way as to link up with the Bantu authorities. The Commission was in principle opposed to allowing individual or detached Africans to acquire land in released areas, particularly if this contributed towards undermining the tribal connection. Appreciating the desire of Africans to invest their money in land, however, the Commission recommended that each case be dealt with on its merits, subject to the principle that where there is a chief in the area, the purchaser of land must be guided to show allegiance to him, and where there is a Bantu authority, he must be required to link up with it. Uneconomic land holdings should not be transferred, and as far as possible should be consolidated into economic units. A Natives' Representative pointed out (6) that this meant there was no longer any such thing as an area where property rights were freely available to Africans. The member of the Commission replied(7) that one reason for discouraging individual purchases was to prevent speculation: a rich African from Johannesburg, for example, might otherwise buy a farm and then resell it at an inflated price to a tribe or to the Trust. On the whole Africans still prefer communal tenure of land: this system, he said, would have to be modified eventually, but the time was not yet ripe. The Minister of Native Affairs added(8) that when an African bought land he should be able to submit through natural affinity to the Bantu authority for the area, and the home language of his children should be the same as that forming the medium of instruction in local schools. Property rights are available to individual Africans in the villages being established in the reserves. (9) ( .) U.G. 36/1954, page 6. (4) Speech by Mr M. 1). C. de Wet Nel, M.P., Assenbly, 13 June 1955. Hansard 19, cols. 7574-6. (f) Hansard 19, col. 7591. (6) Mrs V. M. L Ballinger, Hansard 19, col. 7568. (7) Mr M. D. C. de Wet Nel, Hansard 19, col. 7575. (8) Hansard 19, col. 7592. (11) See Page 134.
A SURVEY OF RACE Elimination of 'Black Spots' in White Rural Areas In the Assembly on 10 June 1955 the Minister of Native Affhirs said(1") that 'black spots' in predominantly White rural areas were gradually being 'cleared up', Africans owning farms in such areas being given land, instead, in areas adjacent to the reserves. Nine such 'black spots' in the Transvaal. 14 in the Cape, and one in Natal had already been eliminated, and the department was now at work in another 31 areas. Eventual Elimination of 'White Spots' in the Reserves During 1954 the Town Council of Umtata, in the Transkei, planned to lay out an industrial township on part of the commonage and requested the co-operation of the Native Affairs Department in its application for a railway line to the area. The Secretary fbr Native Affairs advised the Town Council in April 1955 that Umtata nmust be regarded as a White town serving the interests of Africans in an African area. With the passage of time and as Africans developed they would take over activities at present being carried out by Whites. The department was, therefore, not in favour of further expansion of White interests in the town.(11) On 3 May 1955 the Chief Infbrmnation Officer of the Native Afitirs Department issued a statement which was very widely published in the press. Umtata and other White settlements in the reserves, he said, must be regarded as but temporarily White, lior in the course of time they would be taken over by Africans. The principle must be honoured that if 'black spots' in White areas were to be eliminated, so also must white spots' in African areas. Three days later the Minister of Native Affairs qualified this by stating(12) that it had never been his policy forcibly to remove the Whites; the process would be one of natural development, taking place over a long period of time. His policy had been fully explained in Parliament and in Umtata during 1951. These statements caused a great deal of uncertainty and had economic repercussions. The Chairman of the Transkeian Territories European Civic Association is reported to have said('*) that wholesale firms in East London, King William's Town, and the Transkei had as a result restricted credit to traders who, in turn, had restricted credit to Africans. Property values had fallen. False hopes had been aroused in the minds of Africans. Representatives of the Chambers of Commerce of Umtata and East London met on 15 May to discuss the situation; and a mass meeting of' representatives of' public bodies in the Border area, together with citizens of Umtata, held on 21 May, called for a statement of the Government's exact intentions. (1) 1ian'sard 18, col. 7548. (II) Ministr of Native Affairs, Assemnbly, 10 Juiie, Hausard 18, col. 7543, and letters quoted in T"he Star, 22 April 1955. 1') Press statement widely published, e.., Poniui Bust, 6 -May 1955. (13) e.g.,/:. cnibtg Post, 3 May 1955. 128
RELATIONS: 1954-5 Opportunity for discussion of the matter in Parliament arose during the debate on the Native Affairs Vote on 10 and 13 June. Mr M. D. C. de Wet Nel, a member of the Native Affairs Commission, gave members general information about the Transkei.(14) Of the 4,400,000 morgen constituting the Transkeian Territories, he said, only 4.4 per cent. was owned by Whites, mainly in East Griqualand where there were large White farming areas. About 20,000 Whites lived in the Territories, 15,000 of them in the 28 towns. There were 1,269 White and 205 African traders, about half of the Whites being in the towns and the remainder scattered at small trading posts. Of the trade turnover, estimated at 09,200,000 a year, only 10 per cent. was handled by the Africans. Many of the White traders, and numbers of Whites in the towns, had freehold tenure of properties. The Member representing Non-African voters in these Territories said(15) that towns in the Transkei were reserved as White areas and Africans needed the Governor- General's permission to purchase property there. Fair numbers of such permits have been granted. The Minister of Native Affairs then clarified his policy.(16) Large White settlements such as those in East Griqualand and towns therein, Kokstad and Matatiele, for example, would not be affected. 'White spots' were smaller White areas entirely surrounded by African properties, and towns and villages whose existence depended upon their being administrative centres of surrounding African territories. White farmers in predominantly African areas, fbr example, Nqutu and Nkandhla, in Zululand, and parts of the Transkei, were gradually being bought out, and parts of the commonages in Transkeian towns had been purchased by the Trust for African use. In time, trading stations would pass into the hands of Africans, but no forcible measures would be used. As African traders improved their businesses, and with the natural advantage they possessed because of growing African nationalism, they would attract custom from White traders whose businesses would eventually become uneconomic. The intention was that towns constituting 'white spots' would be zoned into areas for Whites and areas where Africans could own property in freehold. The latter areas could be extended gradually, as necessary. These would be the obvious places for educated Africans - lawyers, doctors, and so on -- to find employment. As they proved their capabilities, African clerks, policemen, teachers, and departmental officials would replace Whites, until eventually the structure on which the White community in these towns had been built would collapse, and White property-owners would sell out. In view of this policy it would be unwise to encourage further large-scale White development, although present activities need not and would not be curtailed for a long time to come. (14) Assembly, 10 june 1955. Hansard 18, cols. 7517-8, 7521. (15) Htansard 18, col. 7512. Speech by Ir T. G. Hughes. (1G) ttansard 18, cols. 7541-51 and Hlansard 19, col. 7591.
A SURVEY OF RACE The onus rested on Africans, the Minister said. The elimination of 'white spots' was dependent upon the African being able to develop to such an extent that he could do without the White man. The process was not quite the same in the removal of 'black spots' : here the Whites, wishing to clear an area for their own use, undertook financial responsibility and also provided compensating land. A Natives' Representative said(17) it was doubtful if more than a very few Africans would ever find the money to acquire control of large businesses in the Transkei on the earning capacity allowed them by the Government's policy. She challenged the Minister's contention that White men's money had been used for the removal of the 'black spots' in the Western Areas of Johannesburg. A member of the Native Affairs Commission admitted(18) that although the state had advanced money for this removal scheme, by means of rents Africans would pay the interest and redeem the capital on the entire scheme over a period of 30 years. Proposed Development Scheme in Northern Zululand The Makatini Flats in Tongaland (Northern Zululand) consist of vast plains, at present unproductive, between the Lebombo Mountains and the coast. After passing through a narrow gorge in the mountains, the Pongola River traverses the plains on its way to Portuguese territory. The Flats are largely crown-land, thinly populated by Africans only, but there are also several Native reserves in the area. In its evidence to the Tomlinson Commission in 1951, the Institute of Race Relations suggested that if the Pongola River were dammed at the gorge, a vast irrigation project could be developed in the western half of the Flats. The coastal belt, in the east, was highly suitable for timber production. The Institute urged that a development project, something along the lines of the Gezira Scheme in the Sudan, be established in the area for the benefit of Africans. During August 1952, a party including the Prime Minister and the Ministers of Lands and Transport made an inspection flight over northern Zululand. Railway engineers have since examined the possiblilities of constructing a port for Transvaal coal at Sordwana Bay and a rail-link to Piet Retieft In August 1955, the Minister of Lands and Forestry toured the whole area. During June, the Minister of Native Affairs said in the Assembly(19) that various departments of state were investigating different aspects of a possible development scheme, and as this work had not been completed no clear statement could then be made on the future of specific portions of the area. The intention was, however, that an irrigation scheme for White settlement would be developed in the (17) Mrs V. M. 1. Ballinger, M.P., Assembly, 13 June 1955, Hansard 19 cols. 7566-73. (1 ) Mr F. E. Mentz, A\.P., Assembly, 13 Jtune 15, t lansarl 19, col. 7585. ( ) 13 Juiie 1955, flansard 19, Col. 7600. 130
RELATIONS: 1954-55 western portion of the Flats. The rights of the Africans who by treaty entrusted their interests to the guardianship of Natal would continue to be protected. It appeared from the Minister's speech that it would probably be decided to add to reserves in the area certain crown-lands in the eastern portion of the Flats (which are likely to be less productive than those in the west because irrigation will not be feasible), thus helping Natal to fulfil its quota under the Native Trust and Land Act of 1936. Large areas of crown-land in the -coastal belt have been transferred to the Department of Forestry, which is planting thousands of morgen a year, from Mtunzini to Lake St Lucia and gradually north towards Sordwana Bay, with Caribbean pine. It has been officially suggested that the Native Affairs Department should continue this project north of Sordwana Bay, where there is a Native reserve. The Director of Planning of the Natural Resources Development Council addressed a meeting of the Zululand Public Bodies Association during November 1954, on the proposed irrigation scheme. He is reported (20) to have referred to the 'staggering potentialities' of the area. Some 70,000 morgen -could be irrigated if the dam was constructed, he said, making possible very large-scale production of sugar, rice, cotton, and fibres needed by industry. Present Conditions in the Reserves In a paper presented at the 1955 Council meeting of the Institute of Race Relations, (21) Professor D. Hobart Houghton said that the reserves presented a striking contrast to the rest of South Africa: they were essentially underdeveloped areas of primitive agriculture. While very great progress had been made in the country generally, the economy of the tribal areas had not merely remained static, but there had even been a decline in productivity. The whole economic and social structure of the African tribe, which was appropriate to a subsistence economy, was totally unsuited to the development of individual initiative, to innovation, and to the production of surpluses for market. The true distinction in South Africa was not between 'White' and 'Native' areas, but between those parts where economic progress and development were taking place as a result of the coming together of capital, enterprise, and labour contributed by the various racial groups, and the tribal reserves where economic stagnation and lack of enterprise were the chief characteristics. The reserves were backward not because they were African areas, but because they were tribal areas where a primitive economic system had been allowed to persist. They had' become a drag on the country's prosperity, and grave doubts must arise about the desirability of retaining them. The subsistence tribal economy would have to be replaced by one of. higher productivity. Many social problems (20) The Star, 10 November 1955. (21) Since published by the Institute in the booklet South Africa's ChangI Q lg c , yolufl
A SURVEY OF RACE would, of course, arise, the greatest of which would be to find some measure of personal and social security for the African people in their new industrial environment. The first step should be the provision of housing and freehold tenure in urban centres. So long as the migrant labour system persisted, there was little chance of developing the reserves. The Institute of Race Relations has recently published a summary of the Keiskammahoek Rural Survey, kindly prepared by Professor Hobart Houghton, under the title Life in the CisAe. During April 1955, the Institute's President and its Director made a brief tour of the Transkei and Ciskei(22). In general, they felt, conditions seemed to be appreciably worse in the latter than in the former area. The worst ravages of soil erosion they saw were in the Herschel and Middledrift areas. There were mealie lands in the Middledrift district from which the yield was unlikely to reach one- half bag per acre (as against 3.6 bags on plots in some irrigation schemes, and an average throughout the Native areas of 1.01 bags per acre), yet people continued to plough and plant these unfruitful lands year after year in the same way, sowing the same crop, achieving the same small result. They were everywhere impressed by the recuperative power of the land under efficient management. But despite the visible improvement brought about in betterment areas and, in a few cases, by groups of Africans under a progressive headman, there was widespread opposition to betterment work, a marked lack of co-operation, and grave suspicion of the 'Trust --apparently fmnned for political reasons. Traditional attitudes towards cattle did not seem to have changed appreciably, and the fact that betterment usually started with stock-reduction meant that the most difficult hurdle came first. Delay in instituting reclamation schemes after communities had agreed to these was another reason for lack of co- operation. Independent African farmers did not seem to have been influenced by efforts to improve farming practice: officials were unanimous that any future grants of freehold title should be made subject to beneficial occupation. It was abundantly clear that the situation in the reserves could not be radically improved unless they were relieved of their surplus population, and this would entail the promotion of permanent urban settlement. The 'Tomlinson Report' The (Tomlinson) Commission on the Socio-Economic Development of Native Areas, appointed in 1950, completed its report towards the end of 1954. The Minister of Native Affairs said in the Assembly during February (23) that the total cost of publishing 5,000 copies in each official language together with an atlas would be about E24,000, while 2,500 copies in each language with the (22) 'I'heir inmpressions were published in duplicated form as RR. 85/1955. ( -:) 8 February 1955, Hansard 3, col 715.
RELATIONS: 1954-55 atlas would cost £19,000. As these figures were so high it had been decided to publish only a summary of the report, prepared by the Commission itself. Limited numbers of the full report are to be made available in typescript to libraries and organizations particularly interested in the subject-matter. The summary was completed by the end of June, and has now to be translated and printed. It is eagerly awaited. Agricultural Production and Livestock in the Reserves On page 147 of this Survey statistics reflecting agricultural production and stock owned by Africans in the reserves are compared with those for Africans on farms of Whites and for the country generally. It is interesting, however, to examine the position in the reserves in a little more detail. Two useful articles on the subject have been published during the year under review, one, by Mr C. W. Prinsloo, entitled 'Food Production in the Bantu Areas,' in Bantu, March 1955, and the other, by Dr F. W. Fox, entitled 'Agricultural Foundations of Nutrition,' in the S.A. 14edical Journal, 15 January 1955. In the reserves as a whole, Dr Fox says, 13.7 per cent. of the land is arable. Mr Prinsloo adds that 12.5 per cent. of this arable land is not yet cultivated. The arable land per person, according to Dr Fox, is 0.56 morgen, and the population density per square mile averages 76. Mr Prinsloo gives the following figures for agricultural production during the year ended 30 June 1954, which had been a good year: rop Maize Kaffircorn (sor ghums) Wheat Legumes (companion cropping) Vegetables and fruit Rootcrops Total yield 3,095,685 bags(24) 856,882 bags 82,073 bags 169,505 bags 11,765,704 lb. 17,040 tons 75,114 bags Average yield per morgen 2.15 bags 1.72 bags 2.17 bags 0.44 bags 1,502.1 lb. 1.5 tons 0.75 bags (24) 1 bag =approximately 200 1b. net. Other food crops
A SURVEY OF RACE Dr Fox says that, on average, 47 per cent. of requirements are met by local cereal production: he calculates on an allowance of one pound of maize or kaffircorn daily per head of population in the reserves. Results vary widely in different Native areas, however: in the Transkei 60 per cent. of requirements are met locally, in Natal 45 per cent., in the Northern areas 42 per cent., in the Ciskei 30 per cent., and in the Western areas 28 per cent. The Transkei grows most maize, the Ciskei most wheat, the Northern areas most kaffircorn, legumes, and vegetables. The largest numbers of stock are owned in the Transkei, with the reserves of Natal next. The total animal population of the reserves is as follows :(25) Cattle 3,518,177 Sheep 3,500,158 Goats 2,945,256 Pigs 444,000 Poultry 3,512,000 Equines 383,000 The total number of cattle units, Dr Fox says, is 5,188,000, which works out at 1.26 per person. This result shows clearly that, in general, the reason for overstocking is not that each person owns too many animals, but is that there are too many people trying to live off the land. Townships and Rural Villages on Trust Land At the 1955 session of the United Transkeian Territories General Council, Mr C. B. Young, Under-Secretary for Native Affairs (Native areas), said that the department did not intend building further expensive housing schemes such as Temba at Hammanskraal, Zwelitsha at King William's Town, and Umlazi, near Durban. Instead, rural townships and villages would be laid out on Trust land, sited as conveniently as possible in relation to existing or potential labour centres. They would be near natural water resources, so that a piped water supply would be unnecessary for some time at any rate, and villagers would be encouraged and guided to make their own sanitary arrangements. They would build their own houses, but main roads and stormwater drainage would be provided by the department. The villages would be properly laid out, with space for normal residential, commercial, and industrial growth. To these villages would be moved landless families from the reserves and farm squatters who could not be absorbed as full-time labourers. Each family would be allocated half an acre of good arable land, where they could grow fruit and vegetables for their (25) Figures for cattle, sheep, anld goats are as at 30 June 1954, extracted from Mr Prinsloo's article. Remaining figures are given by )r Fox, for the year 1952-3.
RELATIONS: 1954-55 own use and for the market. Freehold tenure would be granted, subject to the usual restrictions regarding sub-division. Existing regulations for the control of villages, contained in Proclamation 98 of 1953 as amended by Proclamation 258 of 1954, provide for the setting up of village councils to take over administration. These Will have functions similar to those of tribal authorities. In the Assembly on 13 June the Minister of Native Affairs said (26) that sites for such villages were being selected in many areas; examples were Leeuwkop at Hammanskraal, Mananga in the Lebombo Flats, Dalmeny in the Inanda district, Umkomaas near the SAICCOR factory, and Kalkfontein, north-west of Pietersburg. In these villages each family would be allowed one plot only; but this stipulation would not apply in areas to be zoned for Africans in existing 'White' towns in Native areas. A draft proclamation, published in Government Notice 589 of 25 March 1955, set out proposed conditions for the granting of allotments. They are to be used for residential purposes only, and may not be mortgaged, transferred, or leased without the chief native commissioner's permission. They may not be subdivided. If more than one person should inherit in terms of an allotmentholder's will, the native commissioner will decide which of them should take over ownership: he will be required to pay to the other beneficiaries the value of their respective shares. Occupation will be limited to the family head, his family, bonafide dependants, and such other persons as the native commissioner may approve. In certain circumstances, after warning has been served, title deeds may be cancelled. Rights to minerals and oil will remain with the Trust. Establishment of Industries in or near Native Areas Dr F. W. Quass, industrial adviser to the Natural Resources Development Council, recently wrote an article entitled 'The Industrial Potential of the Under- Developed Areas of South Africa' which was published in Commerce and Industry towards the end of 1954. While the continued expansion of the industrial regions is assured, he said, there has already been a greater dispersal of industry than is generally realized and this process should be continued. Examples of large projects recently initiated which are relatively near the sources of bulky raw materials and are also close to Native reserves, include the kraft paper factory at Tugela Mouth, the rayon pulp factory near Umkomaas River, a modern coking plant in the Vryheid district, the phosphate concentrate factory in the north- eastern Transvaal, and an iron and steel plant at Airlie in the eastern Transvaal. Dr Quass suggested that groups of industries might be established in or near each of the .four main Native areas. Suitable sites for the (2) Hansard 19, col. 7593.
A SURVEY OF RACE Ciskei-Transkei area would be near Molteno, Umtata, Kokstad, King William's Town, and Mount Ayliff, and here wool and cotton processing industries, bag and rope factories, and a nickel production plant might be established. In the Natal- Zululand area, near Port Shepstone, at the mouth of the Tugela River, and at Sordwana Bay, suitable industries would be rayon-pulp processing, kraft paper production, and compressed wood-board, paper-board, and bag factories. Some of these were already under construction. Appropriate sites in the eastern and northern Transvaal would be near Piet Retief, Nelspruit, Bushbuck Ridge, Phalaborwa, Sibasa, Potgietersrus, and in the Waterberg district, and suggested industries here were another iron and steel plant, wool-processing, compressed woodboard, sulphuric acid, and fertilizer factories, and an oilfrom-coal and a newsprint plant. Finally, in the western Transvaal and northern Cape area, near Kimberley, Taungs, Vryburg, and Mafeking, iron and steel, cement, sulphuric acid, and fertilizer plants would be suitable. Most of these areas possessed water resources and were near labour supplies; but coal would have to be transported to them or power generated from developed coalfields or steep-gradient rivers. Necessary rail-links would cost £20 million. If a hundred factories were established on the lines suggested the entire scheme (including rail-links) would cost £200 million over a forty-year period; but it must be borne in mind that a few of the industries included were under construction and their capital requirements already provided. These 100 factories would eventually employ 6,000 Whites and 30,000 Africans: a ratio of 1 to 5 instead of about 1 to 2 as in existing industrial areas. Many other Africans would find work in the timber plantations, in road, rail, and dam building, and in tertiary industries. In the Assembly on 13 June 1955 the Minister of Native Affairs said(27) that he was opposed to the establishment of Europeanowned industries within Native areas. The industrialists would want ownership of land. They would bring in White supervisors, and the White communities thus formed would be unlikely to submit to rule by Africans. If the industries proved successful the owners would never agree to relinquish control. On the other hand, the Government was in favour of European-owned industries on the borders of Native areas. It also favoured the development of some type of African industrial corporation in which Africans could invest their money in order to finance the establishment of Africanowned industries in the reserves. Africans could start such industries at once if they wished. In a paper presented at the 1955 Council meeting of the Institute of Race Relations,(28) Mr L. H. Samuels pointed out that the (27) Hansard 19, cols. 7*94-6. (S) Since published by the Institute in the pamphlet Soouth Africa's Chaingig 1conomy,.
RELATIONS: 1954-55 immense capital expenditure necessary to duplicate facilities of established industrial areas would result in uneconomic use of scarce resources of capital, manpower, and entrepreneurial ability. Furthermore, industrial development should be a spontaneous growth. Agricultural poverty was the cause, not the consequence, of the absence of manufacturing industry in the reserves. Before their rapid industrialization would be possible, a drastic reconstruction of existing primitive and communal methods of cultivation, the creation of adequate power and communications, and the development of a literate, trained, and progressive population would be essential. Slow progress might be achieved: but this might simply intensify the desire for the products and amenities of the advanced economy and accelerate the exodus to the towns. Policy Governing Stabilization, Reclamation and Development Work in the Reserves At the 1955 session of the United Transkeian Territories General Council, Mr C. B. Young, Under-Secretary for Native Affairs (Native areas), gave a detailed exposition of the department's plans for stabilization and reclamation work in the reserves. Until recently, he indicated, the work had been somewhat piecemeal. Permanent planning committees drew up blue-prints for the reclamation and development of all land acquired by the Trust and of those tribal areas where the communities had accepted the betterment scheme. These detailed plans, involving large-scale works in most cases, were put into operation in individual areas as and when staff resources permitted. Results were most encouraging, but the work was slow and expensive and its quantity well-nigh negligible in comparison with what was required. The gap between erosion and reclamation, in fact, was becoming even wider under a system aimed at closing it. This work would be continued, but a stabilization scheme would be launched throughout Native areas at the same time. Ad hoc committees would be appointed, consisting of the local native commissioner, technical officers, and one or more leading Africans from the district, to draw up for the area concerned a plan for stabilizing the soil and preventing further deterioration. These committees would determine the number of people and stock in the area, would demarcate parts suitable for arable, grazing, and residential purposes, and would decide where fences should be erected, whether water was needed, if plantations should be established, and so on. After approval of the plan, people would be prohibited from building further huts except in the residential areas, grass strips would be set up to hold the soil, and as much further work as possible would be undertaken. This would form the basis of more extensive work later, for example, construction of dams, contour and training banks, donga-control measures, protection of springs, reduction of stock to
A SURVEY OF RACE the carrying capacity of* lh1w land, anid full introduction ot" grazing and land management. There was a shortage of trained staff, Mr Young said. They had to attend to maintenance as well as to the construction of new works, and had also to spend much' time persuading people to accept rehabilitation measures. It would be of immeasurable assistance if African communities would give more active cooperation and would themselves undertake the maintenance of completed works. A member of the Native Affairs Commission said in the Assembly(29) that the department was now trying to make African communities feel that projects belonged to them. Once this was achieved, workers came forward readily to assist, even voluntarily. Several examples were cited. Compulsory measures might also be resorted to, however. Proclamation No. 66 of 1955 provides that it is the duty of Africans occupying arable land to maintain and repair any conservation works on that land, including fences, banks, weirs, grass strips, and so on. A native commissioner may order any able-bodied African man who is likely to derive benefit from the works to assist in maintaining and repairing them. Penalties are laid down for non-compliance.. Proclamation No. 256 of 1954 provides that if conservation works are damaged the head of the nearest kraal must immediately report to his chief or headman who, in turn, must report to the native commissioner. Again, penalties are prescribed fbr those failing in compliance. The native commissioner may then, summarily and without pleadings, hold an enquiry in loco. If he cannot determine the actual perpetrators of the damage he may fix responsibility jointly on heads of kraals or taxpayers in the area, and the assessed cost of repair will be recovered from. those deemed responsible. The Proclamation states that if the perperator is determined and convicted 'the Court may direct that a portion not exceeding one- half of any fine imposed and recovered shall be paid to the person on whose information the conviction may have been obtained or who may have materially assisted in bringing the offender to justice.' Further Proclamations, Nos. 174 and 175 of 1955, tighten up regulations governing the occupation of arable and residential allotments in Trust areas. Reclamation and Development Work Completed or in Progress According to information kindly made available by the Native Affairs Department, by the end of 1954 reclamation work was completed or in progress on over 90 per cent. of Trust and tribal land in released areas. In the scheduled areas, of the 1,265 locations, 521 had accepted the betterment scheme, and in 83 of these (2.) Speech by Mr M. 1). C. de Wet Nel, M.P., Assembly, 13 June -1955,) ffansard 19, col. 7576. 138
RELATIONS: 1954-55 reclamation work was completed or had commenced: 73 of the 83 were in the Transkei, according to Mr Young's speech. The Soil Conservation Board, in its report for 1952-4, estimated that 20 per cent. of the land in all Native areas was reasonably well protected and on another 5 per cent. deterioration had been halted. In an article published in Bantu in February 1955, Mr F. J. de Villiers said that the Trust was operating a fleet of 347 tractors and 624 lorries in African areas. Mr C. W. Prinsloo, the Chief Information Officer of the department, contributed a very informative article to the fbllowing issue of that publication. The Director of Bantu Agriculture, he said, had a staff of 364 Whites and over 500 trained African agricultural personnel. During the year 1953-4, 40,000 morgen of land had been treated against harvester termite, 414 miles of contour banks and 5,719 miles of grass strips constructed, 1,458 miles of fencing erected, and 122 dams and 354 waterways and chutes built. At the 508 livestock sales sponsored during the year, Africans had sold 36,845 head of cattle and 18,098 sheep and goats: the cattle had fetched £14 12s. 6d. per head on average. Courses for chiefs and headmen had been held in most of the main African areas, films with an emphasis on agricultural instruction forming part of the programme. African students passing out in 1954 from the agricultural schools at Fort Cox and Tsolo and the Zwartkop Forestry School included 62 trained in agriculture, 7 in veterinary science, 10 in engineering, and 8 in forestry. As at 30 June 1954, 119 irrigation schemes comprising 13,227 morgen were already in production stage, 6,855 Africans having been allotted farming plots and 2,546 vegetable gardens. Excellent yields were being obtained, for instance, 7.73 bags of maize per morgen' (Union average in Native areas being 2.15), 10.70 bags of wheat per morgen (Union average 2.17), and so on. According to an article published in Bantu two months previously, African settlers at the Olifants River irrigation scheme, who receive 1- morgen of irrigated land and are allowed five cattle units, each averaged £110 in income during 1954. The sizes of economic land holdings vary greatly, of course, in different areas. The President and the Director of the Institute of Race Relations noted that on newly acquired Trust farms near Alice, in the Ciskei, the overflow from.a betterment area is being settled on plots' of four morgen plus grazing for seven head of cattle, whereas in the Keiskammahoek district each family is given three morgen of arable land, seven-tenths of a morgen as a residential site, and a small plot of irrigated land for vegetable growing. A condition of tenure in such settlements is that the plot-holder must do full-time farming. In an endeavour to modify traditional attitudes towards cattle, the Trust continues to subsidize the purchase of Jersey cows and to establish co-operatively run dairies. The cash payments for
A SURVEY OF RACE cream at 44 dairies in the Ciskei amounted to £10,000 during 1954, accruing to some 300 participants. Soil Conservation Work in White Farming Areas The Minister of Agriculture gave some interesting information in Parliament during May 1955.(30) Seventy-five per cent. of the total area of White farms had already been proclaimed as soil conservation districts under the Soil Conservation Act, he said. The number of farms involved was 76,521, their area 74,000,000 morgen, and the number of owners 54,000. Already completed were 48,675 farmers' works to the value of £5,221,000, also 271 government works to the value of £413,000. To accelerate the mapping of farms a system of aerial photography was being introduced: it was hoped that in five years' time the department would have aerial photographs of all the farms in the country, and would then be in a position to plan from 5,000 to 6,000 farms annually. Plans for certain works, such as reservoirs, fodder sheds, and drinking troughs, had been standardized. It had been decided that, provided the treasury was agreeable, advances should be paid to farmers as soon as works had been approved. The subsidy was previously not payable until the work had been completed. Stock Theft Amendment Bill The Stock Theft Amendment Bill contained a clause rendering it an offence for anyone to acquire stock or produce in any manner other than at a public sale from a Non-White, or from any person who had no known place of habitation, unless the Non-White or other person had a certificate stating that he was entitled to sell the goods concerned, signed by a justice of the peace, police officer of at least the rank of sergeant, or two residents of the locality, of substantial means. The Institute of Race Relations considered that this provision -designed to try to prevent the sale of stolen stock-might make it difficult for Non-Whites to dispose of their stock or produce. The Bill was, however, referred to a Select Committee before its second reading. African National Soil Conservation Association The African National Soil Conservation Association (ANSCA), whose president is Mr W. B. Ngakane, Field Officer of the Institute of Race Relations, has much progress to report. In January 1955, it arranged a youth service camp in the Louis Trichardt area, at which Chief Ramokgopa was the host. African boys from schools in the neighbourhood lived at the camp under canvas for some days, attending lectures and demonstrations in gardening and soil conservation arranged by officials of the Natives Affairs Department. (30) Assembly, 3 May 1955, Hansard 13, col. 4949, and Senate, 16 May 1955, Hansard 11, cols. 2744-5. 140
RELATIONS: 1954-55 The following month the Deferred Pay Board of the Transvaal and Orange Free State Chamber of Mines sent the Association a sum of E1,000 with which to purchase a van for film demonstrations. Early in April ANSCA convened a meeting of representatives of organizations concerned with youth work amongst Africans to enlist their assistance in promoting land service camps and in forming agricultural clubs in schools. The main annual conference was held at the Royal Place of the Zulu people in Nongoma, early in October. The host, Paramount Chief Cyprian Bhekuzulu, invited Zulu chiefs as well as local tribesmen to attend this conference, which was opened by the Chief Native Commissioner of Natal. Departmental officials gave lectures on local problems, such as termite control, and arranged visits to demonstration plots in the neighbourhood. At the conference a sub-committee was set up to study techniques of approach to Africans in connection with the introduction of soil conservation measures. Ncora (Experimental) Rural Community Welfare Centre Another successful year has been experienced by the Ncora (Experimental) Rural Community Welfare Centre in the St Mark's district of the Transkei, which was established by the Jan H. Hofmeyr School of Social Work in Johannesburg. It is run by an African social worker, and is assisted by the Native Affairs Department, the Native Recruiting Corporation, and the American Board Mission. Its activities are conducted through a number of organizations it has established, including an agricultural co-operative, a health association, a sports and cultural organization, women's clubs, and clubs for herdboys, a Sunday school, and literacy classes. Altogether. these organizations have 2,147 members, which represents about 40 per cent. of the population of Ncora. A building has been erected for social gatherings, meetings, and storage of produce. The agricultural co-operative purchases fertilizers, grain tanks, and fencing material for its members, markets their wool clip, has set up a co-operative dairy and brickmaking industry, and arranges lectures and demonstrations. The Zenzele Women's Club Association is especially concerned with improving home conditions, nutrition, and care. of children, and with stimulating home industries and indigenous crafts. Now registered as a charitable organization under the Welfare Act, the Health Association undertakes health propaganda and case- work: some 800 patients received attention during 1954. Sporting activities are established in surrounding schools by the Sports and Cultural Organization, which also arranges athletic contests three times annually. (31) A significant develop(31) It is impossible in this Survey to give details of the many activities of these clubs; but a fuller account of their work wa. published in Race Relatiots Journal, No. 2 of 1955.
142 A SURVEY OF RACE ment is that the people of Cala and Engcobo, districts adjoining Ncora, have undertaken to set up their own community centres. The Valley Trust The Valley Trust, near Botha's Hill, in Natal, founded by Dr H. Stott, is also making good progress. Its activities in the field of health are dealt with later. In addition to providing curative and preventive services, the Trust is endeavouring to bring home to the Africans the fact that health depends also on feeding and ways of living. It maintains an agricultural demonstration and soil conservation project, urges the preservation of trees, distributes fruit trees and seeds to Africans, and provides instruction on food production, balanced diets, and conservation farming.
RELATIONS: 1954--55 EMPLOYMENT The General Economic Situation in South Africa The general financial situation in the Union remained relatively sound during the year under review. Once again, the increase in the monetary value of economic activity was greater than the rise in price levels, indicating that there had been an appreciable increase in production. The Governor of the S.A. Reserve Bank, in his address at the annual general meeting of stockholders on 10 August 1955, said that the total national income of the Union (i.e., including income accruing to non-Union factors of production), which had increased at a rate of over 11.5 per cent. per annum between 1946--7 and 1952-3, as compared with an annual increase of about 7.2 per cent. in the average wholesale and retail price indexes, had risen by £95 million to £1,521 million in 1953-4, i.e., by 6.5 per cent., over the previous year, as compared with an increase of about 1.4 per cent. in the average wholesale and retail price indexes,. (1) The increase was, as in previous years, spread over practically every branch of the economy. Available data indicated a continued expansion of economic activity in 1954-5. After successive annual deficits in 1951, 1952, and 1953, the balance of payments showed a favourable turn after the first quarter of 1954, yielding a net surplus of £44 million for the year. Exports of merchandise, especially uranium, maize, and sugar, increased considerably, as did the net gold output; and the net inflow of capital from abroad was higher than in any year since 1948. In view of this, substantial relaxations of import control were announced during 1954, and again in February 1955. During the latter month the Bank of England rate was raised to 1 per cent. above the S.A. Reserve Bank rate, and, partly as result, the net flow of capital to South Africa declined. As a consequence of these factors, the balance of payments showed a deficit of about £27 million during the first half of 1955. The Governor of the Reserve Bank said, however, there was every reason to assume that the seasonal pattern of recent years would manifest itself again during the latter half of Lhe year, resulting in a substantial, favourable trade balance (inclusive of gold). (Later, however, in September, the bank-rate in South Africi was raised to the same level as that prevailing in Britain.) While this surplus in the balance of trade should tend to increase, the Governor of the Bank added, it was unlikely that it would be sufficient to meet the net payments for shipping and other services, interest, dividends and profits, as well as the repayment of foreign loans. South Africa would thus continue to be dependent upon a (1) The increase over recent years in the real national income is shown in indexes contained in Memorandum No. 13 of the Btureau of Census and Statistics, Nct National Income 1952-3.
A SURVEY OF RACE net inflow of lbreign capital in order to maintain approximate equilibrium in her balance of payments. She would have to compete with the rest of the world for available capital, and it was thus essential that fiavourable and attractive conditions fbr foreign investment be maintained. The principal limiting factor in our economy, he said, would, for some time at least, probably continue to be an acute shortage of labour. This shortage will be ref~rred to again in the pages that follow. The Cost of Living As is pointed out above, there have been further increases in prices and, consequently, in production costs. The retail price index (1938-100) rose from an average of 192.4 in 1953 to 195.9 during the following year, and had reached 201.7 in April 1955. The most rapid increase has taken place in the average prices of foodstuffs. These index figures are, however, not a reliable guide to the cost of living, for they cover certain items only and are based on a budgetary survey conducted in 1936, since when patterns of consumption have probably changed very considerably. Moreover, as the survey was conducted among White families in the £C225 to £450 income group, the conclusions were possibly not altogether valid for those families whose incomes were below £225 a yearthat is, for most of the Non-Whites. The Institute of Race Relations has on several occasions pointed to the urgent need for reliable cost-of-living statistics, relating especially to families in the lower income groups, to serve as a basis for minimum wage determinations, cost-of-living allowances, determination of qualifying income- limits for sub-economic housing, and many other purposes. It has urged that fresh budgetary surveys be conducted, among Non-White as well as White communities. A sum of £10,000 has now been voted by Parliament for a survey of typical budgets of 3,250 White families in the nine main urban areas and in fifteen smaller towns. The Minister of the Interior announced (2) that it was possible that a further survey of Non-White budgets might be undertaken at a later date. The National Nutrition Research Institute is commencing work on an investigation of the feeding habits and extent of malnutrition amongst the various racial groups in South Africa. It is estimated that this project will take some three years to complete. Incomes and Budgets of Non-Whites Very valuable studies of the socio-economnic status of African families have been conducted under the auspices of the National Building Research Institute, the purpose being to determine the rentals people can afford to pay and, thus, to enable local authorities (2) Assembly, 9 May 1955. Hanisard 14, col. 5222.
RELATIONS: 1954--55 to plan housing schemes realistically. The results of the first survey, conducted in Payneville Township, Springs, were described in earlier Survey of Race Relations(3); further investigations on similar lines have now been carried out in Germiston, Durban, Vereeniging, Cape Town, Port Elizabeth, and Alexandra Township, and the results are shortly to be published. During the year under review a number of local authorities conducted surveys of the incomes of residents of African townships, in order to determine ability to pay rentals at 'economic' rates. The resulting information is, unfortunately, not comparable with the findings of surveys conducted by the Institute of Race Relations and other bodies, or with earlier municipal investigations in Johannesburg, since the family income is computed on a different basis. The formula laid down by the Minister of Native Affairs for this purpose includes the full earnings of the occupier of a house, together with amounts paid him by lodgers up to a maximum of £4 per lodger per month, plus half the income of each of his children residing with him, up to a maximum of £4 per child per month. Any sums earned by his wife are not included. In November 1954, the Southern Transvaal Regional Committee of the Institute of Race Relations made a detailed study of the income and expenditure of the Nkosi family, who live in Orlando, Johannesburg. While it is obvious that a study of the budget of one family cannot elicit facts of general application, the results are of interest. The family consists of Mr Nkosi, his wife, and five children, three of whom are at home. They are intelligent, resourceful people, better off than are most African families, with a monthly income averaging £21 15s. when £2 sent monthly to a son away at school has been deducted. None of them drinks or smokes. On the basis of detailed investigations over a period of a week, it was estimated that even with the most careful management they overspent their income by an average of £4 18s. 6d. a month; to make good the deficit, Mr Nkosi did overtime work periodically, or his wife took in extra laundry work, or else the family simply went hungry, which was the only way of saving. As was expected, the investigation showed that the family ate too much bulky food, such as mealie meal, and insufficient protective foodstuffs. An ad hoc committee of experts drew up a more nutritive but minimum-cost diet, arranged menus for a week, and purchased the necessary ingredients. It was found that this diet cost £3 7s. 9d. a week, whereas the family normally spent £2 17s. 9d. In other words, if the Nkosis had continued on a diet considered to be the minimum necessary for health, their income deficit would have been £5 8s. 6d. a month. And they are better off than are many other families. This bears out the conclusion reached by Miss Olive Gibson in a study conducted for the Institute of Race Relations in ('i) 1951-2 Surve,, page 39, and 1953-4 Surz.ey, page 162.
ASURVEY OF RAGE 1954(4): that an average Aftican f'amily in Johannesburg would have an income deficit of £7 11 s. 5d. a rrionth if its members were fed and clothed at even minimum standards necessary for maintenance of health. The progress of the study of the Nkosi budget was described daily in the Rand Dail Mail, which paper also made an ex gratia payment of' £15 to the family at the end of the investigation. The Department of Nutrition has drawn up minimum diets fbr the adequate nourishment of persons of any racial group. If the cheapest kinds of each type of fbodstuffs considered to be essential are selected, this diet would cost 18s. 7d. per person per week. It would thus cost the Nkosi family at last £4 12s. 11d. weekly, more, even, than the minimum diet planned by the Institute's committee. As is stated above, the total national income of the Union was £1,521 million in 1953 4. Of this sum, £876.8 million was paid in salaries and w4,ages. It is estimated by the writer (-) that, of the latter figure, at least £202 million went to Africans, £36 million to Coloured people, and £15 million to Asiatics. Further, but relatively small, amounts would be received, particularly by Asiatic business men, in interest, dividends, rents, and other ways. Were these sums divided equally between every man, woman, and child in the racial groups concerned, each African would receive £22 10s. each Coloured person £30, and each Asiatic £39 a year. Comparable figures calculated for the year 1936 by the Industrial Legislation Commission were £10 8s. for Africans, £18 16s. for Coloured, and £27 12s. for Asiatics, as against £129 12s. for Whites. Average income figures are misleading, however. There are great differences in earnings within, particularly, the Asiatic community. Furthermore, as the Department of Economics of Natal University has pointed out( 6), not only do a large proportion of Non-White workers receive part of their wages in kind and the value of these items is extremely difficult to assess, but also the real value of the incomes of almost half the African population is affected by the fact that a monetary scale is largely alien to the economy of the reserves. Useful information about the incomes of the White, Coloured, and Asiatic sections of the population in 1946 (but not, unfortunately, about those of Afticans) has been published recently(7). Of those who had incomes, that is, excluding dependants, unemployed persons not receiving benefits, and so on, over three- quarters of the Coloured, just under one-half of the Asiatics, and one-sixth of the (4) 1)etails are given in the "urzey of Race Rclations for 1953-4, page 161. (a) On the basis of Vol. IV of, 1946 census report, U.G. 18/1954, etstimates by Prof J. L. Sadie, etc. (6i) 1lamdbook ont Race Relations in South Africa, page 307. (,) Volume TV of 1946 census report. nIguages iand Literacy. U.G. 18/1954. 146
RELATIONS: 1954--55 Whites had under £100 a year. The proportions of persons with under £300 a year were no less than 98.0 per cent. for Coloured and 91.1 per cent. for Asiatics, as against 57.3 per cent. for Whites.(8) As is apparent from these figures, the Asiatics, although slightly better off than the Coloured community, were On the whole also very poor indeed. There were a small number of comparatively wealthy Asiatic individuals, however: 1.1 per cent. (or 726 persons) had over £1,000 a year, as avainst 4.6 per cent. of the Whites. Developments in the Farming Industry As result of excellent harvests and increased production of wool, dairy products, and other items, the total value of agricultural and pastoral products reached the record level of £343 million in 1953 4 -and this in spite of the fact that there was a decline in the average prices realized for some products, for example, wool. Over the past fourteen years the number of cattle slaughtered annually has doubled, as has the yield of fresh milk, butter and cheese, wheat, maize, and barley. Production of wool has increased by one-fourth, of sugar cane by one-half, of leaf tobacco three times, of sunflower seed six times, and of groundnuts over twenty times. (9) There has been great expansion, too, in the forestry and fishing industries. The latest agricultural census, for the year ended 31 August 1953, * shows that during that year Africans on farms of Whites produced, for their own account, 10 per cent. of the maize and 13 per cent. of the kaffircorn grown in the country, and, at the end of the year, owned 11 per cent. of the cattle, 1 per cent. of the sheep, and 14 per cent. of the goats. At the last meeting of the Council of the Institute of Race Relations, Prof. F. C. van N. Fourie said that the gross value of their crops and pastoral products increased from £1,950,000 in 1936-7 to £5,760,000 in 1950-1. There were, in August 1953, some 585,000 Africans (excluding domestic servants) employed on farms of Whites; but many of them were full-time workers doing little farming on their own account.(10) The average productivity of lands worked by some 1,540,000 African peasants (men and women) and about a further 1,000,000 women in the reserves engaged part-time in agriculture, is far lower. During the year ended 31 August 1953 they produced 8 per cent. of the country's maize and 26 per cent. of the kaffircorn, while at the end of that year they owned 30 per cent. of the cattle, 10 per cent. of the sheep, and 54 per cent. of the goats. The quality ot their stock was, of course, far lower than that of the White farmers. Prof. Fourie stated that the gross value of their crops and pastoral (8) Percentages calculated by the writer. (11) Information from agricultural census reports and as given in review of his policy by the Minister of Agriculture, Senate, 16 May 1955. (10) Some of the labour tenants, not actually working for the farmers on the date when the census was taken, may be omitted from these figures.
A SURVEY OF RACE products increased from £4,480,000 to £11,540,000 between 1936-7 and 1950-1. The number of independent Coloured agricultural workers is declining, and their landholdings are, on the whole, small and poorly developed. There are slightly more independent Asiatic farmers, sugar planters, and market gardeners. Some of these earn good profits, but the majority make a scanty living. In spite of improved production methods and the increased availability and use of mechanical equipment on farms owned by Whites, there is still a shortage of labour. The total numbers of Coloured and, particularly, Asiatic farm labourers have declined during recent years. Asiatics are mainly employed to-day as headmen of gangs, drivers, or clerks. Significant numbers of the Coloured and African workers, too, are employed as foremen or in posts requiring some degree of skill, for example, as drivers of tractors or threshing machines, dairymen, or engaged in rough carpentry or building work, and so on. The total number of African farm workers has actually increased in recent years, although the proportion they form of the total African working population has declined. In 1953 they were 98 per cent. of the total combined farming labour force in the Transvaal and Orange Free State, 96 per cent. in Natal,'and 56 per cent. in the Cape. Excluding domestic servants, there were then probably about 92,000 Coloured people, 6,500 Asiatics, and 585,000 Africans employed on farms of Whites. Average monthly wages in cash and kind for Coloured workers in August 1953 were about £6 9s. 7d. fbr men and £3 13s. 5d. for women in the Cape (they received very much lower pay in other provinces); in the case of Asiatics in Natal, £6 14s. for men and £2 16s. 8d. for women; and in the case of Africans the average wage for the whole Union was £3 8s. 5d. for men and £1 13s. 7d. for women.(11) These wages vary greatly, however, from district to district and even farm to farm. The figures given above do not include the rental value of housing, land, and grazing made available to workers. It would appear, calculating from the little information that exists, that African farm labourers, on average, produce for their own account crops and pastoral products worth about 13s. 4d. per month. Preliminary steps are being taken by the Department of Native Affairs to implement the Native Trust and Land Amendment Act, described in our previous Survey. (12) It will be remembered that the object of this legislation was gradually to put an end to squatting by Africans on farms of Whites, to control the labour-tenant system, and to encourage full-time labour. White farmers are being asked to complete forms giving full particulars of all Africans living on their land. In Government Notice No. 15 of 7 January 1955, regulations for the establishment and conduct of labour tenants' (11) Calculations by the writer from data in agricultural censuts reports. (12) urzvey of Race Relations for 1953-4, page 85. 148
RELATIONS: 1954-55 control boards were published: these boards, composed of farmers, will consider requests from local farmers for authority to employ more than the normal minimum of five families of African labour tenants. It was stated, in this notice, that the boards would 'presume that the period of service to be rendered by any labour tenant to the owner is six months in each calendar year, unless the contrary is proved, but shall in no case accept such period as being less than the minimum period of four months.' The Government's intention is that labour tenants adjudged to be surplus to requirements will, in general, (13) apply to the local labour bureau, where they will be offered alternative employment, either as labour tenants or as full-time farm workers. This plan may not prove simple to implement. In March 1955, a number of labour tenants in the Weenen district of Natal were given three months' notice to move. They refused to leave and instituted legal proceedings but lost the case. Eviction orders were served and it was arranged that their cattle be attached in settlement of the costs. Unrest flared up and the farmer summoned police assistance. Eventually the messenger of the court persuaded the Africans to agree to move and to pay the amounts due, and their cattle were then released. No-one yet knows the number of labour tenants who will be affected when the Native Trust and Land Amendment Act is fully implemented; but it appears that considerable numbers may be required to move from certain areas, and they may be most reluctant to do so. A matter that has been regarded with concein, particularly by the Dutch Reformed Church, is the gradual depopul-tion, so far as Whites are concerned, of the platteland in certain areas, for example, the Karoo. Schools have had to be closed in some districts, the trade turnover of many rural towns has been affected, and families who leave the land take some time to find their feet in a new urban environment. A major contributory cause of this phenomenon has been that many wool farmers, who have received very high prices in recent years, have been increasing their landholdings by buying out smaller farmers, and the effect has been to push up land prices. Dr C. C. Nepgen, who is undertaking a survey for the Federal Poor Relief Committee of the Vederduitse Gerefornieerde Kerk, is reported (The Star, 2 September 1955) to have said that about 15,000 of the Union's 120,000 farms owned by Whites are now managed or occupied by Africans. Many of the owners are not farmers, but business men who live in urban areas. There is one man, he states, who owns 84 farms in various parts of the country. One-tenth of all the land in one district, or some 400,000 morgen, is owned by two brothers and a syndicate. (1 ) Displaced Africans who in the opinion of the Minister of Native Affairs could reasonably, have expected to remain in continued occupationl of the land from which they are being ejected, may apply for settlement in a Native area.
A SURVEY OF RACE The Minister ot'Agriculture said in the Assembly on 3 May 1955 (Hansard 13, col. 4963) that the Government intended appointing a commission to inquire into the question of platteland occupation. The Mining Industry The total physical volume of' mineral production increased by about eleven per cent. from 1953 to 1954.(14) Eight gold mines in the Orange Free State have now reached the production stage, while other new mines in that province and in the Randfontein and Klerksdorp areas are expected shortly to commence production. The gold output rose by 14 per cent. between 1953 and 1954.(15) Uranium extraction plants have been established on over twenty mines. Production of coal has risen considerably during recent years, and further large increases are likely, following the establishment of the oil-from-coal industry and when the railways are able to provide more adequate transport to the coast for coal for export. Bottlenecks on the railways have hampered the production, too, of manganese ore, chrome ore, and asbestos; but a considerable increase took place during the past year in the output of diamonds, platinum, and copper. The Minister of Mines recently said (16) that the total mining output, excluding uranium, reached a record total of £233 million in 1954: this was £18 million more than in the previous year and £105 million more than in 1946. In another speech (17) he said that about £26-million worth of uranium was being produced at present. The total value of mining production in 1954 was, therefore, in the region of £259 million. During the same year the average number of Africans engaged in mining and quarrying was 452,464: this was the highest total since 1942. Over half of them were on the Witwatersrand gold mines; but the African labour force of the Free State gold mines has been increasing rapidly in size, from an average of 33,848 during 1953 to 47,650 at the end of 1954. After gold mining, the next largest number of Africans was employed in the coal mines. The remainder of the labour force engaged in mining and quarrying during 1954 was composed of 61,812 Whites, 2,734 Coloured persons, and only 486 Asiatics. These Asiatics were mainly employed on the Natal coal mines, while the Coloured employees were distributed between alluvial diamond diggings, quarries, gold mines, and others. (18) Although the total number of Africans engaged in mining has risen, an increasing proportion is recruited from the East Coast and tropical territories. This is shown very clearly in reports of the (14) From article by statisticia of S.A. Reserve Bank, quarterly Billetiit of Statistics published by that Bank, March 1955. (') From speech by Governor of S.A. Reserve Bank, op. cit (16) Senate, 29 April 1955. Hansard 8, col. 1971. (17) Assembly, 4 June 1955. Hansard 17, col. 6896. (1s) Information from Union Pluletii of Statistics. I-SO
RELATIONS: 1954-55 Witwatersrand Native Labour Association, whose members (mainly gold mines and collieries) between them employ between 70 and 80 per cent. of the total number of Africans engaged in mining. In 1938, 48.27 per cent. of their African employees were drawn from the Union and 19.57 per cent. from the High CommissionTerritories; by 1953 these percentages had dropped to 36.85 and 16.00 respectively, while in 1954 they decreased further to 35.52 and 15.68.(19) Regulations framed under the Mines and Works Amendment Act continue to debar Africans legally from carrying out much of the skilled work. There is a considerable number of better-paid and more responsible posts available to them, but perhaps 70 per cent. are engaged in relatively unskilled manual work. In spite of recent developments on the Rhodesian Copperbelt, where it is proposed that certain jobs hitherto done by Whites should be handed over to Africans, the White Mine Workers' Union in South Africa continues its resolute opposition to any material change in the labour structure here. Its general secretary has voiced this view on several occasions during the past year. (20) In spite of the improved labour position, the mines need still more workers. A European Recruitment Administration has been set up to recruit White miners from South Africa and oversea, and, in order to attract more Africans, minimum wages were raised during 1953 and progressive service increments introduced. It would obviously pay the mines better to recruit a larger proportion of Africans within the Union; but real wages paid still lag behind the averages in manufacturing industry, and the Government continues to prohibit the housing on the mines of more than about two per cent. of African employees under family conditions. (21) Manufacturing Industries A larger proportion of the total income earned in South Africa accrues to manufacturing than to any other form of activity. Although an increasing range and quantity of manufactured goods is being exported, the value of these still amounts to only a small proportion of total exports, and secondary industry is thus greatly dependent on the exchange earnings of mining and agriculture to finance its requirements of imported ,machinery and raw materials. As the Governor of the S.A. Reserve Bank pointed out in the speech quoted above, international competition is being intensified as a result of the increased competitiveness of Western Europe and Japan vis-a-vis North America and the United Kingdom; and, with the relaxation of import control in South Africa, it may be necessary (19) From Annual Reports of the Witwatersrand Native Labour Association. (20) e.g., statement published in The Star, 19 April 1955. (21) See speech by Minister of Native Affairs, Assembly, 17 February 1954. Hansard No. 3, cols. 789-791,
A SURVEY OF RACE to reduce profit margins and /or to lower production costs in certain local industries if they are to remain competitive. The increased output of manufacturing industries during 1954 was reflected in a steady rise in the indexes of manufacturing employment, electric current generated, and buildings commenced. Unfortunately, industrial census reports, which provide data in respect of establishments employing three or more persons or which utilize any form of mechanical or steam power, have not been published for later years than 1951-2. The total number of such factories in 1951-2 was 15,564, their gross output being worth £1,095 million (over four times the present value of mining production and three times that of agricultural and pastoral products). If one compares figures showing the net value of output, that is, the value added to the cost of materials used in production (the cost of these materials themselves and the power, light, and fuel utilized being subtracted from the gross value of output), it is seen that in 1951-2 no less than 49 per cent. of this net output came from the Southern Transvaal, 16 per cent. from the Western Cape, 12 per cent. from the Durban-Pinetown area, 7 per cent. from the Port Elizabeth- Uitenhage area, and only 16 per cent. from areas other than these. It was mainly power plants, wood and food processing concerns, and garages that were comparatively widely distributed. The latest comprehensive information about the structure of the labour force is in respect of the year 1949--50. It is interesting to compare the comFosition of the total population in that year with that of the labour force in the private and public sectors of manufacturing industry, the public sector comprising government and local-government undertakings and railway workshops. Percentage of each groupi i : J1Thites Coloured Asiatics Africans Total population 21 9 3 67 Private industries 31 13 3 53 Public industries 48 6 0 46 Greater proportions of Whites and (in the private sector) Coloured persons were employed in manufacturing industry than the proportions these groups formed of the total population. Although the opposite was the case for Africans, it was African employees who increased most rapidly in numbers between 1936-7 and 1949-50, particularly in the public sector where the rate of increase, 276 per cent., was higher than for any other group in either sector. In view of current political opinions, this is a point of much interest. White and Coloured employees had also increased in numbers, but not to the same extent : the rate of increase was greater in the private than the public sector so far as Coloured people were concerned. In private industries, Asiatic employees increased in numbers, but at a s1 wer rate than for other groups, while in the public sector there 1"-s been a decline in their numbers which commenced in 1948.
RELATIONS: 1954-55 It is clear that while the White group continues to provide the vast bulk of the capital, the 'know-how,' and the management, the expansion of manufacturing industry during the war years and subsequently has been possible only by drawing in larger numbers of Non-Whites, particularly Africans and Coloured people. Coloured and Asiatic labour is of particular significance in the leather, clothing, textile, furniture, food, tobacco, paper, and printing industries, in which large numbers of them are employed as semi-skilled operatives, and many as skilled workers. Although Africans are still employed in the largest numbers in the heavy industries requiring many manual labourers, for example, engineering and machinery works, and firms processing stone, clay, earthenware, glass, or wood, they are increasingly demonstrating their competence at mass-production work, and there are to-day significant proportions of operative and even skilled African factory workers, particularly in firms manufacturing cardboard boxes, paper bags, footwear, rubber goods, furniture, margarine, sweets, or tobacco, printing, stationery, tailoring and clothing establishments, tanneries, and laundries. In industries and trades regulated by Wage Board determinations between 1937 and 1952, Whites formed 84.2 per cent. of the skilled workers, but only 32.5 per cent. of the semi-skilled, and there was a small minority, 1.5 per cent., of unskilled White workers. The skilled workers included 81,917 Whites, 4,754 Coloured people, 5.237 Asiatics, and 5,378 Africans, while there were 14,028 White, 15,710 African, 8,854 Coloured, and 4,528 Asiatic semi-skilled workers. These statistics relate to a total (including the unskilled) of 270,080 workers. Of the Non-White groups, the Asiatics had the largest proportions of working proprietors, salaried staff, and skilled artisans. Average wages for men employed in private manufacturing in 1951-2 were £669 for Whites, £238 for Coloured, £216 for Asiatics, and £129 for Africans. Women received, on average, £326 for Whites, £178 for Coloured, £166 for Asiatics, and £123 for Africans. Figures for the public sector of industry in that year are not yet available, but in 1949-50 Whites, Coloured, and Africans obtained higher wages in public than in private industries, while Asiatics received less. Commerce Both the value and physical volume of retail sales have increased considerably in accordance with the needs of a growing population with increased average spending power. A comparison of figures in the two census reports on distribution and service establishments so far issued shows that between 1946-7 and 1952 the number of wholesale establishments increased by 1,039 and of retail establishments by 5,013, while total retail sales rose by £244 million. Population census figures for 1946, fairly recently published, show that in that year over one-quarter of the working Asiatics,
A SURVEY OF RACE about one-tenth of the Whites, one-sixteenth of the Coloured, and one-fiftieth of the Africans were engaged in commerce. The initiative continues to lie mainly with the White and Asiatic sections, Coloured and African workers being employed chiefly as manual labourers. Opportunities for Africans are widening, however, since it is official policy to grant them all private trading licences in African townships. The outlook for Indian traders in terms of plans for racial zoning under the Group Areas Act, is described on pages 99 to 104. A Transvaal African Chamber of Commerce, which, among other functions, will promote business in African urban and rural areas, was formed in August 1955, with headquarters in Johannesburg. The Union Correspondence College in this city is planning a course for African traders embracing elementary principles of commerce, bookkeeping, banking, salesmanship, advertising, and window- dressing. Those who pass the course will receive diplomas which can be exhibited in their trading premises. Building and Electricity, Gas and Water Supply When building materials became more easily available after the war, a sharp increase in the rate of building occurred which reached a peak in 1951. Thereafter there was a considerable falling-off as the backlog was reduced, but in 1954 the total value of building plans passed in the eighteen principal urban areas reached £71 million, only £3 million short of the 1951 level. This building activity, combined with a steady increase in mining and manufacturing, has extended the demand for electricity, gas and water supplies. Services provided by the Electricity Supply Commission and municipal and other undertakings have been very greatly expanded. The building industry is of particular importance to Coloured people. Not only is a higher proportion of the Coloured working population so employed than is the case among other groups (these proportions are, roughly, one-twelfth for Coloured, one-twentieth for Whites, and one-fortieth for Asiatics and Africans), but also there is a far larger percentage of qualified artisans among the ranks of the Coloured building workers than among other NonWhite groups. Relatively few Asiatics are employed in building, but they include fair numbers of artisans. The large majority of Africans in the industry is engaged in labouring tasks. Lesser numbers are doing work which once was the preserve of artisans but has been broken down into operative processes. Besides these, there is a growing number of qualified, skilled African building workers. It will be recalled that the Native Building Workers Act of 1951 provided for the training and registration of Africans as skilled building workers, prohibited building contractors (unless exempted) from employing Africans on skilled building work in urban areas other than in African townships (this prohibition does not apply to 154
RELATIONS: 1945-55 farms), and stated that where skilled Africans were employed in connection with building work in an African township, White building artisans might not be employed in the same project unless exemption had been granted. This Act gave legislative sanction for the first time to differentiation in rates of pay as between Whites, Coloured, and Asiatics on the one hand, and Africans on the other, doing similar work. Under Section 15 of the Act, the Governor-General was empowered to issue a proclamation prohibiting persons other than building contractors from employing African building workers on skilled work in urban areas other than Native areas. A draft proclamation was published in May 1954, which stated that the performance of skilled work by Africans in the main urban areas would be permitted only in the Native areas of such towns and also for the renewal, repair, maintenance, or alteration of private dwellings. Interested persons were invited to submit objections and these poured in. Owners of flats and factories asked that they, as well as private householders, should be exempted, while White trade unions submitted that in terms of the draft proclamation too many African building workers would be allowed in 'European' areas. The Government then decided to introduce the Native Building Workers Amendment Bill, which became law as Act No. 60 of 1955. In terms of this legislation no-one in an urban area (elsewhere than a Native area) may employ an African on skilled work, and no African may perform such work (again other than in a Native area) unless it is performed on premises owned by him and occupied or intended for occupation by him. Farms and peri-urban areas are not affected. The definition of skilled work, contained in the principal Act, includes bricklaying, drain-laying, concrete work, masonry, plastering, paving, carpentry, joinery, painting, plumbing, electrical fitting and wiring, and other work normally performed by artisans. The Minister of Labour was empowered to grant exemptions. He said in Parliament (22) that the date on which the amending Act would come into operation (which would not be before March 1956) would be announced in the Government Gazette. The Government intended in the meanwhile to ascertain whether need for general exemptions existed: if so, these would be proclaimed before the Act came into operation. Individual cases could be dealt with later. If circumstances changed, general exemptions could be cancelled without new legislation. In August 1955, requests for general exemptions in regard to certain areas or classes of work were invited: applications were to be accompanied by detailed reasons and figures showing the number of building workers (22) Senate, 20 June 1955. Hansard 15, cols. 4464-5, and Assembly, 17 June 1955. Hansard 19, cols. 8104-5.
A SURVEY OF RACE of each racial group in the area concerned.(23) The Minister said on another occasion (24) that, by May 1955, 545 African builders out of a total of about 1,000 tested had passed and been registered, and 308 were training on the job as learners. African youths are trained at industrial schools, and a large number of local authorities employ teams of African building workers on the erection of housing schemes. It appears that many have not applied for trade testing and registration: one reason for this assumption is that the 1946 population census enumerated 836 African plumbers, 1,417 carpenters and joiners, 4,917 bricklayers, 1,843 painters and decorators, 243 furniture and cabinet makers, and 266 builders and contractors.(25) Rates of pay differ in various parts of the country but probably average 2s. 2d. an hour for African skilled building workers and Is. 41d. an hour for labourers. Skilled building artisans of other racial groups receive about 7s. 4d. an hour.(26) The provision of heat, light, and power is a relatively unimportant avenue of occulSation for Coloured people and Asiatics. Larger numbers of Africans are employed, mainly as labourers. Considerable technical knowledge is required for skilled work in this field. Transport and Communications The railway system, strained during the war and unable for that period to import locomotives and rolling stock, has since been considerably developed. It has not succeeded in averting bottlenecks, but traffic handled has increased greatly in volume. There have been large expansions, too, of the postal, radio, telephone, and telegraph services, and of municipal and private transport services. As in other fields of employment, in order to accomplish this, increasing numbers of Non-Whites have been drawn in. The railways, for example, have in recent years been forced to modify the traditional 'White labour' policy. Not only has recruitnient failed to keep pace with the expansion of services, but also much wastage has occurred. According to information given in Parliament by the Minister of Transport, as many as 8,246 railway employees resigned during 1953 and 11,192 in 1954(27) (although, it (23) The City Council of I 'urban has decided to request that its area of jurisdiction he exempted during the first year of operation of the amending measure. It points out that there is as yet insufficient work in Native areas for the large number of African painters, bricklayers, an1 carpenters at present usefully employed in 'European' areas (1aily News, 1 October 1955). (24) Assembly, 6 May 1955. Hansard 13, col. 5165. (2') Figures quoted by Native Education Commission, U.G.51/1951, page 24. (21) From article by J. E. Jennings, 'Housing for Urban Bantu: a Problem in Whole Engineering,' published by National Building Research Institute, l)ecember 1934. (27) Minister of Transport, Assembly, 4 March 1955. Hansard 6, col. 2106.
RELATIONS: 1945-55 appears, many of these subsequently rejoined the service(28). As at the end of March 1953, there were 12,570 Non-Whites employed in posts previously filled by Whites, and a year later this figure had increased to 13,339(29). In spite of this development, the following year there were still vacancies for 8,204 Whites and 1,074 Non-Whites(30). Besides attempting to attract skilled workers from oversea, the railways sent a mission to Europe to recruit unskilled men for training as firemen, shunters, and platelayers. This scheme was not successful and the mission was eventually withdrawn. At the same time an intensive recruiting campaign was conducted in the Union in conjunction with the Department of Labour: this, too, was relatively unsuccessful. During May 1955, discussions took place between the Executive Committee of the Artisans' Staff Association and the railway authorities as to whether some of the lower semi-skilled jobs should not be handed over to Non-Whites: the outcome of these discussions has not been made public. Although the labour force of the railways is still nearly half White, between 1952 and 1954 the average number of White employees increased by only 299, that of Coloured by 459, and that of Africans by 5,612. Extremely few Asiatics are employed. While considerable numbers of 'better-class' posts exist for Coloured people and Africans, the majority of the Non-White railway workers are manual labourers. This is the case, also, in local-government transport services, largely because of the attitude of White trade unions. During the past year, however, the Cape Town City Tramways have employed increased numbers of Coloured bus drivers and conductors, who work on predominantly Non-White routes and receive the same wages as do White employees. Durban has followed the earlier example of Germiston and Benoni in introducing African crews on its Non-White bus services, at lower rates of pay than the White employees receive. Cape Town continues to employ Coloured traffic constables, although the Administrator of the Cape is reported(31) to have studied complaints by members of the White public and by White traffic constables. Johannesburg employs African traffic officers, particularly in Non-White areas, as does the Welkom Village Board of Management. More scope exists for Non-Whites in private transport services: there are numbers of cartage and haulage contractors, drivers of private buses and lorries, taxi- drivers, vanmen and order-men. Driving of motor vehicles is becoming an increasingly important (2s) Press statement by Minister of Transport, Daily ]Dispatch, 18 April 1955. (29) Minister of Transport, Assembly, 25 February 1955. Hansard 5, col. 1733. (30) Minister of Transport, Assembly, 5 April 1955. Hansard 10, col. 3907. (11) The Star, 19 August 1,55.
A SURVEY OF RACE avenue of employment for Afticans. Many of the private bus services operating to and from African townships in the urban areas of Natal have been operated by Asiatics, but official policy now is that whenever suitable applications are received such contracts should be given to Africans. So tfr as communications are concerned, the post office is practically the sole employer. Like the railways, it is being forced to reconsider its 'White labour' policy, for it, too, is experiencing a loss of trained personnel. According to the Minister of Posts and Telegraphs,(32) as many as 2,317 left during 1954, two- thirds of them members of the permanent staff. A recent campaign aimed at recruiting White boys and girls met with only limited success; married women have been temporarily employed in many posts; in spite of this the shortage of trained staff became so acute that for a period early in 1955 telegrams had at times to be sent by road or rail instead of by wire. (33) On 10 May 1955 the Minister said(34) that 396 Coloured postmen (including 22 overseer postmen), 486 Coloured telegraph messengers, and 222 Coloured postboys were than employed in the Cape Province, a total of 1,104, excluding labourers. A significant fact is that 108 posts for telegram messengers in Cape Town have recently been regraded to enable Coloured people who had given satisfactory service in temporary capacities to become permanent employees. (35) By mid-1953 there were permanent salaried posts fbr 2,049 Africans in the post office, and large numbers of casual labourers were also employed. Africans have in recent years received temporary appointment as telegraph messengers in Johannesburg, Durban, Pretoria, Pietermaritzburg, and other centres. Very few Asiatics indeed are employed. The Public Service There has been a drain of personnel ftom the public service, too. According to information given in Parliament by the Minister of the Interior, there were 2,454 resignations during 1953, 3,292 in 1954, and 967 during the first two months of 1955.(36) At the end of 1954 there were vacant posts for 19,533 Whites and 3,201 NonWhites (almost one-fifth of' the total number of posts on the establishment). Against these vacancies were being held 11,820 temporary White employees, 796 of them pensioners and 3,744 married women, and 2,089 Non-Whites.(37) (:2) Assembly, 8 March 1955. Hansard 7, cols. 2229-30. (:) Minister of Posts and Telegraphs, 8 March 1955. Hansard 7, col. 2227. (:-) Minister of Posts and Telegraphs, Assembly, Hansard 14, cols. 5315-6. (:k5) From Annual Report of Postmaster-General for 1953-4. (36) Assembly, 8 March 1955. Hansard 7, col. 2232. (37) Assembly, 5 April 1955. Hansard 10, col. 3907.
RELATIONS: 1954-5 Partly in order to provide opportunities for Non-Whites to serve their own people, and partly because of shortages of White staff, increasing numbers of permanent salaried posts have been created for Non-Whites in government departments during recent years. Improved wage-scales for Non-White employees came into force in April 1955; those of the Whites had been revised some months earlier. In the South African Police the Non-White establishment has, since 1951, been augmented by some 3,500 posts. There are now 11,777 posts for Whites and 11,064 for Non-Whites, but not all of these are filled. The actual strength in mid- 1955 was some 10,436 Whites and 10,818 Non-Whites, the latter group including 838 Coloured men, 295 Indians, and 9,685 Africans.(3s) A new rank of senior sergeant has been created, equivalent to head constable in the White establishment, and six Africans, two Coloured men, and one Indian have so far been promoted to this rank, the majority of them now being in command of police stations in Non-White areas. At the end of 1953 there were 180 African, 15 Coloured, and five Indian first-class sergeants and larger numbers of second-class sergeants and constables. These Non-White policemen continue to do excellent work. Nearly half the crimes on the Witwatersrand during the past six months were investigated by African detectives. (39) At a parade in Johannesburg in August 1955, six Africans were awarded the Queen's Police Medalforbravery, while 47 Non-Whites received the Police Good Service Medal. The Department of Prisons, like the South African Police, has recently created new ranks in which Non-Whites may serve in more senior capacities. For Coloured people and Asiatics there are four posts for senior chief warders, 10 for chief warders, and 15 for head warders, while posts have been created for six African senior chief warders, 14 chief warders, and 53 head warders. (40) Other sections of the public service are dealt with under appropriate headings of this chapter. Provincial administrations as well as departments of state have suffered from shortages of staff, described, for instance, in a White Paper on the activities of the Natal Administration in 1954-5. Except in the fields of health, welfare, and education, they, and also local authorities, employ Non-Whites mainly as manual labourers, but again there are relatively small, although increasing, numbers of posts for trained Coloured and African workers. Opportunities for Asiatics have been reduced: in his book The Indian Community of (31S) Figures from speech by Minister, of Justice as reported in The Star, 24 August 1955, and from information given by him in the Assembly, 5 April 1955, Hansard 10, cols. 3906-7. (3 ) Information in preceding sentences from report of Minister's speech, op. cit., and Annual Report of Commissioner of the S.A. Police for 1953, U.G. 39/1954. (4,) From Annual Report of Director of Prisons for 1953 and 1954, U.G. 24/1955.
A'alal,( It) for instance, Mr C. A. Woods points out that the number of Indians employed by Durban Corporation dropped from over 4,000 in 1937-8 to some 1,850 in 1952. The Professions Little new information has become available during the past year. '[he occupational classifications of the population in 1946 and 1951, in which years a population census was conducted, have, unfortunaely, not yet been published. It is, however, undoubted that the number of professionally qualified Non-Whites has increased considerably in recent years. In 1936, for example, 11,576 described themselves as teachers, while in 1951 there were 8,077 Coloured and Asiatic teachers, and in 1953, 21,477 Africans, in state and stateaided schools alone. In 1936 under 1,000 Non-Whites described themselves as nurses, but what percentage was fully trained it is impossible to say. By 1954 there were well over 1,000 fully certificated Non-White nurses, some 3,000 in training, and about 800 partlytrained nurse-aides. The numbers of clergymen, medical practitioners, lawyers, journalists, health inspectors, social workers, musicians, and others have undoubtedly increased considerably too. In the book mentioned above, Mr Woods states that by 1952, excluding teachers, hospital workers, interpreters, and others in administrative branches of the public service, there were some five hundred professional and semi-professional Indians in Natal. In the professions, as in other spheres of work, official policy appears to be so fIar as possible to confine Asiatics to work amongst members of their own group: the Native Affairs Department recently refused to allow two Indian medical practitioners to practise in Orlando African township. Personal Service Indications are that there has been a continued movement away from domestic service on the part of Coloured and Asiatic men, and, to a lesser extent, Africans, although large proportions of the working women continue to be so employed. Work in hotels, clubs, and cafes, as chefs, cooks, stewards, and waiters, is of greater significance so far as the men (particularly Coloured and Asiatic men) are concerned. The Government's Plans for Protection of White Labour This survey has touched on each of the main fields of employment, and in most of these a shortage of labour, particularly of White labour, has been revealed. Especially in manufacturing, and to a lesser but increasing extent in the public service, transport services, farming, commerce, and other branches of activity, expansion has been made possible only by drawing in increasing numbers of (41) \'olume 9 of Natal Regi)ia/ ,Yur'ey. A SURVEY OF RACE 160
RELATIONS: 1954-5 Non-Whites and progressively giving them posts demanding greater degrees of responsibililty and skill. In view of this, the Government's plans are of great interest. The new Minister of Labour has said that South Africa is facing a White manpower shortage so serious that the whole future of the White race is threatened. The country simply does not possess the trained and qualified White manpower to do the work demanded by its rapid industrial expansion.(42) There is to-day a position of virtually full employment which, with the continued expansion of industry, may be expected to continue;(43) but the danger is that if unemployment should come, White and Black will compete for the same jobs, particularly in the sphere of semi-skilled labour.(42) No ousting of White labour has taken place, that is, no White people have been squeezed out. But there has been infiltration: Africans have filled posts for which Whites were not available. It is the Government's policy not to allow that infiltration to proceed further. 'We must win back what we lost,' the Minister said.(44) His plans, he has stated, are as follows. 1. A Survey of the Present Position The Department of Labour has been instructed to conduct surveys to estimate the number of skilled artisans required, the number of White artisans at present available, and the extent of infiltration by Non-Whites.(45) According to press reports, (46) the Minister is personally visiting the main industrial areas to examine the use made of Non-White labour. 2. Vocational guidance for White pupils He has said that while it is at present an attractive proposition for parents to send their sons to work immediately on leaving school, such lads eventually reached a dead end and at a time of depression would be potential Poor Whites.(47) About 13,000 male pupils leave school every year, of whom only 6,000 become indentured as apprentices. Many of the remaining 7,000 enter industry as semi- educated workers. (4 8) The 28,000 apprenticeship contracts registered at present are grossly inadequate. (49) To encourage more lads to become skilled workers, qualifying trade tests have been instituted in the second-last year of apprentice(42) Speech at National Party rally, Cape Town, as reported in Rand I)aily M1ail, 14 March 1955. (43) Senate, 27 April 1955. Hansard 8, col. 1838. (44) Assembly, 7 JunQ 1955. Hansard 18, cols. 7154, 7150. (45) Assembly, 4 March 1955, Hansard 6, col. 2103, and 7 June 1955, Hansard 18, col. 7155. (46) e.g., Saturday Post, 30 July 1955. (47) Assembly, 7 June 1955, Hansard 18, col. 7150. (4S) As reported in The Star, 11 August 1955. ( 49) Assembly, 7 June 1955. Hansard 18, col. 7156.
A SURVEY OF RACE ship in order to give the bright apprentice the opportunity of gaining full tradesman's status before the usual period of contract has expired. These tests have been introduced in the building and printing industries and are to be extended to other trades. Shortened periods of in-service trainnig are accepted from boys passing out from higher technical schools. (50) A vocational guidance conference, attended by educationalists from many parts of the Union, was held in Pretoria during August 1955, under the auspices of the Department of Labour, with the primary object of planning more effective guidance for children who leave school before matriculating. 3. Free Artisan Training Courses for White Adults Three schools have been set up (at Alexanderfontein, near Kimberley, Olifantsfontein, near Pretoria, and Westlake, Cape, and between them they accommodate 270 recruits annually), to train White adults, between 21 and 40 years of age, as bricklayers, carpenters, or oxy-acetylene and electric welders. Applicants must have passed standard VI at least. As from October 1955, these courses will be free. On successful completion of a year's intensive training, the men will be placed for further training in employment, at prescribed rates of pay. The Minister has said, 'We hope to have very few semi-skilled Whites within five years.' (49) 4. Use of the Labour Potential of Semi-Fit and Older Whites He has announced, too, his intention to reorganize the granting of disability allowances and to control unemployment benefits more strictly. Semi-fit persons, he considers, should be enabled to earn a living instead of being granted pensions.(42) To this end a Rehabilitation Council has been established, representative of government departments, provincial administrations, voluntary organizations, and trade unions, to advise the Minister on the vocational guidance, training, and placement in the open market or in sheltered employment of crippled, blind, deaf, epileptic, and other handicapped White persons. (51) The pensionable age in the public service has been increased, and the Department of Labour is urging private employers to follow suit and also to consider for vacancies persons over the age of 40, who form a large proportion of the small number of unemployed Whites (5,342 in March 1955). 5. Encouragement of the Use of White Labour The Minister has said, (52) '1 have already approached the Minister of Finance with a request that the Government should consider giving preference to factories employing only White labour, ( 1) Senate, 27 April 1955. Hansard 7, cols. 1839-40. (:'') Assembly, 7 June 1955. Hlansard 18, col. 7151. (52) Assembly, [Iausard 18, cols. 7240-1. 162
RELATIONS: 1954--55 if necessary, when tenders are asked for Government articles. That has already been done in the past - by the previous Government. Employers were in a friendly way but urgently requested by my department not to discharge workers for any bagatelle, and particularly not to discharge White workers on the Rand and to engage Non-Whites in their place.' 6. Efficiency Drives and Bonus Incentive Schemes Early in 1955 the Public Service Commission employed efficiency experts to investigate the running of the state sawmills in Pretoria. It was found possible to raise production by 14 per cent. while reducing the White staff by 43 per cent. and the African staff by 55 per cent. Incentive bonuses were introduced. During the progress of reorganization, public service officials wre trained to overhaul other state productive undertakings. Management experts from African Explosives and Chemical Industries were asked to lecture on improved production methods before 12 Cabinet Ministers and a number of senior officials. The Minister of Labour has continued his predecessor's policy of encouraging wage-incentive schemes. Certain minimum requirements have been laid down for the protection of employees, which have to be adhered to before any scheme can be introduced by means of industrial agreement. These are as follows: a) a guaranteed minimum wage; b) the application of the system according to provisions agreed to by both employers and employees; c) the setting up of production committees upon which employers and employees have equal representation; d) the efforts of employees must not be hindered through obsolete machinery, lax control, or an irregular flow of material. There are to-day 43 agreements (out of some 110(53)) which make provision specifically for the introduction of incentive schemes with full protective measures. A survey made towards the end of 1953 by the Department of Labour showed that 246 incentive schemes were in operation in terms of agreements under the Industrial Conciliation Act. To-day there are many more. They have led to a wide improvement in production. (54) (It is of interest that, according to investigations by the National Institute for Personnel Research, wage incentives cannot at all times and in all circumstances neutralize the operation of other factors. (a) The Minister of Labour said in the Senate on 27 April 1955 (Hansard 8, col. 1838) that at the end of 1954 there were 110 wage agreements and judgments in force, covering half a million employees. Besides that, there were 91 wage determinations regulating the conditions of service of a further 400,000 workers. Numbers of other employees were protected by provisions of the Factory Act, the Apprenticeship Act, and the Shops and Offices Act. (54) Same speech, Senate Hansard 8, Col. 1836.
A SURVEY OF RACE The preferences of African labourers for employment on certain mines on the Witwatersrand were studied. The most important factor determining choice of mine was found to be treatment underground, followed by managerial interest, that is, the attitude of officials towards complaints, grievances, requests for information, and the like. Wages ranked third, which is all the more noteworthy when the economic status of the African mine labourer is taken into account. On the other hand it must be stated that in an attitude study among African industrial workers, the primary reason for preferring this type of work to mine employment was stated to be the difference in cash wages.( 5)) 7. Recruiting White Personnel from Oversea The Government has sent missions oversea to recruit technicians: details were given in previous sections of this chapter. The Minister of Labour has said (56) that his department will place White civilization on the highest level possible in the sphere of labour. At that stage the Government will decide what further steps to take. If it proves necessary to obtain untrained young men from other countries on a large scale, that will be done. The Government, however, rejected a private member's motion in the Assembly during March 1955, asking for state-aided immigration to meet the immediate requirements of the country's expanding economy. 8. Vertical Apartheid It will be remembered that one of the principles of the Industrial Conciliation Bill, which passed its second reading during the 1954 session of Parliament, is that when the Minister considers that measures should be taken to safeguard the economic welfare of employees of any race in any industry or occupation, he may direct the Industrial Tribunal to be set up in terms of the Bill to conduct an investigation and to recommend whether it is of opinion that employment in that industry or occupation, in a stated area, should be reserved for members of a specified race.(57) The new Minister of Labour has stated that in order to safeguard the position of the Whites, certain regions, industries, or types of industry will be reserved for them. (5) He drew attention particularly to the Southern Transvaal industrial area, saying that until recent years few Coloured people were employed and Africans were used as unskilled labourers only. Then infiltration took place. It was his policy that areas which once 'were White' should as far as (55) From. article entitled 'Incentives anl H timan Relations in Industry," by Dr S. Biesheuvel, hidustrial le7iew of Ifrica, Febrtary 1955. (',) Assembly, 7 June 1955. 11ansard 18, col. 7155. (57) Details of the Bill are given in A Surzey of Race Relations, 1953-4, page 126. (') Speech at National Party rally, Cape Town, as reported in Ranl Pait ,/1aVi, 14 March 1955.
RELATIONS: 1954-55 possible 'be made White again.' Africans doing work previously carried out by Whites would in future be allowed to fill the posts only as long as no Whites were available.(59) The Government agreed with the principle of equal wages for equal work, with the proviso that there should be proper demarcation of work, certain types being reserved lbr Whites.((°) In general, the Minister's policy was that White operatives and unskilled workers should be trained to become artisans; the semiskilled and labouring work could then be carried out by NonWhites. In highly developed industries, such as the assembly of motor vehicles, it might be necessary to use White operatives. These would receive 'living wages' and it would be wrong to employ Non-Whites in such posts.,(") 9. Summing Up Briefly, then, the Government's labour policy is that the position of White workers should be safeguarded in case, at a time of depression, White operatives or unskilled workers should be forced to compete with Non-Whites for jobs. After surveying the situation the Government will attempt to divert White youths into the skilled trades and to train all the middle-aged semi-skilled Whites as artisans. Maximum use will be made of the labour potential of semi-fit and older White people. Private employers will be encouraged or even coerced to use White labour wherever possible. Efficiency drives are in progress in state productive concerns, and private employers are being urged to introduce bonus incentive schemes. White technicians and, should it prove necessary, untrained men, will be recruited oversea to fill posts demarcated for Whites, which remain vacant. Broadly speaking, as much as possible of the skilled work will be reserved for Whites. Some industries may continue to require the services of White operatives: in such cases, it appears, NonWhites will be debarred from the work concerned. The Industrial Conciliation Bill As is noted above, the Industrial Conciliation Bill passed its second reading in 1954. It was then referred to a Select Committee, which did not complete its work before the end of the session. At the opening of the 1955 session the Minister of Transport (on behalf of the Minister of Labour) moved that the Bill be proceeded with at the stage it had reached in Select Committee. The leader of the Labour Party objected, asking the Government either to drop the measure or to refer it back to the trade unions, but the Minister replied that there had already been consultations with trade unions and they would have full opportunity of placing their views before (51) Assembly, 7 June 1955. Hansard 18, col. 7156. ((;) Ibid. col. 7158. (61) 1bid, col. 7243.
A SURVEY OF RACE the Committee. His motion was agreed to and the Select Committee was re- appointed. (62) The S.A. Trade Union Council (one of the two chief co-ordinating bodies in the trade union movement at that stage), (63) in its evidence to the Committee, strongly opposed any interference in the domestic affairs of trade unions. It directed attention to South Africa's obligations as a member of the International Labour Organization, the constitution of which stated that among the organization's objectives was recognition of the principle of freedom of association. The compulsory separation of 'mixed' trade unions into branches for Whites and for Coloured, as provided for in the Bill, negated this principle: its implementation would lead to the elimination of many trade unions as effective bodies. The S.A. Federation of Trade Unions, while in principle in favour of racial separation, was anxious to preserve the system of collective bargaining, and felt that the compulsory provisions in the Bill were likely to cause serious dislocation in the affairs of many unions. The report of the Select Committee, with its suggested amendments to the Bill, which made no alterations in principle, was released during July 1955. Consideration of the amended Bill was postponed until the 1956 session of Parliament. The Minister of Labour invited all interested organizations to send representatives to discuss the Bill with him during the Parliamentary recess. (64) The Institute of Race Relations did not give evidence before the Select Committee, but sent members of it copies of a critical analysis of the Bill prepared for Members of Parliament of all parties during 1954. (65) New Alignment of Trade Unions The recent history of trade union co-ordinating bodies was recounted in our last Survey. (66) Briefly, at the beginning of 1954 there were four main bodies: the S.A. Federation of Trade Unions representing over 100,000 workers (mostly in the artisan and higher wage categories), which accepted affiliation from 'mixed' but not f'rom African unions; the S.A. Trades and Labour Council, representing some 80,000 workers (the majority in the operative classes), which accepted both 'mixed' and African unions as members; the Western Province Federation of Labour Unions representative of some 17,000 workers in White and 'mixed' but not African unions; and the Co-ordinating Council of S.A. Trade Unions, representing some 13,000, mainly White steel and transport workers in Pretoria, which does not accept affiliation from any union in which Non-Whites have voting power. (62) Assembly, 24 January 1955, Hansard 1, cols. 15-18. (63) See next section of this chapter. (64) Assembly, 8 June 1955. Hansard 18, col. 7237. (65) RR. 97/1954. See Survey of Race Relations, 1953-4, page 127. (66) Page 128 et seq.
RELATIONS: 1954-55 Besides these were three bodies not directly affected by the Industrial Conciliation Bill: the Federal Consultative Council of the S.A. Railways and Harbours, the Federal Consultative Council for the principal Public Servants' Associations, and the Transvaal Council of Non-European Trade Unions representing about 10,000 African workers. There were, finally, several unions not affiliated to any of these co-ordinating bodies. After an ad hoc Trade Union Unity Committee had failed to secure the Minister's promise to delete clauses of the Industrial Conciliation Bill dealing with apartheid in trade unions and reservation of occupations for particular racial groups, it convened a meeting, in October 1954, at which a new co-ordinating body, the S.A. Trade Union Council, was formed, membership of which was confined to registered unions (thus excluding African but not 'mixed' trade unions.) Both the S.A. Trades and Labour Council and the Western Province Federation of Labour Unions subsequently voted themselves out of existence, advising constituent unions (all of whom did not do so) to affiliate to the new Council. Almost one-half of the members of the S.A. Federation of Trade Unions broke away to join the new body. The Co-ordinating Council of S.A. Trade Unions and the two Federal Consultative Councils retained their identity. Of the 45 member-unions of the old S.A. Trades and Labour Council, 14 dissociated themselves from the decision to form a new co-ordinating body representative of registered unions only. Of these, 13 met member-unions of the Transvaal Council of NonEuropean Trade Unions during March 1955, and formed another new body, the S.A. Congress of Trade Unions, which affords equal rights to registered and African unions. Like the S.A. Trade Union Council, it is resolutely opposed to the principles of the Industrial Conciliation Bill. To summarize, the present alignment is as follows: a) S.A. Congress of Trade Unions, furthest to the left. Represents some 61,000 workers of all races. b) S.A. Trade Union Council, the centre body, representing about 150,000 workers. Accepts affiliation from registered unions only, including 'mixed,' but not African, unions. c) S.A. Federation of Trade Unions, more to the right, representing some 50,000 workers, chiefly mineworkers, engine drivers, firemen, and artisans on the railways, and White furniture workers in the Transvaal. Also accepts affiliation from 'mixed' but not African unions. d) The Co-ordinating Council of S.A. Trade Unions, further still to the right, representative of some 13,000 workers, mainly in the iron and steel industry in Pretoria, Does not accept 167
A SURVEY OF RACE affiliation from any union in which Non-Whites have voting power. e) The two Federal Consultative Councils, of Railway Staff Associations and Public Servants' Associations respectively, who are not directly affected by the Industrial Conciliation Bill; and a few unions who have not affiliated to any of the co-ordinating bodies. Feeling that a still further degree of unity was necessary for certain purposes, representatives of the S.A. Trade Union Council, the S.A. Federation of Trade Unions, the Co-ordinating Council of S.A. Trade Unions, and the Federal Consultative Council of S.A. Railways and Harbours Staff Associations met early in 1955 to discuss the formation of a S.A. Council of Trade Union Federations. It was in principle agreed that there was need for such a body, but the meeting adjourned until a date to be decided to enable delegates to discuss the matter further with their organizations. The Native Labour (Settlement of Disputes) Act and Amendment Act The Native Labour (Settlement of Disputes) Act,(67) which redefined the term 'employee' in the Industrial Conciliation Act to exclude all Africans, provided separate industrial conciliation machinery for them, and prohibited strikes by Africans, came into operation on 1 May 1954, and the Central Native Labour Council, with all-White membership, was set up the following month. Ten Native Labour Officers have been appointed in the various inspectorates of the Department of Labour: they are chairmen of Regional Native Labour Committees with otherwise all-African appointed members. Only four Works Committees, elected in establishments employing 20 Africans or more, had, however, been set up by the end of March 1955.(68) At the same date, according to the Minister of Labour, (68) nine disputes or threatened disputes had been settled by Regional Committees and one was still under consideration: in eight of the nine settled cases increased wages or improved conditions of work had been granted to the African employees concerned. One case was referred by a Regional Committee to the Central Council, and again increased wages resulted. Two cases had been referred to the Wage Board; an order had been made in respect of the first, and "the second was pending. Eighteen further disputes or threatened disputes had been dealt with by Native Labour Officers in the normal course of their duties. Thirty-three stoppages of work were reported during 1954. In 11 of these cases prosecutions followed; the remainder were (07) The terms of this Act were suminarized in the Survey of Race Relatio lh for 1952-3, page 79. (68) Minister of Labour, Assembly, 25 March 1955. Hansard 9, col. 3318.
RELATIONS: 1954-55 169 otherwise settled,(69) mainl) -cause no offence could be proved. The Native Labour (Settlei-ent of Disputes) Amendment Act, No. 59 of 1955, was introduced to close these and other loopholes that had emerged. The definitions of 'strikes' and 'lock-outs,' prohibited under Section 18 of the principal Act, were linked with the definition of a 'labour dispute' in Section 1, and in consequence certain practical difficulties arose. Firstly, if Africans were to strike during the period of validity of an order or other wage determining measure, (during which period, according to the definition in the Act, no labour dispute can officially exist) action could not be taken against them. Secondly, a case arose in which Africans went on strike because a fellow worker had been dismissed on the ground that he was disobedient, and this could not be termed a labour dispute. The amending Act gave more precise definitions of 'strikes' and 'labour disputes.' It also prohibited, under severe penalty, the incitement or encouragement of Africans to strike or of employers to instigate a lock-out. African employees received protection against the possiblity of employers altering agreed conditions of employment without reference to Regional Committees or the Wage Board. A few other minor loopholes were closed. (9) MinistQr of Labour, Senate, 20 june 1955. Hansard 15, col, 44,31.
A SURVEY OF RACE EDUCATION NUMBERS AT SCHOOL There is unfortunately very little recent information available relating to numbers at school. What figures can be obtained are given below.(1) White children There were 501,539 White children attending state and stateaided schools in 1951, and another 39,016 in private schools, making a total of 540,555. Of the former group, 16 per cent. were in secondary classes. The medium of instruction was Afrikaans for 64.86 per cent. of the children in state and state-aided schools, English for 34.06 per cent., and both English and Afrikaans or some other language for the remaining 1.08 per cent. The provinces spent £29,150,801 on current account on primary and secondary education for White children during 1953-4: this probably worked out at about £50 per pupil. Coloured and Asiatic children In 1955, there were 205,047 Coloured children attending schools in the Cape, about 4 per cent. of them in secondary classes. One might assume that in the Union as a whole there are some 231,000 in school. In Natal in 1954 there were 72,010 Asiatic children attending schools, again about 4 per cent. in secondary classes. The total enrolment for the Union was possibly some 88,000, but this estimate is based on very scanty information. Recurrent provincial expenditure on Coloured and Asiatic education was £6,386,569 in 1953-4: it appears that this worked out at about £25 per pupil. African children It is officially estimated that since the introduction of the double-session scheme in lower primary schools there are between 900,000 and 1,100,000 African children receiving education. Some 3 per cent. of them are in secondary classes. A sum of £8,006,986 was spent on African primary and secondary education in 1954: this would be about £9 per pupil. (1) Information in this 7ection from Official Year Book of the Union for 1952-3, Natiora! Bureau of Educational and Social Research. and articles quoted later in this chapter. All estimates are by the writer, unless otherwise stated.
RELATIONS: 1954-55 BANTU EDUCATION Organization of Bantu Education Details of the policy of the Minister of Native Affairs in regard to the future control and organization of Bantu education were given in our last Survey, pages 93 to 100. Financing of Bantu Education In accordance with a Government decision foreshadowed by the then Minister of Finance in his Budget speech in 1954,(2) the Exchequer and Audit Amendment Act, which became law as Act No. 7 of 1955, was introduced at the beginning of the 1955 session of Parliament. In terms of this Act a Bantu Education Account was created, into which will be paid: (a) a sum of £6,500,000 in respect of every financial year, transferred from Revenue Account; * (b) four-fifths of the general (poll) tax collected under provisions of the Natives Taxation and Development Act of 1925 (this will at present amount to about £2,000,000 a year); (c) such moneys as Parliament may make available, in the form of recoverable advances, to meet any deficiency in the Bantu Education Account; (d) any receipts arising from the maintenance, management, and control of government Bantu schools, other than receipts arising from the sale of land or buildings; (e) any moneys which may accrue to the Bantu Education Account from any other source. During the second reading debate on 31 January 1955, the Minister of Native Affairs said that the total annual revenue, of about £8,500,000 at present, was equal to the sum that would have been available in 1955, even under the old system. Under the new scheme any sums unspent in a particular year would be carried forward. Estimates of expenditure from the account would be tabled in Parliament annually: there would be full Treasury and Parliamentary control. In the past, too much money had been spent on increased salaries and cost-of- living allowances for teachers, and the ratio of the number of childen at school to the total Bantu population had not changed appreciably. With new organizational methods much geater educational activity would be obtained with the same sum of money. The amount accruing to the Account annually would not be static, although the contribution from Revenue Account was to be pegged, for with the growth of the Bantu people, combined with improved methods of tax collection, the amount derived from the poll tax would increase. As and when sums accruing to the Bantu Education Account proved inadequate to (2) See Surz'ey of Racet Relatio s for 1953-4, page 94.
A SURVEY OF RACE finance expanding educational services, the balance would have to be found by the developing Bantu themselves, through increased taxation, but this would be unnecessary in 1955 and probably in 1956 also. The United Party moved that the Bill be read that day six months. Their opening speaker maintained that the principle of determining by way of block grant the amount to be applied to any particular social service was unsound. Furthermore, contributions by Africans to general revenue by way of indirect taxation, and their contribution to the wealth of the country through their labour, had not been taken into account by the Government. The Liberal and Labour Parties associated themselves with the motion. The leader of the former party contended that although Africans were already taxed beyond their means and on a racially discriminatory basis, they had made magnificent financial sacrifices for the extension of educational services. The Conservative Party moved that the contribution from general revenue to the Bantu Education Account should be increased in proportion to increases in the amount derived from Africans by way of poll tax. Both'these motions were defeated. The Institute of Race Relations sent to Members of Parliament and to the press a statement(3) along the lines of the one its Director had circulated to them earlier,() when the matter was first raised during the 1954 Budget debate. It drew attention to the accepted principle that in a modern state elementary education should be provided for all children, irrespective of class or race, the cost of this being borne by the country as a whole. To select the poorest group in which only 40 per cent of children of school-going age were at school, and to lay upon it the responsibility of raising sufficient funds to educate progressively the remaining 60 per cent., was an unexpected and highly undesirable new principle of public finance. The proposal ignored the increasing number of Africans who fall within the income-tax range, the heavy burden of indirect taxation on the African people, and their great contribution to national productivity. The Institute also wrote to the Secretary for Native Affhirs urging that the amount available for school feeding should be an item of expenditure over and above the present combined feeding and education vote.(5) Not only were the Government's proposals unchanged, however, but it was later decided that a sum of two shillings per month is to be added to the rents in all new African townships to provide the capital costs for erecting school buildings. No comparable levy is (4) R R.46/1954. (5) The Government decided that school-feeding grants should be deducted from stmis provided for education, but that Bantu authorities and parent bodies could, if they wished, use the money for provision of additional schooling facilities instead of for purchase of food.
RELATIONS: 1945-55 made upon any other urban section of the community. Several local authorities and other organizations expressed their reactions to the imposition of this levy. Brakpan Town Council was in favour of it, East London Municipality and the Institute of Race Relations opposed it, and Springs and Vereeniging suggested that the building of schools should be financed, instead, from profits on sale of kaffir beer. Teacher Training The training of all African teachers for state and state-aided schools is in future to be conducted in departmental training institutions only. Organizations conducting approved private schools (not in receipt of state subsidies) may, if they so desire, also train teachers for work in these schools only, but it does not appear that any have decided to do so. (6) All those conducting state-aided teachers' training schools were infbrmed during August 1954 that subsidies would be continued at the present rates until at least two full school quarters after conclusion of arrangements for handing over control to the department, but in no case longer than 1 January 1956. They were given the choice of selling or renting the school buildings to the department, and could also sell or rent the hostels, but were encouraged to retain control of these on a subsidized basis. According to information given by the Chief Information Officer of the Native Affairs Department(7), there are 41 African teacher training schools or sections of institutions. The five Catholic ones will continue as subsidized institutions for another three years and their future will then be decided. One or two (for example, the teacher training sections of Adams College, Natal, and the Modderpoort Institution in the Orange Free State) are to be closed, but the rest will be departmentally controlled as from 1 January 1956. It has been decided that seven of them, in 'European' areas, will when possible be closed and replaced by institutions in village settlements to be created on Trust land in rural areas: these colleges are Kilnerton (Pretoria), Tigerkloof (Mafeking), Bothsabelo (Middelburg, Transvaal), St Thomas's (Johannesburg), Stofberg (near Kroonstad), Bethesda (Pietersburg), and St John's (Umtata) (8). The Chief Information Officer went on to say that the total number of African teachers completing their training is now some 2,000 a year. At least 3,000 a year are needed, however, thus enrolments will be considerably increased in 1956, particularly of women who will in future constitute between 75 and 80 per cent. (') For informnation contained in this chapter the writer is very much in(lel)ted to Dr A. W. HoernlI and other memlbers of the Institute's standing sub-committee on Bantu education. (7) As reported in the Ravd Daily Mail, 25 July 1955. (U) Umtata is, however, officially considered to be a '\White spot,' see page 128.
A SURVEY OF RACE of the total number of students, instead of less than half as at present. Women are better than men at handling small children in primary schools; moreover their salaries are lower and money can thus be saved and devoted to the expansion of educational facilities. Every effort is being made to attract large numbers of young African women with a standard VI qualification for work in the lower primary schools : bursaries of £20 a year, covering tuition and hostel fees, are being made available. These students will be given one further year of general education, followed by two years' specialized teacher training. In a commentary on new organizational arrangements sent to the Secretary for Native Affairs (RR. 60/1955) the Institute of Race Relations urged that this be regarded as an emergency measure and that as soon as possible the qualification for teachers be raised to at least a Junior Certificate and the Native Primary Higher Teacher's Certificate. Control of Primary and Secondary Schools (a) Mission Schools Private organizations were given the choice of relinquishing control of primary and secondary schools and selling or letting the buildings to the department, or retaining the schools as private, unaided institutions, or retaining them with reduced subsidies, in this case accepting departmental syllabuses and regulations regarding appointment of teachers, media of instruction, admission of pupils, and other working conditions. They are in any case permitted to retain control of school hostels on a subsidized basis if they wish, but it was stipulated that any arrangements made would be subject to revision, especially if the system proved to cause difficulties of control. Decisions had to be made and future arrangements finalized with the department before 1 April 1955. Only after that date was it definitely announced(9) that the subsidies for aided mission schools would progressively be reduced. For the year 1 April 1955 to 31 March 1956, as had previously been understood, the subsidy would be 75 per cent. (instead of 100 per cent. as formerly) of the salaries and cost-of-living allowances of approved teachers. The new decision is that for the remaining nine months of 1956 the subsidies would be reduced to 50 per cent., for the year 1957 to 25 per cent., and thereafter they would cease. A grave decision was forced on mission authorities. They had in mind a statement of policy by the Minister of Native Affairs(1°) in which he said that the previous system of education blindly produced pupils trained on a European model, thus creating the vain hope among the Bantu that they could occupy posts within the (") By tho Minister of Native Affairs, Assembly, 13 June 1955; Hansard 19, col. 7664. (1'") Senate, 7 June 1954. This speech was subsequently published by the Native Affairs Department under the title Bantu Education: Policy for the Immediate Future.
RELATIONS: 1954-55 European community despite the country's policy of apartheid. In terms of this policy, there was no place for them in the European community above the level of certain forms of labour. Within their own areas, however, all doors were open. Education should thus stand with both feet in the reserves and have its roots in the spirit and being of Bantu society. Under the new system, education would be co- ordinated with the broad national policy. The missions were seriously perturbed about the weakening of Christian influence that was likely if they relinquished control. Thirdly, they agreed with the department, in the main, that it was desirable that the African people, particularly in rural communities, should become more closely associated with the work of the schools. Bishops of the Catholic Church in Southern Africa were of opinion that the transfer of schools to Bantu communities would lead to the secularization of religion. Religion cannot be taught in general, they say, as a purely theoretical matter, but must be imparted as a way of life. Priests visiting the schools once or twice a week will not be able to achieve this. The bishops pointed out that there was as yet no established Christian tradition among the Bantu. In view of these considerations the Catholics decided to retain control of their 681 state-aided and 130 private schools for Africans, keeping as many of them open as is financially possible. When subsidies were reduced the salaries of teachers had to be cut. An appeal for a £400,000 'Catholic Mission Schools Fund' has been launched, among African as well as White members of the Church. At the time of writing it appears that some £600,000 will be collected. The American Board Mission informed the Minister of Native Affirs("') that it did not consider education as an end in itself, but as one of the means whereby the Kingdom of God can be advanced. It believes that standards of education should conform to those generally accepted for the country as a whole. For these reasons it could co-operate with the Government's policy for African education only at the expense of its own soul. Adams College, Natal, is precluded from selling or alienating any of its land without the consent of the donors, the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, and its committee decided to retain control of the high school and industrial school, applying for registration as a private institution when the subsidy is terminated. A similar decision was made in regard to the Inanda Girls' Seminary. The Church of the Nazarene, too, refused to transfer control of the four schools it had established, (12) the Community of the Resurrection has decided to close St Peter's School in Johannes(11) Its statement was published in the Y".A. Outlook, I December 1954. (12) Minister of Native Affairs, Assembly, 8 February 1955. Hansard 3, col. 719.
A SURVEY OF RACE burg, and a similar decision has been made by the Society of the Sacred Mission in regard to its high school at Modderpoort. The Episcopal Synod of the Church of the Province of South Africa stated publicly that it could not but deplore the Bantu Education Act. It had repeatedly affirmed its belief that it was morally wrong to follow a policy which had for its object the keeping of a particular racial group in a permanent position of inferiority. Furthermore, the type of religious instruction envisaged was but a poor substitute for the incorporation of the child into a living Christian society. Members were faced with a grievous choice of evils, however, and a majority of them considered that while they should not take part in the educational system, it would be wrong to refuse to lease school buildings to the state, since the result of such refusal would be to throw many teachers out of employment and to leave many children without opportunity of any kind of instruction. The Anglican Bishop of Johannesburg, however, decided that he could not co- operate even to the extent of leasing buildings to the department. Twenty-five schools under his control, which are on private property, were handed over to the farmers, mining groups, or factory owners concerned, to run, while the remaining twenty-three schools, on church property or land leased in municipal locations, were closed. Four of these buildings have been turned into halls for parochial purposes; at least three others have had to be abandoned (in one case without compensation) because the local authorities concerned refused to grant new leases; but the Bishop hopes to convert the remainder into church family centres. With the aid of funds raised in South Africa and oversea he has already established ten of these centres in Johannesburg, Roodepoort, Evaton, and elsewhere. They cater for small children during the periods when they are not in school, older children in the late afternoons, and adults on certain evenings. There are already 1,500 children attending regularly. Religious instruction is provided, leisure activities arranged, general educational and religious films shown, and classes in dressmaking, leatherwork, and other handicrafts conducted. Ex-teachers from the schools that were closed are being trained by the church for this new type of work, and a part-time course at the Jan Hofmeyr School of Social Work has been arranged for them. Of the Anglican schools in other dioceses, St Cuthbert's near Tsolo is to be closed, the Diocesan Training College at Grace Dieu near Pietersburg will continue as a private school, and most of the remaining school buildings will be leased to the department. The Methodist Church, Presbyterian Church, Congregational Union, United Jewish Reform Congregation (Transvaal), and others also decided to allow the department to lease their school buildings. The Minister of Native Affairs has said(l3) that (:8) Assembly, 8 February 1955. Hlansard 3, col. 719.
RELATIONS: 1954-5 altogether 40 Protestant churches controlling 5,000 schools have agreed to the transfer. It is impossible for these missions to finance the schools without subsidies; most of them have stated that they are unwilling to co-operate in helping to administer a policy with which they disagree, but they do not wish 'to deprive the children of any form of instruction. Outspoken comments have been made, however. The Conference of the Methodist Church stated that a policy which in effect aims at conditioning the African people to a pre-determined position of subordination in the state is incompatible with the Christian principles fbr which the church stands. The Foreign Missions Committee of the Church of Scotland expressed its belief that Christian education policy must seek to prepare the members of every racial group to assume their full share of adult responsibility in the service of their country. The Missions Committee could not, therefore, assent to a proposition which seems to underlie the Act, namely, that the Bantu have no part or lot in the country of their birth outside the reserves. The Presbyterian Church of South Africa stated that while not opposed to the principle of state education, it was unable to support the theory underlying the Bantu Education Act, for it considered this to be contrary to the will of' God. The Synodal Commission of' the Nederduitse Hervormde of Geretormeerde Kerk took a different view, however. It was a natural development, it said, that the state should accept responsibility for the control of' Bantu education. There is nothing in the Government's educational policy which necessarily conflicts with recognized Christian principles. The Commission welcomes the opportunity which has been created for Africans themselves to accept responsibility for the education and rearing of their children, the opportunity the Church still has of retaining some of' its institutions on certain conditions, the prospect of expansion of educational facilities, and the assurance that there will now be a Union-wide policy. It urges the creation of more facilities for the secondary and higher academic education of Non-Whites. The Minister of Native Atirs replied to criticism of the Bantu Education Act at the indaba with the Sotho-speaking people held during November 1954,(14) and later in a written statement handed to the press.(15) Accusations by the 'English' churches were unjustified, he said. There had been misrepresentation of facts. It was false propaganda that education would be poorer under the new system. The background of the attacks, he continued, was not based on moral considerations, but on disappointment that a sphere of influence (together with big financial grants for the exercise of influence within that sphere) would disappear. Some of the churches had used educational subsidies to finance their mission work. (These allegations were never substantiated in spite of public requests by church leaders for further information.) (14) See Page 61. (1) 1 iblished in The ,Star and other papers, 24 November 1954.
A SURVEY OF RACE The attitude of the Institute of Race Relations to the Bantu Education Act has been made clear, for its Council, in January 1953, adopted the Findings of the National Conference called by the Institute some months previously to study the Report of the Native Education Commission.(16) During the year under review the Institute had to decide whether or not, in view of its opposition to the principles of the Act, it should dissociate itself completely from its operation. It was finally agreed that usual policy would be followed,-that is, as the measure is now law, the Institute's duty is to watch developments and attempt to secure ameliorations if and when unsatisfactory features reveal themselves. (b) State, community, private, and farm schools The intention is that all schools fbr Africans will eventually be controlled by Bantu community organizations. According to Dr P. A. W. Cook, writing in the September 1955 number of Bantu, there are still about 300 government Bantu schools, but their numbers will have been considerably reduced by the end of the year as more and more of them become aided community schools. There are, Dr Cook says, now over 3,800 Bantu community schools. These are, in the main, the schools taken over from missions. Each is to have its own school committee, and the committees will be responsible to school boards being formed in urban and rural areas. These schools will continue to receive full subsidies, payable through the school boards. It is envisaged(17) that some 50,000 Africans will serve on the school boards and committees. Except for inspectors and native commissioners who will attend meetings in an advisory capacity, there will be no White members. The Institute of Race Relations expressed(-8) regret at their exclusion, pointing out that many White persons had given invaluable service over many years on committees controlling African schools. Their loss will be felt particularly in rural areas where there are few educated Africans other than the teachers, who are employees of the boards. Men appointed to boards and committees in such areas possess sound common sense, but many of them have had no experience whatsoever of educational administration. In rural areas where a tribal organization exists committees of community schools consist entirely of members nominated by the chief or headman, subject to the department's concurrence. Three members are chosen to represent the parents and another two are the chief's or headman's special representatives. The chairman is appointed in consultation with the Department of Native Affairs. In urban areas the members representing the parents are elected, (16) These findings were summarized in A 5Surz'ey of Race Relations for 1951-2, see pagd. 48. (17) Banlu, September 1955. (18) In a memorandum, RR.81/1955, submitted to the department, 178
RELATIONS: 1954-55 subject to their acceptability to the department, but remaining members are nominated by the Secretary for Native Affairs, who also appoints the chairman. Whenever possible, in all areas, at least one African minister of religion is included. Among the functions of school committees are the collection and control of school funds, maintenance of buildings, grounds, and fences, necessary repair work, and, with the approval of the department and of the school board, the erection of new buildings. Where Bantu authorities or local councils exist they are vested with local control of primary schools in their areas of jurisdiction, while in areas where such authorities are not likely to be created at all (for example, in the towns), or in the near future, school boards are being constituted for this purpose. There are already nearly 200 of these boards. Members are nominated by the department from the various school committees in the area concerned. Each board is to have the services of an African secretary, in most cases appointed from the ranks of the teachers and given special training. According to Dr Cook, some 120 full-time and about 31 part-time secretaries have already been appointed, the full-time ones receiving their current salaries plus an allowance varying between £60 and £84 a year, depending on 'the number of teachers under the control of the school board concerned. A team of White organizers has been given the task of training the boards and their secretaries in their duties. The Minister of Native Affairs has said(l'9) that the financial responsibility of the boards will be limited at first, and extended gradually as individual boards demonstrate their ability to control administrative matters affecting their schools. As is stated above, subsidies covering the full salaries and allowances of teachers will be paid through the boards. It has been provided(20) that these subsidies may be withdrawn on a month's or on one school quarter's notice without a reason being given. In its commentary on the new regulations the Institute of Race Relations urged that the reason should always be made known to the board, for otherwise it might be uncertain of the reason for the department's dissatisfaction. Mr W. A. Maree, M.P., a member of the Native Affairs Commission, said in the Assembly(21) that, at the beginning at any rate, when a careful watch would have to be kept to ensure that powers conferred on the boards are carefully exercised, it was necessary for the department to have power to withhold or withdraw subsidies in cases where ill-advised resolutions were adopted or teachers harshly treated. Arrangements in regard to the management of secondary and high schools differ. In some cases their principals or committees will for the present be directly responsible to regional directors of (19) Assembly, 12 June 1955; Hansard 19, col. 7663. (20) In Governnwent Notice No. 841 of 22 April 1955. (21) 13 June 1955; Hansard 19, col. 7645.
A SURVEY OF RACE Bantu education; and later, when regional Bantu authorities have been created, local control will be transferred to them. In other cases day schools have been placed under the control of school boards, while boarding schools attached to training colleges will fall under the advisory boards contemplated for these colleges. Primary schools on farms or mine or factory property will be managed by the owner of the property or his representative, who may be a missionary. They will continue to receive subsidies fully covering salaries and allowances of approved teachers, while farmers may also obtain financial assistance for erection of school buildings. According to Dr Cook's article, there are at present some 1,500 small schcols on mining or factory property. A further category of schools consists of about 620 state-aided mission institutions, mostly run by the Catholic Church, whose subsidies are progressively being reduced and will terminate at the end of 1957. While in receipt of state aid these schools must make use of departmental syllabuses and conform to regulations governing inspection, appointment of teachers, media of instruction, and so on. When the subsidies are terminated the mission authorities will have t) apply for the registration of these institutions as private schools. Lastly, there is a number of private schools, receiving no state aid, which are permitted to continue their activities provided they are officially registered by the department. Penalties of a fine of up to £50 or as much as six months' imprisonment have been laid down(22) for non-compliance with this requirement, or for refusing to affbrd access to inspectors, failure to keep proper records, and so tn. Organizers of registered private schools are permitted to compile their own syllabuses as long as these conform to basic iequirements, to train and appoint their own teachers, and to appoint their own school committees. Assistant inspectors and teachers Forty posts for African assistant inspectors have during the last year been created and filled by men who have made their mark as teachers and who are conversant with the new educational system. As is mentioned above, the department has now taken over the training of all teachers for government, community, and other aided schools. In a press statement issued in July 1955(23) the Secretary for Native Affairs said that the department's most difficult task would be to obtain the co-operation of the 25,000 African teachers who received their training under the previous system. (It appears that some 17,500 of these are men.(24)) It will be difficult for them to realize that they are now in the service of their own communities (22) In Government Notice No. 2567 of 17 December 1954. ('23 ) Published, for example, in the Rand Daily Mail, 2 July 1955. (24) Speech by Senator the Hon. J, l)uthie, Senate, 14 March 1955; Mansard 4, col, ;56. 180
RELATIONS: 1954--55 and that their work must be co-ordinated with all other activities of those communities. It will be especially difficult for them to abandon English as the chief medium of instruction. These teachers, the Secretary said, will have to be trained again while in employment. It appears that, although previous minimum wages have been increased, in general the new teachers in primary schools, particularly those in rural areas, will be paid at lower rates than those obtaining in the past. In the Assembly on 13 June 1955 the Minister of Native Affairs said(25) that salary scales for teachers in the primary schools would have to differ from the scale which existed previously. They would have to be in accordance with the character of their work, the ability to pay, and the circumstances and way of life of the people whose children are taught by the teachers concerned. It should be borne in mind, however, the Minister continued, that larger numbers of individuals would be able to secure promotion, - to posts of principals, sub-inspectors, and possibly, in the future, even inspectors, --- and incumbents of such posts were comparatively well paid. A further matter that has caused some uneasiness is the new regulation(26) that salary increments may not be claimed as a right, but will depend on the willingness of the Minister to make available the necessary subsidy. This, in turn, will depend on the availability of funds, and on the department's satisfaction with the work and conduct of the teacher concerned. The Institute of Race Relations urged that increments should be automatic, provided that no unsatisfactory report were received. It also pressed for the creation of a pension find for African teachers. 'eachers in government Bantu schools are employees of the department, whereas those in community schools are regarded as being employees of the school board concerned, although their appointments are approved and their salaries paid by the central authority. The Institute of Race Relations pointed out that this latter arrangement gives rise to a sense of insecurity, and that there is apparently no obligation on the part of the authorities to find a teacher another post if he is discharged from a community school through no fault of his own. It suggested the compilation of a central register of teachers in these schools. It is understood that the measure is an experimental one, and the Minister of Native Affairs has said (27) that every case of registration or transfer of a teacher will receive the careful attention of the department. The Institute also urged that if a teacher is transferred from one area to another this should not constitute a break in service so far as salary scales are concerned, and that provision be made for the state to pay any expenses incurred by the teacher in moving. (25) I-ansard 19, col. 7661. (26) In Government Notice No. 841 of 22 April 1955, (27) Assembly, 13 June; Hansard 19, col. 7663.
A SURVEY OF RACE The new regulations provide that, if the Secretary for Native Affairs or the Under- Secretary (Bantu Education) on information received, considers a teacher in a government school to be inefficient, he will call on the teacher to admit or deny this. Should the latter admit it he may be appointed to a post of lower grade or be discharged from the service, but if he denies it he will have to appear before a board of enquiry which, again, may demote or discharge him if the allegation seems to be well founded. A board of enquiry will be convened also if a teacher in a government school is accused of misconduct. So far as teachers in community schools are concerned, the school board will act as the board of enquiry, and its decision will be final. In neither case is the teacher allowed legal representation. The Institute of Race Relations noted this point with much regret. It urged that decisions of school boards should be subject to review by the department, or that teachers be granted the right of appeal. The definition of 'misconduct' includes conviction of a crime deemed to render the individual unsuitable for teaching, treating officials or members of the public with gross discourtesy, encouraging disobedience or resistance to the law, and making unfavourable remarks to the press about the policy of the government, or about any government department, Bantu authority, school board, or committee, or any official connected with such bodies. Teachers may not identify themselves actively with a political party or body, nor may they stand for election or be appointed to an advisory board, or other local authority, unless official approval be granted. All teachers in government, community, and state-aided schools have been required to sign new contracts, signifying their agreement to the revised conditions of service. Organization of primary schools From 1956, primary schools will be organized on an ethnic basis and each will provide instruction through the medium of one only of the seven African languages which are to be recognized for educational purposes. In some cases lower primary classes (up to and including standard II) will be separated from higher primary classes (standards III to VI inclusive) and run as separate schools. In order to increase the number of children who can be admitted, two sessions, each of three hours, instead of one session of four-anda-half hours, have been introduced in the sub-standards. The teachers, classrooms, books, and other materials thus serve two sets of pupils daily; but the maximum number of children per class has been reduced from 50 to 40. It is to be hoped that this is but a temporary measure, for there are numerous disadvantages. The pupils in the first session are said to advance more rapidly than those attending the second, because the teachers are liable to become tired and bored with repetition. Young pupils arriving early for the second session, or delaying their return home after the first until older Lrothers or sisters join them, create a disturbance and are 182
RELATIONS: 1954-55 liable to get into mischief. Moreover a three-hour session is a very short one, when the fifteen minutes' break and the time spent by pupils in cleaning the classrooms are deducted. A further matter at present causing concern is whether adequate accommodation will be provided soon enough to cater for the much increased numbers who will be ready to enter standard I in 1956 or 1957. Syllabuses A new draft syllabus for the lower primary school course was published towards the end of 1954, and comments and suggestions were invited. The salient features are that instruction will be through the medium of the mother tongue; both English and Afrikaans will be introduced as subjects in sub-standard A; history, geography, and nature study are grouped together under the title of'environmental studies' and related more closely than in the past to the child's own circumstances and surroundings; and the usual other subjects, such as religious instruction, handicrafts, arithmetic, and so on, are provided for. In a commentary it submitted to the department,(28) the Institute of Race Relations stated its opinion that while there was much in the draft syllabus that was still experimental, it was on the whole educationally sound and an improvement on the past syllabus. Some suggestions were made : that instead of introducing both official languages together it would be less confusing for the children if the one predominantly spoken in the area be taught in sub-standard A and the second introduced the following year; that in some subjects, for example, environmental study and handicrafts, the emphasis was placed too much on the needs of rural children and the tribal environment; that extensive use of visual aids to learning was desirable. The Institute pointed out that the successful working of the new syllabus would depend on the thoroughness of the training given to teachers, and on the provision of adequate equipment. Detailed suggestions on these points were made. The syllabus, which is now being revised in the light of comments received, will come into operation in 1956. Meanwhile, during August 1955, draft syllabuses for the higher primary classes were published, comments again being invited. Broadly speaking, these provide for the development of the foundation laid by the lower primary syllabuses and include all the subjects taught in primary schools for White children. Each day there will be a period of religious instruction; and again teaching will be through the medium of the mother-tongue. The Institute of Race Relations considered these syllabuses, too, to be basically sound. Its main comment(29) was that it would take time for new terminology relating to several of the subjects to be evolved in African languages and for teachers to accustom themselves to its use. The Institute, therefore, suggested (21) RR.60/1955. (uh) In docuient NN.182/1955'
A SURVEY OF RACE that children already in school should continue their education through the medium of English or Afrikaans. Boycott of Schools in certain areas Several African bodies, including the Cape African Teachers' Association, the Location Advisory Boards Congress, the Transkeian Bunga, and others, during 1954 expressed their fear that deterioration in the standard and type of education provided for Africans was likely under the new system. The African National Congress has been resolutely opposed to the principles of the Act, and discussed calling on parents to withdraw their children from schools as from 1 April 1955, the date when the new system was to come into operation. It was finally decided by the leaders that any boycott should be postponed until arrangements could be made for alternative educational facilities for the children. How this was to be achieved, in view of the prohibition under threat of penalties on conducting schools not granted otffcial registration, was not explained. Numbers of the younger members of the African National Congress decided that they would not be bound by this decision made by their leaders, however, and, particularly on the eastern Witwatersrand and in the eastern Cape, began an energetic canvass of parents. 1 April happended to fall during the Easter recess, but when the schools re-opened on 12 April thousands of children in Benoni, Brakpan, the Western Areas of Johannesburg, and Germiston, absented themselves. Young men picketed the gates of schools so as to prevent pupils from entering, or went into the buildings and 'dismissed' the classes. Several arrests were made and police patrols summoned. On 14 April there were demonstrations in the African townships of Benoni, Brakpan, and Germiston: women and youths marched through the streets carrying African National Congress banners and placards reading, 'We don't want Bantu education.' Armed police were called to disperse large crowds which gathered at street corners. A sports meeting and children's treat, planned in Benoni for 15 April, had to be cancelled because of the hostile attitude of a large mob, mainly of youths. The police were able to restore order later in the day, enabling municipal authorities to proceed with the remainder of the ceremonies arranged to mark the opening of a new African township. The election of parents' representatives to school committees in certain towns of the Cape had to be postponed because representatives of Congress were alleged to have intimidated the parents by attending meetings to note the names of 'traitors.' It is certain that there was much intimidation and misinformation,-proof of the latter is the fact that mission schools as well as government and community schools were boycotted. The events did show yet again, however, that there is much dissatisfaction among many of the African people and that they can readily be aroused. 184
RELATIONS: 1954-55 On 14 April the Minister of Native Affairs issued a stern warning. Those of the children boycotting schools who had not returned by 25 April would be deprived of all further opportunities of ediication, he said. Their places would be taken in due course by others who had previously been excluded because of lack of accommodation. Should large numbers of children not heed the warning, teaching posts that became redundant as result would be abolished, and any schools that had to be closed would remain closed. This warning was widely broadcast by means of loudspeaker vans. Police patrolled the areas affected to prevent intimidation. Several prominent African leaders called on parents to end the boycott. As result of all this, a majority of the children drifted back to school, but when 25 April arrived some 7,000 were still away. The names of any who could not subsequently provide a genuine excuse were removed fiom the rolls. As result, according to the Minister of Native Affairs,(30) 116 teachers were dismissed. Posts for 106 of them were found later in other areas, but, the Minister said, about seven did not deserve to be re- employed because they had participated in the agitation. A section of the African National Congress called a meeting in the Port Elizabeth district the following month and urged a boycott of primary schools in that city as from 24 May. '[he Minister then issued a further and graver warning. In future, he said, any child who was absent from school in. consequence of a boycott would have his name removed from the roll on the first clay of his absence. This threat proved effective in Port Elizabeth. An embryo boycott of a school in the Peddie district, Cape, was prevented during September largely through the effbrts of the teachers. Much concern has been felt about the future of the 7,000 pupils on the eastern Witwatersrand and in Johannesburg who were debarred from further schooling. The Johannesburg Non-European Affairs and Housing Committee has expressed its belief that juvenile delinquency is resulting amongst their ranks. An African Education Movement, assisted by members of churches and other individuals, was fbrmed to promote the establishment of cultural clubs; and Aftican parents and other volunteers have gathered children together and organized games, handwork classes, and other leisure and cultural activities. It proves to be difficult, though, to distinguish between 'educational' and 'cultural' functions: members of the police have kept a watch on these developments, and, during July, five persons from Germiston were brought before the courts on the allegation that they were maintaining an unregistered private school for some 200 pupils. All were discharged, for the Crown was unable to prove to the magistrate's satisfaction that the accused were, in fact, engaged in teaching and conducting a school. C") Assembly, 13 June 1955. Hansard 19, cols, 7657-0,
A SURVEY OF RACE A deputation of members of school boards in the areas affected was received by the Minister of Native Affairs during July. Signed undertakings by hundreds of parents to lend no further support to organizations and persons inciting boycotts were produced. The Minister is reported(31) to have said that a committee of school board representatives would be asked, early in 1956, to investigate the bonafides of these undertakings. If members of the committee were satisfied, the first 3,000 of the 7,000 children might be readmitted to schools during that year, and the remainder in 1957. In the Assembly on 13 June 1955 he said :(32) 'I cannot be prepared to consider re-admitting them until such time as a state of affairs has been brought about in South Africa by the Bantu himself where I can be assured that there will be no repetition of these circumstances of incitement and boycott - We have not yet come to the end of the difficulties which the agitators are trying to cause Since then, the Brakpan Bantu Civic Protection Society has applied for departmental permission to run a private school catering for African children in its area (including those who were expelled in April) until such time as they can be absorbed into government or community schools. It is reported(33) they were informed that the Minister is prepared to consider their application favourably provided that they can finance and equip the proposed school. Destruction and construction During April and May 1955, an attempt was made to burn down the house of the principal of a new school in an African township of Germiston, and there was a serious disturbance at Xedwaleni Technical College for Africans, run by the Free Methodist Church of North America. Some of the 180 students objected to compulsory participation in daily chapel services, and many were rebellious against college rules and regulations. Finally, fighting broke out amongst the students, a group of whom broke away to set fire to the rondavel used as a chapel. The police were called in to preserve order. The Board of Trustees of the College met and decided to expel some 30 ring-leaders, rather than close the institution. Reports stated(34) that in the opinion of the school authorities the uprising was caused mainly by the reading of subversive literature, some of which was handed in to the school offices by the students. On the other hand, Africans have continued to show much effort at self-help. Special levies for educational purposes have during the year under review at the request of the tribes concerned been levied on taxpayers of the Ratlou-Baralong tribe, Mafeking, and on several tribes in the Sibasa and Pietersburg districts of the (1) Rand Daily Mfail, 11 July 1955. (32) Hansard 19, col. 76.9. ( 3) Rand Daily Mail, 27 September' 1955. (24) e.g., Herald, 10 May 1955. 186
RELATIONS: 1945-55 'Transvaal. Pound-lbr-pound grants from the department are obtainable lbr the erection of school buildings. The enthusiasm shown by African tribes in the Transvaal, the Minister has said, (35) is one of his reasons fbr insisting on contributions by urban Africans towards capital costs of schools. PRIMARY AND SECONDARY EDUCATION FOR CHILDREN OF OTHER RACIAL GROUPS Coloured Education Commission The Coloured Education Commission was appointed in the Cape Province in 1953 to investigate the financial implications of compulsory education for Coloured children, the organization of the school system, the type of education that would satisfy the educational requirements of the Coloured population, and the efficacy of the present system. One of its terms of reference was 'whether the nature and direction of the present educational system fulfil the needs of the Coloured population, o'r whether the system, with its emphasis on the academic side, does not lead to a feeling of frustration.' The evidence presented by the Cape Western Regional Committee of the Institute of Race Relations was outlined in our last Survey(36) At the time of writing this Commission had issued only an interim report, in which it was stated that about a third of the Coloured secondary school teachers did not receive the minimum training necessary for their work. As a temporary measure, one additional year's study of' academic subjects was recommended after the advanced primary teacher training course, or a two-year training period after a first-year degree course. The main report is expected to contain an estimate of the number of Coloured children of school-going age who are not attending school, making it possible to determine the number of additional classrooms and teachers that would be required were compulsory education to be introduced throughout the Cape. It may at present be introduced in specific areas for children between the ages of 7 and 14 (excluding those who have already passed standard IV) if the school committee or board for the area concerned considers that sufficient school accommodation is available. Coloured children attending school in the Cape The Superintendent-General of Education in the Cape is reported(37) to have said that in September 1954 there were 205,047 Coloured children attending school in that province, of whom 7,315, or about 34 per cent., were in secondary or high schools. Of each 100 pupils who were in standard 1 in 1949, only 61 reached standard IV in 1952, while only 31 reached standard VI in 1954. (C-) Senate, 20 June 1955; Hansard 15, col. 4511. (0W) RR.193/1953. (:17) ('ape 1 ,rqyus, 17 january 19:55.
A SURVEY OF RACE Indian children attending school in Natal In articles published recently,(38) Dr S. Cooppan says that in1 September 1954 there were in Natal 36 government schools for Indians with 14,504 pupils, 218 aided schools with 54,725 pupils, and 15 registered private schools with 2,781 pupils. Of the pupils in government and aided schools, 66,272 were in primary schools, 2,729 in secondary classes, and 228 were teachers in training. Owing to the shortage of school accommodation the platoon system with two shifts, each shorter than the normal hours, had l)een introduced at 50 primary schools catering for 16 per cent. of the total number of primary pupils. Different sets of teachers took the afternoon classes. The total number of pupils, then, was 72,010. Dr Cooppan estimates that there were another 15,600 Indian children in the 6 to 14 age group who were not in school; over 5,000 of these applied for admission in 1954 but had to be turned away. Over the years 1928-9 to 1954-5, he calculates, the total provincial capital expenditure on schools and hostels for White children was £6,405,152, and for Indians only £579,995. Yet Indians outnumber Whites in Natal. During the same period the Indian community itself raised over £310,000 towards the cost of school buildings and further large sums for the necessary land: the arrangement is that if an aided school is to be established the community must raise sufficient money to cover the entire cost of the land and half the cost of building and equipment (two-thirds before 1944). Over three-quarters of Indian pupils are in such aided schools. In 1948 the Natal Indian Congress sponsored a part-time high school for pupils who fliled to secure admission to secondary schools. Afternoon classes are provided for 184 children, in government school premises. At first all costs were met by fees and donations, but the province now subsidizes the salaries of the teachers. I)r Cooppan estimates that the net recurrent cost of education in government schools in 1952-3 was £62 14s. 9d. per White child and £29 6s. 9d. per Indian child. Effect of racial zoning proposals on Indian secondary schools in Johannesburg The Booysens Indian High School, conducted by the Transvaal Education Department, was closed at the end of 1954. A school consisting of 12 prefabricated classrooms had been erected to replace it at Lenasia, a private township established for Indians and proposed as an Indian group area. Lenasia is 18 miles out of town and so far completely undeveloped: the school stands in the bare veld. A subsidized bus service was provided, but as Indians object strenously to the proposed plan for group areas, a majority of parents decided against sending their children to the new school. (:;s) The Teachers' Journal (Organ of the Natal Indian 'Teacher,' Society), Februiary and July 1955. RELATIONS: 1945-53 Only some 50 arrived on the first day, while by May 1955 there were still 7 classroomis not in use. A f w of the parents sent their children, instead, to the stateaided Waterval School north of the city, and to cater for the remainder the Indian community raised funds to start a private school in Fordsburg. The provincial authorities then directed the children who had gone to Waterval School to proceed, instead, to Lenasia. There was much resentment, not only because of opposition to race zoning plans, but also because facilities available at the latter school are nowhere nearly as good. The father of one of these children applied for a court order declaring that his son was entitled to attend Waterval School. His application was dismissed, but the judge said: 'However much one may sympathize with the applicant and other parents in the frustration of their desire to have their children educated in the particular school and even though the Department's decision may prima facie appear to have been unfortunately derived from an unexplained desire to start an Indian school at Lenasia, the position to me appears to be that the application has no foundation in law.' Siting of schools for Indian pupils in Natal The provision of' educational facilities for Indians has been delayed in certain towns of Natal, for example, parts of Pieterinaritzburg, where these Indians live in areas proposed for eventual occupation by members of other racial groups. This problem was recently discussed at a meeting of representatives of the Natal Committee of the Group Areas Board, the Natal Education Department, and the Indian Education Committee. The representatives of the Group Areas Board said that as any change-over in population would take place gradually, they would be willing to recommend the issue of'permits to build urgently-needed new schools in localities at present occupied predominantly by Indians, and of ten-year perinits of occupation. UNIVERSITIES Numbers of University students Latest available figures showing the number of Non-White university students are as follows :(319) ( .niversiiy )"ear Irican Coloured Asiatics Fort Hare ...... 1954 314 36 30 N atal ...... 1954 101 13 213 Witwatersrand ...... 1954 74 13 127 Cape Town ...... 1954 27 163 81 Kolege ya Bana ba Afrika 1953 76 TOTALS (approx.) 592 225 451 Proportion per 1,000 of population ...... 0...... 06 0.19 1.13 (: ) From RePort of the C omalsslioui of ELitquiry i 5Sparat 'ra1,i'lOe Pacilities for)P, -I: ml , 'a>ltci," tit {')li z'nrn tiCS.
A SURVEY OF RACE Non-Whites then fbrmed between 5 and 6 per cent. of the student Ibody at the Universities of' Cape Town and the Witwatersrand, 16 per cent. at Natal, and 100 per cent. at Fort Hare. There were, in addition, 1,097 Africans, 323 Coloured persons, and 673 Asiatics enrolled for correspondence courses with the University of South Africa, according to 1953 figures.(40) In'1954 the total number of Non- White students taking these correspondence courses was 1,145. (3) The total number of White university students was 18,236 in 1951, or 6.9 per 1,000 of the White population. Commission of Enquiry on Separate Training Facilities for Non-Europeans at Universities Events leading up to the appointment of a Commission of Enquiry on Separate Training Facilities for Non-Europeans at Universities were recounted in our last Survey. (41) This Survey told, also, of the conference called by the Institute of Race Relations to consider the concept of a university and its function in a multiracial society, and gave a summary of the Institute's evidence to the Commission. (42) The Commission's report was published in duplicated form in February 1955. At the commencement it points out that its terms of reference did not include any investigation of the desirability or otherwise of separate university facilities for Non-Whites, thus in formulating its findings it had to assume that in general segregation was desirable. It points out, however, that a considerable part of the evidence submitted dealt with this broad question, and states that much of this evidence was of fundamental importance for an ultimate decision on the policy to be pursued. The Commission emphasizes that if facilities are to be separate, they must be substantially equal, but points out that to the extent that advantages such as extra- curricular contact and activities are enjoyed by the Non-White students at the 'open' universities of Cape Town and the Witwatersrand, these advantages would, of course, disappear with the introduction of segregation. Mainly on financial grounds the Commission rejected suggestions that a new university for Non-Whites only be established in the near future, or that separate Non-White sections be created at Cape Town and the Witwatersrand according to the system prevailing in Natal. Its proposal is that if segregation is desired, the most feasible scheme would be to concentrate Non-White students, in the main, in Durban and at Fort Hare, but this scheme is subject to important reservations and exceptions. Neither Durban nor Fort Hare yet provides the variety of courses required, nor do they possess sufficient accommodation and (40) Fromn 1aitt IEducatioi, O)ppression or Opportunity ? published by SABRA. (41) .1 Survey of Mice Relatioiis, 1953-4, pages 107 to 110. (42) RR.45/1954.
RELATIONS: 1954-5 staff'to enable them to absorb the Non-White students now attending 'open' universities. The position in Durban is complicated by the difficulty, under the Group Areas Act, of finding suitable sites for academic buildings and hostels for Non-Whites: classes at present are held in widely dispersed lecture rooms. The process of transfer, if decided upon, would thus have to be a gradual one, accomplished part passu with the provision of increased accommodation, the capital costs of which would be about £1,000 per student at Natal University and probably more at Fort Hare. The state would have to subsidize these separate institutions for Non-Whites on a much more liberal scale than that which applies in other cases, for NonWhites cannot afford the fees paid by White students, and fewer donations from the public would be forthcoming. Furthermore, in all equity, financial assistance would have to be afforded to NonWhite students compelled to transfer, to compensate them lbr additional costs incurred. These are the Commission's reservations. It makes significant exceptions, too. Firstly, it considers that because Coloured people are closer in culture to the Whites than to Africans, Coloured students should be allowed to continue their non-segregated studies at those universities, especially Cape Town, which are prepared to admit them. Secondly, it points out that Natal and Fort Hare of necessity have to concentrate on the provision of courses for which there is a large demand by Non-Whites, and which prepare these students for useful careers where considerable numbers can earn reasonable incomes --teaching and medicine, for example. But there will be small numbers wanting to train for other careers in which prospects, though limited, nevertheless do exist. African and Indian students wishing to study engineering, for example, or to do post-graduate or research work, should be permitted to enter those universities which are prepared to accept them. Soon after the publication of this report, the S.A. Bureau of Racial Affairs issued a press statement saying that it did not come up to expectations, creating the general impression that the Commission preferred the present situation, which was a repudiation of Government policy. The Minister of Education, Arts and Science said in the Senate on 10 May 1955(43) that it was the Government's policy ultimately to institute apartheid at the universities, but that could not be done until such time as alternative provision had been made for African and Coloured students. Later, he announced in the Assembly(44) that further investigation of the financial implications was being made. The Government wished to know whether it would be practicable to provide separate university institutions for the Coloured people, the Xhosa-speaking people, and the Sothospeaking people. The National Union of S.A. Students (representing, in the main, (4;) Hansard 10, col. 2457. (44) 13 May 1955, H1-ansard 14, col. .5608.
A SURVEY OF RACE students at the English-speaking universities other than Fort Hare) issued a press statement(s) expressing alarm at the Minister's statement. After pointing out that the Commission had concluded that university apartheid was a financially disastrous proposition, the statement continued, 'The Commission was not allowed, of course, to consider even more important factors. One was the danger to university independence of party-political interference in their internal affairs. The other was the marked contrast between the healthy race relations at the Universities of the Witwatersrand and Cape Town, and the atmosphere at a segregated institution such as Fort Hare ... The overall educational superiority of university non-segregation has been proved....' NUSAS asked the Minister to receive a deputation, but this request was refused. It has published a second edition of its book, The African in the Uiversities, which contains a factual examination of the systems of university segregation and non- segregation together with a discussion of the principles involved. Dr T. B. Davie, who is Principal and Vice-Chancellor of the University of Cape Town, gave the 1955 Hoernl6 Memorial Lecture, arranged by the Institute of Race Relations.(46) In South Africa, he said, there were two concepts of' the ftnctions of a university. One, associated predominantly with the English-medium universities, was based on the ideas of complete academic freedom and the open door; the other, associated with the Afrikaans institutions, had as its aim the training of youth fbr service to the state. Neither was per se inferior, but the danger in the second was that 'state' may come to be interpreted as the organization designed to further the interests of the section in power, in other words, service to a sectional ideology. Differences of ideals at university level determined the educational policy of the whole country, from the infant school to the high school, and particularly Native education: this process had culminated in the Bantu Education Act. Events at the University College of Fort Hare For some years, now, there has been mounting discontent, ill-discipline, resentment of authority as such, political agitation, and anti-White feeling among the students at the University College of Fort Hare. This first became noticeable to the general public in 1952, when Fort Hare seceded from NUSAS and when the students decided to express their opposition to the apartheid laws by boycotting a reception given at the College for the Governor-General. During 1955 a whole series of comparatively minor disturbances took place: there was trouble at one of the men's residences, ill-feeling over arrangements fbr a film-show and new rules limiting the access of men students to the women's residence, boycotting of sports fixtures by some of the students, and so on. Finally the vast (15) e.(., Herald, 12 May 1955. 46) Simce ptublished by the hnstitiite tinder the title Idlncati,m and kucC Rcllon.? inl Soltth . Ifricia. 192
RELATIONS: 1954-5 193 majority of students boycotted the annual graduation ceremony, held early in May, in order to demonstrate to the public their resentment of conditions. Just previous to this, the Students' Representative Council had resigned en bloc. Above and beyond these overt actions, however, was an atmosphere of increasingly undisciplined behaviour, of disrespect and intimidation. A secret authority or 'caucus' was said to be imposing its will on the student body. There was no interference with academic routine, but apart from this the situation worsened rapidly. Following the boycott of the graduation ceremony the Executive Committee of the College Council, after consultation with the Senate, decided to close the College temporarily. The students were informed of this decision only after special trains had been arranged to take them to their homes, and the police were asked to stand by in case of trouble. A week later, on 12 May, the Principal issued a statement to the press, saying it was hoped that the College would re-open on 1 July. He made public the terms of notices that had been sent to students and to their parents, informing them that the Governing Council had the right to refuse to admit or to re-admit students if this was considerd to be in the best interests of the College. The Council intended to discover the names of students responsible for the development of pressure groups and for intimidation and resistance to authority, and would refuse them re- admission. Students who wished to return would be required to co-operate by completing a questionnaire which asked fbr full information about the affairs of the past weeks and the people involved: this inbrmation would be treated in strict confidence by the committee dealing with re-admissions. The Principal also announced that an independent Commission would be appointed to investigate the conditions of' life and work at the College and to make recommendations for their improvement. When the College re-opened, all but twelve of the students were re-admitted. The latter were given the right of appeal to the Governing Council. Like the Natives' Representatives in Parliament and many other individuals and organizations, the Institute of Race Relations was very gravely concerned about the situation at Fort Hare. At a press interview its President and its Director welcomed the decision of the authorities to set up a Commission of Enquiry. They pointed out that the events at the College, which draws its students from a wide constituency, could not be divorced from events taking place in the country at large. The students could not be immune to feelings and attitudes being expressed by Non-Whites, particularly in urban areas. At the same time the isolation of the College had, it appeared, contributed to an exaggerated sense of grievance on their part. The Institute wrote to the Principal of Fort Hare suggesting that an African be included in the membership of the Commission, and that in due course its report be published.
A SURVEY OF RACE The report of the Commission (which consisted of Professor J. P. Duminy, as chairman, Professor M. C. Botha and Dr the Hon. Edgar Brookes) was made public during August. (47) Members were shocked, they said, to realize how bad the atmosphere really was at Fort Hare. They deplored the concentration of students on 'grievances,' their lack of initiative and sense of responsibility, their want of moral courage. The Commission then examined the reasons for the state of affairs. They were to be found partly in general conditions at the College itself, it was considered. There had, on the part of the authorities, been a carry-over of the traditional paternal missionary approach. Some of the rules were impracticable and unenforceable. The authorities depended too much on 'informers' for information. The hostels were controlled by churches and the wardens were church, not College, appointments, responsible for discipline as well as for certain teaching. Conditions in at least two of the hostels were unsatisfactory: living quarters were overcrowded and equipment inadequate. Requests from students did not receive proper attention. On the one hand, the students considered that they were treated too much like high-school children. But on the other hand, mainly for reasons arising from the political situation, they demanded a licence far in excess of anything permitted at universities for White students. Only a minority of them were active members of any political organization, and those were divided in allegiance between the Sons of Young Africa (the junior branch of the All-Africa Convention) and the Youth Movement of the African National Congress. But this minority came to Fort Hare armed with ideas and techniques to be applied at the College. They imagined they were in the vanguard of the 'struggle fbr liberation,' and confused the issue of maintenance of legitimate college discipline with the idea of baasskap. Intimidation of other students, many of whom were in the uncertain transition stage, had gone to great lengths psychologically. There was a strong wave of anti- Christian feeling. The authorities had every right, the Commission said, to demand that speech and writing by students should not bring the College into disrepute. A point that was stressed was that the segregated nature of Fort Hare and its cultural, social, and athletic isolation contributed very largely to the unsatisfactory state of affairs. The Commission rejected the suggestion that Fort Hare should be closed, or established elsewhere. Its main thesis was the need for a bold transition from the methods and atmosphere of the missionary high schools from which Fort Hare sprang to those of a university, Its second major suggestion was that the hostels should be controlled by the College, the churches appointing not wardens (47) A summary of the report was prepared by the I)irector of the fnstitute of Race Relations. RR.157/1955.
RELATIONS: 1954-55 l)ut chaplains who would not be asked to administer discipline. Attendances at religious services should not be compulsory, as at present. Outside political influences could not be eliminated, but their intensity might be reduced by the 'expulsive power of new affections.' It was important that members of staff should have a sense of vocation, and that there should be increased contact between staff and students. Every opportunity should be seized of fostering the cultural life of the College and of improving its academic facilities : the creation of certain new departments and the provision of post-graduate classes and scholarships were recommended. A number of detailed suggestions was made in regard to College rules, discipline, staff/student relations, general administration, and the improvement of general amenities and culturial and sporting activities. The Commission paid tribute to the Principal for his integrity, deep care for students, and his unsparing hard work for the College. Notes on specific courses of training It will be recalled that the African Medical Scholarships Trust Fund was established at the University of the Witwatersrand in 1949, when the Government decided to transfer state medical bursaries for Africans to the new medical school, primarily for Non-Whites, at the University of Natal. Students of Witwatersrand University imposed a voluntary levy upon themselves of ten shillings a year, those at Cape Town and Rhodes Universities followed suit, and generous contributions have been received from individuals and organizations in the Union and from many countries oversea. The first African to qualify as a medical practitioner with the aid of a bursary from this fund qualified at the end of 1954, and will be followed by two or three a year. The scholarships, lately increased to £260 a year, are repayable after the student qualifies. A few further medical bursaries for Africans are provided at Witwatersrand University by municipalities and the administrations of other African territories. Fifteen new state bursaries for Africans are provided annually at the Natal Medical School, of £150 a year for the first two years of pre-medical training and thereafter of £200 a year for five years. Half only of the total amount advanced is repayable after a student qualifies, provided that he fulfils certain conditions; if he does not, the full sum will have to be repaid together with interest. In 1955 there were 30 students receiving £150 a year and 60 receiving £200, the first recipients being in their fourth year of the medical course proper. Students find it difficult to manage on bursaries of these amounts, and many seek employment during the vacations. During the year under review the Natal Regional Committee of the Institute of Race Relations has investigated actual budgets, has attempted to smooth out other difficulties experienced by students, and has
A SURVEY OF RACE assisted several of them in finding temporary or part-time employment. The Robert Shapiro Trust, administered by the Institute of Race Relations, has provided one medical bursary for an African at Natal University. The Trustees of the Rockefeller Foundation, New York, have undertaken to make £42,000 available over the next five years to assist the University of Natal to establish a Department of Family Practice at the Medical School. Details of the organization of this department are being worked out between the University and the Union Health Department, which is co-operating through the Institute of Family and Community Health at Clairwood. Mr A. Raidoo, of Durban, a graduate of Fort Hare, has recently become South Africa's first Non-White land surveyor. The Institute of Race Relations and others continue to press for training facilities for Non-Whites as radiographers, physiotherapists, engineers, dentists, pharmacists, and in other professions. It is hoped that courses in pharmacy will become available at the M.L. Sultan Technical College, Durban, and at Fort Hare. The Natal Regional Committee of the Institute of Race Relations has made a close study of professional and other local employment opportunities for Non-Whites. This Committee has been very much concerned about the Government's decision to terminate courses for African laboratory assistants and health assistants at the Institute of Family and Community Health in Durban. Another course which has, unfortunately, come to an end is that for women home demonstrators, formerly available at Mbutu in the Transkei. Details were given in our last Survey of the establishment of the Isaacson Foundation Bursary Fund, administered by the Institute of Race Relations, the prime object of which is, by providing loan bursaries, to enable Africans who are residents of the Witwatersrand to take post-matriculation courses training them for useful service to the community. Fourteen bursaries were awarded in 1955, to students taking arts or science courses before training as teachers, studying commerce or agriculture, or training as health inspectors. Numbers of other bursaries for Non-Whites are provided by other organizations -- the Mendi Memorial Scholarship Fund for Africans, the National War Memorial Health Foundation, NUSAS, the Cape Non-European Night Schools Association, the Union of' Jewish Women, the Non-European Students' Fund in Cape Town, and many more. TECHNICAL AND VOCATIONAL EDUCATION Types of full-time education provided (i) Full-time vocational education is provided at South Africa'F ten technical colleges, some of which have branches in neighbouring centres. Curricula and examinations for 196
RELATIONS: 1954-55 courses on a secondary school level are controlled by the Union Department of Education, Arts and Science. Fulltime students have been required to pay tuition fees amounting to about £16 a year, but considerable numbers of state bursaries have in the past been provided. In 1952 there were 8,620 full-time students enrolled in these classes,(48, the vast majority of them White. Most of them were taking technical or commercial courses, while smaller numbers were training in domestic science, physical education, nursery school work, and so on. (ii) The Department of Education, Arts and Science conducts a number of technical, commercial, and housecraft high schools for White pupils, at which tuition is free. It is also responsible for special schools for physically handicapped children, schools of industry under the Children's Act, and reformatory schools. In 1952 there were 6,667 White and about 2,000 Non-White students receiving fill-time vocational education at these institutions. There were also about 600 White and 150 Non-White students at agricultural schools, conducted by other departments of state. (iii) Thirdly, there are a number of state-aided vocational schools, for example, for social workers, and special schools for the blind, the deaf, epileptics, and other handicapped persons. Enrolment in these schools in 1952 totalled about 900 Whites and 1,900 Non-Whites. (iv) Secondary school courses with a vocational bias are provided by provincial education departments, tuition being free. Enrolment figures are not available, but the vast majority of the students are White. Part-time vocational education (i) Technical colleges provide both part-time and correspondence vocational courses. There were about 40,000 Whites and 9,000 Non-Whites enrolled in part-time classes in 1952, while another 8,300 were taking correspondence courses. Included are courses on the secondary school level, and, mainly for Whites, specialized courses in commercial subjects, radio, engineering, dress- making, and so on, and senior courses for managerial personnel and higher qualified technicians. Control of technical and vocational education for Africans has been transferred to the Division of Bantu Education, and delays have resulted. The Witwatersrand Technical College, for example, has still not received official approval of its plan to provide vocational classes for Africans. (ii) Part-time classes for Whites are conducted at departmental vocational schools. (48) Statistics extracted from Official 'ear Book for the Uinioit i)f ,' uuth Africa, 1952-3, or kindly supplied by the National Bureau of Edulicational and Social Research.
A SURVEY OF RACE (iii) Private correspondence colleges provide vocational courses. (iv) Vocational courses are available also in privately-run continuation classes and night-schools, some of which receive state subsidies. The Vocational Education Act, No. 70 of 1955 The main objects of the Vocational Education Act of 1955 were to demarcate more clearly the spheres of the state and the provinces, to amend and consolidate legislation relating to vocational education, and to provide for the transfer of technical colleges to state control. Provincial schools may continue to offer differentiated education with a vocational tendency, but not more than eight hours per week may be devoted to vocational subjects, nor may over one-third of the subjects taught be of this nature. Departmental vocational schools will concentrate on training students for specified vocations, also providing the necessary supplementary academic, cultural, and social education. Provision is made for the establishment of departmental part-time classes, the subsidization of continuation classes, and the granting of bursaries and loans to pupils at such vocational schools. The controversial sections of the measure dealt with the transfer of technical colleges, which previously had been self-governing institutions subsidized by the state, to full state control. In introducing the Bill the Minister of Education, Arts and Science said(49) that the first reason for this proposal was based on financial grounds. There had been a tendency for fees to be raised in these institutions and the less well-to-do section of the White community was in consequence penalized. The government already contributed 61.8 per cent. of the income of technical colleges: another 3.3 per cent. was received by them in donations and the rest derived from tuition fees, interest, and sundry items. The government had now decided that vocational courses at technical colleges should be free up to matriculation, as they were in departmental schools. This would mean that the state's contribution to the revenue of technical colleges would increase considerably. In the circumstances, state control was advisable. The second reason was that the planning of vocational education should be properly co-ordinated with secondary and university education and the requirements of trade and commerce. Such co-ordination could not be satisfactorily achieved through local control. Thirdly, it was the duty of the state to ensure that the interests of students of both language-groups were catered for. It emerged from the debate that after the government's intentions had become known the Association of Technical Colleges requested an interview with the Minister. At this meeting he undertook to consult the colleges when changes of significance were (4") Assembly, 20 June 1955; Hansard 19, cols, 8257-61,
RELATIONS: 1954-55 contemplated. The following month, in November 1954, the Minister summoned a meeting of senior representatives of technical colleges and announced that the Cabinet had decided upon the transfer. The machinery for effecting transfer was, however, discussed with them in detail. The Act provides that in consultation with the Minister of Finance, the Minister of Education, Arts and Science is empowered to take over the maintenance, management, and control of any technical college or part thereof at a date to be determined by him. These institutions are referred to as 'declared institutions' in the Act and deemed to be vocational schools, but the Minister gave the assurancea°) that the title 'technical college' would be retained in terms of regulations to be framed. Technical college councils will become advisory instead of governing bodies, charged also with maintaining local contacts. Members of staff will become government employees. The state will take over the fixed property and funds of the colleges, but may appoint members of the college councils as trustees for funds subscribed privately to the college concerned. The Secretary for Education is, however, empowered to ensure that the wishes or conditions laid down by donors are carried out. The colleges may continue to provide part-time, specialist, and senior courses if these are officially approved. Members of the Opposition protested against the introduction of so controversial a measure during the closing stages of the session, and urged, unavailingly, that it be referred to a Select Committee. Centralization, they maintained, would be unlikely to lead to either cheaper or more efficient running, and under government control local interest in the colleges, and financial support for them, was likely to diminish. As is stated above, however, the measure became law. The M.L. Sultan Technical College The M.L. Sultan Technical College, established by the government in 1946 to provide vocational training primarily fbr Indian students, has until now provided classes in a number of borrowed premises in Durban Central, Clairwood, Umkomaas, Mount Edgecombe, and Tongaat. It has some 4,000 part-time students, nearly half of whom are women. attending classes in the commercial and homecrafts departments, and a few full-time commercial students. The College has recently made great strides. With the aid of' very generous donations from the government, Durban City Council, and the Indian community itself, the authorities have lbund it possible to erect new buildings. A workshop block has been completed, in which full-time courses for motor mechanics are being conducted. By 1956 there will be accommodation, on a Fulltime basis, for a technical high school for boys, a commercial high (50)) Assembly, 21 June 1955. Hansard 19, col. 8356.
A SURVEY OF RACE school for boys and girls, a school of homecrafts for girls, a secretarial school for students holding the Junior Certificate or Matriculation, and a school of catering services for the training of waiters, cooks and chefs. ADULT EDUCATION The need for adult education In articles contributed to the press during 1955(51) Dr A. J. van Zyl, Chief Organizer of the Division of Adult Education of the Department of Education, Arts and Science, points out that practically every White boy and girl now remains at school for at least ten years, of which the last three cover secondary education. Yet, he says, it is not possible to equip boys and girls of 16 with all the knowledge they will need as men and women with growing families and increasing civic duties. Democratic citizenship means much more than placing a cross on a ballot paper. In a certain sense, he continues, more people are informed of current events to- day than ever before. In South Africa some 800,000 copies of daily newspapers are circulated as well as thousands of other newspapers and periodicals. More than 50 million cinema tickets are sold yearly, and some three-quarter million radio sets bring the daily news to many homes. But the danger is that people rely too much on these means of mass communication for their knowledge and culture, becoming but superficially well informed and unable to grasp the social, economic, and political consequences of events. Moreover, there is always the possibility that instruments of mass education may be abused for political purposes. It has thus become essential that the education of the adult population should not be neglected, that people should be enabled to make full use of mass media of education while being relatively immune to their dangers. The necessity for adult education is, of course, far more acute among the Non- White peoples, very few ofwhom reach the secondary stage at school and very large proportions of whom never go to school at all. Literacy figures for the White, Coloured, and Asiatic sections of the population according to the 1946 census were published some time ago. Those for Africans, fairly recently released,' show that only 21 per cent. of them can read and write in the African languages: the figure is 39 per cent. in the towns and 16 per cent. in rural areas. Another 2 per cent. can read only. Adult Education classes being conducted According to the report of the Department of Education, Arts and Science for 1952,(52) during the third term of that year there was a total enrolment of 2,531 at 36 aided adult education centres for Whites. Included in these figures was a number of apprentices. (51) e.g., The Star, 25 April 1955. (52) U.G. 12/1954, pages 13 and 74. 200
RELATIONS: 1954-55 There were then 25 centres for Non-Whites receiving state grantsin-aid. Their enrolment during the third term was 5,831, but numbers were much higher during the summer months: the average enrolment during 1951 was 8,900. The administration of grants for classes for Africans has during the year under review been transferred to the Department of Native Affairs. Also transferred were many nursery schools for Africans which were formerly subsidized by provincial education departments, boys' and girls' clubs which previously received grants from the Council of Physical Education, some organizations which had been assisted by the Social Welfare Department, and so on. At the time of writing the position was very confused. Most registered adult education classes received their grants as usual, but when other organizations, such as boys' and girls' clubs or nursery schools, made application to the Native Affairs Department they were informed that officials were concentrating first on the requirements of school education. They were referred to the Department of Education, Arts and Science, which in turn referred them back to the Native Affairs Department. It is impossible to give details in this Survey of the activities of all the adult education classes: a few examples only can be included. During the year under review two additional schools have been affiliated to the Cape Non-European Night Schools Association, bringing the total up to twelve. One of the schools is run for the crippled men at the CAFDA sheltered employment project, another for labourers in the Cape Town Docks, the remainder being situated in and around Cape Town. The Association also employs a teacher at the Brooklyn Chest Hospital to give individual tuition to patients. The total enrolment of African and Coloured students is 1,000, and there are 240 voluntary teachers drawn from every walk of life. Though the classes range from the sub-standards to matriculation, the largest classes cater for the illiterate group. Forty students have entered for examinations for standards VI, VII, J.C., and Senior Certificate. The students pay no fees, text books are sold at cost, and senior students (from standard VI upwards) are subsidized by receiving all text books at half price. A student who cannot afford to purchase books is permitted to borrow them for the year's course. The Durban Group of Schools for Bantu Adults has also expanded its activities during the past year. There are now twenty-five night schools, serving the needs of well over 2,000 Africans. The organization is run by a European director and all-African staff, and receives grants from the municipality as well as the state. Material produced by the Institute's Adult Education Section is used. Also in Durban is the Indian Women's Literacy Group, run by a committee composed of a representative group of Indian women, under the chairmanship of Miss Dorey, Principal of the Indian Girls' High School. About thirty classes have been started,
A SURVEY OF RACE catering for some 200 women. This Group uses a special series of literacy primers compiled by the Adult Education Section of the Institute of Race Relations with Miss Dorey's assistance, and works in close co-operation with the Natal Regional Committee of the Institute. Members of the Institute assist as teachers and supervisors. During the last six months the number of schools under the control of the Johannesburg Central Committee for Non-European Continuation Classes has grown from 23 to 26, there now being 142 teachers and 2,771 students. In. the past the Committee catered only for primary classes, but a secondary school in Johannesburg, formerly administered by the Witwatersrand Technical College, has now been placed under its control. It has also taken over from this'College temporary control of primary and secondary schools in the African townships of Germiston and Vereeniging, pending a decision as to their future. Negotiations are afoot to start another secondary school in the Johannesburg City area to cater for large numbers of workers who are anxious to do part-time study for the Junior Certificate and Matriculation examinations. The Adult Education Section of the Institute of Race Relations The Adult Education Section of the Institute of Race Relations continues its experimental work in the production of literacy material. It has evolved a system compounded of new elements and elements of established systems by which it is possible to teach adult, illiterate Africans to read and write in only 30 to 50 one- hour classes. The aim throughout is to make the learner relate what he is learning to his everyday living. Literacy primers have now been produced in seven African languages, also special functional courses for certain industrial units, courses in English, Afrikaans, and Arithmetic, special courses for Indian women, and, for Europeans, courses in the elements of Sotho, Zulu, and Xhosa. Follow-up reading material has also been produced, for example, a Guide to Health for Adults, published in English and several African languages, and short stories. In all these books, the services of African and, where appropriate, other Non-White writers and artists have been extensively used. Whenever there is an opportunity, African trainers on the Institute's staff visit the 53 mine compounds and the large number of night schools in which the material is used, to ensure that correct methods are employed. At a very conservative estimate, over 10,000 Africans a year are becoming literate through use of the Institute's material, at a cost to the Institute of about 4s. per illiterate. Transvaal Non-European Library Service The Transvaal Non-European Library Service, a voluntary organization centred in Pretoria, has during recent months -added very considerably to its stock of books and has re-catalogued them. 202
Most valuable gifts have been received from the United States Information Service, the Division of Bantu Education, and other organizations and individuals. One of its functions is to send out boxes of books in African and official languages to large numbers of depots (45 were served in 1954) at schools, libraries for Non-Whites, and so on in towns throughout the province. These depots ask for the types of books they need, whether novels or non-fiction, text books or stories for children. The boxes are exchanged periodically. Students may visit the library to borrow text books they require, or may write to ask for these. An average of 50 books is sent out by post annually, to African students in all parts of the Union and in other African territories. A reading room is provided in Pretoria and supplied with current newspapers and magazines in African and official languages. Correspondence courses are conducted to prepare Non-White students for the Preliminary Certificate examinations of the S.A. Library Association. During 1954 the Library Service published A Handbook of Libraiy Methods .fir Beginners, by H. Barker and A. Abramovitz. National Union of S.A. Students NUSAS, referred to also on page 192 of this Survey, arranged a Winter School in Johannesburg during July 1955, on the theme 'The New Africa.' A series of ten very well-attended lectures was given, each followed by discussion in study groups and then in plenary session. In February, a NUSAS Work Camp was held at the Catholic African College in Basutoland, Pius XII University College. About fifteen students from the various universities in South Africa spent a fortnight at the College assisting the students there with various building projects. The past year has seen the successful preparation t6r a PanAfrican Conference, the first of its kind to be held. This is being organized by the World University Service in Achimota, Gold Coast, in December. It will be attended by delegates from the Gold Coast, Nigeria, Uganda, the Sudan, and NUSAS. As a result of the intense interest oversea in race relations in South African universities, a team from the Co-ordinating Secretariat of National Unions of Students, which has its headquarters in Leyden, was to have visited South Africa at NUSAS's invitation in May. This team had intended examining race relations in South African universities and its itinerary had included consultations with all possible shades of opinion here. The Government, however, refused the team visas, and this decision has not been rescinded despite strong protests both by NUSAS and COSEC. Furthermore, the NUSAS representative who was to have attended a COSEC conference oversea was refused a passport. NUSAS has made a detailed study of the draft syllabuses fbr RELATIONS : 1954- -55 203
A SURVEY OF RACE African primary schools, and will shortly publish its findings together with its analysis of the relationship between the Bantu Education Act and 'Christian National Education' policy. It has, during the past year, negotiated a scholarship for an African student at the University of Oslo, continued to handle the appeal oversea for the African Medical Scholarships Trust Fund, and raised funds to enable an African student from Kenya, who had been studying in the Union but was ordered to leave the country, to take up a scholarship available to him in England. The Education League The Education League, which has headquarters in Johannesburg and branches in various centres of the Union, has during the past year published a pamphlet entitled Bantu 'Education,' expressing its opposition to the principles of the Bantu Education Act. It launched a trust fund to assist schools which decide to carry on as private institutions, without state subsidies. Another of its pamphlets, entitled The Advance of C.N.O. and the Setback to Education, expressed opposition to the doctrines enunciated by the Instituut vir Christelik-Nasionale Onderwys (Institute for Christian-National Education), not on grounds of political partisanship, but because members were convinced that these doctrines were narrowly sectional and political. They point out that compulsory mother-tongue tuition, the Bantu Education Act, and plans to introduce University apartheid are all in accordance with the objectives of the I.C.N.O. The League submitted a memorandum to the Commission of Enquiry in regard to Undesirable Literature, maintaining that any form of censorhsip before publication (as distinct from the prosecution of publishers of undesirable literature) was highly undesirable. Commission of Enquiry in regard to Undesirable Publications Early in 1955 the Commission appointed to enquire into the most effective means of combating the evils of indecent, offensive, or harmful literature or pictorial matter sent out a lengthy questionnaire divided into three sections dealing, respectively, with the nature of the problem, legislation dealing with it, and the question of the education and guidance of the community and the promotion of good literature. The Institute of Race Relations decided to deal with certain of the questions only which were directly relevant to its work and its aims.(53) It considered, it stated, that the promotion of religious, cultural, physical, and educational activities would do more to combat the effects of indecent literature than formal laws, by means of which it would in any case be difficult in a multi-racial country to produce a uniform acceptable pattern of what was considered decent or inoffensive. In its opinion the lack of adequate educational, vocational training, employment, and recreational facilities were (a) See Memorandum of Evidence, RR.77/1955. 204 RELATIONS: 1954-55 much more potent causes of Non-White misconduct and crime than was undesirable literature. The essential problem which faces South Africa was that of racial antagonisms and friction: any material aimed at stirring up enmity between racial groups was thus undesirable. The Institute urged that the press exercise the greatest vigilance over the mode of presentation of material which was likely to worsen race relations. Much could be done to lessen antagonism by the spread of informative literature in popular form. Material which stereotyped racial groups was also undesirable, and in this connection the Institute asked the Commission to examine history text-books used in schools to ascertain to what extent the treatment of history gave rise to racial hostilities. It pointed to the responsibility of parents, teachers, librarians, and churches for the direction of children's reading towards good literature, and away from undesirable literature. It urged the necessity for good, cheap literature for Non-Whites at this stage when many, however eager, could not buy books, and when library facilities were inadequate. The Institute described its own experimental work in the teaching of adult Africans to read and write, and its literacy primers and 'follow-up' material. It urged the need, not only for a campaign to wipe out illiteracy, for which the government had in principle accepted responsibility, but also for the production of books suitable for African adults, designed to meet the needs expressed by them, and in a form agreeable to them. Commercial firms were unwilling to undertake the financial risk attendant at present on the production of such material. For this reason the Institute suggested the creation of a government-sponsored Bureau of Literature which would not only help to meet the need for good literature, but would also provide a stimulus to African authors. The extension of library services for Non-Whites was advocated, the provision of adequate subsidies for them, and the training and employment of Non-White librarians. Representatives of the Institute gave oral evidence before the Commission during August.
A SURVEY OF RACE HEALTH Vital statistics The official Monthly Bulletin of Statistics provides vital statistics in regard to the White, Coloured, and Asiatic sections of the population, but not the African. In the towns and peri-urban areas where Medical Officers of Health have been appointed, these officials publish annual reports giving statistics for all sections of the population, but they themselves point out that the figures in respect of Africans are highly unreliable. Registration of births, in particular, is incomplete: in many cases the size of the African population of the area concerned is not accurately known, and the disproportionate number of men in urban areas also affects the result. The registration of births and deaths of Africans is now compulsory, but even in urban areas many parents prefer for various reasons not to register births if they can avoid doing so. In rural areas, of course, registration is even less complete. In the Assembly on 29 April 1955(1) the Minister of the Interior said that all native commissioners and magistrates had been appointed ex-o/ficio district registrars of African births and deaths; and in addition, 200 White persons and 1,000 Africans had been appointed as assistant district registrars in rural and in Native areas. The necessity to register, the Minister added, was brought to the notice of chiefs at quarterly meetings and on other occasions. Professor J. L. Sadie has, however, worked out considered estimated birth and death rates for Africans(2) and unless otherwise stated these will be employed. Provisional crude birth rates in 1954, per one thousand of the estimated mid-year population, were 25.5 for Whites, 48.8 for the Coloured section, and 36.7 for Asiatics. Published figures for Africans range between 25.6 in Durban and 59.1 in the Local Health Commission area of Natal, but Professor Sadie estimates that the average figure for the Union is between 43 and 47. Crude death dates in 1954 were 8.6 for Whites, 18.4 for Coloured, 9.1 for Asiatics, and between 27 and 32 for Africans. Professor Sadie ventures the conclusion that urbanization could have been responsible for some increase in the African death rate at the beginning, but that nowadays the mortality of Africans is lower in urban than in rural areas. Crude rates of natural increase, then, are 16.9 for Whites, 30.4 for Coloured people, 27.6 for Asiatics, and about 15 for Africans. Infintile mortality rates, per 1,000 live births, are(3) 34.2 for Whites, 132.7 fbr Coloured people, 61.2 for Asiatics, and between 200 and (1) f-ansard 12, cols. 4748-9. (2) Published in an article entitled 'Some Notes on Bantu Demography,' Journial of Racial Affairs, April 1955 (published by S.A.B.R.A.). (:F) Figure for Africans as estimated by Prof Sadie, and for other g-roups as given for 1954 by the Minister of the Interior, Assembly, 11 March 1955, Hansard 7, col. 2484. 206
RELATIONS: 1954-55 250 for Africans. It becomes apparent, then, that although the birth rate is highest among the Coloured and African sections, the death rate, particularly amongst infants, is highest among their ranks too. The natural increase rate of the Coloured people is at present higher than amongst Asiatics, while that of the Whites is apparently higher than the figure for Africans. Professor Sadie points out that a comparison of crude death rates of different sections of the population is misleading, since it is affected by their age distribution. Because the mortality rate amongst children is high, the more youthful population will register the higher crude death rate. To eliminate the effect of this factor, life tables are constructed. Such a table constructed for the African population of the Witwatersrand, he says, revealed an expectation of life of the average child at birth of 36.4 years. This compares with 66 years for Whites, 50.3 for Asiatics, and 42.8 for Coloured people. The median age of the populations, Professor Sadie continues, is 26.3 years fbr Whites, 20.3 for Africans, (') 18.4 for Coloured people, and 16.4 for Asiatics. There are no illegitimacy rates published for the Union, but if figures for a few of the larger urban areas are compared it appears that these range between 0.5 and 3 per cent. of the total number of births in the case of Whites, between 2 and 6 per cent. for Asiatics, between 20 and 35 per cent. for Coloured people, and between 32 and 61 per cent. for Africans. Work of the Union Department of Health A comparatively full account of work of the Union Department of Health and of the institutions it maintains, including the excellent health-centre service, was given in our last Survey(5) Provincial and provincially-subsidized hospitals Statistics relating to beds, numbers of nurses employed, and nurses in training at provincial and mission hospitals were also given in our last Survey. (6) No later over-all figures are available, but some significant developments have taken place during the year under review. There is still a very acute shortage of beds for Non-Whites throughout the Union. Particularly in the larger urban centres is this the case, as also for White people. Wards for Non-White patients continue to be most seriously overcrowded. In most provinces, new hospitals for them are planned or under construction. The Livingstone Hospital in Port Elizabeth has recently been built, and a sum of £64,800 has been provided in current capital estimates for a new nursing college and hospital in the Western Province to be (4) Including foreign-born Africans: it would be lower without these. (5) .4 Survey of Race Relations , 1953-4, pages 135-7. (6) Page 137.
A SURVEY OF RACE staffed mainly by Coloured nurses. Natal has allocated £166,000 on the 1956 estimates for the establishment of a new hospital for Non-Whites to relieve overcrowding at King Edward VIII Hospital, Durban: it is possible that the former Clairwood Military Hospital will be acquired for the purpose. The Transvaal Provincial Administration plans to build new Non-White hospitals at Vlakfontein, Atteridgeville, and, possibly, Natalspruit, and is taking over a former mine hospital in Springs. An experimental hospital for Africans, recently opened at Zastron in the Orange Free State, consists of a main building where serious cases are treated, and outside accommodation where recuperating patients care for themselves while remaining under the supervision of the medical and nursing staff. Its 45 beds have been provided at a cost of £333 each. The Board of Baragwanath Hospital in the Transvaal is reported(7) to have pointed out to a Commission of Enquiry into Hospitals Policy that beds for NonWhites in Transvaal provincial hospitals cost an average of £2,000 each: at that rate, they said, it was financially impossible to catch up with the demand. A solution they suggested was to erect conventional buildings for specialized purposes, for example, operating theatres, but to adopt a cheaper type of construction for the wards. The Transvaal Provincial Administration plans to make extended use of district nursing services and out-patient clinics, also, in country areas, to set up decentralized clinics which will deal with minor ailments, give immediate help in more serious and emergency cases, and act as a screening service for the hopitals. Although the shortage of nurses has been slightly reduced during the past year, it is still acute. The Minister of Health is reported(") to have said that 2,500 more trained nurses and 1,500 trainees are required. In all provinces strenuous efforts are being made to train larger numbers of Non-Whites. There are ,at present 2,627 fully trained Non-White nurses and 2,854 more in training(9); equivalent figures for Whites are some 3,500 and 5,000 respectively. A year ago there were only 6 Non-White nurses in the Free State(10); but the provincial authorities have now started a course of training for them in Bloemfontein. Expansion of training in Natal, which was made possible by the opening of the new hospital at Edendale, will probably develop further as hospital facilities are increased- existing training schools are compelled to turn away many thousands of applicants. In the Cape plans are being made for a new training centre for Coloured nurses in Paarl, and possibly another elsewhere. The new Livingstone Hospital in Port Elizabeth will eventually be staffed mainly by Non- Whites. (7) Rand )aily Mail, 23 July 1955. (8) The 5tar, 8 March 1955. (0) Information from S.A. NursinK Association. (11)) Information from Provincial Administration. 208
RELATIONS: 1954-55 There have been interesting developments at Baragwanath Hospital in Johannesburg. In the past, it was found that much wastage took place among Non- White trainees, largely because recruits came from far afield and the selection board was unable to interview many of them. A six months' pre-nursing adjustment course has now been introduced, for which the Junior Certificate is at present the minimum entrance qualification : it is intended later to raise this to matriculation. Every four months 100 cadets are enrolled, and only those who prove to be responsible, intelligent, and suited for a nursing career are permitted to remain to start the full nursing course. This policy has already shown good results. Africans are now serving as staff nurses, special-grade staff nurses, and sisters at Baragwanath, and it is hoped from next year to promote the best of them to become assistant matrons. A course for sister tutors is being planned. A further step that has been taken in all provinces to alleviate the shortage of nurses is to recruit Non-White auxiliary nurses, providing a shortened course of training for them which takes two years in the Cape and three years elsewhere. Mission and mine hospitals continue to provide this type of training, issuing their own certificates to those who complete the courses successfully. Only in Durban, Pietermaritzburg, and Cape Town are Non-White male nurses trained for the full nursing certificate: other provincial hospitals use male orderlies who are trained on the job. The S.A. Nursing Association arranged a five-day conference in Johannesburg during November 1954, on 'African culture and its relation to the training of African nurses,' to assist doctors and other health personnel who have close dealings with African nurses and patients. The Nursing Amendment Bill The Nursing Amendment Bill, originally introduced into Parliament during 1951, contained clauses which sought to exclude Non-Whites from appointment or election to the S.A. Nursing Council or the Board of the S.A. Nursing Association. This proposal caused much concern among many members of the nursing profession who felt that, although Non-Whites had in fact never yet served on these bodies, it was undesirable to render them ineligible. The measure was postponed for further consideration. The S.A. Nursing Association conducted a referendum among its members, a majority voting in favour of these discriminatory clauses. Later, representatives of the Association suggested to the branches that Non-White nurses should elect a Non-White Standing Committee with a White chairman who would represent their interests on the Nursing Board. This principle was at the time approved by a majority of the Non-White nurses themselves. On two occasions the S.A. Nursing Council voted in favour of the relevant clauses of the Bill : at the second meeting a motion calling 200
A SURVEY OF- RACE for their deletion was, however, defeated only on the casting vote of' the chairman. The Bill was again introduced in the Assembly during 1954, but after its first reading was referred to a Select Committee. In its evidence the S.A. Nursing Association suggested the creation of a Non-White Standing Committee of the Board. The Institute of Race Relations(") strongly opposed the imposition by legislative means of divisions along racial lines in professional bodies whose members in the past had possessed common interests and loyalties which had over-ridden sectional differences. It urged that the discriminatory clauses be deleted from the Bill. It added, however, that if its point of view should not prevail, Non-White nurses should at least be directly represented on the Board and the Council, and by persons of their own choice, irrespective of their racial grouping. The Select Committee had not completed its work by the end of the Session, but the terms of office of the Nursing Council and the Board of the Nursing Association were due to expire during 1955. The Nursing Council and Board Continuation Act, No. 63 of 1955, was thus introduced to prolong their periods of office until such date as the Governor-General might determine. Training and registration of other health personnel Developments in the training of medical practitioners -are outlined on page 195. During the past year Dr W. L. Jojo, an African who qualified at Witwatersrand University, has been appointed as acting district surgeon in the Thabankulu district of Pondoland, where there are tens of thousands of Africans but only a handful of Whites. Before taking up his appointment he was required to sign an agreement that he would practise among the Non-Whites only. A correspondent of a daily newspaper(2) commented that it would be reassuring to learn that a proviso had been made for emergencies to be treated, whatever the colour of the sufferer, for otherwise Dr Jojo might at some time face a situation in which he had to choose between breaking his Hippocratic oath by refraining from saving life, or committing a crime by disregarding his agreement with the government. A course in radiography for trained Non-White nurses is to commence at Baragwanath Hospital shortly. The courses for health assistants and laboratory technicians fbrmerly conducted at the Institute of Family and Community Health, Durbari, have unfortunately been terminated, as has that for women home demonstrators until recently available at Mbutu in the Transkei. Non-White men may train as health inspectors in part-time classes conducted at Witwatersrand Technical College: the Minister of Health referred to the grave shortage of health inspectors when he (I1) hi a memorandum of evidence, RR.40/195S. (12) The Star, 3 October 1955. 210
RELATIONS: 1954--55 opened a congress of the Health Officials' Association of South Africa in October 1955, and advocated that wherever possible Non-Whites should be appointed to do the work in African townships. A Supplementary Health Services Bill was introduced during 1955, and was referred to a Select Committee. It provided for the registration and control of the activities of persons engaged in the performance of supplementary health services, for example, chiropodists, radiographers, dieticians, food and health inspectors, hygiene officers, physiotherapists, speech therapists, etc. It was proposed in the Bill that committees for each class of work should be established, Non-Whites being precluded from serving on these. General health services provided by voluntary bodies Many voluntary organizations continue to do most valuable work in the field of health: the co-ordinating bodies of some of those providing general health services are the National War Memorial Health Foundation, St John Ambulance Association, the S.A. Red Cross Society, the Noodhulpliga, the S.A. National Council for Maternal and Family Welfare, and Die Suid-A/rikaanse Federale Vroueraad which undertakes maternity services as one of its functions. The activities of some of these organizations were outlined in our last Survey; others, which provide more specialized services, will be described in the pages that follow. It is not the function of the Institute of Race Relations to provide health services, but occasionally when the need is great and no other organization is immediately willing or able to act, the Institute initiates such services, handing them over to the control of a more appropriate body or of an independent committee when possible. During the year under review its Cape Western Regional Committee became very much concerned about the totally inadequate medical facilities at Nyanga, where there was an African population of well over 6,000. It made representations in various quarters, and found that for administrative reasons a considerable delay might occur before the authorities were in a position to provide medical or district nursing services there. The Regional Committee then appealed for funds and donationsof equipment, enlisted the voluntary assistance of several doctors, trained nurses, and clerical helpers, and established a clinic at Nyanga which operates weekly. Application has now been made for its registration as a separate Welfare Organization, with its own committee. Mention was made in our last Survey of A Guide to Health for African adults, produced by the Adult Education Section of the Institute of Race Relations. Originally produced in English, this has now been translated into a number of African languages and has been adapted by the S.A. Broadcasting Corporation and the broadcasting station in Lusaka for use in African programmes. The Institute's Cape Eastern Committee has recently inaugurated courses in health and hygiene for young African men and women,
A SURVEY OF RACE matriculation students, in New Brighton. These students undertake after qualifying to organize and conduct cl asses in health, using a Guide to Health as a text book. An interesting socio-medical experiment is in progress among the African people in the Valley of a Thousand Hills, Natal, conducted by the Valley Trust under the chairmanship of Dr H. Stott. Its object is to promote the health and well-being of the local population with due regard to the significance, as factors in illhealth, of their social, economic, educational, and nutritional customs, and of their total social environment. Some essential components of the scheme are run by other bodies, for example, the health centre with its district nursing service, conducted by the Union Health Department, and the Botha's Hill T.B. Settlement, run by Toc H. The Trust itself provides religious, educational, cultural, and recreational activities, a community hall, and a market for fresh produce and the products of local home industries. It places much emphasis on promotive health education, hence undertakes nutritional and agricultural activities, which are outlined on page 142. Notes on work in connections with specific diseases 1. Poliomyelitis Following on the 1948 epidemic of poliomyelitis in the Union, a committee was formed under the chairmanship of the then Mayoress of Johannesburg to collect funds for the establishment of a Poliomyelitis Research Foundation. By the end of December 1950, when the public appeal closed, over £500,000 had been raised. The state has made large contributions to maintenance costs. By 1955 the Foundation, under the direction of Dr James Gear, was producing a prophylactic vaccine against poliomyelitis somewhat similar to America's 'Salk' vaccine, but considered to be safer. The Minister of Health recently said(13) that the Foundation had undoubtedly made a very large and valuable contribution to world knowledge on the subject. The vaccination of applicants has commenced. 2. Tuberculosis In speeches made during the year(14) the Minister of Health has pointed to the loss of manpower caused by tuberculosis. About 80,000 Non-Whites suffer from this disease, he said, whilst 15,000 die of it annually. During 1954, no less than 30,364 cases among all racial groups were notified. The senior medical officer at King George V Hospital in Durban is reported(15) to have stated at a National Tuberculosis Conference held during May 1955 that of some 20,500 children of all races tested for tuberculosis in Durban, (13) Senate, 6 May 1955, Hansard 9, col. 2348. (14) Assembly, 11 February 1955, Hansard 3, col. 977; Senate, 6 May 1955, Hansard 9, cols. 2341-4; opening of National Tuberculosis Conference in Cape Town, 3 May 1955. (15) The Star, 4 May 1955. 212
40 per cent. of the Africans, 20 per cent. of the Coloured children, 17 per cent. of the Indians, and about 6 per cent. of the Whites showed positive reactions. Mainly through the use of new drugs, the Minister said, the death rate had been considerably reduced; but it remained very high among Non-Whites. Between 1948 and 1952 the death rates per 100,000 of population fell from 30.8 to 14.9 for Whites, from 142.8 to 57.1 for Asiatics, and from 452.9 to 319.3 for Coloured people. No figures fbr Africans were available. Use of the new drugs has made it possible to cut down very considerably the period a patient need stay in hospital, and, in consequence, the number of beds required. The large-scale implementation of domiciliary follow-up treatment was discussed at the National Conference held in May: the Minister announced that the state had voted an additional £500,000 for this purpose in a total budget of £3 million for anti-tuberculosis work. About 25,000 beds are required, he said, some 9,400 being available at present. The state and the S.A. National Tuberculosis Association were both planning new hospitals or settlements, and local authorities were urged to assist. A new settlement for Africans has been established at Hammanskraal by the Seventh Day Adventists' Reform Movement during the past year; and the Local Health Commission, Natal, has made land available for one at Edenvale. 3. Mental health During the year under review the Minister of Health has talked about mental ill- health in Parliament(16), the Commissioner fir Mental Hygiene has published an annual report,(17) the S.A. National Council for Mental Health has held its annual Council meeting, and the National Council of S.A. Women has held a conference on the subject. The information that follows is taken from all these sources. In May 1955 there were 18,730 patients in mental hospitals designed to accommodate 17,582. The government hopes during the year 1955-6 to provide accommodation for another 2,200 patients, in some cases in temporary pre- fabricated buildings. The need for accommodation is probably about the same for all races which would imply that there should be about five beds for NonWhites for each one for Whites. The present ratio is 1.1 to 1. Consequently there is gross overcrowding in mental hospitals for Non-Whites, and thousands of mentally disordered persons are unable to gain admission. The disruptive effect their presence has on the lives of their families needs no underlining. Magistrates are sometimes compelled to commit dangerous patients to goals: ('") Assembly. 10 May 1955, Hansard 14, col. 5314, and Senate, 6 May 1955, tansard 9, col. 2352. (17) For 1953 U.(G. 26/1955. RELATIONS : 1954-55 213
A SURVEY OF RACE no less than 443 patients were detained in police cells during the quarter ended 31 March 1955. The government has provided no accommodation whatsoever for Non-White mentally defective (as against disordered) persons or epileptics. It gives financial aid to the one privately-run home for Non-White defectives, which can accommodate twelve Coloured boys only. The shortage of staff is, however, even more grave than the shortage of accommodation. In 1953 there were vacancies on the permanent establishment for 283 female and 54 male nurses, besides which 397 women were being temporarily employed in permanent posts. At least 1,000 women nurses are required immediately. The main difficulty in attracting White personnel is the lack of status accorded to mental nurses. Because the entrance qualification is only the Junior Certificate, a large proportion of recruits fails the examinations, while if the qualification is raised White recruits cannot be obtained. Yet Non- White women are not offered the full course of training; they are employed only as nursing assistants. The National Council for Mental Health, which is the coordinating body of nine mental health societies, has as one of its aims 'to promote the ability to live a satisfying and harmonious life in a changing environment: this involves the control of emotional conflicts and tensions within the individual, between individuals, and between groups.' Its member societies employ social workers to assist those of all racial groups who cannot be admitted to institutions, run free clinics conducted by government and honorary psychiatrists and psychologists, provide aftercare for discharged mental patients, conduct occupational centres for retarded children, and strive to familiarize the public with the principles of mental ill-health. These societies have, during the year, found keen allies in the memberhip of the National Council of Women. At its 1955 Council meeting the National Council for Mental Health set up twelve expert sub-committees to study various aspects of the blue-print which was accepted for mental health services in South Africa. The main needs stressed at this meeting and at the N.C.W. conference were increased accommodation and staff, day hospital services and 24-hour psychiatric services, convalescent homes and sheltered employment, psychiatric work in ante-natal clinics, and research. 4. Eye diseases The National Council for the Blind (which is the co-ordinating body for a number of societies for the care of White and Non-White blind persons) continues to operate a mobile clinic with the assistance of honorary ophthalmic surgeons. At the end of 1954 this clinic toured the Transkei. It was at first found that Africans accepted unnecessary blindness with a fatalistic attitude, but after sight had 214
RELATIONS: 1954-55 been restored to a number of people by means of cataract and other operations, cases for examination and treatment arrived at the centres, sometimes from as far as 60 miles away, on horseback, by train, and bus, and sometimes on foot. The main object of the Unit was not to perform major operations - which were, however, undertaken when necessary - but to teach the people to employ every available means for the prevention of blindness. The S.A. Library for the Blind, in Grahamstown, is hoping to hlave some of its records translated into African languages, in order to bring its services within the reach of Africans who cannot read books in Braille. 5. Cancer Over £200,000 has been collected from the public to found a National Cancer Association, the aim of which is to make early diagnosis and treatment available to all who cannot afford such services. A board of trustees will consider applications for grants towards the development of diagnostic and treatment services. 6. Cripples The main aim of the National Council for the Care of Cripples in South Africa (which is the co-ordinating body for a number of voluntary associations for the care of cripples) is wherever possible to rehabilitate cripples so as to enable them to obtain work in the open labour market as normal members of society. Among the central committees of the national organization are those dealing with vocational training for physically handicapped persons of all races, especially Africans, cerebral palsy, and the education of the public: this educational campaign has a two-fold aim - to enlarge the avenues of employment open to crippled persons, and to help the latter to appreciate the benefits to be obtained from orthopaedic treatment. During the year under review the national body has assisted with the funds needed to establish a full-time Chair of Orthopaedic Surgery at the Cape Town Medical School, has continued to assist CAFDA with its Industrial Training Centre for Coloured cripples, (18) has enabled two African nurses to receive training in orthopaedics in England, and has continued to press for the institution of such training facilities for Non-White nurses in the Union. Constituent societies have run or given financial assistance to vocational training centres and sheltered employment projects (especially for Non-Whites), have run orthopaedic clinics and homes for crippled children of various racial groups, and have provided after-care for discharged patients and assistance for other crippled persons. Cripples are taught to use artificial limbs, fitted with calipers, transported to hospitals or clinics for treatment, and taken (W) See Page 224. 215
216 A SURVEY OF RACE on outings. Many of the societies employ social workers, orthopaedic sisters, or trained African nurses. Research-Traditional African medicines The African Dingaka Association of herbalists and medicine men is establishing an institute in Johannesburg to undertake research into traditional African medicines and methods of diagnosis. Research work in progress at the University of the Witwatersrand includes studies of the qualifications recognized by the Xhosa for initiation as a doctor, of the snake cult among Negroes, and of the pharmacology of a witch-doctor's equipment.
RELATIONS: 1954-55 NUTRITION Subsidies The state continues to subsidize butter, maize, wheat, bread, oil-cake, fertilizers, margarine sold to lower income groups, and milk supplied free to certain groups of pre-school children. The Minister of Agriculture said in the Assembly on 10 May 1955(l) that food subsidies paid by the state amounted to about £20 million a year. A number of local authorities conducted subsidized milk schemes and markets in their African townships. Bremer Bread According to the Minister of Health(2) there had been a rapidly increasing demand for Bremer bread - that is, wholemeal bread enriched according to a formula devised by the Department of Nutrition. When this was introduced in 1952, about 80 per cent. of the bread eaten in the Union was white. Since then the consumption of white bread had been reduced from 92 million to 75 million loaves per quarter, while Bremer bread was now being consumed at the rate of 32 million loaves a quarter. In view of this large-scale increase it was undoubted, the Minister said, that the fortified bread was now being bought on a considerable scale by undernourished people, for whom it was really intended. The state was at present spending £524,000 a year on the enrichment of bread. Other work of the Department of Nutrition In the same speech the Minister of Health pointed out that the fortifying of mealie meal was more difficult. Experimentation was in progress, and mealie meal enriched with soya bean meal, milk powder, food yeast, and calcium carbonate was being supplied to prisons and other institutions. Unfortunately the colour was slightly changed by the admixture of the ingredients, which made Africans averse to buying it since they liked their mealie meal to be white. The Government had, however, decided to restrict the production of bakers cones - that is, highly refined mealie meal which looked attractive, but from which all useful proteins, minerals, and most of the fats had been removed. In order to popularize milk, especially among Africans, the department is considering its large-scale supply in bottles like those used for Coca-Cola and other minerals, the milk sterilized in such a way that it will last for some months if the bottles are unopened. Besides continuing other experimental work (for example, methods of fish flour production) and general propaganda, the Department of Nutrition has drawn up minimum diets for the adequate nourishment of persons of any racial group, and produces (') Hansard 13, col. 5007. (2) Senate, 6 May 1955; Hansard 9, col. 2357, and Assembly, -7 May 1955, flansard 15, col, 5762.
A SURVEY OF RACE useful ration scales, such as those contained in an article entitled 'Native Feeding on Farms,' by E. Meyer. Other research work in progress The investigation by the National Institute of Personnel Research, in collaboration with nutrition experts and the Pretoria Medical School, of the relationship between developmental curves and nutritional status, socio-economic and cultural backgrounds of a group of African children in Lady Selborne, Pretoria, is referred to on page 72. The nutritional condition of expectant mothers and its effect on the subsequent mental growth of the child will be traced. The Medical School of Pretoria University is interested mainly in determining, the factors, nutritional and other, which cause prematurity. The: Clinical tResearch Unit at the University of Cape Town has been engaged in a series of projects comparing the patterns of health and disease in the three main racial groups of the Peninsula in relation to nutrition especially, but against the background of their environmental and inherited factors. The Unit has been concerned with varieties of malnutrition and resulting disorders of health;i and also with over-feeding and its relation to coronary heart disease. Durban's Family Health Research Unit is conducting studies of maternal nutrition, survival in infancy, and infant growth amongst Zulu and Indian communities. It has drawn up standards of growth applicable to various groups in South Africa. * The Human Biochemistry Research Unit at the S.A. Institute for Medical Research, Johannesburg, has been engaged in metabolic studies among African infants and young children, including investigations of the incidence of rickets.: There is also a Nutrition Research Unit at the University of the Witwatersrand, which has been studying malnutrition and metabolic disorders in African infants and others. In view of the fact that kaffir beer brewing has become one of the Unii's major industries (in 1953-4 municipal breweries alone produced nearly 21 million gallons valued at £2,017,274(3)), the Council for Scientific Research has been studying its manufacture, with the object of helping brewers to improve their processes. The Institute of Administrators of Non-European Affairs has now set up a technical sub-committee for kaffir beer research. Feeding schemes provided by voluntary organizations Prominent among a number of voluntary schemes is the African Children's Feeding Scheme, Johannesburg, which feeds 5,000 children a day at nine centres in various townships and at ten schools which do not qualify for the school- feeding grant. Each child receives daily two slices of brown bread spread with specially (3) From CSIR Research Review, September 1955. 218 fbrtified peanut butter, together with skimmed milk or soup. This costs about 5d. per head per day, of which the children are asked to pay 1d. unless welfare authorities certify that their parents cannot afford even this amount. The remainder of the cost, which totals about £1,000 a month, is contributed by the public. Except for one African woman in the office, all the workers are unpaid volunteers. The Feeding Scheme has acquired a projector, and short films on nutrition are shown four times a week to mothers attending clinics in African townships. Other feeding schemes are operated in various parts of the country by the National War Memorial Health Foundation, the Cape Flats Distress Association, the Pretoria Joint Council of Europeans and Non-Europeans, and a number ofother organizations. After studying the results of the dietary survey conducted at Alexandra Township by the Entokozweni Family Welfare Centre and its own small survey of the budgets of the Nkosi family('), the Southern Transvaal Regional Committtee of the Institute of Race Relations set up an expert sub-committee to investigate means of improving the diet of urban Africans. Members are compiling a table of comparative values of foods, showing the cheaper and more economical equivalents for expensive food-stuffs. A table of complementary foods is also being compiled for guidance on balanced meals. In an endeavour to break through conservative, eating habits, a number of recipes for inexpensive dishes of high nutritional value, containing ingredients which are easily obtainable, has been prepared and distributed to selected African families. A check is being kept on the acceptability of these dishes to Africans. The Regional Committee is co-operating in this matter with the Institute's Adult Education Section, which is engaged in preparing recipe books for African and Indian families. It is hoped to extend the nutritional propaganda considerably during 1956. (4) See Page 45 RELATIONS : 1954-55 219
A SURVEY OF RACE WELFARE Control of Welfare Work Previous Surveys have described the recent review of the functions of the Department of Social Welfare,(1) and the recommendations by the (Du Plessis) Committee appointed in 1951 to inquire into the financing of voluntary welfare organizations. (2) During the past year the Minister of Social Welfare said in Parliament(3) that large numbers of memoranda, covering a very wide field, had been submitted to his department following on the publication of the Du Plessis Committee's report. The comments contained in these were being studied in conjunction with the Committee's recommendations. The department was striving to eliminate overlapping, the Minister- continued. On the one hand, it was necessary to make a clear distinction between technical work, to be carried out by trained social workers, and administrative and clerical work. On the other hand, the fields of the department and of voluntary organizations had to be better demarcated. The Government considered that, in general, voluntary bodies should be responsible for child welfare and family welfare, while departmental officials should undertake work in connection with cases on which the state was spending money or which affected the freedom of a person. Pensions and Grants The Minister of Finance said in his Budget speech in 1955(4) that the amount paid by the state in disability grants, old-age pensions, and other social pensions, food subsidies, medical services, and so forth amounted to some £60 million in 1954. (As is stated on page 217, the food subsidies totalled about £20 million). Full information about pensions and grants paid in South Africa has not been published: what information is obtainable is tabulated in Annexure III. It would appear from this(5) that White people receive about £16.956,000 a year in pensions and grants, Coloured people about £2,986,000, Asiatics about £532,000, and Africans about £4,139,000. Amounts per head of population would be £5 18s. 9d. for Whites, £2 9s. 6d. for Coloured persons, £1 6s. 8d. for Asiatics, and 9s. 2d. for Africans. The largest item in the list of pensions and grants is old-age pensions. Average amounts per beneficiary paid in 1954 were £104 13s. Od. for Whites, £38 12s. 6d. for Coloured persons, £37 3s. Od. for Asiatics, and £11 14s. lld. for Africans.(-) (') Sur'ey for 1952-3, page 95. (2) .Surzey for 1953-4, page 141. (3) Senate, 1 June 1955, Hansard 12, cols. 3004-5; Assembly, 10 June 1955, Hansard 18, cols. 7505-6. (4) Assembly, 24 March 1955. Hansard 9, col. 3215. (,') Estimates by the writer. (1) Minister of Finance, Assembly, 11 February 1955; Hansard 3, col. 982. 220
Maximum pensions payable to Africans were £18 15s. Od. a year in the nine principal cities, £15 15s. Od. in smaller towns, and £12 15s. Od. in rural areas. The maximum for Whites was £114, for Coloured persons £49 10s. Od., and for Asiatics £43 10s. Od., Local authorites and voluntary organizations also assist needy persons. Furthermore, besides these amounts paid to individuals, the state (and in some cases also other public authorities) also spends considerable sums on group services, for example, re-adjustment and sheltered employment services, subsidization of wages and settlements for elderly or infirm persons, schools for handicapped children, school feeding, children's insitutions, relief work in distressed areas, and so on. It also makes grants-in-aid to many voluntary societies, and subsidizes numerous projects. An amountof £2,500,000 was set aside in the estimates for 1955-6 for increased benefits to old-age pensioners, war veterans, blind and physically unfit persons, and those in receipt of maintenance grants and family allowances. These pensions were raised by £1 a month for Whites, 5/-- for Coloured and Asiatics, and 2s. 6d. for Africans. (7) The Minister of Social Welfare announced(8) that the per capita subsidies payable to children's institutions controlled by voluntary bodies were also being increased. Three changes in policy have been decided upon during the year.. Firstly, the Minister of Labour is anxious to do away with as many pensions as possible, placing the former recipients in employment instead sheltered or subsidized employment, if necessary. A Rehabilitation Council has been appointed to advise him in this matter. (9) His department already subsidized the employment of 2,000 handicapped persons, the Minister has said, (10) and it conducted 14 sheltered employment factories. Employees in these factories produced goods worth £400,000 during a sevenmonth period in 1954. Secondly, the Minister of Social Welfare announced (11) that, in future, departmental officers or magistrates only would administer and distribute poor relief from state funds. Previously some local authorities and voluntary bodies had assisted in this work, frequently supplementing from their own resources the rations or other forms of benefit provided by the state. Thirdly, in his reply to the Budget debate the Minister of Finance said :(12) 'As regards payments (of pensions and grants) to Natives, the present system will be continued, but I am informed by my colleague, the Minister of Native Affairs, . . . that he hopes later to introduce a method of social services which will be more in (7) Minister of Finance, Assembly, 4 April 1955; Hansard 10, col. 3831. (8) As reported in The Star, 26 October 1954. (9) See Page 162 (10) As reported irn The Star, 21 February 1955. (11) The Star, 26 October 1954. (12) Assembly, 4 April 1955; Hansard 10, col. 3831. RELATIONS : 1945-55 221
A SURVEY OF-RACE accordance with Native custom and tradition.' Later, the Minister of Native Affairs said :(13) 'My department inherited one old-age home from the Department of Social Welfare. I regard such homes as a wrong system. I do not intend continuing it. I even regard old-age pensions as a wrong system of dealing with the Native. We want to evolve a system whereby we reinstate the natural obligations of Bantu authorities and Bantu children in regard to their old people, with the support of an- equal amount of money to that which we now spend wrongly in caring for them.' Conference on Social Work among Non-Whites in urban areas A conference on social work among Non-White people in urban areas was convened by the Johannesburg Co-ordinating Council of Social Welfare Organizations at the University of the Witwatersrand duringJuly 1955. The sponsors were the Co-ordinating Council, the University's Social Studies Department, the Johannesburg Municipal Non-European Affairs Department, the Institute of Race Relations, the Johannesburg Case-Supervisors' Committee, and the Non-European Social Workers' Association. The Southern Transvaal Regional Committee of the Institute of Race Relations undertook the later stages of organization. Over 330 delegates attended, representing 102 welfare and other organizations, including the government Departments of Social Welfare and Nativc Afftirs, and equiyalent departments of municipalities along the Reef and in Pretoria. A number of papers of a high standard were delivered. (14). In findings adopted in concluding sessions, delegates agreed that while it was necessary to stimulate self-help among Non-Whites, their welfare needs were the responsibility of the whole community and they should not be expected alone to finance services for their benefit, especially as their social difficulties so often resulted from poverty. In view of the increasing prosperity of the country and of the larger contributions Non-Whites were making to general revenue, state grants to Non-White welfare services should be increased. A council was set up for the co-ordination of the work of organizations dealing with social work among Non-Whites in urban areas. National Conference on Welfare of the Aged A National Conference on the Welfare of the Aged was held in Cape Town during October 1955. Aspects of the question that were discussed included housing, medical facilities, employment opportunities, financial assistance and pensions, legal assistance, and recreational and social activities. (18) Assembly, 13 June 1955; Hansard 19, col. 7628. (14) The main points made in these papers were summarized in the documient RR.124/1955 (Institute of Race Relations). 222
RELATIONS: 1954--55 The conference urged all housing authorities to ensure that adequate provision was made for the aged group in housing schemes for all racial groups, and suggested to the Minister of Finance a fbrmula whereby increased pensions might be payable to those who did not claim them as soon as they were eligible. Recommendations were made for the establishment of auxiliary nursing services, both White and Non-White, for the care of elderly people in hospitals and other institutions and in their own homes. The Cape Western Regional Committee of the Institute of Race Relations has been interesting itself in the plight of African old-age pensioners, having made representations on their behalf to appropriate authorities. Work of Voluntary Organizations There is a larger number of voluntary organizations engaged in Welfare work than in any other branch of social activity. National bodies include the Suid-Afrikaanse Federale Vroueraad, the National Council of Women and the National Council of African Women, Toc H, the Salvation Army, the S.A. National Council of Child Welfare, the S.A. Women's Agricultural Union, the Union of Jewish Women of Southern Africa, Algemene Armesorg Kommissies of the Dutch Reformed Church, Jewish Benevolent Societies, the Catholic Women's League, the Society of St Vincent de Paul, the British Empire Service League, Mothers' Unions of the various churches, the National Road Safety Organization, the National Marriage Guidance Council, and many more. There is obviously no space in this Survey to deal with the activities of all of these: short notes can be included on national and local organizations with which the Institute has been in close touch. The S.A. National Council for Child Welfare, which is a federal body composed of autonomous affiliated child welfare societies and representatives of other interested bodies and government departments, has a Standing Committee for Non-European Child Welfare work. Recommendations by this Committee at its meeting in February 1955 which were subsequently endorsed by the Council were that institutional accommodation be provided fbr mentally defective Non-White children, that mothercraft training be made available for Non-White nurses, that school feeding be extended in African schools, that family allowances for Indians be restored, and that children born of the union of White and African parents be regarded as Coloured, not African. Work undertaken by individual child welfare societies varies according to local needs, but many of them employ social workers or district nurses, and almost all undertake general assistance with family difficulties, help in arranging adoptions and placements with foster parents, supervise foster homes, and provide institutions such as clinics, creches, or clubs. Branches of the Union of Jewish Women of Southern Africa continue to interest themselves deeply in the welfare of Non-Whites. They raise funds for charitable organizations., bursaries, and so on, and 223
A SURVEY OF* RACE most of them run projects such as cr~ches, nursery schools, feeding depots, mothercraft welfare centres, and soup kitchens. The Cape Flats Distress Association (CAFDA) continues to run two community centres for Coloured people on the Cape Flatg, at Retreat and at Windermere. Activities include case work, day nurseries, a shop where groceries aresold on a non-profit basis, refurbishing and sale of used clothing, a soup kitchen, and a variety of leisure-time activities. A feature of Retreat is the industrial training centre for disabled men, run in partnership with the National Council for Care of Cripples and with the aid of certain subsidies from the Department of Labour. Social rehabilitative work as well as industrial training is undertaken, with the aim of turning the men into productive working members of society. Contracts are negotiated with industrialists for the performance of suitable work. Forty-five trainees are taken at a time, for varying periods according to their needs, and placed on the open labour market as soon as they are sufficiently rehabilitated. Each year during the rainy season many hundreds of homes on the Cape Flats are flooded, and each year CAFDA has provided emergency relief for those who are temporarily homeless and destitute. The public of Cape Town has responded magnificently on these occasions by donating money, clothing, and food; but for years no action was taken by the authorities to prevent a recurrence of the disaster. The last floods brought such widespread misery, however, that the public conscience was fully awakened: joint action is now to be taken by the government and the local authorities concerned to drain the Flats. The Entokozweni Family Welfare Centre at Alexandra Township, Johannesburg, employs a Director, a Medical Officer, six African social workers, two African nursing sisters, and other staff, and has numerous voluntary helpers. Activities at the centre during the past year have included a nursery and lower primary school and a play centre, recreational clubs for children and adults, night schools and literacy classes, sewing, cooking, and domestic science courses, vegetable clubs, a co-operative grocery store, case work, and the organization of home industries for women with small children. The cost-of-living studies undertaken are mentioned on page 144. The medical section of the centre, which works in close co-operation with the Alexandra Health Centre and University Clinic, has conducted a nutrition clinic, undertaken a mass immunization campaign against diphtheria, typhoid, whooping cough, and smallpox, held regular lectures and discussions on mothercraft, and provided bi-weekly film shows on nutrition and child care. In Cape Town is the Hyman Liberman Institute, which provides about forty types of continuous activities for Coloured people, including sewing and art classes, recreational activities such as boxing, physical culture, and table tennis, and a nursery school and 224 play centre. The staff of the centre's well-stocked library runs story hours for children. Large numbers of other organizations use the buildings as a headquarters, for example, church and administrative bodies, scout troops and boys' clubs, child guidance clinics, football clubs, ambulance brigades, and so on. Other community centres for Non-White people are mentioned in the next chaper of this Survey. Members of the Institute of Race Relations in Durban have been in touch with a number of voluntary welfare organizations there. For some years the regional office of the Insitute acted as secretariat for the Brandon Bantu Hostel, established for African boys who are in need of special care and treatment. They live in the hostel but are not detained there: most of them attend ordinary schools. Much attention is given to their personalities and problems, however, and they are encouraged to spend their spare time constructively, on carpentry, gardening, scouting activities, and so on. A number of bodies has co-operated during the past year to make possible the opening of the Nobantwana Nursery School in Chesterville Location, and to raise £12,500 from the public for the Cato Manor Community Welfare Huts and Their Daily Bread Fund. The 7an H. Holmeyr School of Social Work in Johannesburg continues to provide a three-year diploma course for Non-White men and women who are subsequently employed by municipalities, child welfare and other voluntary societies, community centres, and so on. Members of the Institute of Race Relations maintain close contact with this school, also with the Bantu Men's Social Centre and the Donaldson Orlando Community Centre. They are very much interested, too, in the work of bodies such as the Zenzele Clubs, the Orlando Mothers' Welfare Association,(15) and others. Under the aegis of three special National Advisers-for African Affairs, Coloured Affairs, and Indian Affairs- branches of the National Council of Women are active in these fields. Some, for example, the Rustenburg Branch, have special study groups for the purpose. Others appoint special sub-committees to deal with particular matters, such as problems of pre-school care, hopitalization, prison conditions, over-crowding in schools, school feeding, delays at government offices, and conditions on trains. N.C.W. Branch Councils have endeavoured to help and encourage African women's organizations, have run sewing classes and thrift clubs fbr African women, and have organized literacy movements. One Branch is making a study of African manners and customs vis-a-vis those of Whites. In all areas where there are Coloured communities, N.C.W. Branch Councils work both with and for them. The main continuing fields of activity are health, housing, employment, education, child care, especially for the pre-school child, library facilities, and recreational opportunities for all age groups, the sale of liquor, (15) See last .Yurzv, page 146. RELATIONS : 1954-5 225
A SURVEY OF RACE shopping and catE provisions, trading licences, especially on new estates, and juvenile delinquency (in co-operation with other bodies). The establishment of councils or committees of Coloured women is encouraged. Close contact is maintained with central and local government officials concerned with the Coloured people. During 1954, special studies were made of the impact of the Group Areas Act on Coloured housing and of the employment of Coloured convict labour. Some Branch Councils have investigated the application of the Population Registration Act to Coloured persons. An organization of' great interest on the Reef is the African Self Help Association, formerly called the Association of European and African Women. This Association has, during the past six years, set up seventeen African Women's Service Committees, ten of which are functioning in the area of Greater Orlando. Their activities fall into two broad categories -- fund-raising, and with the money thus obtained, the provision of community services. Seven day-nurseries, two schools, one soup kitchen, and one boys' club owe their existence to Service Committee effort. The organizers say, however, that they have come to realize that the educational aspect of the work is of greater importance than its practical side. It is comparatively easy to show women how to make useful articles from scraps of material or a tasty meal from left-overs, but far more difficult to assist those who are comparative new-comers to the town to adjust themselves mentally to their new environment. The African characteristic of helpfulness is still alive amongst them, but is tending to disappear in its traditional form, partly because of abject poverty and a depressing struggle for existence in dreary environments, and partly because many of them consider African welfare to be the White man's obligation: this belief has been strengthened by the well-meant provision by charitable organizations and individuals of free services. The entry of women of this type into the Service Committees has confronted the Association with its hardest task - to impress on them western standards of punctuality and reliability, and gradually to build up in them a sense of duty towards their community. The Association is deeply convinced that a new conception of community service based on self-help will gain ground as Service Committee work continues. That the apathetic and defeatist attitude encountered by the African Self Help Association does exist is borne out by the experience of numerous government, municipal, and voluntary workers who are in close touch with urban Africans. How much of this attitude is due to unfamiliarity with western patterns of behaviour, grinding poverty, and discrimination based on skin colour, is at present a matter of conjecture. In an endeavour to throw some light on the question and to assist the growing number of African women's organizations and other bodies that exist tbr their uplift and 226
RELATIONS: 1954-55. assistance, the Institute of Race Relations obtained a special grant. from an anonymous donor for a very comprehensive study of the needs of African women and the most fruitful methods of approach to their problems, which has been carried out by Mrs Mia Brandel under the auspices of the Institute. This study has now been completed, and it is hoped that a summary of the findings will shortly be published. The Institute itself undertakes welfare work only in fields or in specific cases where no other organization, official or voluntary, is immediately able to provide the necessary services. At all its offices, central and regional, general advice and assistance is available to Non-White persons who find themselves in difficulties or perplexities. The Field Officer at Headquarters and regional staff in Cape Towrn and Durban devote a great deal of time to this work -- the Regional Secretary in Cape Town dealt with 1,266 cases during the year ended 30 September 1955. Queries relate to difficulties in connection with the pass laws, permits to seek work, wages, workmen's compensation, and a large variety of other matters. Whenever possible problems are dealt with on the spot, otherwise the people are informed where and how official assistance may be obtained or what other specialized voluntary organization may be able to help in the particular circumstances of the case. Representations made to officials on behalf of people in difficulties very often prove successful. This case-work provides the Institute with valuable insight into the problems of Non-White people and knowledge of the ways in which laws affect them; but it is undertaken for other reasons, for it is undoubtedly a service that is quite desperately needed. Research Research work in progress at the University of the Witwatersrand includes studies of Non-European welfare work in Johannesburg, the integration of Non-European blind into the socio-economic structure of South Africa, the financing of welfare work in Johannesburg, and investigations into dagga smoking. Liquor At present, under the liquor laws, Coloured people (including Asiatics) in the Cape Province may purchase beer, wines and spirits in: bottle stores for home consumption. Farmers in that province may supply Coloured male farm labourers with 1 1 pints of wine a day divided into portions of at least three tots spaced over the day. Throughout the Union, Africans may drink 'kaffir beer,' conditions regarding brewing, purchase, and consumption varying from area to area. Coloured and Asiatic people in provinces other than the Cape, and Africans in all provinces, may obtain or use 'European' liquor only if they are in possession of special permits. As the law stood until recently, magistrates could issue certificates valid for not more than twelve months, permitting the recipients to purchase 227
A SURVEY OF RACE liquor in limited and stated quantities within the magisterial district concerned. If, however, a recipient wished to be able to purchase liquor outside this home district he had to apply to the Minister of Justice for a certificate of wider application. In terms of sections 16 and 17 of the General Laws Amendment Act, No. 62 of 1955, this power has now been delegated to magistrates, who may in their discretion issue certificates authorizing the purchase of liquor in more than one district. A man away from his home district may apply to the nearest magistrate or White member of the police of or above the rank of sergeant or in command of a police post for an endorsement to his certificate of exemption rendering it valid also for the district concerned. Licensees are required to continue existing practice by entering on these certificates the kind and quantity of all purchases together with the date and the name and address of the licensed establishment. The Minister also delegated to magistrates power to grant permits authorizing mines, factories, and other organizations employing large -numbers of Africans, to sell 'kaffir beer.' It was provided that Non-Whites, temporarily visiting the Union from African territories in which they were permitted to buy liquor, might apply to commissioned officers of the police for letters exempting them from the Union's liquor restrictions for periods not exceeding three months. Restrictions on the supply of liquor have in practice proved impossible to implement. In 1954, for example, 21 per cent. of all sentences to terms of imprisonment were for offences against the liquor laws. (16) During the previous year there were 304,126 prosecutions for such offences, 198,079 of them being for illegal possession of liquor. (17) A trial conducted in Johannesburg during May 1955, brought to light the fact that three bottle stores had made £250,000 within fifteen months by channelling the major portion of their stock to African townships. Frequent robberies take place from bottle stores. Non-Whites are apparently able to obtain supplies of liquor quite easily, but because the penalty for being found in possession of it is greater than that imposed for drunkenness, they tend to swallow their drinks surreptitiously and hastily. Following a controlled experiment conducted in Leopoldville, the Governor- General of the Belgian Congo announced late in 1954 that Africans in that territory would in future be permitted to purchase liquor in shops and to drink it in cafes owned by Whites. This decision, and also the publication of the Union's high crime statistics, gave rise to much comment in South Africa. The Acting Chief of the Criminal Investigation Department is reported('8) to have said that one way of dealing with the shebeen problem and the illicit liquor trade might be to allow approved Non-Whites, in (16) From Annual Report of Department of Prisons for 1953 and 1954, U.G. 24/1955. (17) From Annual Report of the Commissioner of the S.A. Police for 1953. U.G. 39/1954. (1s) The Star, 7 January 1955, and Rand Daily Mail, 16 May 1955. 228
RELATIONS: 1954-55 possession of permits from the police or Native Aflitirs Department, to purchase supplies of European malted liquor and light wines from: controlled premises. The Commissioner of the S.A. Police is reported (19) to have stated that reasonable, relaxation of restrictions on the supply of European liquor to Non- Whites would considerably reduce liquor offences and crime in general. The investigation and diposal of hundreds of thousands of cases arising from contravention of liquor laws was costing the country millions of pounds annually. The African was not a natural drunkard: he became drunk generally because he swallowed evil concoctions hastily. In the experience of the police, there was very little drunkenness among Non-Whites who had been granted permits to buy liquor. According to the press,(20) 31,000 such permits have been issued. At the Rand criminal sessions during May 1955, a judge of the Supreme Court drew attention to the need for an investigation of what he described as the availability of liquor to Non-Whites. Was there no middle path, he asked, between prohibition and complete abolition of restrictions. A new type of middle-class Non-White had emerged, who had acquired the taste for European liquor and could afford to pay for it. The Commissioner for Coloured Affairs is reported(21) to have said that more and better facilities would be provided for Coloured people in the Cape to drink in their own hotels and other suitable surroundings instead of having to make use only of bottle stores. This would help to curb drunkenness. In a press statement published late in 1954(22) the Director of the Institute of Race Relations drew attention to suggestions made by an unofficial commission of enquiry appointed a number of years ago by this Institute in co-operation with the S.A. Temperance Alliance. The Commission had proposed that an experiment be conducted, of allowing Non-Whites in a defined area to have controlled access to European liquor, in desirable surroundings. Another suggestion had been that beer-gardens should be provided as an alternative to beer-halls, to encourage more sociable and less hasty drinking. Benoni Municipality has since established one of these beer-gardens. Tables, with inset draught-boards, are set out under bright sun umbrellas, amongst ornamental trees, and music is provided by a public address system. Far from all sections of the community, however, are in favour of relaxation of restrictions on the purchase of liquor by Non-Whites. A combined deputation from the three Dutch Reformed Churches met the Minister of Justice during August 1955, to lodge the strongest objections to any such suggestion. They pointed to the extent of drunkenness among Coloured people in the Cape. The (111) The Star, 2 February 1955. (2) .Yunday Times, 7 August 1955. (21) Herald, 3 May 1955. ('-2) e.g., Raid Daily Mail, 15 )ecember 1954. 229
A SURVEY OF RACE Minister is reported(23) to have told them that because wide differences of opinion existed, he had not proceeded with the Liquor Law Amendment Bill which was introduced into Parliament during 1951. An amended Bill was being drafted, and, after examination by a Parliamentary Select Committee, would be laid before the House as a non-party political measure. (2) Star, 19 August 1955, 230
RELATIONS: 194-55 RECREATION In spite of the little leisure and limited facilities so many of the urban Non-Whites possess, there has been a noticeable increase in their cultural activities and a development of forms of spontaneous self-expression. In a Survey such as this one can only touch on some of the highlights of the year. The Theatre The Bantu Theatre Group of Cape Town, which last year made a highly successful tour of the Union organized by the Institute of Race Relations, has since then given regular performances in and around Cape Town. It is about to hold its annual season at the Little Theatre. Activities of the Eaon Group continue to expand. Members are planning an ambitious Arts Festival, to be staged in Cape Town during March 1956. Among other entertainments will be a production of La Traviata in Italian : this will be the first occasion on which an all-Non-White company has presented Italian opera in the original language. The Eoan group now operates two nursery play centres. Mr K. E. Masinga, chief Zulu announcer of the Durban Studio of the S.A. Broadcasting Corporation, recently presented a radio version of Julius Caesar in Zulu, produced in six weekly episodes. Mr Masinga was responsible for both the translation and the production. During April 1955, the African Medical Students' Drama Group in Durban presented the authorized stage version of Peter Abrahams* Mine Boy. The fifth annual African Arts Festival, arranged by an interracial committee under the chairmanship of Mr K. E. Masinga and the patronage of the Administrator of Natal, was held in the Durban City Hall during September 1955. Each year an award in the form of a statuette - uBedu (the counterpart of an 'Oscar') - is awarded for the most outstanding performance. Miss Albertina Temba, who played the part of Mrs Stephen Kumalo in the film of Mr Alan Paton's Cry, the Beloved Country, has organized a Dramatic and Cultural Club at Atteridgeville, Pretoria. The Syndicate of African Artists in Johannesburg continues to organize theatrical productions as well as concerts. During July 1955, for example, they staged a programme including African folk tales translated and adapted for the stage by Mr Ezekiel Mphahlele, as well as excerpts from Chekhov and other items. Music The African Music Society, which has headquarters in Johannesburg, recently published the first number of a new journal entitled African Music. It contains articles on the features of African music as a whole, the music of particular tribes or areas and scales and instruments used, and gives record and book reviews. Assisted by
A SURVEY OF RACE a grant from the Nuffield Foundation, this Society is establishing an international library of African music, the nucleus of which will be the existing African Music Transcription Library which has over 500 records of indigenous music from ten territories. All broadcasting stations, research units, commercial recording companies, and other establishments in Africa which have the necessary recording equipment are being invited to assist in the collection of material, and recording teams will travel into remote parts of the continent to 'capture' tribal songs and music. A Union of S.A. Artists has been formed, one of its aims being to prevent the exploitation of African musical talent by commercial firms. It was stated, for example('), that 'Wimoweh,' a song composed by Mr Solomon Linde, of Johannesburg, was recorded oversea, became a 'hit,' and about 200,000 records were sold. Mr Linde received nothing until the Union, acting on his behalf, obtained £125 for him from the recording company as 'compensation.' A musical event of note in Johannesburg during 1955 was a sacred concert in the Anglican Cathedral at which four White people sang solo excerpts from Handel's Messiah and the Sophia.town African Methodist Choir sang the 'Hallelujah Chorus' with the Johannesburg Symphony Orchestra accompanying them. The Syndicate of African Artists in Johannesburg continues to arrange classical and recorded symphony concerts, for example a Mozart evening during July, and annual Bantu Music Festivals are held in the city. The FOCUS Fellowship in Cape Town has organized several inter-racial social and cultural activities, such as a talk illustrated by recordings of folk music, a Candlelight Carol service, and a series of music appreciation lectures especially for Africans. A classical concert with the Municipal Orchestra has been held. The Regional Committee of the Institute of Race Relations has given much assistance to this Fellowship. Durban is one of the few centres where seats, usually in the galleries, are reserved for Non-Whites at all popular and symphony concerts and performances by visiting celebrities. In this city, and also in Johannesburg and other towns, there is a flourishing Municipal Bantu Brass Band which performs at functions of various kinds. Alfred Herbert's 'African Variety of Jazz' packed the Durban City Hall for two weeks and was heard by more than 24,000 people, 75 per cent. of them White. The Natal Regional Committee of the Institute of Race Relations has during the year under review sponsored a song recital by Mr John Ngcobo, bass baritone, with songs by Handel, Schubert, and Brahms, Negro spirituals, and traditional African music. It also arranged an inter-racial evening of the arts at which the (1) By an Executive Committee member, as reported in The Star, 29 November 1954. 232
RELATIONS: 1954-55 instrumental music, songs, dances, and drama of African, Indian, and European cultures were presented. The Institute's Cape Eastern Regional Committee held a similiar inter-racial concert in 1954. Mr Jack Parnell from London recently toured South Africa with his band, and while here engaged Mr Gene Williams, a young Cape Coloured teacher, to return with the band as its featured vocalist. Literature Dr R. H. W. Shepherd, Director of the Lovedale Press, contributed an interesting article entitled 'Recent Trends in South African Vernacular Literature' to the March 1955 number of African World. The growing literary movement among Africans, he says, is aided by the richness of their languages which lend themselves to the most picturesque of imagery. Attention has recently been given to the recording of traditional praise-poems and the composing of new ones. Professor Lestrade, of Cape Town University, contends, Dr Shepherd says, that this indigenous form of African poetry displays a literary genre which has no exact counterpart in the literature of more sophisticated peoples. The praise- poems do resemble the panegyrics of the Hebrew psalms and the Greek odes in general form and spirit, but are radically different in function. Those that have come down from the past tell of the achievements of great heroes, but it is still the custom for a chief to have at his 'great place' an Imbongi, or praise reciter, whose duty it is to extend a welcome in impromptu songs or orations to some important visitor, as well as to extol through such songs the virtues of his chief. Mr Jordan Ngubane, whose political commentaries are published periodically in the Natal 1ercury, is engaged in research into Zulu praise-poems. Dr Shepherd says that outstanding among recent novels in Xhosa is one by Mr C. A. W. Sigila, entitled Ndalikhenketha Elasentla, which tells of a long journey he made in his younger days through the northern part of the Union. Other recent publications by the Lovedale Press include new 'vernacular' school readers, written by an African. Large numbers of other publishers are bringing out works by Non-White writers in their own languages. A notable book recently produced by an African author, African artist, and Africanstaffed publishing firm is Khirimpana (Southern Sotho), written in lyrical prose by Mr J. K. Ratau, illustrated by Mr M. M. Pemba, and published by Morija Press, by arrangement with the Institute of Race Relations. Mr L. M. S. Ngcwabe is publishing a narrative poem in Xhosa entitled Kliala Zome, which is expected to become a prescribed work in African schools. The Witwatersrand University Press has recently published Zulu Proverbs, by Prof. C, L. S. Nyembezi. 233
A SURVEY OF RACE Rapidly increasing numbers of Non-Whites are avid readers of the daily press, also the circulation of bi-weekly or weekly papers and of periodicals produced especially for them continues to expand. A new Sunday newspaper called Golden City Post started publication during March 1955. Brought out by the proprietors of Drum, it features general news as well as items of especial interest to Africans. The Bantu World has recently become a bi-weekly. The four highly popular monthly magazines, Drum, Zonk, Hi-Note, and Africa, like their counterparts for White readers, run beauty contests and contain sports features, social news, comic strips, advice to the love-lorn, and short stories generally with a high sex and crime content, as well as feature articles and political commentaries. 'Mr Drum' continues to excel in the expose form of journalism, offering himself for service at places where conditions are notoriously bad or braving gang warfare in the locations at night to obtain his stories. Commercial firms are finding it increasingly worth their while to advertise in these periodicals and to study methods of advertisement which appeal to Africans. As was recently pointed out in The Star, (2) testimonial advertising is gaining ground, several cosmetics and clothes advertisers are using the pictures and printed approbation of acknowledged African beauty queens, popular entertainers, and idols of the sporting world. Painting Artists like Gerard Sekoto (now in Paris), M. Pemba, and G. Benghu are continuing to produce mature paintings. During the year under review an extremely interesting exhibition of paintings by members of the Bantu, Indian, and Coloured Art Association (BICA) was held at the International Club, Durban. Some municipalities, for example, Johannesburg, maintain cultural centres for Non-White persons at which art classes are held, and several voluntary organizations provide such classes in a number of towns. Other forms of recreation While recreational facilities for Non-Whites in urban areas are still highly inadequate, local authorities and voluntary bodies are striving to provide these. One of the main difficulties is the poverty of the people: cinema shows, swimming baths, club houses, and so on can seldom be run on an economic basis. A second major difficulty so far as the organization of evening activity is concerned is the frequent absence of adequate lighting and of police patrols. Most of the larger municipalities have welfare sections responsible for the organization of recreational activities as well as general welfare work. Their programmes are supplemented by numerous voluntary organizations run by Whites, and by growing numbers of Non-White bodies. In a Survey such as this a very brief indication (2) Article by Zelda Wolhuter, 26 July 1955.
RELATIONS: 1945-55 only can be given of the type of work that local authorities are doing. The Welfare Section of' the Johannesburg Non-European Affairs I)epartment has recently been concerning itself especially with African children who are at a loose end during the mornings or afternoons, more particularly since the introduction of the doublesession system in lower primary schools. Welfare workers organize basketball, fbotball, rounders, softball, and other sports for them, the children being divided into leagues; they also arrange concerts, various types of competitions, boys' and girls' clubs, and so on. A Christmas party fbr children is held, and annual camps are arranged at the sea-side. The department controls 33 soccer fields, 4 rugby fields, 24 tennis courts (some of these are flood-lit), and a number of tennis walls, 8 club-houses or community centres, 3 athletic tracks, 6 playgrounds for children, 2 swimming baths (one built with money raised from the public), and numbers of basket-ball fields, cricket pitches, and boxing rings. These playing fields are often rented to African sporting associations which themselves organize leagues and arrange fixtures. The department employs African gardening demonstrators, issues free seeds and manure, and arranges gardening competitions and fruit and flower shows. Free film shows, attended by some 80,000 Africans a month, are given by mobile cinema units. Many thousands of residents of Orlando and adjoining townships now pay 5s. per month for use of the radio rediffusion service operated by a private company. Municipal workers arrange traditional and ballroom dancing classes, train choirs and organize concerts and dance festivals, run arts and crafts and more formal educational classes. They organize large numbers of clubs - boxing, weight-lifting, physical culture, etc. for the men, and cookery, domestic science, sewing, first aid, and handwork for the women. A number of libraries exists. A cultural centre for Non-Whites has been provided at Polly Street; here arts and crafts, dancing, singing, piano, boxing, sewing, and general educational classes are available. All these activities are supplemented by voluntary organizations. The Natal Regional Committee of the Institute of Race Relations has taken a particular interest in the provision of public amenities and recreational facilities for Non-Whites, and is in close touch with the Durban Native Administraton Department in these and other matters. Durban Corporation has provided 5 recreation halls, 15 football fields, 2 cricket pitches, some 10 tennis courts, 2 banked cycle tracks, 2 arenas for Ngoma dancing, 7 children's playground units, numbers of transportable boxing rings, a park, and weekly cinema shows fbr its African population. It employs fully trained and equipped Non-White lifesavers at the beaches. There are tearooms at two of the recreation grounds, and at one of the centres bowling greens are being constructed. Municipal workers arrange 235
A SURVEY OF RACE an annual Bantu Fair, sports galas, children's sports, and tennis contests, and assist numerous athletic and sporting clubs. The Cape Town City Council provides community centres foir Coloured people as part of the larger housing estates : centres exist at Bloemhof and Athlone, and another is planned for Bridgetown. As in other cities and towns, this work is supplemented by other bodies. Besides the CAFDA and Liberman centres, mentioned in the previous chapter of this Surve), there is the Marion Institute, Janet Bourhill Institute, and St Mark's Centre for Coloured people. The National War Memorial Health Foundation has established social and health promotive centres at Goodwood and Matroosfontein, and, in co-operation with the Silvertree Club, has recently provided a very well equipped centre for the people of District Six. Students of the University of Cape Town through their Health and Welfare Centres Association, the House of Youth Association, and numerous churches assist in the organization of cultural and recreational activities, while the Coloured people themselves have established numerous sporting and recreational associations. As Africans are comparatively recent arrivals in the Western Cape, recreational facilities for them are less well developed, but there are halls and a few football fields and tennis courts both at Langa and Nyanga. A new sports field which will provide a cricket pitch, bowling green, soccer and rugby fields, and two more tennis courts is being developed at Langa. Several voluntary bodies, including the Cape Western Regional Committee of the Institute of Race Relations, have been pressing for the establishment of a recreational centre to serve Non-Whites, particularly Africans, employed in the Greenpoint and Sea Point areas of Cape Town. These bodies have jointly sponsored an application to the City Council for a suitable site. These examples of the activities of three local authorities are given in order to indicate that although recreational facilities for Non-White urban communities are still inadequate, efforts are being made to provide and extend these. There was much public criticism, during September 1955, of the Bloemfontein City Council's decision to exclude Non-White spectators from the rugby match between the Junior Springboks and the touring British team. In most other centres of the Union, accommodation is provided at large sports arenas for limited numbers of Non-Whites : at the rugby test match in Port Elizabeth, for example, the southern section of the ground was set aside for them. A controversy has recently arisen in the soccer world. The South African Football Association, which has only White members but does assist Non-White clubs by supplying coaches, referees, playing kit, etc., is a member of the Federation of International Football Associations (FIFA). This international body accepts membership from only one national controlling association in each country. 236
RELATIONS: 1945-55 '[he Non-European Football Association of S.A., which is composed of Indian, Non-European, and Coloured branches, maintains that, as it has more members than the association fbr Whites, it should represent South Africa on FIFA. The S.A. Football Association ofl'ered to accept the Non-White body as an affiliated association without voting powers, but this offer was rejected. In present circumstances, Non-Whites are barred from international matches, but even if their association represented South Africa on FIFA the question arises whether the authorities would permit Non-White teams to tour other countries. It is reported(3) that a three-man delegation from FIFA is to visit South Africa to try to solve the problem. (: ) fla/d I)aiy 1lai, 19 September 1953.
A SURVEY OF RACE JUSTICE LEGISLATION 1. Criminal Procedure Act Early in the year the Criminal Procedure and Evidence Amendment Act, No. 29 of 1955, was passed. Later in the session a consolidating measure, the Criminal Procedure Act, No. 56 of 1955, was issued. In order to avoid confusion, any sections of the Act mentioned below will refer to the latter measure. The amending Act contained many provisions that were an advance on previous legislation, and which resulted in the main from suggestions made by the Penal Reform (Lansdown) Commission of 1946. One of them was that an accused was entitled to offer, together with his plea, an explanation of his attitude in relation to the charge or a statement indicating the basis of his defence, and such explanation or statement would be recorded and would form part of the record of the case. The Minister of Justice said(') that this would undoubtedly be of assistance to accused persons who were conflsed by court procedure. He told of a case in which an African had been convicted of murder and sentenced to death. Only after sentence had been passed did he make a statement indicating that his alleged victim was still alive, and this proved to be the case. According to the amending Act, the fact that a person was under the influence of liquor or drugs when committing an offence might be regarded as an aggravating, and not a mitigating, circumstance. Should a police officer consider that an arrested person suffered from some psychopathic or psychoneurotic disability, he might now call in a psychiatrist. The maximum number of strokes that might be ordered was reduced from fifteen to ten, and it was laid down that no woman should be whipped, nor might a sentence of whipping be imposed if it were proved that the existence of some psychoneurotic or psychopathic condition contributed towards the commission of the offence. A provision of interest in the field of race relations is that dealing with offences by Whites towards or in connection with Non-Whites, and vice versa. It will be recalled(2) that there was much public comment during 1954 on the outcome of a case in which a White farmer, his son, and two of his African staff were jointly charged with murdering an African farm labourer. A joint trial by jury was held. Medical evidence about the direct cause of death differed, but it was proved beyond doubt that the prisoner had been beaten by the farmer and on his orders. To the expressed surprise of the .judge, a majority of the jury found that a verdict of common assault would meet the ends of justice. (1) Assembly, 16 March 1955. Hansard No. 8, col. 2766. (2) "urz'ey of Race Relations, 1953-4, page 153. 238
RELATIONS: 1954-5 In the Assembly on 21 February 1955(3) the Minister ofJustice said that at the time he had possessed no power to order trial without jury in cases where two or more persons of different racial groups were jointly accused, and the Attorney- General had advised against separating the trials. In consequence of the Amendment Act, section 111 of the consolidating measure now provides that the Minister may override a request for a jury in cases where any one of individuals jointly accused of a crime against the person is of a different racial group(4) from that of the victim. Four of the matters dealt with in the amending Act were more controversial, however. (a) Preparatory examinations The amending Bill sought to lay down that no person other than the accused or his attorney or counsel or a parent should be present at a preparatory examination unless his presence was necessary to the examination, which should be held behind closed doors. This went much further than the recommendation of the Penal Reform Commission, which was that there should be a prohibition on the publication of preparatory proceedings in cases of murder and rape lest preconceived views and prejudices should influence persons who might subsequently have to sit on juries. In the Assembly on 21 February 1955(5) the Minister of Justice said that the main reason for insertion of the clause was that under the present system preparatory examinations amounted, in effect, to preliminary trials. Many witnesses were called, costs mounted, months were often spent in typing the record, and the eventual trial before the Supreme Court was thus delayed. A second important reason was that when cases were sensational, long reports were published in the press, and in consequence prejudice was aroused against an accused, often unjustifiably. Judges, advocates, magistrates, and officials had constantly pressed for the holding of preparatory examinations in camera. After the second reading debate, however, during which it transpired that the general feeling was against having these examinations conducted privately, the Minister announced that he would not proceed with the clause. (b) Power of police to enter premises Details are given on page 40 of the new powers granted to judges, magistrates, or justices of the peace to issue search warrants authorizing the police to enter premises and attend private as well as public meetings if there are grounds considered reasonable for believing that an offence is being or is likely to be committed on the (1) Hansard 5, col. 1413. (4) The term 'racial group' is here used to distinguish between Whites and Non-Whites only. ( H) 1ansard 5, col. 1406.
A SURVEY OF RACE premises, or that in consequence of the meeting the internal security of the Union or the maintenance of law and order are likely to be endangered. Members of the police are empowered to proceed without a warrant if they consider that the delay in obtaining one would defeat -its object. Penalties are, however, provided for wrongful, malicious or unreasonable, search or application for a search warrant. (c) Homicide deemed justifiable As the law previously stood, police officers or private persons authorized to make arrests were held to be justified in killing if someone suspected of committing a serious offence was fleeing or resisting arrest and could not be prevented from escaping by any other means. Such action could be taken only in the case of specified offences, however, listed in a schedule to the Criminal Procedure and Evidence Act of 1917. Theft 'either at common law or as defined by any statute' was mentioned in the list, but a proviso excluded all types of this offence except theft from a dwelling house at night and stock theft. In terms of the amending Act of 1955 this proviso was deleted. Even a petty thief who resists arrest may now lawfully be killed by an authorized person. The Minister of Justice said(6) that this would remove inequalities in the law: previously, while it had been illegal to shoot at someone who stole anything (except stock) in the daytime, someone who knowingly received the stolen goods and resisted arrest could be killed. The Institute of Race Relations and later, when the Bill was under debate, Natives' Representatives in Parliament, deprecated the extension of power to kill which was bound further to cheapen the value of human lives, and asked that the clause be dropped. United Party representatives requested that the Minister should at any rate set out specifically the class of aggravated theft he had in mind. The clause was, however, retained unaltered. (7) (d) Admissibility of facts discovered by means of inadmissible confessions In terms of the 1917 Act, confessions made to members of the police were not admissible in evidence unless confirmed and reduced to writing in the presence of a magistrate or justice of the peace. The object was to prevent confessions being obtained by 'thirddegree' methods. It was provided, however, that if as result of information given in such an inadmissible statement any fact otherwise admissible in evidence Was discovered, this fact might be told to the presiding officer in court. The amending Act enables evidence also to be admitted of anything pointed out by the accused in an inadmissible statement and of any thing (as well as any fact) discovered in consequence of such statement. (6) Assembly, 10 March 1955. Hansard 7, col. 2409. (7) Section 37 of consolidating Act. 240
RELATIONS: 1954-5 2. Amendment to Immorality Act When a White man and Non-White woman, or a Non-White man and WVhite woman., are suspected of illicit carnal intercourse, they are prosecuted under the Immorality Act of 1927, as amended in 1950. If' the pleas of both accused are the same, a joint trial is held. It has happened, however, that a Non-White woman has pleaded guilty while the White man charged as her accomplice has pleaded not guilty. In such cases the woman was then tried immediately and often convicted, while the man's case had to be remanded. At his trial, later, under cross- examination by the defence the woman has sometimes given evidence in conflict with her original statement or with the weight of other evidence, and the man has then been acquitted. In the Assembly on 8 February 1955 the then Acting Minister of Justice said(") that 15 such cases occurred in 1950, 9 in 1951, 17 in 1952, and 18 in 1953. The Minister added later("U) that as soon as cases like these came to his notice he ordered the remission of the woman's sentence, but several women had served a considerable portion of their sentences of imprisonment before this action could be taken. In a number of these cases the reason for the man's acquittal was a technical one : at his trial the woman stated, usually under cross-examination, that the intercourse had occurred against her wishes and that she was overpowered. It then became a case of rape, which crinme had been excluded from the operation of the Immorality Act. In terms of section 15 of the General Law Amendment Act, No. 62 of 1955, section 1 of the Immorality Act was amended to allow of' the conviction of a man found guilty of illicit carnal intercourse, whether the act was voluntary or involuntary on the woman's part. The Institute of Race Relations, the Pietermaritzburg African Welf'are Society, and other bodies and individuals had drawn attention to this weakness in the Immorality Act and were glad of its removal. '['he Federation of Women's Institutes has since urged that a further amendment be made, specifying that in all prosecutions under the Act a plea of not guilty be issued for both accused, in order that the trials should in all cases be joint ones. 3. Amendment of law relating to receivers of stolen property 'he Stock Theft Act of 1923 (section 1) requires that anyone found in possession of stock or produce in regard to which there is reasonable suspicion that it has been stolen, should give a satisfactory account of such possession or be guilty of an offence. In terms of sections 36 and 37 of the General Law Amendment Act, No. 62 of 1955, the effhct of section 1 of the Stock Theft Act is now extended to include all goods. The intention, the Minister of Justice said,(10) (H) Hansard 3, col, 712. (9) Assembly, 2 Juniie 1955 1Hansard 17, col. 6904. (I) \Assemby, 2 J.uine 1955. Haiisar 17, col 767-1.
ASURVEY OF RACE was to curb the activities of receivers of stolen goods such as bales of shirts, rolls of copper wire, motor-car radios, motor cars, and so on. No action could previously be taken against those found in possession of such goods if they pleaded ignorance of the name and whereabouts of the persons from whom they were acquired. Any one who acquires stolen goods other than at a public market or auction, from a shop-keeper during his licensed hours of business or in pursuance of a court order, and anyone found in possession of such goods, is now deemed guilty of an offence unless he can give a satisfactory account of his possession. 4. Native Administration Amendment Act The Native Administration Amendment Act, No. 13 of 1955, provides that the Minister of Native Affairs may confer on any African chief, headman, or (at the chief's request) chief's deputy, power within his area of jurisdiction to try and punish Africans who have committed offences at common law, or under Native law and custom, or specified statutory offences, in cases other than those listed in the Third Schedule to the Act (this schedule includes the more serious offences). Such power will in no case, however, include power to try and punish crimes committed by non-Africans or in relation to property belonging to non-Africans (other than Trust or tribal property). The jurisdiction conferred on any chief, headman, or chief's deputy in terms of this section may at any time be revoked by the Minister. The Act specifies that the procedure at any trial, the punishment, and the manner of execution of sentence shall be in accordance with Native law and custom, save in so far as the Minister may prescribe otherwise by regulation. Punishment imposed shall not include death, mutilation, grievous bodily harm, imprisonment, a fine in excess of £20 or two head of large stock or ten head of small stock, or corporal punishment except in the case of unmarried males below the apparent age of 30 years. Should a fine be imposed and not be paid, the chief, headman, or chief's deputy may have the culprit arrested and brought before the native commissioner within 48 hours. If satisfied, the native commissioner may order payment forthwith, or failing compliance may sentence the offender to imprisonment for a period not exceeding three months. Appeals from a chief's, headman's, or deputy's court lie to the native commissioner who may confirm, vary, or set aside the conviction and sentence imposed. Procedure to be followed in cases of appeal is outlined. Cases will be heard de novo, available evidence being recorded. Chiefs are not required to record evidence, for many of them are as yet illiterate. During the debate in the Assembly on 10 and 14 February 1955(11), the Minister said that in terms of the amending Act of ('1) Hansard No. 3, Cols. 930-1 and 954; Hansard No. 4, cols. 1040-4. 242
RELIATIONS: 1954-55 1952, chiefs and headmen could try and punish Africans committing certain offences only, specifically listed by the Minister. An alternative course was now being followed: Parliament was being asked to approve a list of offences which could not be tried. Powers in respect of other oflences would be selectively granted, in regard both to persons and the extent of their jurisdiction. Power to impose stock fines, withdrawn in 1949, was now being re-introduced at the request of chiefs themselves. Regulations to be issued would stipulate that young men suffering from ill-health, undernourishment, or physical disability should not be subjected to corporal punishment. Regulations prescribing procedure at civil and criminal trials were in course of preparation, the Minister said. They were as far as possible based on the best of existing custom, adapted where necessary to meet present circumstances, and were being fhlly discussed with native commissioners and a number of chiefs. The procedure to be tbllowed in cases of non-payment of fines is new. Native commissioners have previously been unable to increase sentences imposed by chiefs, and as the latter are precluded from sentencing offenders to imprisonment, only civil remedies for the recovery of fines have been available to them. During the debate the Minister agreed to make several amendments to the Bill. A clause empowering the Governor-General to amend the Third Schedule was deleted, as was one enabling the Minister by regulation to increase, reduce, or otherwise vary penalties which could be imposed by chiefs, headmen or deputies. He explained that his intention had been to allow for the gradual development of the criminal jurisdiction of chiefs, but he was prepared to return to Parliament when it proved necessary to amend the Act. The reference to corporal punishment was qualified to make it clear that it applied to young unmarried men only: the Minister said that in any case it would not, under customary law, be applied to women or to older men. Before the parliamentary debate opened the Institute of Race Relations circularized certain Members of Parliament welcoming some aspects of the Bill, but suggesting that it was inadvisable for the Minister to be enabled to increase penalties which chiefs were empowered to impose. As is explained above, the Minister subseqluently agreed to forgo this power. 5. Administrative arrangements Following consultations between the Departments of Native Affairs and Justice, in areas where there are both magistrates and native commissioners (mainly larger urban areas) the latter will be responsible for the trial of Africans who are charged with contravening laws or regulations applicable specifically to the African people. A native commissioner must, of course, possess the same legal qualifications as a magistrate.
A SURVEY OF RACE Criminal statistics (2) The number of convicted persons and the prison population in South Africa continue to grow larger from year to year. There was a daily average of 36,113 persons in prison institutions in 1954: an increase of 833 over 1953. The number of persons imprisoned during 1954 for more serious offences, carrying sentences of six months and over, increased by 442 over the previous year to a total of 19,218. There is a high proportion of recidivism: only 34 per cent. of the Whites imprisoned, 35 per cent. of the Asiatics, and 54 per cent. of the Coloured and Africans were first offenders. A large proportion of the total number of sentences in 1954 was for periods up to and including one month. This applied to all racial groups, but especially to the Coloured people (61.5 per cent. of all sentences) and Africans (57.9 per cent.). The proportion for Whites was 56.1 per cent., and for Asiatics 52.4 per cent. The numbers sentenced to corporal punishment were 316 Whites, 76 Asiatics, and 13,487 Africans and Coloured persons. The average number of strokes was 5.7. A full analysis of the offences for which persons were convicted has not been issued. Figures that are available show that 10.8 per cent. of all Coloured people and of Africans, 6.9 per cent. of the Asiatics, and 6.0 per cent. of the Whites were convicted of some offence during 1953. (It must be borne in mind, of course, that many individuals were convicted on more than one charge). The percentages of the total population convicted for serious crime were 0.9 for Coloured, 0.5 for Africans, and 0.4 for Whites and Asiatics. High proportions of the convictions of Coloured people were for drunkenness, theft, and assault, and of Africans for offences against pass laws, non-payment of taxes, illegal possession of liquor, and theft. Comment on specific types of cases There were 51,554 Africans, 10,267 Coloured persons, 4,451 Whites, and 1,051 Asiatics convicted for assault during 1953. In an address given at a meeting of the Penal Reform League,(13) Mr Justice Ramsbottom said that the number of persons, chiefly Africans, killed or maimed in stabbing affrays increased from 1,359 in 1940 to 4,854 thirteen years later. Stabbing had become a grievous social disease, he continued, especially among youths and young men, possibly because they had a sense of inferiority. The possession and use of a knife gave power. Mr Justice Ramsbottom's remarks applied mainly to the Non-White groups, but there has been much public comment during the year about several cases in which White people have (12) Information from Offcial Bulletins of Statistics, Annual Report of the Commissioner of the S.A. Police for 1953 (U.G.39/1954), and Annual Report of the Department of Prisons for 1953 and 1954 (U.G.24/1955). Percentages calculated by the writer. (') Ak reported in Rand Daily Mfail, 4 June 1955. 244
RELATIONS: 1954.55 been found guilty of assaulting Non-Whites--sometinmes persons whom they had never seen before and who had offered no provocation. In one such case, even though the magistrate had described the affhir as an 'ugly thing,' the prosecutor is reported(1 4) to have taken the view that it was, in the main, merely a 'crazy prank.' The ringleader was fined £10. Two cases of common assault by White farmers on Africans came before the Circuit Court when it toured the Eastern Transvaal, and in both a fine of £5 was imposed. In the second case the African had been seriously injured. He died some five days later, but the Crown was unable to prove that his death resulted from the assault. The Raiid Daily Mad editorial on 27 October 1955 pointed out that it was possible that the term 'common assault' was misleading and that some members of the public might have gathered the idea that it meant 'ordinary. normal' assault and was therefore not of much consequence. Valid conclusions can obviously not be drawn firom isolated cases in which the full circumstances may not be known, but it is inevitale that there should be public comment on the degree of severity of sentences imposed for different types of crimes. One case that gave rise to a great deal of comment was that of Mlonge Tembeni, who was found guilty of stealing three sheep from his employer in three weeks. He said in his delience that he and his wife and six children were hungry his wages were £1 per month and a four-gallon tin of mealies per week. He was sentenced to nine months' imprisonment and ordered to pay a compensatory fine of £20 15s. 6d. or serve a ftrther two months' imprisonment. P"artly at the instigation of the Institute of' Race Relations a fund, administered by the Social Services Association, was opened to assist the family and to enable Mr Tembeni to lodge an appeal. Mr Tembeni's a.pl)eal was dismissed, but his compensatory sentence was reduced to one month's imprisonment (i.e., he will have to serve a total of ten months' compulsory labour). ''he judge talked of 'features in the case which rightly evoke sympathy' and said, 'Comment on the inadequacy of the appellant's rations and remuneration for the feeding of'himself and his fiamily is superfluous. That they were hungry is a claim fully justified.' He continued, however, to say that the theft of stock had a special standing and the Legislature had considered it to be a very serious offence. It was not for the courts to question the policy of the Legislature but to administer the law as it stood. The Prison System Details were given in our last Survey( 1 5) of the re-organization of the prison system in South Africa: the separation of recidivists from first offenders, and the provision of 'open' prisons for first oflenders and of 'halfway-house' prisons to which recidivists were sent for probationary periods before their release. Five prison (14) lawd atilh Mail, 27 October 1955. (1:,) ,W tr'cy of Aacc Relalimi im .South .Atfrica, 1953-4, page 151.
A SURVEY OF RACE farms, one of them for juveniles, have been established in order that long-term prisoners, principally Non-Whites, may be taken out of the towns, where rehabilitative work is difficult, to be given occupational and character training. Every eflbrt is being made, the Director of Prisons says,(16) to teach all long-term prisoners some useful trade and to instil a sense of responsibility. A board has been appointed to select those most likely to benefit from technical training, also an inter-departmental committee to investigate to what extent the provisions of the Apprenticeship Act, the Training of Artisans Act, or the Native Building Workers Act can be applied in order to obtain legal recognition of the training which selected prisoners receive in certain artisan callings. The 'monitor' system has been extended amongst all racial groups: 'monitors' are prisoners who have been specially chosen to perform certain duties (not including the exercise of disciplinary powers) and receive special privileges. Recidivists are classified into the penal, probation, good conduct, and star classes, each receiving certain indulgences. During 1953 and 1954 over 100,000 African short-sentence prisoners availed themselves of the scheme whereby they may be released on parole to work on farms for the unexpired portion of their sentences. In the Assembly on 1 February 1955, the then Acting Minister of Justice gave a very full account of the arrangements made in such cases.(7) There are now 16 prison farm outstations, accommodating a total of some 4,500 African prisoners. It has been decided by the Cabinet that prison labour should, as far as possible, be used by the state rather than by private employers (other than farmers). About 1,000 African prisoners are employed daily on the construction of dams, some 2,000 are supplied each day to the Railways Administration for quarrying and general labouring work, another 1,000 are engaged in cleaning and maintaining the grounds of government buildings, and approximately 5,500 more are supplied to other state departments. In consequence of the Cabinet's decision, African prisoners are no longer hired out to a certain mining group which previously made use of their labour. The Southern Transvaal Regional Committee of the Institute of Race Relations has during the year under review interested itself in two matters relating to Non- White prisoners. It was reported that the method of serving food to those awaiting trial in the Johannesburg magistrates' courts was highly unsatisfactory, and in the course of investigating this complaint, enquiries were made into the ration scale laid down. As this seemed inadequate in quantity and quality, discussions were held with representatives of the Penal Reform League, who approached the Commissioner of Police in the matter. The ration scale has since been reviewed. (16) In Annual Report for 1953-4, U.G.24/1955. (1.) Hansard Z, cols. 323-6. 246
RELATIONS: 1954-55 It was also reported to the Regional Committee that there was maltreatment of prisoners by fellow prisoners in the cells in a certain area. of.Johannesburg. A deputation waited on the Deputy Commissioner of Police who ordered a departmental investigation, and later informed the Committee that certain malpractices had been found to exist and that surveillance and supervision had accordingly been increased. Juvenile Delinquency Delinquency is increasing among youths of all racial groups. l)uring 1954 there were 522 White, 60 Asiatic, and 16,143 Coloured and African youthful offenders under the age of 21. and large numbers more were sent to reformatories.(18) In August 1955 the Mayor of Johannesburg arranged a meeting [br a. preliminary exchange of views on the prevention of'delinquency among White Juveniles, inviting delegates from a large number of organizations. A committee was elected at this meeting to prepare for a large-scale conference to be held during November and to undertake research work on different aspects of the problem. A conference on Non-European urban social work, held in .Johannesburg in July 1955, urged the abolition of all caning for youths under 21, because, it was considered, canings do not act as a deterrent but rather produce hardened delinquents. Camps for delinquent African youths The proposed youth service camps for African juveniles were described in our last Survey.(") Briefly, the purpose is to rehabilitate urban lads deemed 'idle or undesirable' who cannot immediately and usefully be placed in employment. At the camps, which will be in Native areas, they will be taught some trade as well as reading and writing in the cases of illiterates, and arithmetic, and will assist with agricultural or forestry projects. When considered sufficiently rehabilitated to hold down steady jobs, they will be returned to their home areas and placed in employment through labour bureaux. The first camp has been established in the vicinity of' Groblersdal in the Transvaal. Boys will be sent to the camps from urban areas if their parents request the magistrate to arrange this. In addition, section 9 of the Native (Urban Areas) Amendment Act, No. 16 of 1955, empowers a magistrate or native commissioner to commit a lad of' between 15 and 19 years of age either to his home or to one of' the camps if an enquiry has established that he is an 'idle or undesirable' person. Such committals are subject to review by the Supreme Court. (20) (11) l'rom Annual Report of 1)epartmrent of Prisos, [r.G.24/195. (19) .imrvcy of Race R,,latiom., 1953-4, page 123. (20,) M1iiter of Native Affairs, Asse bly, 3 ebuiiarv 1955; H iia rd 2, ,.ol 528
A SURVEY OF RACE Legal Aid Bureaux Legal Aid -Bureaux, originally founded in South Africa by the Institute of Race Relations, have become statutory bodies under the Department of Justice. They are controlled by local committees which are responsible to the provincial law societies, and receive subsidies from the department. During the past year the Institute of Race Relations has again interested itself actively in the affairs of these bureaux. It has been perturbed by the difficulties some of them are experiencing, and by the large numbers of undefended Non- White persons, in particular Africans, who appear before the courts daily. Regional Committees of the Institute were asked to enquire into the position in their areas: the Natal Regional Committee, which has a standing sub-committee on law, justice, and police matters, made a particularly detailed enquiry. Results indicate that the operation of the bureaux differs greatly from centre to centre, but that common problems are lack of accommodation, insufficiently large panels of attorneys and advocates, and shortage of money. A deputation from the Institute is to meet the Secretary for Justice to discuss ways in which the effectiveness of the bureaux might be improved. Social Services Association of South Africa The Social Services Association, which has headquarters in Durban and branches in a large number of other towns, continues to receive a state grant-in-aid and subsidies towards the salaries of the social workers (of various racial groups) and prisoners' friends it employs. It could not carry out the large volume of work it achieves, however, without the assistance of many voluntary workers. The prisoners' friends meet petty offenders as they arrive in court daily to explain procedure, and, with the object of keeping people out of prison, to help with the collection of fines imposed. They assisted 51,532 individuals in this way during 1954, all but 4,431 of them Non-Whites. The social workers advised and assisted another 22,384 awaitingtrial prisoners, submitted 2,377 reports to magistrates on the home circumstances of convicted persons, undertook the supervision of 178 men and women placed on probation, and arranged for 107 men to be admitted to work colonies. With the assistance of voluntary workers they also interviewed 7,193 prisoners, attempting to establish confidence and giving them news of their homes. They made 2,303 visits to families of prisoners to give general advice and moral support, and assisted 3,240 discharged prisoners to reestablish themselves in employment and in the normal life of the community. Each year the Social Services Association arranges a Day of United Prayer for Prisoners, which is observed by many thousands of churches and mis.sions of all denominations throughout the Union and in adjoining territories. 248
RELATIONS: 1954-55 Survey of Crime Reporting in the Union During 1955 the Institute of Race Relations undertook a survey of the reporting of crime by the leading daily newspapers in the Union. This was merely an exploratory investigation: the papers were examined for a period of one week only, and furthermore, much study and analysis would be necessary before due allowance could be made for variable factors such as the amount of other news on a particular day in the centre concerned, the sizes of different newspapers and their coverage, the locality of a crime and how sensational it was, and so on. Certain general factors did stand out, however. In some of the newspapers there appeared to be a tendency to regard Non-Whites as always being the offenders and seldom if ever the victims. In most of them a Non-White accused is always identified by race, for example 'J-M-, an Indian.' The single factor which seemed to be most harmful to race relations was the mention of race in the headlines of crime reports: all but two of the papers examined followed this practice. Headlines such as 'Native found guilty of murder,' or 'Abducted a White girl : Coloured youth sentenced,' tend to identify Non-White groups generally with crimes committed by individuals and arouse dislike and fear. Some (but by no means all) of the papers occasionally do refer to a Non-White victim in headlines, but frL less frequently. lhe Institute of Race Relations will now urge newspaper editors to avoid practices which may exacerbate racial friction. 249 EVENTS OUTSIDE SOUTH AFRICA WITH BEARING ON THE SOUTH AFRICAN SCENE The High Commission Territories It will be recalled that during 1954 the Union's House of Assembly, by majority vote, resolved that the transfer to the Union of the government of the High Commission Territories should take place as soon as possible, and urged that immediate steps be taken to resume negotiations with the United Kingdom Government. The British Prime Minister said in the House of Commons that he hoped the Union Government would not press the issue.(1) The Union's Prime Minister has since said(2) that the resolution was forwarded to the British Government, but that their reply must be treated as confidential. It was, the Prime Minister continued, not the appropriate time to take negotiations any further. His Government continued to hold the view, however, that it was in the interests of the whole of South Africa, including its African pedples, that the Territories should be handed over to the Union. At the Free State Congress of the National Party there was a motion on the agenda calling for the imposition of sanctions, in the form of a duty on food exported to the Territories, if agreement could not be reached. The Prime Minister is reported to have said that such action would be quite out of place and ill-advised: the matter was one for friendly negotiations. World conditions made it imperative that South Africa should do all in its power to maintain and strengthen co-operation and friendship with the governments of other territories in Africa. He went on to emphasize that South Africa would indubitably become a republic. In the same speech, the Prime Minister said that if the Territories were handed over to the Union they would be treated in the same way as were the Native reserves of South Africa: as national homes for the Africans, where the latter could develop in accordance with their own traditions and ways of life. It appears from pronouncements by Government supporters that the incorporation of the High Commission Territories is considered to be essential for the full working out of the apartheid plan. Features of United Nations' debates on affairs of member states A marked relaxation of the pressure of attacks on South Africa's policies was noticeable during the ninth session of the United Nations' General Assembly in 1954. Reasons for this may have included South Africa's possession of uranium supplies: its membership of the international agency for the peaceful uses of atomic (1) See last Surzey, page 28. (2) Senate, 17 June 193S; Hansard 14, cols. 4396-7, and speech at Free. State Congress of the National Party, as reported in The Star, 14 September 1955. A SURVEY OF RACE 250
RELATIONS: 1954-55 energy was unaLnimo)uslV endorsed lby the Political Committee of the Assembly. Certainly, however, there was a fteeling amongst some delegations that resolutions of censure result only in a hardening of attitudes. Furthermore, there was increased opposition to interference in the domestic aflairs of member states. In the Union Parliament on 5 May 1955, the Minister of External Atfi-irs said' 3) that provision had been made on the agenda for the tenth session of the U.N. General Assembly for discussion of steps to be taken for a revision of the Charter after a period of ten years. South Africa was exceptionally interested in this matter, he continued, fbr it has always strongly upheld the provisions of section 2(7) which prohibit interlcrence in the domestic affairs of any state. Other delegations had maintained that these provisions were subject to section 55, which deals with human rights. According to information he had obtained, the Minister said, the sub-committee that originally drafted the Charter had resolved that section 55 should not override section 2(7). During October 1955, the General Assembly decided by a narrow majority of votes to include on its agenda a debate on the situation in Algeria, where serious disturbances had taken place. Maintaining that Algeria was part of' Metropolitan France and that in terms of section 2(7) the United Nations was thus precluded from discussing conditions in that country, the French delegation walked out of' the Assembly. The French Government then announced that it would provisionally recall its permanent delegation to the United Nation, but would continue to be represented in the Security Council and the l)isarmament Sub- Committee. The General Assembly overruled South Africa's objection to the inclusion on the agenda of consideration of' racial policies and the treatment of Indians in the Union and of the administration of South-West Afirica. The representative of South Africa then announced that his delegation would ref'rain from participation in these debates, but reserved its right to vote. United Nations' consideration of racial policies in the Union The economist appointed by the United Nations' Commission on the Union's racial policies stated in his report that while economic progress had continued in South Africa, industrial development had been impeded by restrictions on the freedom of Non-Whites in the field of econoic activity. The continued poverty of the large mass of' them meant that markets were restricted. Racial tensions had increased. All these factors probably afflected the inflow of capital and rate of' immigration. The net effect of' the apartheid policy would appear to have involved very considerable burdens on the Union's economy. the second report of the special commission warned that the policy of apartheid constituted a grave threat to the internal ,3) Assenbly, [tansard 13, cols. 5101-2.
A SURVEY OF RACE situation and to the foreign relations of the Union. The commission said that the various racial groups must necessarily wend their way together, thus the road of gradual integration was the only one that seemed to be open. To travel that road successfully one side would have to jettison theories of racial superiority, while the other would have to realize that the idea of fraternal equality and collaboration enshrined in the U.N. Charter could not become a reality without passing through many successive stages. Various measures to alleviate 'the serious suffering' of the African people were urged. Twenty Asian, African, and Latin-American countries placed a draft resolution before the Special Political Committee to the effect that the commission should continue its work and that the Union should again be invited to review its racial policies and to consider the suggestion that technical experts from the United Nations should assist with advice. This resolution was opposed by several delegations: Britain and Australia maintained that the United Nations was in terms of section 2(7) of its Charter not competent to deal with the Union's racial policies, while the view of the United States was that the problem of inter-racial tensions should be considered in a world context and not in relation to South Africa alone. The resolution was carried, however, first by the Special Political Committee, and later, by 40 votes to 10 with 10 abstentions, by the General Assembly. The special commission re-elected Mr Hernan Santa Cruz, of Chile, as its chairman and rapporteur: the other members are M. Henri Laugier, of France, and Mr Dantes Bellegarde, of Haiti. Its third report was issued at the end of the period now under review. Developments in South Africa over the year were analysed in detail, the commission's general impression(4) being that while political leaders remained firm in statements of principle, the apartheid programme had recently been characterized mainly by gradualism and flexibility. It might well take many years, the commission said, before the theories bore even a modest resemblance to actual fact. By then the succession of generations, White and Black, would have changed the course of events. United Nations' consideration of South-West Africa As the Union has steadfastly refused to resume the voluntary submission of reports on South-West Africa, the secretariat of the United Nations itself prepared a report on social, economic, and financial conditions in the territory. It was stated in this report that after 35 years of administration under the mandates system, African inhabitants were still not participating in the political development of the territory, that their participation in its economic development was restricted to that of labourers, and that social and educational services for their benefit were far from satisfactory. (4) As reported in South African newspapers. 252
RELATIONS: 1945-55 The seven-member committee appointed by U.N. suggested a new formula at the ninth session of the General Assembly: that the territory be placed under United Nations guardianship (instead of the International Trusteeship system), annual reports on its administration being submitted to the Assembly. Unless South Africa's concurrence was forthcoming, however, it was likely that stalemate had been reached. The International Court of Justice had ruled that although the United Nations was competent to supervise the administration of South-West Africa, in exercising that supervision it should not exceed the authority of the League of Nations. The unanimity voting principle had applied in the Council of the League-in other words, the agreement of the administering power was required before any decision could be made. In the U.N. Assembly, on the other hand, a two-thirds majority of votes was necessary in matters of importance. The committee thus suggested that if South Africa's concurrence with the proposed new formula was not forthcoming, the advice of the International Court should be sought on the powers that U.N. could unilaterally use in dealing with South-West Africa. Through a technical mishap, a resolution dealing with decisions on U.N.'s authority in dealing with matters arising out of petitions from the territory was tied up with the proposed approach to the International Court. This resolution failed by one vote to gain a two-thirds majority, whereupon the President of the General Assembly pointed out that this meant the reference to the Court had fallen away. During the debate by the Trusteeship Committee, South Africa submitted a detailed reply to criticisms made in the report by the secretariat on conditions in the territory. A substantial and influential group of countries opposed the continuation of the debate until this reply had been studied. There was much difference of opinion, and meanwhile the special U.N. committee commenced to disintegrate: Thailand and Norway resigned, the representatives from Brazil, Mexico, Syria, and Pakistan said they would have to reserve their position as to future participation, and only one member was left, representing Uruguay. The United States refused an invitation to appoint a representative pending settlement of the procedural question. A sub-committee then appointed to review the situation recoimended that the question of an approach to the International Court of Justice be reopened. This recommendation was subsequently adopted by the General Assembly which, by 25 votes to 11 with 21 abstentions, resolved to seek the Court's advice on voting procedure. South Africa refused an invitation extended by the Court to all U.N. members to submit views on the matter, maintaining that it had never accepted the Court's earlier ruling that the supervisory powers of the League of Nations in respect of South-West Africa had been transferred to United Nations. During June 1955, the International Court ruled unanimously that in
A SURVEY OF RACE dealing with the aflairs of South-West Africa, including matters arising from reports and petitions, the General Assembly's two-thirds majority voting procedure could be applied. South Africa thus lost any right of veto. Meanwhile, the U.N. special committee had been reconstituted, with representatives from Thailand. Mexico, Syria, Pakistan. Uruguay, the United States, and Brazil. Its chairman is Mr Thanat Khoman, of Thailand. It has drawn up a further report declaring that racial discrimination is prevalent throughout SouthWest Africa. United Nations' consideration of the treatment of persons of Indian origin in South Africa It will be recalled that the Good Offices Commission set up by the United Nations to try to arrange and to assist in negotiations between the Union, India, and Pakistan reported to the General Assembly in 1954 that its efforts had failed because South Africa refused to co-operate on the ground that the United Nations had no jurisdiction in the matter. The General Assembly on several occasions has called on the Union Government to suspend implementation of the Group Areas Act pending conclusion of negotiations. At its ninth session, the Assembly adopted a resolution sponsored by certain Latin-American countries calling on the three governments concerned to seek a solution to the dispute by direct negotiations, requesting them jointly to appoint a mediator to facilitate contacts between them, and stipulating that if agreement on this appointment had not been reached within six months, a mediator should be appointed by the Secretary-General of the United Nations. Shortly thereafter, the Union Government sent telegrams to the Governments of India and Pakistan stating that it was prepared, without prejudice to the juridical position it had consistently maintained on the subject of domestic jurisdiction, to have discussions with them with a view to seeking a solution which would be acceptable to the Union. In a preliminary reply the Indian Government restated its view that the matter was within the competence of the United Nations. While the proposed discussions were still under consideration, however, the Prime Minister of India made two speeches attacking policies of 'racial persecution' in South Africa. These were highly resented by the Union Government, which stated that it considered this action to amount to a rejection of the proposals: it was, therefore, abandoning any further attempts to convene a round-table conference. The Indian Government contended that because the Union had not halted repressive measures pending the talks, as requested by the General Assembly, its Prime Minister had been justified in attacking these measures. During June 1955, the Secretary-General of United Nations wrote to the three governments concerned stating that as no
RELATIONS: 1954--55 mediator had been appointed by them, he had designated Senbor Luis de Faro, of Brazil, as the special assistant of United Nations to fitcilitate negotiations. India and Pakistan promised to extend their full co-operation to him, but the Union's Minister of External Aflairs replied that South Africa declined to prejudice its juridical position by collaborating with the 'distinguished gentleman' as suggested. So far as the Union Government was concerned, he continued, the question of treatment of persons of Indian origin in South Africa had to be regarded as closed. Senhor de Faro then wrote to the Secretary-General to say that in view of the Union's attitude there was apparently nothing further he could do to fhcilitate negotiations. At the commencement of' its tenth session, the General Assembly decided again to include this item on its agenda. The Union's withdrawal from UNESCO In the Assembly on 5 April and 5 May 1955(5), the Minister of' External Affairs said that the Union Government considered the activities of the U.N. Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization to have been futile, and had noted the general criticism expressed during the session of' this body at Montevideo in 1954. Furthermore, the Government resented interference in South Africa's racial problems by means of UNESCO publications. He read certain passages from three of' these publications, averring that these amounted to an attack on the apartheid policy and the incitement of' Non-Whites against Whites. The contribution by the Union to UNESCO varied according to a fixed formula, he said, ..... in 1954 it was £30,073 and during 1955 it would be approximately £26,272. South Africa was, in effect, contributing money in order to be criticized. The Union's Ambassador in Paris had protested against the issue of these pamphlets in an interview with the Director-General of UNESCO in 1951. Since then they had been reprinted. The UNESCO conference in 1954, passed a motion authorizing the Director-General, in carrying out the programme decided upon, to give special attention to measures calculated to eliminate racial discrimination and to eradicate racial prejudice. In view of these facts, and of the futility of the organization, the Union Government had decided to withdraw from UNESCO. the Minister said. He would recommend to the Cabinet that the money thus saved be used for the dissemination of information abroad by the State Information Office. The Minister of' External Aflhirs in his first statement, and later' the Prime Minister in a speech made in the Assembly(6), indicated that the Institute of Race Relations was mainly responsible lor the distribution of UNESCO pamphlets in South Africa. In the ( .) aiisard 10, cols. 3904-5; tlansard 13, cols. 5073-82. (6) 18 April 1955; tliansard 11, col. 4019.
A SURVEY -OF RACE second speech quoted above the Minister of External Affairs acknowledged that the publications had been widely distributed and advertised in South Africa, even in small local papers. The Institute's President dealt with this matter in a monthly letter to members published in Race Relations News. She expressed regret at the Union's decision to withdraw from UNESCO, pointed out that a commercial firm in Pretoria was the agent for the distribution of UNESCO publications, and said that the Institute would continue to offer these for sale, thereby making a small contribution to bringing about the one world which must be wrought for mankind's survival. Conference on industrialization and urban conditions in Africa south of the Sahara Towards the end of 1954, Dr Ellen Hellmann, President of the Institute of Race Relations, attended a conference called by the Social Science Department of UNESCO at Abidjan, capital of the C6te d' Ivoire, on the social aspect of industrialization and urban conditions in Africa south of the Sahara. She took the opportunity of spending two weeks in the Gold Coast. Her impressions were published in the November issue of Race Relations News. It became clear during the conference, she said, that in all urban African communities the traditional kinship structure and tribal bonds were being weakened, while new associations based on economic, religious, educational, or other interests were emerging. The process was most marked where industrialization was furthest advanced. Common to all territories, except South Africa and the Gold Coast, was a very considerable lag in the educational and economic advance of African women. Whatever the subject under discussion, the need for long-term inter-disciplinary research was clear. The conference fulfilled its purpose-of promoting comparative study by an exchange of views on research methods and findings. Afro-Asian conference at Bandung During April 1955, a conference of representatives of 29 independent African and Asian nations, sponsored by Ceylon, India, Pakistan, Burma, and Indonesia, was held at Bandung in Indonesia. Neither Israel nor the Union of South Africa was invited; Communist China, but not Nationalist China, was represented. While acknowledging that the form of and way of life of any participating country could in no way be subject to interference by another country, the conference reaffirmed the determination of Asian and African people to eradicate racialism, and deplored policies and practices of racial segregation and discrimination. Sympathy and support were expressed for 'the courageous stand taken by victims of racial discrimination in South Africa.' The conference called upon colonial powers to grant freedom and independence to all peoples. It viewed with deep concern the state of international tension and the danger of an atomic world war. 256
RELATIONS: 1954-5 257 ANNEXURE I RECENT PUBLICATIONS OF THE S.A. INSTITUTE OF RACE RELATIONS GENERAL Tle Cost of Living for Africans, by Olive Gibson. Die Aglergrond van Rassespanning in Suid-Afrika, by Quintin Whyte. Racial Laws versus Economic and Social Forces, by Dr Ellen Hellmann (Presidential Address, 1955). Education and Race Relations in South Africa, by Dr T. B. Davie (1955 Hoernl6 Memorial Lecture). I Survey of Race Relations in South Africa, 1953-4, compiled by Muriel Horrcll. South Africa's Changing Economy, by L. Samuels, Professor D. Hobart Houghton, and Professor F. C. van N. Fourie. Voorwaarts in die Geloof, by Quintin Whyte (A translation of . . . Go Forward in Faith : The Logic of Economic Integration.') Swaziland ---- A General Survey. 25th Annual Report of the S.A. Institute of Race Relation, Race Relations JNews (monthly) Race Relations Journal (quarterly) No. 4 of 1954 Living Conditions in a Squatters' Camp, by M. Lipschitz and N. M. Greshoff. No. I of 1955 Law, Race Relations and Social Change in the United States, by Charles R. Nixon. The Conflict of Culture in Africa, by Peter Abrahams. Two contributions by L. Rao and 0. P. Somniso. No. 2 of 1955 Comnents on Some Aspects of Government Policy, by L. Rao. The American Negro and Desegregation in American Schools, by Edmund de S. Brunner. Indian Adjustments to Urbanization, by S. Cooppan and B. A. Naidoo. The Experimental Rural Community Centre at Ncora, by S. Lochwert Zici. Urban Areas Legislation, by I). B. Molteno, Q.C., No. 3 of 1955. Fears and Pressures in the Union of South Africa, by Cornelis i. de Kiewiet. A'Iind, Manners and Morals, by S. Biesheuvel. AFRIKAANS - ENGLISH RELATIONS Thought (quarterly) lerspektief (quarterly) ADULT EDUCATION SECTION E-nglish for Indian W1/omen -- Books III and IV. Uvukufunde - the third edition of a literacy course il Zulu. Monailo oa Thuto -- the second edition of a literacy course in Sotho. Sekhukhuni se bonoa ke Sebatalali -- a story in Sotho. Khirimpana (under the imprint of Morija Sesuto Book )epot) written in 'deep Sotho' in lyrical prose form. Ezempilo (under the imprint of Shuter and Shooter) --- the Zulu version of 'A Guide to Health for Adults.' hsnpilo .'tle (under the imprint of Lovedale Press) --the Xhosa version of 'A Guide to Health for Adults.' Khotso (Sotho) -- A first course for Europeans. Saku6ona (Zulu) -- A first course for Europeans. Molo (Xhosa) A first course for Europeans.
258 A SURVEY OF-RACE REPRINT The Racial Situation, by Quintin Whyte. Reprint from 'The Forum' of article orginally published by the Institute in duplicated form. MEMORANDA PUBLISHED IN DUPLICATED FORM 172/54 In Hawaii - Class, not Race, by Quintin Whyte (Press Bulletin). 1731/54 South Africa's Problem --- Belief versus Fear, by Quintin Whyte. 182/54 Sulplement to Classification of Memoranda, Journal Articles, Pamphlets and Books published by the Institute. 200,/54 Social Adjustments to Urban Conditions of the Gape Coloured People, by Dr 0. D. Wollheim. I i55 Influx Control in Johannesburg, by E. T. Thacker. 2 /55 Plan for a Third of our Best Land, from 'Veldtrust,' by T. C. Robertson. 19/55 Report on the Working of the Bantu Education Act, by Dr A. W. Hoernl. 23/55 Leases for Sites in Urban African Locations, by Mrs F. Kentridge. 24/55 Review of Recent Legislation, by Quintin Whyte 30/55 Findings of the Council Meeting of the Institute, January 1955. 32 /55 Statement on the Natives (Urban Areas) Amendment Bill, 1955. 33/55 Statement on the Group Areas Amendment Bill, 1955. 34/55 Western Areas Removal (Press Bulletin). 36/55 African Adjustment to Urbanization, by D. G. S. M'Timkulu. 40/44 Memorandum for Select Committee on Nursing Amendment Bill. 41/55 Natives (Urban Areas) Amendment Bill--- An Analysis. 60/55 Comments on the Draft Syllabus for Bantu Lower Primary Schools. 62/55 Bantu Education : the First Draft Syllabus (Press Bulletin). 77/55 lemorandum of Evidence Submitted to the Commission of Enquiry in Regard to Undesirable Publications. 81/55 Comments on Regulations Concerning African Teachers and Subsidization of Bantu Community Schools. 85/55 Report on Tour Through the Transkei and Ciskei, by Dr Ellen Hellman and Quintin Whyte. 88/55 Teachers in Bantu Schools (Press Bulletin). 94/55 Comments on the Group Areas Development Bill 109/55 Recent Legislation Reviewed (Press Bulletin). 111/55 Johannesburg Group Areas Enquiry, by Dr Ellen Hellmann 113/55 Review of N'n-European Housing Position in the Southern Transvaal. 117/55 Outlook for Africa: Summary of Address by Julius Lewin. 118/55 African Housing in Durban. 120/55 Non-European Housing in the Port Elizabeth Area. 121/55 Outlook for Africa, by Paul Mosaka. 122/55 Outlook for Africa, by Prof. L. J. du Plessis. 124/55 Extracts from Papers read at the Witwatersrand Conference on Non-European Urban Social Welfare (Press Bulletin) 125/55 National Broadcasts: The Need for Research on the Problems of Race Relations, by Prof. 1). Hobart Houghton; Good Manners and Race Relations, by Dr the Hon. E. H. Brookes; The Emerging African M11iddle-Class, by Dr Ellen Hellmann; S~gnposts to Better Race Relations, by Quintin Whyte. 129/55 Al Analysis of the Group Areas Further Amendment Act, by Mrs F. Kentridge 134/55 Memorandum by Cape Western Regional Committee for Submission to the Planning Committee of the Land Tenure Advisory Board. 137/55 Proposals under the Group Areas Act as Afl'cting the Indian Community of Port Elizabeth.
RELATIONS: 1954~55 259 ANNEXURE II OTHER RECENT PUBLICATIONS DEALING WITH RACE RELATIONS J. 1). N. Anderson Ilanic Law in Africa (FI.M.S.O., Lcmdon), 1954. Vernon Bartlet - StruZgle for ica IFreeriek Muller. London), 1954. S. Biesheuvel .The leasuremnent of Af rican Attitudes !owards European Ethical Cone[i, Lawvs and Adniilration of 7ustiee (National Institute of Personnel Research). S. Biesheuwl Incentives atd Julnan Relations ini Iutt', Rcprint from 'Industra] Review, of Africa', February 'March 1955. S. Biesheuvel The AL,,suiremen, of Occupational Attitudes in a MultiRacial S,ciety, 'Occu pational Psychology,' October 1954. 'Reprint available N.I.P.R.) Board off Trade The African Äaive A arket in the tederafion of Rhodesia and ,Vyasaland (H.M.S.0.) 1954. A. Campbell Heart of Africa. (Lougman's) 1954. J. Caroters The Psgchoogy of lau Alan (Government Printer, Nairobi). 1). T. Col e . lIntroduction to Tswana Graimar (1,ongman's) 1955. l)avidson, Basil The African Awakening (Jonathan Cape), 1953. Horton Davies & R. H. W. Shephard (compilers) South African Missions, 1800 1950, An Anthology (Thomas Nelson an( Sons), 1955. P. de Briey The Productiviy of A/rican Labour ']nternational Labour Review', August /September 1955. (. I. 1)oke The Southern Bantu Langnaýges (O. 1.. for International African Institute) 1954. TJ.. 1). Fair The Distribution of the I'olation in ,V(ial (Votume 3 of Natal Regional Survev. publisbed by O.U.P1.) 1F. W. Fox The Agricultural loundationss of .'V(iritio (Reprint from S.A. Medical journal, Vol. 28 of 1954, and Vol. 29 of 1955). S. 11. Frankel The Economic impact 260 A SURVEY OF RACE P. Mason An Essay on Racial Tension (Royal Institute of International Affairs) 1954. E. Meyer Native Feeding on Farms (Department of Nutrition, Pretoria) A. Miller Mamisa, The Swazi Warrior. . Clyde Mitchell African Urbanization in Ndola and Luanshya (Rhodes Livingstone Institute) 1954. National Building Research Institute in collaboration with S.A. Institute of Architects -- Housing Brochure (plans for African housing). Native Affairs Department, Pretoria - Bantu (monthly) Native Affairs Department, Pretoria- The Bantu Education Journal (monthly). R. Nurkse C. L. S. Nyembezi H. C. O'Dowd T. Price P. Radin (Ed). A. H. Richmond Boyd C. Shafer Problems of Capital Formation in Under-Developed Countries (Oxford: Basil Blackwell) 1953 Zulu Proverbs (Witwatersrand University Press) 1954. The African in the Universities Second edition (NUSAS) 1954. African Marriage (S.C.M., London) 1954. African Folktales and Sculpture (Bollingen Series 32, Seeker and Warburg.) Colour Prejudice in Britain - A Study of West Indian Workers in Liverpool, 1941-1951 (London: Routledge and Kegan Paul) 1954. - Nationalism: Myth and Reality (Gollancz) 1955. South African Association for Adult Education- Western Civilization: Its Birth, Growth and Flowering. ('Lantern' Vol. 4, No. 2, 1954). Southern Rhodesian Division of Health- Meals Make Money. V. Sheddick Land Tenure in Basutoland (H.M.S.O.) 1954, Colonial Research Studies No. 13. B. P. Thomson Two Studies in African Nutrition: An Urban and a Rural Community in Northern Rhodesia Rhodes-Livingstone Papers No. 24 (Manchester University Press) 1954. S. van der Horst The Union of South Africa: Economic Problems in a MultiRacial Situation (Reprint from 'The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science'). Available from Institute of Race Relations. N.J. van Warmelo Notes on the Kaokoveld (South- West Africa) and its People (Government Printer, Pretoria). RELATIONS: 1954-55 261 ANNEXURE III PENSIONS AND GRANTS PAID IN SOUTH AFRICA lIem lear W1lhites Coloured Isiatics ifricas Family allowances(') 1953/4 40,546 9,269t Children's maintenance grants(') Disability grants( 2) Blind persons pensions(2) Old age pensions(2) War veterans' pensions(") I Special grants to cx members of Native Military (orps( 3) Poor relief(4) Unemploynent insurance (5) Silicosis benefits() Maternity allowances(7) (;rants to families of leper patients and to arrested 'ases(4) \Workmen's compensation (7) 1953/4 1953/4 1953/4 19531/4 1953/4 1951/2 1951,'2 1953 1952 1952 19501/1 1952 870,156 1,089,134 123,743 8,630,516 3,522,753 547,813 K 4,374 354,064 140,421 250,063 28,168 565,311 6,256 2,613,120 233,9132,434,466 1,093 224,811 ...... 365,237 89,190 ,197,326 ...... 3 87.102...... 1,836 204 ..... 953,590...... j 54,723 503,067 .33,216 I,93,405 19,614 14,365 33,892 333,829 27,532 [15,784 ) Minister of Social Welfare, Assembly, 4 February 1955, Hansard 2, col.565. (2) Minister of Finance, Assembly, 11 February 1955, Hansard 3, col. 982. (:) From Official Year Book of the Uion of South Africa, 1952-3. (I) See last Survey of Race Relations for sources of information. (5) Information given on belalf of Minister of Labour, Assembly, 23 Februarv 1954. Hansard 4, col. 1005. (" From Annual Report of Silicosis Board for 1952. U.G.21/1953. (7) From Report of Department of Labour for 1952. U.G. 46/1954. 262 A SURVEY OF RACE ANNEXURE IV AFRICAN HOUSING SCHEMES IN MAJOR URBAN AREAS End Dec. 1954 Of these Existing number houses(1) belonging to Africans 3,533 1,110 3,236 Present Shortage of housing 7,000 Benoni '. 2) Bloemfontein Boksturg Brakpan 406 3,0O0(3) 2,000 Sile-andService schemes 4,144 sites already serviced and occupied at Daveyton Township Plar provid for 1,4 sites recent approN ing *00 :ly r'd Under consideration Urban area Other housbg schemes Detached economic houses for sale or letting being erected. WattVille 163 built over past year by private contractor. Dave),ton 1,000 built over past year by private contractor and municpal teams of African workers. Scheme for another 8,000 in hand. 41 dwellings completed by Africans under assisted housing scheme during past year, and a large hostel for single men built by the local authority. 649 sub-economic semi-detached houses built by private contractor over past year. 105 sub-economic houses built by White labour during 1953-4, and another 269 to be built. Houses will be sold to Africans. 2,000 4,091 2,129 1,880 1 RELATIONS: 1954 55 263 End Dec. 1954 Of these Existing number houses belonging to Africans 1,096 Cape Divi- '(at 30.9.55) sonal 910 Council families area (700 of them in dual occupancyl houses) Durban(,) 5,329 East London 3,770 2,428 1,897 Urban area Present Shortage of housing 6,000 (plus hostels for 17,000 men) Possibly 4,000 (plus hostels for 1,000 men) 16,000 Scheme (plus being prehostels pared for for 24,000 811 sites at men) Lamont, also for 17.600 (ultimately) at Duff's Road 1,500 Scheme being prepared Site-andService schemes See note later. (4) See note later(4). Cape Other housing schemes 148 cottage hostels, each accommodating either 8 or 16 men, built at Langa over past year. 701 more under construction. Erected by African building workers. 210 family houses and 350 dual-occupancy houses (for 700 families) now completed, plus single accommodation for 448 men. Sub-economic scheme built by private contract During past year 56 houses built privately by Africans at Umlazi Glebe; 182 semi-detached or flatted sub-economic houses built by private contract at Lamont; 571 sites allocated at Cato Manor emergency camp. (See notes below). African builders have been erecting houses for sale, also sub-economic houses have been provided. 263 RELATIONS: 1954-55 A SURVEY OF RACE EinEnd Dec. 1954 Ii Existing houses 4,233 Of these number belonging to Africans 1,145 Urban area 11,020 Germiston (6) Present Shortage of housing 12,000 Johannesburg(7) Johannesburg (Meadowlands) Site-andService scheme.% Scheme for 4,000 sites I at Katlehong Township, Natalspruit, approved. 323 sites so far serviced. Sites serviced and occupied include 424 at Moroka North and 474 at Central West jabavu. Servicing of 398 more sites at Jabavu is proceeding, and schemes for 1,625 at Mofolo North and 1,554 at Molapo have been approved Serviced stands to be made available later 40,000 (plus hostels for 12,000 men and 6,000 women) About 10,000 (plus hostels for some 5,000 men) Other housing schemes 2 schemes providing for 1,800 economic detached houses in progress at Natalspruit, built by African contractors or municipal African workers. 121 houses, 2 schools, 59 additions to existing buildings completed during past year. Over the past year municipal teams of African builders have erected 600 detached or semidetached houses for sale or rental at Orlando West Extension, 1,964 sirnilar houses at Mofolo, and 200 detached houses for sale at Dube Village. Further houses are in the course of erection in these and other areas. The area has been fully planned in village units. A scheme for 8,500 houses is in progress: teams of Africans have al- 32,649 plus 4,045 shelters About 900 264 RELATIONS: 1954-55 End Dec. 1954 I.Trban area Existing houses Of these number belonging to Africans Present Site-andShortage of Service housing schemes Other housing Schemes Already erected 2,100 houses, of varying types and sizes, and 3 schools Kimberley 3,131 Krugersdorp Nigel 1,731 1,100 1,770 769 34 1,800 Scheme for 739 sites at Galeshewe approved 1,260 Land being acquired at Luipaardsvlei 600 Over past year African building workers erected 500 houses at Galeshewe and 100 at Greenpoint, for sale by hire-purchase. Held up under zoning plans Held up under zoning plans. Economic scheme for 200 houses now under consideration 1,698 Odendaalsrus I Pietermaritzburg Port Eliza- 8,676 beth(8) (plus 70 1,312 Economic scheme for 980 detached houses, built by private contract, in progress at Marobe. 1,600 11,000 Scheme for 12,000 Sub-economic houses built by Africans have been provided. Held up under zoning plans. Ap- 1.312 A SURVEY OF RACE )ec. 1954 Of these number belonging to Africans Port Elizabeth (Divisional Council Area) Pretoria(9) 266 End I Existing houses Adcock homes) also 308 at Walmer 6,415 1,101 587 Urban area Present Shortage of housing 250 16,000 Randfontein Roodepoort(10) Other housing schemes Application now made for economic housing loan. 4,575 390 416 Held up under zoning plans. Application now made for a subeconomic housing loan Over the past year African builders have erected some 1,500 houses at Vlakfontein West and about 900 at Atte ridgeville. These are sold by intalments over 30 years. Building is being continued. There will eventual ly be some 10,000 dwellings at Vlakfontein West. Economic houses for sale or letting have been built by private contract. Held up under zoning plans. Scheme for 400 economic houses at Vogelstruisfontein now drawn up. 1,500 1,500 plus (see note) Site-andService schemes sites in preparation Schemes already approved for some 2,600 sites at Vlakfontein East and about 3,000 in the Atteridgeville/ Saulsville area. Many of these are already serviced and occupied Scheme for 1,000 sites now being prepared RELATIONS: 1954-55 End D~ec. 1954 iI I Of these Existing number houses belonging to Africans 4,861 1,580 Lrban area Springs(") Vanderbijlpark Vereeniging 3,600 Present Shortage of housing Site-andService schemes 3,700 (see note) 2,000 Under consideration 2,000 Scheme for 3,000 sites being prepared Other housing schemes 1,093 economic houses of varying sizes erected by African builders during past year. Scheme being continued. About 500 economic houses erected by African builders over past year. Scheme being continued. Some 200 economic houses built past year by African building workers, others by African standholders, and 160 experimental houses by National Building Research Institute. NOTES (1) Statistics in regard to existing numbers of houses were in most cases abstracted from an article by Mr W. C. Mocke, Senior Urban Areas Commissioner of the Native Affairs Department, published in Bantu, September 1955. (2) Benoni Squatters are being moved to Daveyton Township from the Apex Emergency Squatters' Camp. The new township has been planned in great detail. Ethnic grouping was first applied here: there are areas for Nguni (sub-divided into Xhosa, Zulu, and Swazi), Sotho (sub-divided into Northern and Southern Sotho) and others (sub-divided into ShangaanfTsonga and Venda, Lemba and others). (3) Boksburg Housing requirements will be considerably increased in terms of rezoning plans. (4) Cape Town and Cape Divisional Council Area The Minister of Native Affairs has ruled that no further family houses for Africans are to be built at Langa. Instead, cottage hostels for migrant male 1,819 Some 150 268 A SURVEY OF RACE workers are being-erected, suitable for conversion later into dwellings for Coloured families. The Minister has also ruled that no site-and-service schemes proper are to be permitted in the Western Cape. There are already about 2,000 squatters at Nyanga: another 17,000 from some 38 'black spots' are to be moved there, to an emergency camp, and then screened. Family and hostel accommodation will be provided for those permitted to remain, the houses being capable of conversion to bachelor quarters and reconversion later, if necessary, into family dwellings for Coloured people. Work has commenced on the provision of essential rudimentary services. The area will have to be drained and a rail-link provided. (5) Durban The Duff's Road scheme will be developed in 11 neighbourhood units, initially on a site-and-service basis. At Umlazi Glebe, Africans are allocated serviced sites and make their own arrangements for building, being eligible for loans of up to £250, repayable over 15 years. 581 such houses have already been completed. At Lamont sub-economic, semi-detached dwellings and double- storeyed flatted houses are being built by private contract. The establishment of Cato Manor emergency camp was a purely temporary measure to ameliorate the worst slum conditions. So far 1,781 new sites have been allocated there, and 1,435 families already in the area when the Council took over the land have been permitted to remain. Africans may obtain a site provided with rudimentary services and a loan of building materials up to £20 in value. They then erect temporary homes for themselves. Two villages out of six originally envisaged have been completed at Umlazi Mission Reserve under the aegis of the Natal Housing Board. The Minister of Native Affairs has recently suspended this scheme. (6) Germiston The old township of l)ukatole has become an overcrowded slum area. Lodger families are being moved to the site-and-service scheme at Natalspruit. Owners who are willing to sell receive full compensation and are thus enabled to make private arrangements for rebuilding at Natalspruit. 170 out of 1,150 privately-owned houses have so far been acquired by the local authority (these previously housed 499 families). Some £85,000 has been paid in compensation. (7) 7ohannesburg The present shortage of family accommodation is stated as 40,000, but will be very greatly increased if re-zoning plans are implemented. It is suggested that only those Africans who work in the northern and north-eastern suburbs of.Johannesburg should remain at Alexandra Township: possibly some 3,000 families and 4,000 single men might then have to be rehoused by Johannesburg and 2,000 families and 1,000 single men by Germiston. The Mentz Committee also suggested that Africans should be moved from Western Native Township and Pimville. Furthermore, additional hostels may have to be provided for some 18,500 men in terms of plans for abolishing 'locations in the sky.' The site-and-service schemes are catering for people on the official waiting list, tenants of Moroka, and the Shantytown at Orlando, and Africans from peri- urban areas employed in the city. A loan over and above the Services Levy grant has been obtained to instal sewerage where mains are already available or where blasting is necessary: otherwise the bucket system is used for the time being. A more elaborate scheme is envisaged for Diepkloof, to cater for middle-class and upper-class families --both the stands and loans available would be larger. The City Council is now to start building 400 houses at the first site-andservice area in Moroka North. Hostels are being planned for 5,000 men each at Dube, Nanceville, and Doornkop, and for 3,000 women at Orlando West. The Government insists that these shall be of the cottage type: their con- strultion is cheaper, but they cover more ground than multi-storey ones. Row houses will probably be built later for the poorest families. The Council has provided about 100 mobile shacks to give shelter for the first 48 hours to people moving in to site-and-service schemes. King Willi's Town There is a shortage of 150 houses. An assisted home ownership scheme has been drawn up and submitted for approval. (9) Port Eli zabeth The Municipality built a specimen one-roomed house which could be erected at the site-and-service scheme, and be offered to Africans for £46, payable in instalments. The Institute of Race Relations suggested ways in which the design could be improved, making it easier for owners to add other rooms later. (9) Pretoria It was in Pretoria that progress was first made with the new site-andservice scheme. Between 20 and 24 stands are grouped round 'lapas' where communal water-tanks are placed. There are bucket latrines for which the stand-holder pays £3, the remainder coming from Service Levy funds. As in other such schemes, loans of building material up to £35 in value are obtainable, repayable over 5 years. Africans may build temporary shacks using materials from their old homes, or may use the building materials obtained on loan to build one permanent room, or may use their own money to erect a house of better standard immediately. An African foreman advises on constructional work. Stand-holders must undertake to build a permanent home within 5 years: if this promise is not kept they will later be moved to houses being erected by the Council. (I1) Roodepoort Racial zoning plans have caused much delay. It has now been decided that African townships will be sited at Vogelstruisfontein, adjoining Meadowlands. Some thousands of families will eventually have to be moved there from the existing tow nship. (1 l) Springs. The immediate shortage is 1,000 houses; but, under racial zoning plans, the inhabitants of Payneville Township are to be moved gradually to the Kwa- Thema area ---- this will mean that provision has to be made for another 2.700 families. RELATrIONS : 1954-55 269 270 A SURVEY OF RACE INDEX A Baragwanath Hospital .... 201 Abrahams, Peter, . 231 Base metals...... 150 Accommodation for Africans in towns .. 120 Basutoland, ..52, 69 Adams College .. .175 Basutoland, Africans fron . . 69 Adult education ...... 202 Beaches, zoning .. .. 94, 102, 121 Afforestation in Zululand .. .131 Bechuanaland hal.. 52 Africa Institute proposed Beer garden a.d alls ... 9 African areas 77 Benghu ...... 234 African class structure Bethesda ...... 173 Africans, distribution ot, 1 Biesheuvel, Dr S.. . .. 73 African district surgeon . . . . 10 Birth rates tration 199 African domestic servants, .. 85 Birth registration .. ..199 Africans, foreign-born .. . .52, 69 Bishop of Johannesburg .. .. 176 Africans, 0 Black spots' . .. .. 128 Africans, gatherings of .... 70 Bloemfontein, sport and apartheid .. 236 African Livestockat13 Board for Advancement of Local GovernA\frican locations, .. 83 et ...... 18 *" ment...... 118 African medical scholarships .. 195 Bonus-incentive schemes 163 African middle class, B et53s.. .. African Music Society .. 231 Border strips ..a.. ... 4 African Music Transcription Librarv 231 Botda's Hill .. e.. 2 African National Congress 44 Botha's Hill T.B. Settlement .. 205 Africans, numbers .. .. 51 Bothsabelo 173 Africans, old-agepensions .. 222 Boycottofschools . .. 184 Aricans, political representation, 54 Brandon Bantu Hosiel .. 225 Africans and Post Office .. . 158 Brass bands, African 232 Africans, removal from urban areas 71 Bread, Bremer .. .. 217 ifrican Self-Help Association .. 222 Bremer Bread .... 2t7 Xfrican tribal economy .. .. 131 Brits, Group areas .... 74 Africans in universities .. .. 192 Brookes, Dr E. H. .. .. 13 fricans, urbanization, .52 Budgets, family .... 144 Afrcan, ubanzaton Buffer zones ...... 84 Africans, urban areas legislation, 62 Building e .. .. . 154 Africans, urban code for .. .. . 54 B African Variety of Jazz'...... 232 Bunga, ...... 58 African women, influx control, .. 51 rgomaster * ...... 118 African women teachers. . . .. 174 Afrikaans /English relations, .. 16 \fro-Asian Conference, Bandung .. 256 C Aged, welfare of ...... 222 \griculture, African .. . ..132CAFDA 224,236 Agricultural poverty .. .. 137 Camps for delinquents .. . 247 gricultural workers, Coloured .. .. 148 Cape Coloured community 4, 15, 46 lexandra Township, status .. 64 Carribean pine .. ... 131 *Case work ...... 227 Allotments of land ...... 135, 139 Catholic Missions Sch27ool Fund 175 American Board Mission and Bantu "' Education ...... 175 Cato Manor .. ... 225 ANSCA...... 140 Cattle, African .. ... 134 nti-Republican League .. .. 30 Cattle, culling .... 132 partheid, ...... 1, 8, 10, 48 Chamber of Commerce, African .. 154 partheid and Christianity 7 Chief Cyprian Bhekezulu .... 141 Apartheid in transport ...... 121 Child Welfare, S.A. National Council .. 35 Apartheid, vertical ...... 164 Children at School ...... 170 \postolic Church of Zion ...... 70 Christian Council of S.A...... 120 Appeal Court, . .. .. 21 Christian National Education .. .. 204 ppeals, population registration, 37 Church of Nazarene and Bantu Education 175 \ppellate Division QuorumAct.. .. 22 ChurchofProvinceandBantu Education 176 rtisans .. 161 hurches and Bantu Education 176 siatic (Cape Malay) Amendment Act 77 Ciskei, ...... 132 siatics, diet .. 50 Classification of population .. .. 33 siatics, distribution, 49 Coal ...... 150 ksiatics, languages, 49 Cole, Prof. I). 73 siatics, urbanization, 49 Colour bar . 2 \siatics, westernization, 49 Coloured, acculturation of, . .. 47 \ssembly, party strengths 3 Coloured Affairs, Commissioner of .. 47 Coloured Affairs, Division of .. .. 47 Coloured agricultural workers .. .. 148 Coloured, careers for .. 47 B Coloured Community, Sparks Road .. 49 Coloured education...... 187 IAASSKAP, 1, 7, 10, 57 Coloured Education Commission .. .. 187 lalance of trade .. 143 Coloured and group areas, .. .. 90 3andung Conference .. .. 256 Coloured, languages used ...... 46 lank rate horities, 12 143 Coloured Mission Stations Act, .. .. 48 Ian tu authorities, 127, 182 Coloured persons delined ...... 33 lantu Authorities Act, .. 1, 3, 58 Coloured and Post Office ...... 158 3antu education ...... 52, 69 Coloured and SABRA ...... 47 3antu Education Act .. .. 1, 3, 6, 14 Coloured and segregation ...... 47 lantu Men's Social Centre .. .. 225 Coloured and urbanization 46 lantu school feeding ...... 172 Coloured voters, removal from roll, .2, 47 lantu Theatre Group ...... 231 Commerce, ...... 153 RELATIONS: 1954-55 271 C omiiission o11 SocioiaconllOii 1)t'') loJ- Iducatioi, tecl)iii(al !9 Mnt of Natixe Areal" l1, 132 Education, \ lntc l916 Corninissiori on Uuidesirable Publicatioix 204 Educatiots 1 eague 201 Commiission on LUniver sity Apartheid 190 Pducation Levy' 172 (1,otfflulity of the Resurrection and Bantn Enriched mceal 217 Education 175 Entokozwciii VeIllare Centire 224 Cýortiiiity scliools 178 Entrenched elauses, S.A. Act 21 Companies and Group Areas \ct 78 ECan Group 231 Conflerence at Bandunig . 25(6 Erosion, European ar ea,, 140 oriference ont lndustrialjzatioii and U. [hali- Erosion, in reserxes. 137 izatjols South of Sahara 2.56 Ethnie grouping ..57 Conlerence on Social AVork aroong Non- Lx anston 6i Lutropeans in Urban areas 222 (onfessions to Police 240 C:ongress of Demoerats, -f, 44 Congress, Inidian 74 F Congress of the People, 4, 41 ÄRNIOLS 178 Coriservation ini rescrves, 137 Farin worker, 148 ( onstitutional issucs 21 Far.miug .147 Corisiltaiits, pass . "8 Federal Missionary Council, 1). 1<.(:. 7 Controlled areas, .76, 89 Federation of S.A. XVonlcn å . Costo>fliving, .. . .. 144 Feedingschenes ... 218 (ourses, Noni-White nu, ses .. . 203 FIFA ...... 236 Court of Coxistii.utional Appeal . 22 Fisk, D)r. Ä. G. .. 401 (iovenanters.. . . 29 Flexibility of poIicy 2 Ciniiial j urisdictiori, c] ief. 242 Foc11s Fellowsux . . . . 232 Sriinal Law Arneiidnient Act 3 F 100( protluced in reserves, . 13:3 ( niminal1'rocedureAct ...... 238 1oodsubsidies . . . . 217 Criminal. Procedure and lixidente .\n( Football Association .. . .. 237 mnentAct . .238 FortCoxs . .- 139 Ciinin1 Statistics . ..244 Fort Hare, . ,. .. .. 192 (rops...... 147 FreedomChiarter, . .. . 3 (>rops, Afrieari. . 1 33 Freehold for Af,'icans. .. 2 (rowii-land ...... 126 Friedman, D)r Bernard ...... 3, 30 ( ulling of Cattle ...... 132 ( yprian Bheckezulu, l'aranionut Ch-ief' 141 G D CGA'HLRING;,' ineanäng (If 4 .. 3 I)AIRLES 13. . j , atlierings, African, control oIf .. .. 70) I)airies in (isker .. . 140 Gerdenier, Prof...... 7 1)altneny .. . . 135 Gold Iaw ...... 77 l)aveytoxi,etbunicgroujpin, 272 A SURVEY OF RACE IL ItDENTITY 'ARDS ISSUED .. 32 LABOUR, AFRICAN 150 1 llegitimacy rates 207 Labour, Asiatic, 153 ILO ...166 Labour, Coloured, . .. 153 Immorality Act amended 241 Labour, force, .... 152 Inanda Girls' Seminary .. .. 175 Labour, Party...... 3 Incentive schemes . .. .. 163 Labour, shortage of .. 144 Incomes ...... 144 Labour Tenants Control Boards '. 148 Indians,...... 49 Land and Africans .. .. .' 125 Indians, community . .. .. 4, 15 Land, allotments .1.. .. 135, 139 Indians, Congress, .. .. 74 Land, communal tenure of.. 127 Indians, diet changed .. .. 50 Land, purchase by Africans, . 126 Indians, education . .. .. 188 Land,S.A.NativeTrust . .. .. 125 Indians, Group Areas .. .. 89 Land Tenure Advisory Board .. .. 75 Indians, languages used .. .. 49 Langa ...... 92 Indian, movement, .. .. 50 Leadership, defined ..I.. .. Indians, repatriation of ...... 50 Leadership, discounted .. ...57 Indians, urbanization of. .. . . 49 Leases, sites in African locations. .. 119 Indians, westernization of, .. .. 49 Leeukop ...... 135 Industrial census . .. .. 152 Legal Aid Bureau ...... 248 Industrial Conciliation Bill .. .. 165 Lestrade, Prof ...... 233 Industrial development, .. .. 133 Letaba district ...... 125 Industrial integration .. .. 2 Lewin, Mr J ...... 13 Industrial legislation .. .. 160LiberalParty ...... 3 Industrial townships ... .. 87 Liberalism ...... "11, 17 Industries, African-owned, .. .. 136 Licences to trade ...... 78, 154 Industries, European-owned, .. 136 Lile in the Ciskei ...... 132 Industries, and Native areas, .. 135 Linde, Mr Solomon 232 Infant growth .. . .. 218 Liquor 22/ Influx control, ..6.. 69 Liquor, for Africans ...... 228 Inkosi family ...... 145, 219 Literacy, ...... 19/ Insecurity, Non-European .. .. 14 Livestock, African, et ...... 133 Inspectors, Bantu Education .. .. 180 Livingstone Hospital ...... 2(17 Institute Council Findings ...... 14 Local Government Connission (Transvaal) 118 Institute discussion meetings, .. 15 Location Advisory Boards Congress .. 57 Institute of Family Health ...... 210 Locations, .. 83 Institute library ...... 17 Locations in the Sky, .. . "85 Institute policy ...... 10 Lydenburg, Group Areas ...... 75 Institute of Social and Economic Research 9, 72 Institute of Social Research, Natal .. 9, 72 Interdicts against (;overnment .. .. 41 International Court of Justice .. .. 253 M Inter-racial Church Conference .. 12, 17 Irrigation schemes .. .. 13, 139 MAIL, OPENLNG OF ...... 4 Maingard, Prof. L ...... 73 Maize yields, 10.. 13(1, 139 Makatini flats, development of, . . 130 Malnutrition, .. .. 144, 218 Mananga ...... 135 j Manufacturing industry, .. 151 Marion Institute ...... 236 JAN H. HOFMEYR School of Social Work 225 Masinga, Mr K. E. .. .. 231 Janet Bourhill Institute .. .. 230 Matatiele, 'white spot' .. . . 129 Johannesburg Group Areas .. 9J Mathebhula, Mr E .. 65 joint Councils, .1. .0. l Matthews, Prof Z. K., 39 Joint Councils, Bloemfontein W. . d McPherson, Mrs Jessie, .. . . 39 Joint Councils, l)urban .. .. d Meadowlands ...... 95 Joint Councils, Grahamstown .. 120 Mealiemeal, fortified .. .. 217 .Joint Councils, Ladybrand.. .. 1.9 Mechanization of farming .. .. 148 joint Councils, Pietermaritzburg .. 1) Meetings, Africans, control of .. . 7(1 Joint Councils, Pretoria .. . . lJ Mental Health ...... 213 julius Caesar ...... 231 Metals, base ...... 150 Jurisdiction, Africans chiefs .. 244 Middledrift ...... 132 Jury trials ... .. 23d Milk ...... 217 Justifiable homicide .... 240 Mine Bo . .. 237 Juvenile delinquency .. 24/ Mine Workers' Unions .. .. . 151 Mines and Works Amendment Act .. 151 Mining Industry ...... 150 Minister of Native Affairs, activities of, ...... 6 1 K Ministry of Housing.. .. 2 Miscegenation .. . .. 241 KAHN,Rexrs. .. .. ,43Missionschools...... 174 Kaffir beer, ...... 218, 227 M.1,. Sultan Technical College .. 199 Kalkfontein. .1.. :35 Modderpoort Institution .. .. 173 'eiskaminahoek Rural Sureve .. 132 Monare, Mr F ...... 72 JKerkbode, Die.. 6 Money bills, ...... 25 A'hala Zome ...... 233 Mosaka, Mr ...... 13 Khirimpana . .. .. 233 Motor Carrier Transportation Amendment Kilierton...... 173 Act ...... 121 Kokstad, 'White spot' .. 129 Mothers, expectant and diet .. .. 218 Kuena, Mr P. M ... .. 71 MIphahlele, Mr Ezekiel ...... 231 RELATIONS: 1954-5 N NATAL, MEI)ICAL SCHOOL 195 National Building Research Institute, 144 National Conservative Parts 3 National Council for Social Research 9 National Council of Women 225 National Income .. .143 National Institute fbr Personnel Research 72, 218 National Research Institute 144 National Party, policy I National rrarisport Board . 123 Native Administration Amendhneit Act, 242 Native areas, industries and, 1:35 Native Building Workers Act .156 Native defined, .. . 3 Native, domination .. . . I Native, policy, 'S.A. First' movement 8 Native reserves,.. .. 15, 125, 131 Native Trust and Land Act 125 Native Trust and Land Act (as amended) 125 Natives, foreign 69 Natives 1,abour (Settlement of )isputes) Legislation, 169 Natives Land Act, ...... 125 Natives Land Act 19 13 125 Natives Land ad Trust A;mcidnet Act, ..14, 148 Natives representatives .. .. . 55 Natives representation (policies), . 55 Natives Resettlement Act .. .. 14 Natives Services Levy Act, (fund) .. 125 Natives (Urban Areas) Amendment Act, 69, 55 Natives (L rbaii Areas) Consolidation Act, 119 Natural Resources Development Council 131 Neora Community Welft e Centre 141 \ dalikhenkrtha Elascntla .. .. 233 Ndlwanavs.Hofnscvr .. .. 21 Ngcobo,MrJohn .. .. 232 Ngcwabc, Mr I.. M...... 233 Ngubaiie, Mr Jordan . .233 N. H. of (. Kerk .6..( Nhlapo, )r J. NI.. . . . 57 Nkandhla, 'white spot' . .. 129 Nobantwana Nursery School .. 225 .\an-it"ropean IPolicies in the Unlion and t/ 3easure of their Su es," . . . .. I Northern Zululand, develop ment or, 13 Nqutu, 'wlite spot' ...... 129 Nurses, Non-European .. . . 161 Nurses, shortage of ...... 208 Nurising Amend mnt [ l .i. l 209 NUSAS, ...... 203 Nutrition, ...... 144 Nutrition, department .. .. 146 Nyanga . .. ..92,126,211 Nyembezi, Prof. C. I. S...... 233 (1 OH, FR()M COAl. INI)USTRY Orlando Mothers' Association Oversea recruitment, white labour Oversea study .. Outpatient clinics .. 151 225 164 40 )208 PARAMOUNT CHIl EF (:YPRIAN KEZUIU Parliament, sovereignty of ' Parnell, Mr Jack .. Party strengths in Assembly Pass consultants .. . Passports, .. Passes fors women, . layments, balance of Peace (ouncil . Pemba, Mr M. NIL Penal Reform (Commission Pensions, . . Perspektief . . . Photographing population Pieternaritzburg, group areas Pilgrims and passports . Planning, regional Police, powers of search, Police, raids .. .. Police, stall' .. Policy, African land purchase, Policies, Non-European . Poliomyelitis .-.... Polly Street Cultural Centre Pongola River . . . Population classification, systems, Population, register, cost of' Population registration Population Registration Act, Population registration appeals, Port Elizabeth, group areas Portuguese East Africa, Africans front Post Office .e . . . . . Poverty, agricultural Precious and Base Metal, Act 'reniaturity ...... Premises, defined . Pre-ntrsing adjustlmen t course Preparatory examinations.. Pretoria, group areas, . Price index, Primary schools, Bantu education Prime Ministe on racial policy Prison systems . .. . Prison farms .. . Prisons, stall .. . Private schools, I'rofessors at Pretoria University Proportional representation Protests against Senate Act, Provinces, staff" Psychopaths and Crintinal Law Public Safety Act Public Service Public Service elliciencv . Q( ASS, )R I'. W., RACIAL ZONING, )URBAN Racial Zoning, Jolianneslurg Racial Zoning, Port Elizabeth Racial Zoning, Pretoria Racial Zoning, Rustenburg Racial Zoning, Smaller towns Racial Zoning, Transvaal Racial Zoning, Vestern Cape, Radio rediftision . Raids by Police Railways and Africans Railwas and Asiatic Railways, bottlenecks, Railways, Coloured Railways, 1uropeans Railways stall' position Ramasodi, Stephen Ratau, Mr J. K... Recidivists .. Reclamation inl Resrves. Recreation, . I.eferesce books, Regional planning.. Registration of popltion 273 44 233 238 220 16 32 74 39 74 40 44 159 126 212 .235 33 32 11, 32 4. 32 37 1(13 69 158 136 77 218 121 239 11 144 . 182 245 246 159 171 *281. 24. 27. 159 238 .3, 42 158 163 135 11)1 99 113 101 *,104 1(03 .. 94 91 235 44 157, 124 157 156 157 156 157 4) 233 245 .. 137 231 67 74 . 11,32 274 A SURVEY OF RACE Rehabilitation Council .. . .. 221 Sordwana Bay ...... 131 Released Areas, .. . 125 Specified areas, .. 89 Removal of Africans from urban areas 71 Squatting ...... 148 Rentals .. 145 State Schools, 178 Reporting of crime .. 249 State-aided Mission Schools 180 Representation of Natives Act .. 21 Statistics, criminal .. .244 Research 72 Status of Union Act, ..21 Reservation of Separate Amenities Ordi- Statute of Westminister, .. .. 21 nance (Cape) 121 Stock reduction 132 Reserve Bank, Governor .. .. . 143 Stock Theft Amendment Bill .. .. 14(1 Reserves, Native ... 15, 125, 131 Stofberg ...... 173 Reserves, reclamation 137 Study circle, Germiston 18 Rex vs., Khan .. .43 Study circle, Rustenburg 20 Rhodesia, Africans from .. .69 Study oversea .. 40 Rickets .. .218 Subsidies, Bantu Education .. 174, 179 Riotous Assemblies Act, 42 Subsidies, food 217 Robert Shapiro Trust ...... 196 Suppression of Communism Act, " . 39, 42 Rockefeller Foundation ...... 196 Survey of family budgets, .. .. 144 Roman Catholic Church and Bantu edu- Swaziland ...... 52 cation ..1...... 175 Syllabuses, Bantu education .. .. 183 Rural Co-operatives, .. .. 141 Syndicate of African Artists .. .. 231 Rural townships, ...... 134 Rural villages, 1t ...... 134 Rural welfare centre, .. .. 141 T TAXATION OF AFRICANS .. 72 S Teachers, Bantu education.... 180 SABRA .. . 8 Teachers, discipline .. . . 182 SABRA and Coloured .. .. 47 Teachers, Non-European .... 160 t. Cuthbert's, Tsolo . .. 1 73 Teacher training, Africans .. 173 St. Joh's ta.. 173 Technical Colleges .. ... 198 St. John's Umtata .... 173 Technical education .... 197 St. Mark's Centre ...... 173 Fma ...... 13 St. Peter's School . .. 173 Temba 134 St. Thomas's ...... 173 Temba, Miss Albertina .... 231 Salaries 146 Tembeni, stealing sheep .... 245 Sales, livestock ...... 139 Termite control .. .. 141 Saliwa, Mr J. H...... 71 Theft, recent possession .. .. 241 Scheduled areas . .. .. 125 'Their Daily Bread Fund' .... 225 School children, numbers and groups .. 170 Thought ...... 16 School feeding, Bantu .. .. 172 tigerkloof ...... 173 School secretaries ...... 179 Tomlinson report .. .. .1 , 132 Search by police, .. r i.. Tongaland, development, .. 130 Sekoto, Gerard .. . .. 234Totsystem...... 227 Senate Act, 1926 ...... 23 Townships, . .. .. 134 Senate Act, 1955, .. .. 24 Townships, African .. .. 92 Senate, constitution of, .. . 23 Townships, industrial .. .. 87 Senate, dissolution of .. .. . 26 Trade balance ...... 143 Senate Act, protests against, . 27 Trade Union bodies ...... 166 Separate Amenities Ordinance .. . 121 Trade Unions ...... 165 Separate Representation of Voters Act, e. 'Training white artisans ...... 162 seq ...... 21 Transkei, * ...... 132 Separate Representation of Voters Act Transkei and 'white spots'.... 129 Validation and Amendment Bill . 22 Transport, local-government .. 157 Service Committees .. .. . 226 Transvaal Asiatic Land Tenure Act, .. 77 Shepherd, Dr. R. H. W ...... 233 Transvaal Municipal Association .. .. 119 Sigila, Mr W...... 233 Transvaal Non-European Library Service 202 Silvertree Club ...... 236 Trial by July ...... 238 Social Services Association .. .. 248 Tribal economy, * . .. .. 131 Social Welfare Department, ... . 220 Tsolo ...... 139 Soil Conservation Act ...... 140 Tuberculosis ... .. 139 Soil erosion, European areas .. 140 Soil erosion in reserves .. .. 132, 137 Sons of Young Africa 194 Sophiatown African Methodist Choir .. 232 S.A. Act, et seq. .. 21 U S.A. Act Amendmet Bill .. .. 22 UMKOMAAS 135 S.A. Apartheid Association 4 Unmlazi ...... 134 S.A. Coloured People's Organization 3, 30, 37 Umtata, ... .. 128 S.A. Congress of I)emocrats, I. 4, 44 UN and S.A.,.. .. 250 S.A. Congress of Trade Unions, 4, 37, 44 UN and S.W.A.,.. .. 250 'S.A. First' Movement ...... 8 UN and S.A. Indians, .. .. 250 S.A. Football Association ...... 236 UNESCO publications ...... 255 S.A. Indian Congress, 3, 44 UNESCO, withdrawals frons .. .. 255 S.A. National Council for Child Welfare 223 Union Federal Party ...... 30 S.A. Native Trust, ...... 125 Union of Jewish Women ...... 223 S.A. Nursing Association ...... 209 United Party policy ...... 2 S.A. Nursing Council ...... 209 Union of S.A. Artists ...... 232 S.A. Political Science Association .. 8 Universities, Non-white students .. .. 189 S.A. Reserve Bank, Governor of .. 143 Uranium ...... 150 S.W.A. Affairs Amendment Act, .. 23 Urban areas legislation, .. .. 62 RELATIONS: 1954-55 V Valley Trust Villages, Vital statistics Vlakfontein East, transport costs Vocational Education Act .. Vocational guidance, white pupils Volkswil Voluntary organizations WAGES, Warrants, search . Warren, Dr C. Waterval School Welfare work, Western Areas removal scheme Western Province, policy White domination White labour, oversea recruitment White labour policy, .. White labour, protection of, White leadership, White person defined, White pupils, vocational guidance White 'spots,' Whyte, Quin tin Williams, Mr Gene 275 Winoweh 232 . 142 Women, African, infl ux control, 66 134 Women's Clubs, African, 141 206 \Women's Defence of Constitution League, 124 ...... 29 198 Women's petition 29 161 World Council of Churches 6 27 223 x XEI)WALENI TE(HNICAL COLLEGE 186 146 23,9 40 189 YO)UTH MOVEMENT OF A.N.C... 194 220 95 * 15, 90 164 z 155 160 ZASTRON, EXPERIMENTAIL HOSI PITAL ...... 208 33 Zenzele clubs .. . ..225 161 Zulu Proverbs...... 233 128 Zululand development scheme . .130 13 Zwartkop Forestry School .. .. . 139 233 Zwelitsha ...134 LIFE1INTHE CISKEI, w"r0k Splf'v Th/ t* tnC 6 - .( SOU -R cado, wm t'ýó c(«ùýb i i ) 1 SMVTI wrtýT l'i s" CT&Vtkcj wkýC4 CO-C s" ýn SURVEY I.... "IS(4RV ty % sciRvf*1,0 TáCA'ý'jffl m 1 2/ Racc i ok"V1L5rb( 9 D ccn 5 ýA. l i»~