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For more information about Aluka, please see http://www.aluka.org/. Page 1 of 30 Alternative title ContactContact: The S.A. news review Author/Creator Selemela Publications (Cape Town) Publisher Selemela Publications (Cape Town) Date 1958-07-12 Resource type Journals (Periodicals) Language Afrikaans, English Subject Coverage (spatial) South Africa Coverage (temporal) 1958 Source Digital Imaging South Africa (DISA) Format extent 16 page(s) (length/size) Page 2 of 30 Registered at G.P.O. as a Newspaper12th July, 1958Vol. I No 12INDIAN ZONING `A BLOT ONWorse than Nazicrimes ProfessorTHE plan for zoning Pretoria racially underthe Group Areas Act "would be a blot on the Christian character of South Africa. It would be a crime in many respects more heinous than the Nazi massacre of villages, since in the latter case the doom was at least swift".These words form part of a powerful call to white South Africa by Professor Pistorius, Professor of Greek at the University of Pretoria, and card-carrying member of the Nationalist Party.This picture provides the perfect answer to people of the "Would you like your daughter 1o marry a katir. mentality. Mr. Ezra Taft Benson, United States Secretary of Agriculture, sees no reason why his schoolgirl daughter should not be friendly with a black fellow student. In fact, Bonnie Benson and Harry Johnson were the two student; in the graduating class at Roosevelt High School voted the "most friendly" by their classmates. Here Bonnie's father is seen congratulating them.He issued his call in the form of a statement to the Pretoria News, which reached other areas of the country in a much abbreviated form.The text of the statement is as follows"In South Africa it is not customary to condemn children and infants to death, nor is death by starvation an accepted form of execution. Any attempt at either practice would without any doubt meet with the most stern opposition from all sections of the population.Death sentence"If any measure by which we intend to preserve our Western way of life and our Christian values should on examination prove to be in fact a deathsentence on innocent children, it would without any doubt be admitted by us all that no Christian value can be preserved bydestroying the Christian conscience."Nevertheless, as far as I can see, that is the only logical outcome of the Group Areas Act as applied to the Indian community in Pretoria.Children will starve"For that very reason I have hesitated to make this statement, since I could not and cannot visualise that any organ of government in South Africa can, by applying any Act of Parliament, create a situation where a foreseeable effect will be to condemn a whole community including the children, to starvation and ruin."I shall be glad if I can be convinced that my facts or my logic are wrong and that consequently my tear is without basis."The Indians are to be grouped together in Claudius. That they have to live there and there only, may be right or wrong, expedientor foolish. But the fact of residential segregation will not bring ruin to them.I am not at present concerned with residential segregation."But in terms of the Group Areas Act their shops and places of business will also have to be moved there."Practically the whole Indian community lives on commerce, and it is clear that Indian shops in a township at least 12 miles away from Pretoria will not draw custom from Europeans or Natives and that the hard fact is that the Indians cannot exist unless they have access to non-Indian buyers."It could be argued that Indians should not all be shopkeepers and I myself have felt the weight of this argument. But some thought will convince anybody that as the law stands to-day the Indians have no choice in the matter. They cannot farm because they cannot by law acquire ground."They cannot become artisans because the Apprenticeship Act does not apply to them. How far the unskilled labour market is open to them, I do not know, butthere is little hope or scope for them in the Railways, at Iscor, or in the municipal service. An Indian has very little choice."But whatever the reasons are that practically all Indians are shopkeepers, the fact is that it is so. The single year or the three years granted to them in which to move their business to Claudius is clearly inadequate, nor would any period be adequate unless other suitable avenues of employment were opened to them. As things are now, we are in fact condemning a whole community to ruin and starvation.Doom was swift"If it is so, it would be a blot on the Christian character of South Africa. It would be a crime in many respects more heinous than the Nazi massacre of villages, since in the latter case the doom was at least swift and the question is whether we will be prepared to deny our Christian conscience by hoping that it will not be so bad and leaving it at that, or whetherwe will be prepared to assure ourselves by investigation what the effects of this measure will be."For that reason I propose that the public of Pretoria in some way, preferably through church leaders, elect a committee to investigate the implications of this measure and, should it appear that the terms of the Group Areas Act will indeed mean privation and starvation to innocent people, to take whatever measures are in keeping with the demands of good citizenship, common humanity and of the Christian conscience."Whether the Indians as a community enjoy much sympathy is not an issue. But if people, including children, have to starve and are deprived of a means of livelihood, more than a mere political or racial issue is a stake."Every community has the right not only to a livelihood but also to opportunities to develop their full potential and so to better themselves, and no law or measure depriving a community of these rights can be Christian or expedient." Page 3 of 30 2.SOUTH AFRICAEMPIRE GAMESAPARTHEID:PROTEST RALLYRALLY to inaugurate a campaign against racial A discrimination in sport, and with the immediate object of protesting against all-white teams representing South Africa and the Rhodesian Federation at the Empire Games, has been called for July 12 in Cardiff, where the Games are to open one week later.T"UNION'S Race Policythwarts South Africa's struggle for international standing"-Me. G. P. Jooste, Secretary for External Affairs.DR. K. L. SHRIMALI, Indian Minister of Education, announced recently that a decision had been taken to promote Gandhian studies in schools and colleges.A handbook on Gandhi's thought for use in schools was being prepared, and courses of lectures at university level were planned, he said.DIE BURGER, in reportingcolour bar stories from Birmingham and Wolverhampton in England, used recently the headline "Prejudice in Britain".THE World Assembly of Youth (WAY) has invited the National Union of South African Students to send two observers to the WAY General Assembly in New Delhi, India, in August. It is hoped that, as a result of this participation, a national committee of the WAY may be formed in South Africa.WAY is an international youth organisation with headquarters in Paris. Youth organisations in about 50 countries throughout the world are affiliated to it. WAY attempts to promote youth activity by the organisation of seminars and conferences, and the running of a training centre foryouth leaders in Ceylon, to which South Africans will be invited. WAY accepts as its basis the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and there is, accordingly, no discrimination based on race, colour or creed.Mr. Ernest M. Wentzel, hon. vice-president of Nusas, has been asked to organise the South African participation in the WAY General Assembly. WAY has made a substantial contribution towards the costs of participation and of the delegation's air passage to India. A sum of 100, however, has still to be raised and a fund has been established for this purpose. Sympathisers may send their contributions to Mr. Wentzel at P.O. Box 6475, Johannesburg.The protest has the backing of Derrick Sylvester, the footballer, Chris. Brasher, Chris Chataway Professor Julian Huxley, Mr. Benjamin Britten, Mr. J. B. Priestley, Mr. Fenner Brockway, M.P., and other British sportsmen and leaders in political and cultural fields.`Bad manners'But a Welsh Conservative M. P., Mr. David Llewellyn, has described the proposed rally as "deplorabland "rank bad manners".Early in June the South African Press announced that the South African Soccer Federation, an inter-racial body with headquarters in Durban, had failed to gain admission to the International Federation of Football Associations, at the F.I.F.A.