,ATE ,ATE R T US,"T' ............. ro empf T&pr b] &mth West Africa' MANDATE IN TRUST The problem of South West Africa PUBLISHED BY THE AFRICA I960 COMMITTEE 33 RUTLAND GATE S.W.7 Members of the Africa 1960 Committee THE HON. ALASTAIR BUCHAN CHRISTOPHER CHATAWAY, M.P. L. B. GREAVES RICHARD HORNBY, M.P. CHARLES JANSON JAMES LEMKIN IAN LLOYD THE EARL OF MARCH JOHN MARGETSON ROLAND OLIVER MRS. MERVYN RAYNER SIR ROBIN WILLIAMS, Bt. MICHAEL WOOD INDEX Page INTRODUCTION 5 THE COUNTRY AND THE PEOPLE 7 THE ATTITUDE OF SOUTH AFRICA 9 THE ADMINISTRATION: A DE FACTO ANNEXATION I I DOMESTIC POLITICS OF SOUTH WEST AFRICA 14 The European Community 14 The non-white Community 15 THE INTERNATIONAL STATUS OF SOUTH WEST AFRICA 20 The Mandate of the League of Nations 20 The Move for Incorporation 20 International status under the United Nations 21 South Africa's Argument 25 THE COMMONWEALTH RESPONSIBILITY 27 CONCLUSIONS 29 INTRODUCTION In 1918, South Africa was given a Mandate over South West Africa under the Mandates System of the League of Nations. This system was succeeded by the International Trusteeship System of the United Nations Organisation. South Africa is the only one of the former Mandatory Powers which refused to submit a Trusteeship Agreement for its Mandated Territory, and thus to bring it under the general supervision of the General Assembly of the United Nations. For fourteen years, therefore, the Mandate over South West Africa has been discussed in the United Nations. During that time the International Court ofJustice has given an advisory opinion and two supplementary opinions defining South Africa's obligations concerning the Territory, and South Africa has not complied with them. During that time, too, a permanent Committee on South West Africa has presented six annual reports to the GeneralAssembly of the United Nations. It has concluded that "the existing conditions in the Territory represent a situation contrary to the Mandates System, the Charter of the United Nations (and) the Universal Declaration of Human Rights". A Good Offices Committee set up in 1958 by the United Nations has failed to agree with South Africa a formula to accord South West Africa an international status. Thus the story of the Mandate vitally concerns the concept of international accountability, for the indigenous peoples of South West Africa have many times appealed to the United Nations for the application in their territory of Western standards of law and justice. These people have a long history of conflict with their European rulers. Originally colonised by Germany, they suffered a conscious and concerted policy of repression and extermination, during which 65,000 out of 8o,ooo Hereros were killed. The exposure of these abuses* was partly responsible for the solemn, if not unctuous, spirit in which the Mandates System was established. Article 22 of the Covenant of the League of Nations is as follows: "To those colonies which.., are inhabited by peoples not yet able to stand by themselves under the strenuous conditions of the modern world, there should be applied the principle that the well-being and development of such peoples form a sacred trust of civilisation, and that securities for the performance of this trust should be embodied in this Covenant." These intentions reflect the League's determination not to allow a repetition of the abuses and atrocities of the German administration. In accepting the Mandate, South Africa implicitly agreed that the wrongs of the previous administration should be righted. She agreed to administer it in accordance with several provisions, of which the most important are: Article 2. "The Mandatory shall promote to the utmost the moral well-being and social progress of the inhabitants of the territory." * See, for instance, the British Government Blue Book C.D. 9146. Article 3. "The Mandatory shall see that the slave trade is prohibited and no forced labour is permitted, except for essential public works, and then only for adequate remuneration." Article 4. "No military or naval bases shall be established or fortifications erected in the territory." The Mandate was conferred by the Principal Allied and Associated Powers- Britain, France, The United States*, Italy and Japant. At that time the British Crown acted for the British Empire as a whole, since the Statute of Westminster was still to come. The Mandate was therefore conferred "upon His Britannic Majesty to be exercised on his behalf by the Union of South Africa". Now the problem can no longer be shelved. South West Africa is the only territory which is still administered under the Mandates System of the League of Nations. She is also the only one of these territories in Africa not to have achieved or been promised, independence; and the only one in which no representative institutions have been established to give the indigenous peoples a voice in their own government. South Africa has thirteen times refused to obey an annual resolution of the General Assembly calling on it to submit a Trusteeship Agreement for South West Africa. A resolution of the General Assembly last year drew the attention of member states to the legal steps open to them to ensure that the terms of the Mandate are carried out in South West Africa. Such legal action will almost certainly be pursued by at least one of its members; and it is the responsibility of all of its members to define their attitude to the events which will follow. The purpose of this pamphlet is to set out the facts about South West Africa, and to conclude on the basis of these facts what should be the attitude of members of the United Nations on this issue. The Commonwealth also has a responsibility relating to South West Africa. Acting as one of the Principal Allied and Associated Powers which conferred the Mandate, the United Kingdom was at the time the representative of the Commonwealth as it then existed. It was the British Empire, and not Britain alone, which was represented on the Council of the League of Nations. The Statute of Westminster later altered the relationship between Britain and other members of the Commonwealth, but at the time the Mandate was conferred, Britain acted not for herself alone but for what has come to be known as the Commonwealth of Nations. It should be remembered also that the Mandate was conferred not directly upon South Africa, but upon the British Crown, the symbol of the unity of the Commonwealth. * Since the United States was not a signatory to the Treaty of Versailles, her special agreement (as one of the Principal Allied and Associated Powers) was sought for the disposal of the Mandated Territories by the administering powers. An American international jurist has recently recalled in private that America's agreement was never given for South Africa's Mandate over South West Africa. This could have political repercussions now, but is probably more likely to be of purely historical interest. t Only the first three remain, since Italy and Japan lost their rights at the outbreak of the second world war. THE COUNTRY AND THE PEOPLE South West Africa is a large territory of some 320,000 square miles, or about the size of France, with a total population officially estimated in 1958 at only 539,000. Of these some 66,ooo are Europeans, 2 i,00o are 'Coloured' people or people of mixed blood, and 452,ooo are Africans. The last official census was taken in 1951. Since then the European population has grown by some 30 per cent., the 'Coloured' population by about 25 per cent. and the Africans by about 20 per cent. Administratively South West Africa is divided into the "Police Zone"-roughly the area conquered by the Germans-and the Tribal Area, which are Ovamboland, Okavangoland Kaokoveld in the far north of the territory. Within the "Police Zone" European law and policing prevailing; outside it local adminstration is left largely to the tribal authorities. The mining industry (diamonds and base metals), karakul (Persian lamb) pelts, fish and fish products, meat and the dairy industry have made this one of the most rapidly expanding economies in Southern Africa. Mineral sales alone rose from i.5 million in 1946 to just over C34.5 million in 1956, though they dropped slightly in 1957 and 1958 to just above the recent yearly average of £28 million. From only £2.9 million in 1946-47, government revenue reached over £i 7 million in 1957-58. Total assets amounted in 1957 to £49.5 million, an excess of some £22 million over liabilities. The external debt (to the Union of South Africa) stood at under £2 million; the Accumulated Revenue Fund at C9.7 million, despite the allocation in that year of £7.5 million to the Development and Reserve Fund. Thus the general impression, despite a temporary fall in mineral sales, is one of liquidity, rapid expansion and considerable development possibilities, particularly in gem diamonds and base metals. The only large-scale foreign investment in South West Africa is in the mining industry. The Consolidated Diamond Mines of South West Africa Ltd., in which the Anglo-American Corporation of South Africa has the controlling interest, produces almost all the diamonds mined. It was incorporated in 192o by an amalgamation of ten German companies, which controlled between them about 90 per cent. of the total output of diamonds in South West Africa. A number of companies mine the territory's base metals. The Tsumeb Corporation Ltd., the largest, is American-owned. The South West Africa Co. Ltd., a British company, was almost as large, but contracted its operations considerably some eighteen months ago.