THE PEOPLE WEPT

THE PEOPLE WEPTbeing a brief account of theorigin, contents, and application of that unjust lawof the Union of South Africa known asTHE GROUP AREAS ACT (since consolidated as Act No.byALAN PATONOF 1950 77 of 1957)". the people wept when they heard thewords of the law."Nehemiah VIII, 9.The quotation is apt but ironical, in that the children of Israel wept for joy. TheGroup Areas Act is quite another kind oflaw, having in it no element of the divine.

NOTE(i) The population in South Africa in 1957 as estimated by the Bureau of Censusand Statistics wasEuropeans 2,957,000Africans 9,460,000Coloured 1,319,000Indians 431,000 Natal 340,000 approx.Transvaal 70,000Cape 20,000(ii) By a "coloured" person, as that term is used in the Cape, is meantone of the racially mixed descendants of Malay slaves, Hottentots, and Europeansettlers and sailors. In general they do not have African blood, having been widelyseparated at the time of their origin from the African tribes, who in theirsouthward migration did not reach the Cape of Good Hope. There are howeverother "coloured" communities all through South Africa, and these are in the maindescendants of European and African.(iii) All the Acts quoted in this booklet are Acts of the Union Parliament.This Union came into being in 1910, as a result of the unification of theTransvaal, Cape of Good Hope, Orange Free State, and Natal.All the members of Parliament are white, but three of the one hundred and sixty-three members of the Lower House are elected bv Africans, and four by Colouredpersons. Four members of the eighty-nine Senators of the Upper-House areelected by Africans.

CHAPTER IINTRODUCTORY

AVING a voice which by God's grace can be heard beyondthe confines of South Africa, I use it to speak for peoplewho have no voice at all, to protest on their behalf and in the name of justiceagainst that law known as the Group Areas Act of 1950,The Nationalist Government of the Union of South Africa considers it to bealmost an act of treachery for a South African to criticise his Government abroad.I admit at once that I would be happier not to do this, but there seems to be nochoice. He is a lucky man who lives in a country where his ideals and principlescan be reconciled, however roughly, with the actions of his Government. But forme the Group Areas Act of 1950 cannot be reconciled with any ideal or principleof love or justice.Sometimes it is said that by writing or speaking critically abroad one is"blackening the name" of the country. The truth is that the words "South Africa"convey different ideas to different people. The Nationalists are undoubtedlylovers of South Africa, but only so long as the practice of apartheid prevails. Werethe practice to be struck down tomorrow, many of them would think of theircountry with anger and pain, as many of us non-Nationalists do now. Nor wouldthey hesitate to "blacken its name" to those who would listen to them in Kenya,Algeria, and Mississipi.It is important that the outside world should know some of the main facts aboutthe Group Areas Act of 1950. This Act has the intention of dividing the whole ofSouth Africa into thousands of areas, where racial separation will be completelyachieved, social, educational, commercial, industrial, and many another kind,except that the authorities will permit the continuation of those associationsconsidered useful by them.This goal of almost complete separation is seen as a noble one by some whiteSouth Africans, and it is naturally in that light that it is presented to the world.When I was young I was taught

that a worthy goal could only be attained by worthy means, and my experience oflife has confirmed me in this belief. Now the Group Areas Act causes suchsuffering, and is so indifferent to the rights and happiness of persons, and inflictssuch wounds upon them, that it seems to me the very instrument of evil. Thatsome of the people who operate and approve this Act think it is a good and justlaw, I must concede. But why they think so, I am at a total loss to explain. Theycan only think so by blindly cherishing the ideal of complete separation, thusshutting their eyes and ears to the injustices that result from it$ enforcement.The ideal of complete racial separation is said to be theologically based. It is saidto be a Christian duty to preserve the categories of God's creation, and to preventits diversity from degenerating into a mongrel chaos. I hope to show in thisbooklet that our Government, in seeking to perform this task of preservation, hasoffended against the greatest of Christian laws. The Government has in fact setthe ideal of complete separation higher even than the two great commandments,on which Christ taught all law depended. I hope to demonstrate this beyond thepossibility of dispute.

Is this business of racial separation not perhaps our own domestic affair? I do notthink so. In a civilized society it is not considered to be a man's domestic affairwhen he ill-treats his wife and children. Neither in a civilized-world should it beconsidered a country's domestic affair when its Government makes a law whichtreats human beings with harshness and injustice. Such a law is the Group AreasAct of 1950.It will be my intention to refrain from vituperation in this booklet, in the beliefthat vituperation does no real service to any good cause. But I shall not refrainfrom using such adjectives as cruel, callous, unjust, and evil, because they aloneconvey precisely the true nature of the Group Areas Act.From time to time good people write to me, and occasionally speak to me, toreproach me for increasing division in a country already bitterly divided, and tourge me to devote my talents to the tasks of reconciliation. I am myself no loverof strife, and can be made unhappy by quarrelling and altercation; I would notwrite booklets such as this if I did not have to. To these good people I would saythat as they feel called to a ministry of reconciliation, so do I feel called to exposethe inhumanities which result from any attempt to enforce apartheid by law. It isonly when white South Africans realise what these inhumanities are, that they willunderstand clearly the'nature of the laws to which they have consented; and as forpeople abroad, this booklet will provide them with a true picture of what ishappening.

Let me make it quite clear that there are no doubt a few non-white people whomay derive some advantage from the operations of the Group Areas Act. I shallnot be writing about them, but those who seek this information can find itelsewhere, for our State Information Office is always glad to publicise such cases.I myself shall be writing about those people, millions in number, whose securityhas been threatened; whose material possessions have been taken away or reducedin worth; and whose value as human beings, so high in the eyes of God, has beenbrought to nothing by this Act. I proceed on the assumption that an Act that cando this, even if only to one man, and even if only once in his lifetime, and even ifothers derive advantage, is an'unjust Act.This booklet is therefore partisan. It is written not to praise the Group Areas Act,nor to describe it dispassionately. It is written to reveal it as a callous and cruelpiece of legislation, and to bring nearer the day when it will be struck from thestatute book of the Union of South Africa.

CHAPTER ITBACKGROUND OF THE GROUP AREAS ACTALTHOUGH the Group Areas Act is the creation of thepresent Nationalist Government which came into power in 1948, the concept ofgroup areas, that is the concept of segregation on racial grounds, goes back to theearly days of the white man in South Africa. To put it bluntly, this concept ofracial segregation is a white man's idea, and it stems largely from the overflowingof the European into other continents; whatever other meanings the concept maycontain, it appears to be a segregation on the basis of colour. Now just at the very

moment in world history when this concept of racial segregation is about to die, ithas in South Africa been given new life by the Nationalist Government in a formso extreme and thorough-going that it would appear that its authors have noknowledge of its approaching end.I do not intend to give the reader a history of segregation in South Africa. Imerely wish to make these points. First, the idea of segregation is by no means theinvention of the Nationalist Government. Second, the injustices and hardships ofsegregation existed long before 1948. Third, the thorough-going application ofsegregation, and the rapid accumulation of injustices and hardships, does datefrom 1948, and is the work of the present Government.It is well-known to my readers that the Boer colonists of the Cape, dissatisfiedwith British Government and hungry for land, trekked from 1836 onwards intothe interior of South Africa. They were eventually able to quell all resistance fromthe African tribes, and they set aside reserves for their occupation, they set aside"locations" in the new towns for African servants, and they settled others on theirfarms as labourers. This apartheid was more than territorial and residential; it wasalso the apartheid of master and servant, and any African would have found itdifficult to escape from that mould. This pattern was most pronounced in theTrekker Republics of the Orange Free State and

the Transvaal, but it prevailed also in Natal, softened by missionary andeducational activity, and in the Cape softened by a liberal tradition.It so happened then that except in the Orange Free State and some parts of theTransvaal, Africans were able to buy land outside these segregated areas, whichthen constituted about 8% of the total land area, although Africans were about70% of the population. They did not buy much, not having the money. But theregrew up places like Sophiatown and Alexandra in Johannesburg, Lady Selbornenear Pretoria, Clermont near Durban, Evaton near Vereeniging, and ruralsettlements like Roosboom near Ladysmith, New Ermelo near Ermelo, andGardensville near Dannhauser. In the small railway and customs town ofCharlestown, -which began to decline as a result of the Union of 1910, Africanshad been encouraged to buy plots and build houses to repair the local finances.These properties were simple and unpretentious, but they represented somethingnew in African life, namely the individual ownership of land; and, the title deeds,issued by a white government, were treasured like gold.In 1910 the four colonies of Cape, Free State, Transvaal, and Natal, came togetherto form the Union of South Africa. In 1913 was aassed the Native Lands Act,which forbade any further purchase by Africans in these rural areas, unless 'theGovernorGeneral gave consent; except in the Cape, where such purchase was notforbidden until 1936. The Native Lands Act, hardly remembered by any whiteperson, remains as a landmark in the memory of Africans. It was the firstindication that they were to be confined to 8% of the land: and what is more, thisland was for the most part* tribally owned, and therefore not available forpurchase. In 1936 this 8% of land was increased to 13% under the Native Trustand Land Act, but a price had to be paid for this, namely the removal of allAfrican voters to a separate roll. Today, twenty-two years after the passing of the

Act, only about three-fifths of this extra land has been found; so that moderately-spoken ex-Chief Luthuli could permit himself to speak of "the avaricious natureof whites."One of the effects of this Native Lands Act was to send Africans in a never-ending stream, to the cities; until today nearly 3,000,000 of them are city-dwellers, working in white homes, offices, and factories. In many of these urbanareas they were able to buy land, but the Native Laws Amendment Act of 1937prohibited any further purchase, except in a few exceptional places likeSophiatown. The Group Areas Act (1950), the*About 90% tribally owned.

Natives Resettlement Act (1954), the Natives (Urban Areas) Amendment Act(1955), and the Group Areas Amendment Act (1956) have given the Governmentfurther powers. Sophiatown is being razed to the ground, and its 60,000inhabitants moved to Meadowlands, where they may no longer own land,although they may build and own houses. In Charlestown, those very Africanswho were sold land to save the town from bankruptcy, and who received from awhite government these precious titledeeds, are to have the land taken away at thewish of the town they saved, and are to have their title-deeds taken away by awhite Government, successor to the one which issued them, and are to be movedto a rural site thirty miles away.It is the proclaimed policy of the Government to regard all African city-dwellersas temporary sojourners, to regard them as domiciled in the Native Reserves, toforbid them to own land in the urban areas, and eventually to reverse the streamso that it flows back to the reserves, which are to be rehabilitated and developedfor this purpose. Knowledgeable Africans are all in favour of the rehabilitationand development of the reserves, but by this policy of containment andconfinement, and by laws such as the Group Areas Act, thev see themselves andtheir children sentenced forever to an inferior life.THE INDIAN PEOPLEIndians first came to South Africa in 1860, when labourers were brought to Natalto work on the sugar plantations; they were followed by traders, mostly fromBombay province, who established themselves in Durban, who travelled into theinterior hawking and peddling goods, and who eventually set up business in theremote doros* and villages. They rendered a service to isolated white settlers thatno one else was rendering. Whitehaired Mrs. Fatima Bhayat, 95 years old,testified at the Group Areas hearings in Rustenburg that her husband had alwayswelcomed Paul Kruger, President of the Transvaal Republic, when he visitedRustenburg, and that the President had eaten meals at their house, where they hadlived since 1887. Today the Towx Council proposes to move all Indians out of thetown.Some Indian traders now control large, efficient, and flourishing businesses,which are to be found in Durban in an area in the*"Dorp" is an Afrikaans word meaning small town or village, but the word canalso contain implications of remoteness, primitiveness, roughness, and even

sleepiness. The dorp never achieved the wildness of the small town of theAmerican West.

heart of the city, and in Johannesburg, mainly in the area roughly bounded bySauer, Commissioner, President and Alexander Streets.It is I think a feature of commercial activity that it brings wealth to 'those whoconduct it efficiently. These traders had money to invest, and except in the urbanareas of the Orange Free State where such purchase by Indians was forbidden,they began to invest it in land. In the Transvaal in 1885 ownership of fixedproperty was forbidden to Indians except in certain restricted areas. One of theresults of this restriction of area was that the value of Indian property began torise fantastically, and today is worth two, three, four, even eight times, the valueof similar white-owned properties. In 1891 the Free State prohibited Indianownetship or occupation throughout the whole republic. In fact Indians were not -and still are not - allowed to cross provincial boundaries without permit. It was inprotest against this law that Gandhi led 2700 Indians on foot from Natal into theTransvaal in 1913. It was a long duel between Gandhi and Smuts, but whenGandhi finally returned to India in 1914, it was with an assurance that "existinglaws" would be administered "in a just manner with due regard to vested rights."Later the Class Areas Bill of 1924 and the Areas Reservation Bill of 1925 weredesigned to segregate Indians in Natal, but these Bills were withdrawn followinga round-table conference between South Africa and India. However, in theTransvaal in 1939, and in Natal in 1943, owing to white agitation against Indianswho were penetrating" white residential areas, the position was pegged, and allproperty transactions between whites and Indians were controlled. In 1946 theAsiatic Land Tenure Act introduced control of all Indian purchases in theTransvaal and Natal, and gave in return (a procedure opposite to that of 1936 inrelation to Africans) representation of Indians in the Senate by three whiteSenators. The Indian community would have nothing to do with this compromise,and in 1948 one of the first acts of the new Nationalist Government was towithdraw the proposal, and to substitute for it a new policy of racial separation thelike of which the world had never seen.One of the supreme instruments of this separation was theGroup Areas Act of 1950. It was designed to separate race from race in both townand country, to separate urban residential area from urban residential area, so thatmembers of one race would not even be able to see members of another, tocontrol ownership and occupaticn and sale and lease in these areas, and to* South Africa, J. H. Hofmeyr, Page 152.

prevent even the transit of one race through the area of another except perhaps bytrain, which transit, being more or less sealed off, was considered the "leastobjectionable.*Accompanying and aiding this Act were many other Acts, notably the PopulationRegistration Act, which provides for the racial classification of every person. TheBantu Education Act made possible a specific education for African children, anddestroyed the missionary schools, thereby reducing the contacts between white

educator and black pupil. The Native Laws Amendment Act provided machineryto forbid racial association with Africans in any club, school, hospital, or church.The Group Areas Amendment Act of 1957 provided machinery to forbid the useof premises in one Group Area by persons living in another, deeming merepresence to be occupation and therefore punishable. The Government proposes toforbid the Universities of Cape Town and the Witwatersrand to admit non-whitestudents, and to establish separate non-white colleges under direc't governmentcontrol. It has legislated to provide separate organisations for the nurses ofdifferent races, but the white organisation will make the decisions. A similarseparation had already been achieved in the trade unions. The TransportationBoard has ordered the cities of Durban and Johannesburg to apply segregationfully in their transport; and in the small town of Kloof, where I live, our only taxi-driver, who is an Indian, has been forbidden to carry white passengers, arestriction which virtually destroyed his livelihood.But this pamphlet concerns itself specifically with the Group Areas Act. Dr.Malan, our Prime Minister from 1948 to 1953, called it the "heart of apartheid."So it is; and a fitting heart too, for in it is found all the contempt for humanity thatis the mark of apartheid. Ais..thig. ne by some*bdy whohaspower, to somebody,yrha pt. It is therefore expecting too much of humannature to expect apartheid to be just.*So said the Technical Sub-Committee appointed by the Durban City Council, inits report of June 22, 1951.8

CHAPTER IIIPREPARING THE AXEWHEN the Nationalist Government came into power, it lost notime in preparing the way for- the Group Areas Act, On November 26, 1948, itappointed in Natal the Land Tenure Act Amendment Committee, and in theTransvaal the Asiatic Land Tenure Laws Amendment Committee, and thesecommittees were to receive proposals for the amendment of the Asiatic LandTenure Act of 1946.These committees submitted a Joint Report U.G. 49 of 1950* to Dr. Donges,Minister of the Interior, and on the basis-of this report was introduced the GroupAreas Act of 1950.One of the passages in this reoprt has become famous in South Africa, anddeserves to be known even more widely. it reveals, and indeed makes no attemptto conceal, that the Group Areas Act envisages more than the Divinely desiredseparation of races; it envisages also the driving out of South Africa of the Indiancommunity by inhuman means.The passage reads as follows:"Before stating our recommendations we feel that referenceshould be made to one matter which, strictly speaking, falls outside our terms ofreference but which is so closely associated in the public mind with the Asiaticquestion that it has a determining influence on the evidence tendered to us andaccordingly also on recommendations based on such evidence, and that is the

possibility of repatriating the Asiatic from South Africa. There appears to be anever-growing*According to the Joint Report, paragraph 323, the evidence of the S.A. Instituteof Race Relations struck a "discordant" note. The S.A.I.R.R. has been supportedby many notable South Africans, of whom I mention only the late ProfessorAlfred Hoernle and Mrs. Hoernle, the late Mr. and late Mrs. Rheinallt Jones,Professor Jabavu, the late Rt. Hon. Jan Hofmeyr, and the late Dr. Jacob Nhlapo.Their devotion to the actual practice of race relations, as distinct from the makingof laws to control them, makes them all great South Africans. Out of their contactgrew not conflict, but hope for the future.

belief in the public minct that the only satisfactory solution of the Asiatic questionis repatriation, and whatever is done by legislation should be such as not toendanger the possibility of repatriation and deprive the public of its mostcherished hopes.The fundamental theme of the evidence throughout theyears has been and still is 'repatriation or, failing which, compulsory segregation.'In the most recent evidence there is noticeable a distinct tendency for this themeto assume the form of repatriation and, pending which, compulsory segregation.In its most advanced form this theme reads: repatriation, and, failing which,compulsory segregation withboycott to induce repatriation.The recommendations which we propose to make are suchthat legislation based on them would, on the one hand, not unduly endanger thepossibility of repatriation, and, on the other hand, not fall short of what we regardas necessaryto deal effectively with the situation."The idea of compulsory "repatriation"* has certainly had a tenacious hold on thewhite mind, even though it becomes more and more preposterous as thegenerations pass away Compulsory "repatriation" could not take place without theconsent -of India and Pakistan, and such consent would never be given, unlessSouth Africa was able to give in return a gift so dazzling that one cannot at thismoment conjecture what it might be. Further, the idea of compulsorily"repatriating" the children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren of peoplebrought to South Africa by a white government for white convenience, andpromised land and security if they wished to settle after their indentures hadexpired, is becoming more disgusting, as time goes by, so that those who entertainit, while able to contain their own disgust, are finding it more difficult to face thatof others.Our Government is angered by those who "blacken the name" of South Africaabroad. It accuses them of lying and distortion. I wish to distort nothing. If thisbooklet contained nothing else but this passage quoted above, that would besufficient to blacken our name abroad. However it is going to contain much more,not things that I have imagined, but things that have actually been said and done,not by nobodies, but by Nationalists of eminence.*It is no doubt clear to the reader that "repatriation" is really "expatriation."

10

These quotations and citations will make the Nationalists angry. But it was not Iwho said or did these things. A responsible government must learn how it appearsin the eyes of the world. Many people would not have said and done these thingsif they had known how they would appear.I think this is a lesson one should learn, and one of the aims of this booklet is toteach it. One must learn that the things one says in a little dorp in the Transvaal orNatal will be heard in New Delhi, Moscow, London, and Nem#York; and howdifferently they sound there!This report of the combined committees was duly presented, and the Governmentencouraged to know that the theme "in its most advanced form" was repatriation,or failing that, compulsory segregation with boycott* to induce repatriation,presented its Group Areas Bill on May 29, 1950. It was presented by Dr.Ebenezer Donges, Minister of the Interior.**It is important to note that the Minister, in this public debate, and before thisresponsible body, gave no indication of the cruel purpose for which the Act wouldbe used.In fact he gave certain important assurances. He said, "the procedure leading up tothe proclamation of a group area is a procedure which safeguards as far as ispossible the interests of all parties concerned."It will be my duty to show that the procedure proved too much of a safeguard, andwas changed.*The idea of boycott has taken firm root in South Africa and much will be heardof it in the future. In f apt many suppose that our future will be shaped by it. Wehave had boycitts of Jewish business by Gentiles, of Indian business byAfrikaners. The "Penetration" of Afrikaners into the business world has nowmade them also susceptible to this weapon, and at the moment there is a boycottof thevm by sections of English, African, and Indian groups. The AfrikanerNation;alists have themselves for many years been conducting a campaign ofexclusive support for Afrikaner business, which is unmistakably a kind ofboycott.There is no doubt that boycott is a destructive and divisive weapon, but many whodislike it have been so angered by Nationalist actions that they have adopted? it inrecent years. In a way boycott is in business what apartheid is in politics, andtherefore it is not surprising that it is a feature of South African life.Our Prime Minister, Mr. Strijdom, has spoken publicly against the boycott, but itis difficult in view of the facts related here, and in view of the Group Areas Actitself, to grasp the logic of his case.**It is possible to read the debate in its entirety in the official record known asHansard.

It will be my duty to show that the interests of the Indian community were notsafeguarded at all, and that in fact they have been in many instances deliberatelydestroyed.

Dr. -Donges also said that the Act Would be applied "without resort todiscrimination." He went on to say""that, I think is a very important feature of thisBill.".. .Did Dr. Donges then repudiate the Joint Report which commended the policy of"compulsory segregation with boycott to induce repatriation?" He never did so;and I shall produce evidence that it is the cruel intention of the Report and not thefine words of the Minister that has characterised the operation of the Act to date.But before we consider this evidence the reader should have some idea of how theGroup Areas Act proposes to limit contact between and amongst the various racialgroups of South Africa.This will have to be done briefly. "The Group Areas Act is a complex piece oflegislation. and most difficult to explain without constant recourse to technicallanguage," says Professor Kenneth Kirkwood, Professor of Race Relations, St.Antony's College, Oxford.*Those who disagree with me will say that I never really tried to describe the Act.That is quite true. I am like a man whose children have eaten a bitter andpoisonous fruit, and who immediately orders the tree to be cut down. And in replyto those who say "at least come first and look at the tree," he says "I have no needto, I have seen its fruit."Let the reader therefore understand that we shall not spend time in admiring thecomplexity, ingenuity, or even uniqueness of this Act. For this Act is truly unique;it is the first time in history that a "democratic" state has given to a Minister suchpowers over persons and their property, over their rights to own and buy and selland occupy, over their rights to build, to bequeath and to inherit, even over theirrights not to be arbitrarily deprived of it.**WHAT IN BRIEF IS THE GROUP AREAS ACT?1. Its aim is to secure racial separation of the various groupsin South Africa, this separation to be as complete as possible,*"The Group Areas Act," Page 7, published Institute of Race Relations, 1950.**Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Article 17.12

residential, social, educational, commercial, industrial, etc., except that the Statewill permit the continuation of thoseassociations considered useful.*2. This separation is desirable on the grounds of cultural difference, maintenanceof Western civilization, and avoidance ofracial contact which leads to racial conflict.3. The Act:defines a white group, a native group, and a colouredgroup, and group areas will provide each member of these groups a separate placein which to live and be educated,and in which to practise his business or profession.**4. The Governor General may by proclamation create Indian,Chinese, and Malay Groups as sub-divisions of the Coloured group, and in factdid so on March 30, 1951, for certain areas.5. It would be possible for the Governor-General to proclaim,

as sub-divisions of the African people, special groups of Pondo, Xhosa, Zulu, andSotho people. Although this has not yet been done, it is already the declaredpolicy of the Native Affairs Department to divide all urban locations into suchethnic wards.***6. The ultimate theoretical goal of the Group Areas Act will be,for example, to place me, a white town-dweller, in a white urban group area,where all owners and occupiers will be white persons, all schools, churches,cinemas, shops, clubs, etc., will be for white persons, where the only non-whitepersons who may enter will be servants and workers.7. Similarly, Mr. X, an African town-dweller, will find himselfin a black urban group area, where in the first place no*The "useful" 'associations will almost invariably be of the master-servant type.Note What the Minister of Native Affairs said in Parliament (Bantu EducationBill) on June 7, .1954, "There is no place for him in the European communityabove the level of certain forms of labour."**In fact non-white business and professional men are being forced out of thecities, and must find their livelihoods away from the real centres of life andactivity; only servants, and workers will still be allowed to enter the cities.* The outstanding example is the Daveytbn Location belonging to the City ofBenoni, Where Xhosas, Zulus, Swazis, Ndebeles, Northern and Southern Sothos,Shanganis and others live in separate wards. Here tribal fighting broke out in1957. I tried the same plan in the dormitories at Diepkloof Reformatory, when Iwas the Principal, but fighting broke out, and I abandoned it immediately. AfricanChristian Ministers in particular deplore this ethnic grouping, which they saythreatens to disrupt the unity of their adherents, But the Dutch Reformed Churchin Daveyton has already built churches in all of the ethnic sections of Daveytonlocation, though I am informed that the majority are virtually unused.

black person will be able to own land at all, where for the most part all houseswill be owned by official bodies such as municipalities, and where the inhabitantsare subject to a host of regulations some of which are quite totalitarian incharacter, where all schools, churches, cinemas, shops, clubs, etc., will be forblack persons where the only white persons who may enter will be policemen,inspectors or officials, or persons who have obtained permits. The strikingdifference between the two sets of conditions is justified by the statement that theblack man is only a "temporary dweller" inthe white man's city.THE MACHINERY OF GROUP AREASThe machinery and procedure for achieving this racial separation are verycomplex, and the barest outline will be given.The Act provides for interim areas which will lead to Group Areas. These interimareas are:Controlled Areas governed by Section 10.Specified Areas governed by Section 11, 12, and 13.Defined Areas within Specified Areas governed by Section13 (3).These three types of areas come into operation if the Minister so proclaims.

CONTROLLED AREAOn March 30, 1951, the Minister proclaimed the Cape, Transvaal and Natal ascontrolled areas. In a controlled area, except by permit, a person may not sell hisproperty to a member of another group, and similarly may only allow occupancyby a member of another group by permit.* Therefore this proclamation has theeffect of "pegging" the ownershiv and occupancy position until the destiny of thearea can be decided.SPECIFIED AREAOn March 30, 1951, the Minister proclaimed Natal and the Transvaal as specifiedareas. In a Specified Area, the owner can only let his property to a member of thesame Group that lawfully occupied it on March 30, 1951. This proclamation hasthe*Although the Cave also became a controlled area, section 10 of the Act,restricting occupation, did not, for a short p riod, apply to the Cape Province.

effect of "pegging" the occupancy position. Further, as far as the Transvaal isconcerned, occupation on the 30th March, 1951, was only lawful if the premisesin question were occupied by nonEuropeans on the 30th April, 1939.DEFINED AREAA'defined area is part of a specified area.* In such areas the substitution of an oldbuilding by a new one, cr the extension of an existing building, 'or even theslightest addifion to an existing building makes it impossible for the person wholawfully occupied to continue occupation unless the Minister or now, by way ofdelegation, the Group Areas Board, has determined the race, a member of whichcan in future occupy. In fact in most cases, those areas have been defined inwhich Indian occupation has taken place and in very many cases, determinationsmade under the Act have been made in favour of Europeans. As a result Indianshave refrained from making even the most necessary alterations in order not torisk such determinations. These defined areas almost without exception contain,or are confined to, Indian-owned or Indian-occupied properties.GROUP AREASThese interim areas are preparing the way for the final group areas, whichthemselves have interim steps which we shall not deal with here.But it is sufficient to say that when a group area is declared, all disqualifiedoccupiers are given at least a year's notice; all disqualified owners may retain theirproperties during their lifetimes; and all disqualified inheritors are given a year inwhich to sell the property. However even those who may retain their propertiesare liable to have them, expropriated under the Group Areas Development Act. Itshould further be noted that the Minister has a discretion to grant permits tooccupy to disqualified persons.I do not wish to deal at this point with individual cases of hardship.I merely wish to make the point that the property market is in a state of chaos; inmany areas the whole business of buying and selling has come to a stop. In thecase of Indian properties that have been "defined" - and it appears to be policy to"define"*The Cape was proclaimed a specified area in October 1951.

15

every Indian property in the cities - all building activity has been virtually broughtto an end. This controls domestic affairs, leads to intolerable crowding of growingfamilies, limits hospitality, and prevents dutiful children from providing homesfor their aged parents.Hardest hit of all are the Indian traders, some of whom may not after July 1, 1957,occupy white-owned property except by permit. In case after case these permitsare now being refused. This refusing of a permit does not mean that the trader canmove to other premises. He cannot get a permit there either. The Group Areas Acthas virtually brought his livelihood to an end; what becomes of him, or his wifeand children, what they will now do, is not the concern of the Act.There is one other official utterance which has become as famous as the passagequoted from the Joint Report, and which will never be forgotten so long as theGroup Areas Act is remembered.This was an utterance of Dr. Ebenezer Donges, Minister of the Interior, whenintroducing the Group Areas Bill to Parliament. He said:"As regards the carryingout of this Bill, I just want to say that it will be based on justice. I also want to saythis, that no policy which is not based on justice has any chance ofsuccess."**Hansard Volume 73, 1950.

CHAPTER IVTHE AXE IS LIFTEDYOU Will note what happened first. The Joint Committee produced its JointReport, with recommendations for reaching two goals:(i) the complete separation of all races of South Africa.(ii) the compulsory separation of the Indian -community sothat they would leave South Africa.Dr. Ebenezer Donges, Minister of -the Interior, then introduced the Group AreasBill in Parliament in 1950. There was no reference in the Bill, to Indians. On thecontrary, the Minister stressed that the country would be divided up "withoutresort to discrimination." He said that this was "a very. important feature of theBill." He said that readjustment was to "take place gradually with the leastdisruptive effect." He said that sacrifice would be necessary to realise thistremendous goal of racial separation, but that it would be borne equally by all.Now the Bill becomes an Act. Let us see how this Act, devoid of discriminatoryfeatures, becomes a weapon to strike down the-Indian section of the community.Let us see how local authorities use it for that purpose, and how eminent counselfor local authorities is able to argue that this Act was meant for just such apurpose. Let us see how the Group Areas Board "sits as a quasi-judicial body andhears evidence and argument and thereafter decides upon its recommendation tothe Minister."* Let-us see also how far it "consists of a body of persons who areindependent of the Government."It is a shameful story.

*So was the Board described -in the "Summary of the Group Areas Act, 1950"published by the Government Printer.17

THE HEARINGS AT LYDENBURGOn May 7, 1952, the small town of Lydenburg* in the Transvaal was the first toseek to use the axe. The Municipality proposed to move all Indians "to anundeveloped site 24 miles out of town, some distance away from any mainroad."** Counsel appearing for the Municipality said"There was general feelingthat Indians had penetrateddeeply into business and they would rjow be well advised to concern themselvesless with business and morewith other trade."There are about 160 Indians in Lydenburg. Four of the men hold trading licencesand the rest are employed by them."*"The GrouD Areas Board felt unable to entertain this extreme proposal. It revisitedLydenburg in 1954 to hear other proposals, and the final Dlan adopted was tomove all Indians about a mile from the centre of this small town.Meanwhile two Indian families were forced to leave the town because transfer ofa licence was refused. Miss Horrell reports that "very many local authorities"appear to think that they are carrying out the Government's wishes by refusing allIndian applications for licences.All the coloured inhabitants of Lydenburg are also to be removed from the centralarea under the Group Areas Act; meanwhile, under another Act, the thousand oddAfrican inhabitants of Boomplaas, a farm seven miles from Lydenburg, are to beremoved to land nearly forty miles away.So this madness goes on, and the country is virtually remade in the service ofapartheid. It is almost always, almost without exception, coloured people,Africans, and Indians that have to move, and that have to move further and furtherfrom the heart of towns and cities they had helped to build, and on which theirvery existence depends. This grotesque and unrealizable ideal is pursued, whilemen and women suffer insecurity, anxiety, and material loss.*Lydenburg meaning in Afrikaans "a town of suffering".**Muriel Horrell "The Group Areas Act" P. 53.***It is a feature of Indian auarters in Transvaal towns that (a) they aretremendously overcrowded owing to the restriction on purchase of land,(b) a very high percentage of the children go into their fathers' businesses, thusincreasing the congestion. This is because of the restrictions on other occupations.

OTHER HEARINGSThe proposal made by the Town Council of Klerksdorp to the Board was toremove all the six hundred Indian residents "to a site 41 to 5 miles away."*Mr. I. A. Maisels, Q.C.,** speaking for the Indian community, said that the firstIndians came to Klerksdorp in 1888.*** Speaking of the proposal, he said "thereappears to Le a copy of the Group Areas Act circulating in the country towns,

saying that all Indians must be removed as far as possible from the centre oftowns."Dr. G. Lowen, Q.C., speaking for the Moslem Traders' Association, askedwhether the intention was not to force Indian traders to become Indian labourers.But it is the remarks of Mr. V. G. Hiemstra, Q.C., speaking for the Town Council,that the world should hear. He said:"Indians and their children will have to seekother occupations than trade, and the sooner the better.Much has been said of Indian traders starving, but nobody has ever starved inSouth Africa. It is a condition peculiar to India. Why should the Indian not soil hishandsby being a labourer?"Mr. Hiemstra, answering the charge that the Indians were being removed to animpossible situation, said that these five miles would in ten years' time "disappearinto nothingness."If that were so, 'if time and the future so miraculously restored what is todaybeing taken away, if custom flowed again to Indian traders, what can, one believeexcept that the Group Areas Act would be used against them again?Nor must I omit to mention the gnawing fear that if Indian traders strive to re-establish their businesses in these remote places, and if white custom flows backto them, we shall next have a law that will forbid a member of one group fromentering the area of another.And why not? That is exactly what apartheid is.*STAR, Johannesburg, August 29, 1957.*Q.C. stand for Queen's Counsel, a title in effect bestowed on eminent advocatesby the Minister of Justice.***They were encouraged by the Transvaal Government to buy land therethrough the system of nominee purchase.19

It was the same Counsel, Mr. V. G. Hiemstra, Q.C., who speaking at the smalltown of White River on behalf of the Municipality's proposal to remove theIndians from the town, protested that the Board should even consider a counter-proposal to leave the Indians in the town, when that clearly was not the intentionof the Act"It is bewildering to see the Board gravely considering aproposal completely at variance with that principle."It was the same Counsel, Mr. V. G. Hiemstra, Q.C., who made the following replyto Dr. G. Lowen, Q.C., when Dr. Lowen protested that the Group Areas Act didnot in itself demand the removal, of Indians."My learned friend has been studying the Act to find aprovision stating that the Indians must be removed outside the town. Well, he willnot find it inside 'the Act but will find it outside the Act. It lies in the fact that theAct was passed at all. If the Indians had to stay where they are, the Pegging Actswhich we have had since 1939 would have been entirely sufficient . . . The merefact that the Act was passed, Mr. Chairman, indicates that the Act required amuch more drastic separation than can be achieved by any Pegging measures."

It is clear then that this innocent-seeming Act, which according to the Minister,was to be applied "without resort to discrimination" could and should according toeminent Counsel be used to effect the drastic removal of Indians, and theinevitable dislocation of their lives; and it has since become clear that this is howalmost every local authority in the Transvaal intended to use it, although thesesame local authorities might by all ethical standards have been expected toconsider the interests of their voiceless citizens.This interpretation of the Act was clearly also the interpretation placed on it byMr. W. A. Maree, M.P., leader of the Nationalist Party in Natal, who said atNewcastle in June 1956 that he believed "the Indians would be only too pleased toget out of South Africa after the effects of the Group Areas Act had been felt."*Mr. Theo Gerdener, M.P.C., leader of the Nationalist Party in the Natal ProvincialCouncil, said in January 1956 at Port Elizabeth, when addressing the SouthAfrican Bureau of Racial Affairs, that "in time" policies like the Group Areas Act"will*NATAL DAILY NEWS, June 22, 1956.

break the commercial stranglehold which Indians seem to have on some townsand districts" and that if the Act and other legislation should in time restrict"Indian trade to Indians only, perhaps 90% of those who are at present traders willhave to find some other source of income."Neither of the Nationalist leaders was repudiated by the Minister. But they shouldhave been, for blackening the name of their country abroad.It must not be thought that it is only the Indian trader who is anxious about thefuture. His will be the greatest material loss, but all the Indian people are filledwith insecurity.The idea that the Indian Group must become self-supporting and self-sufficient,and lead its own life as far apart from others as possible will mean the virtualcondemnation of the Indian worker to an inferior life. Further, it seems aninevitable consequence of apartheid that the professional man will one day belimited to practice with his own race group. The South African Information Officegave prominence to the admission of an African advocate, Mr. Duma Nokwe, tothe Bar, but it has never mentioned that he was later refused chambers in the city,and advised to set up in a location.** And even at this moment of writing, at theFree State Congress of the Nationalist Party, Mr. C. R. Swart, Minister of Justice,discussing the appearance of African advocates in courts, said it was hoped "totake strong action to end this situation which was a cause of friction."This may yet be applied one day to Indian and Coloured advocates and attorneys.The Court of a multi-racial society is surely one place where all races must meet.But the idea of complete separation ignores reason just as it ignores men. Onething we may be sure of, black advocates may be banned from the courts, butnever black prisoners.*NATAL DAILY NEWS, January 12, 1956.**A location is an area set aside by a town or city where its African inhabitantsreside. It is completely unsuitable as an area from which to conduct an advocate'spractice. It is a considerable distance from the superior courts, from the law

libraries and from the chambers of European advocates who have their rooms inone building and the advantages of associating as colleagues. The location isinconvenient as a place of consultation with an advocate, as it is a long way fromthe centre of the city, and entry into it requires the special permission of thesuperintendent for all persons other than the residents of that location. If anadvocate sets up practice in a location he condemns himself to a brieflessexistence.21

One is reminded of the story of the black man who was seen going into a whitechurch, and on being questioned, said that he had come to clean.. "Clean then," hewas told, "but God help you if you pray.WHAT OF THE INDIAN WHO LIVES ON THE LAND?In Natal there are many Indian farmers, fruit-growers, vegetable growers, andgardeners. Some of them own the land, some only occupy it. What is their future?No one knows. If the proximity of Indian gardeners is intolerable to white people,what will happen to them? All such Indians are full of anxiety about the future.If they are moved, where will they be moved to? Many of them have naturallychosen land-suitable to their occupation, valleys with streams. Are there any suchplaces left? And if there are, will they be given to Indians?What is more, will any attempt, be made to replace what is taken away bysomething equal, comparable? The progress of the Group Areas Act hardly leadsone to think so.And further, if the aim of the Act is compulsory segregation leading to"repatriation," will land-owning be permitted?The fact that one'can even ask such questions is evidence of the desperateness ofthe situation.DO INDIANS HAVE A "COMMERCIAL STRANGLEHOLD?"In the first place, it is my own firm belief that if the members of any group areallowed equal opportunity with others, they will tend to move into every trade andprofession. In the second place, I find this is a racialist question of the worst kind.For if the purpose of the Group Areas Act is to distribute the activities of thecountry, then one would expect to hear mention of these factsthat the white people of the country own 80% of the landthat their position in industry is unchallenged that they virtually monopolise theCivil Servicethat they monopolise many occupations,. e.g.-train-drivers and train officials,engineers of all kinds, land surveying,and other professionsthat they monopolise by law all mining jobs above acertain low level.**Mines & Works Act of 1913.

The Indian people of the Transvaal. might have taken to agriculture, and havebeen spared the necessity of making all their sons traders, had it not been for Law

No. 3 of 1885 (Transvaal) forbidding -them to buy land outside certain restrictedareas.They might have entered skilled trades, but the law prevented them. And they arenot accepted in the Civil Service, S.A. Airways, S.A. Railways (except aslabourers), the Banks, and a hundred other public services.Furthermore, it must be pointed out that the limited Indian immigration into theTransvaal was largely of a trading class. It was not a normal population, and wasprevented from developing in that direction by barriers in many occupations.In Natal, on the other hand, there were, besides traders, manv humble labourers.Commerce therefore does not engage the energies of such a large percentage ofthe population.If it is considered desirable to distribute occupation, there is only one democraticway to do it, and that is to open the doors of opportunity.It follows - for me beyond doubt - that the Group Areas Act therefore not onlyaims at complete racial, separation, it also aims at the entrenclment of whiteprivilege.This is an entrenchment which I myself do not desire. I wish to live in SouthAfrica on the same terms as anyone else. I want no, privilege because of mycolour, just as I want no privilege denied to any man because of his colour.Some white idealists think total apartheid will do just this. They are dreaming ofapartheid as it might be, and they want to go on dreaming, so that they need notopen their eyes and see it as it is.

CHAPTER VTHE AXE FALLS(O NE thing became clear. The "quasi-judiciar' nature of theGroup Areas Board was turning out to be a nuisance. It allowed objectors to delaythe implementation of the Act.Two of the most determined objectors were the Transvaal Indian Congress andthe Natal Indian Congress.-These Congresses had two main- objections. First, they objected to the Act, tothe whole idea of complete separation, on principle. Second, they insisted that interms of the Act, "desirability" of group areas should be proved.*In 1954 the Chairman of the Board refused the Transvaal Indian Congress the'right to appear in Lydenburg, on the grounds that it had no interest in terms of theAct. But the Transvaal Supreme Court ruled that the Congress had a right toappear.7.. Therefore Parliament in 1955 gave the Chairman of theBoard discretion to decide who should appear before the Board.On September 14, 1955, Mr. J. Slovo (for the Indian community) and Mr. A. E.Patel (for the Congress) withdrew from the inquiry at Wolmaransstad, because theBoard refused to call evidence from the Town Council as to the "desirability" ofgroup areas.In Rustenburg in 1955, thirty-seven white citizens, headed by Mr. ChristopherGell,** put forward a scheme whereby land already owned by Indians, plus anarea for expansion, be declared

*Dr. Lowen, Counsel for the Indian community in Nylstroom, elicited from theTown Clerk that there had been no friction in Nylstroom for the twenty-four yearshe had lived there. Apparently therefore "desirability" need not be local; it israther "national" and a matter of Government policy. So much for a Board"independent" of the Government.**Mr. Gell lived in an iron lung in his home in Port Elizabeth, yet he knew moreabout the operations of the Act than any other white South African, and did morethan any other to expose its inhumanity. He died on May 28, 1958. This booklet isdedicated to his memory.

the Indian Group Area. This proposal which at that time had to be advertised forinvestigation together with any other proposals was held bv the Board, prior to theenquiry, to be unworthy of advertising. A protest made before the Board wasdisregarded and only after a court action was threatened did the Board agree topostpone for the purpose of remedying the defect.Mr. Oswald Pirow, Q.C.,* at one time Minister of Defence in the HertzogGovernment, condemned the "ridiculous pantomime" of the Board"s solemnlyplodding through various sets of proposals, "only one of which can be acceptedbecause it alone answers to the deeply secret policy buried somewhere betweenthe chairman of the Board and Dr. Donges."**In many cases the Board has restricted evidence, representation and investigation,and has thereby created the impression that it has retained its "quasi" and shed it"judicial" nature and that it has ceased to be a body to see that justice is done.It is little wonder that the Indian communities in various parts of the country havelost confidence in the Group Areas Board. They no longer look to the Board as abodv which will save them from the proposals of many municipalities to ejectthem from the towns and cities.It is time we looked at some of these proposals.ERMELO-(Country town, South eastern Transvaal. Population17,000, 5,000 White, 400 Indian. Indians hold twentyfour trading licences, andmost Indians either tradeor work for traders).In October 1955, 'the Town Council proposed to the Group Areas Board that theIndian community, together with their shops, be moved 1 miles to the west, or 1miles on the road to Piet Retief. Counsel for the Municipality said that Indianshad developed trade in spite of the warnings of past legislation.The first Indian trader came to Ennelo in 1896. The town hardly existed, and hebought a piece of land in what is now the main street. Other Indians followed him,and they are clustered in a couple of blocks. Because they cannot buy land, thecongestion is bad, and "living conditions are, on the whole, appalling.****Mr. Pirow is that rare person, a Nationalist individualist.**INDIAN OPINION, Natal, September 30, 1955. °"** "The Group Areas Act".Muriel Horrell, P. 39.

To make things worse, Ermelo has been proclaimed a defined area., Since then noIndian has been allowed to add to his property.

Miss Horrell says "It is said that during the depression before the last war, Indiansin Ermelo wrote off debts amounting to some £35,000 owing by members of thewhite farming community.This record of assistance to the white farming community and this reluctance topress for payment or to take court action, is found throughout all those parts ofSouth Africa where the Indian has traded.It can be said that in general it is not the white farmers who are pressing for theejection of Indians. But they yield to the pressure of the group, and if they protest,it is in secret.It should be noted that in 1905 a freehold township for Africans was establishedtwo miles south-east of Ermelo. It was called New Ermelo. The Town Councilalso propose this for a white area. Four thousand Africans will be moved to thelocation, and their freehold rights will be destroyed.It is not known yet what the Minister's proclamation will be. But the plans of theErmelo Town Council, says Miss Horrell, "provide an outstanding example ofhow the White citizens of some towns are trying to use the Group Areaslegislation to further their own interests."*PRETORIA-(Administrative capital of the Union of South Africaand provincial capital of the Transvaal. Population 1956 - 327,000. White172,000, Coloured 7,000Asian 7,000, African 141,000).Based on proposals put forward by the City Council of Pretoria, the Minister onJune 6, 1958, proclaimed group areas as follows :(i) All the coloured people of Pretoria are to be removedfrom their present places of residence to the undeveloped area of Derdepoort,about 9 miles from the centre of thecity.(ii) All Indian people are to be moved to the undevelopedareas of Claudius, some 7 or 8 miles from the city. Over 200 Indian traders willhave to leave the city, after per*"Group Areas Act", Muriel Horrell, P.44.

iods varying from 3 to 7 years. The area to which they are being removed isremote and not accessible to theirformer customers.In any event, it is the avowed intention of the GroupAreas Act to limit, in the interests of harmony, all interracial association.Professor P. V. Pistorious, Professor of Greek at theUniversity of Pretoria, courageous Afrikaans-speaking South African while notobjecting to thq residential segregation of the Indian community, raised his voicein protest against the removal of shops and businesses. He declared that it was a"blot on the Christian character of SouthAfrica".He defended the community against the charge thatit concentrated on trading, pointing out that by law Indians could not farm in theTransvaal or become apprentices to any occupation and that by custom theywere excluded from many others.

"We are in fact", he said "condemning a whole community to ruin andstarvation."*(iii) The total number of Africans to be moved is not known.However, 50,000 are to be moved from Lady Selborne and*An Inter-Church Committee, investigating the effect of the Group Areas Act onthe Indian community in Pretoria, says that it will mean privation and evenstarvation." "This is an iniustice that cannot be tolerated by the conscience of "aChristian church or a Christian individual." About 5000 people, it says, will bedeprived of their livelihood. The memorandum is signed on behalf of sixchurches: Anglican, Roman Catholic, Baptist, Methodist, Presbyterian andCongregational. (Report in Natal Mercury, 10th September, 1958)YThe Group Areas Board has dismissed the six Churches' memorandum as"unfounded and Indian inspired." The Board says that it will "endeavour to giveeffect to the Act with equity." But it adds this:- "It is clear that the Indians havetoo large a share of trade and they will have to submit to some curtailment of theirtrade in the interest of other groups, mostly non-Furopeans." "This is done," itgoes on. "to meet the desire of the Coloured and Native groups that trade shouldbe taken from the Indians and Chinese and given to members of those groups. Itwould be foolish to ignore this just request." (Report in the Natal Witness, 16thSeptember, 1958.An assurance that the Group Areas Act would be carried out with circumspectionand equity has been given to the Pretoria Indian community by Dr. F. E. 0.Geldenhuys of the Dutch Reformed Church. The u3resident of the IndianCommercial Association said that the Dutch Reformed Church did not realise thatinjustices had already been done. The Association saw nothing ahead but hardshipand despair. (Report in Natal Daily News, 10th September, 1958).

8,000 from Claremont. In both these townships, Africans had been able to ownland in freehold, but this right willbe removed in the new areas.(iv) It'- remains -to'add that the only white people who will have to move will bethoSe .few families living in the newIndian group area of Claudius.CAROLINA (Small country town, Transvaal. Population 1106Whites, -165 Indians and 1916 Africans).The proposal of the Town Council was to move all Indian shops and dwellingsoutside the town, on the road to Barberton. It was suggested that six and fouryears respectively should be allowed for these removals. The effect on Indiantrade would have been disastrous.*The Minister's decision has just been announced,- and the proclamation follows.very closely the proposal of the Town Council. No White person will be moved.As in Ermelo,_ the Indian traders of Carolina "have carried many white farmersand townsfolk through difficult times". They first went there in 1902, and 'there isno record of any racial friction.PIET RETIEF (Small country town, Transvaal. Population 2163Whites,. 296 Indians and,3089 Afri;as-. ..

Like. Ermelo, Piet Retief is a defined area. Thus none of the sixtv Indian familiesmay add to their premises. Overcrowding has reached its limit.The Town Council is proposing to move all Indian shops and homes to a site 1miles from the town."Such a plan, if implemented., would well-nigh ruin the Indian traders.No white people-will be. affected.NELSPRUIT (Small country town, Transvaal. Population 2,500Whites, 9,500 Africans, 250 Indians, about 100Coloured people).*"Group Areas Act'. Muriel Horrell, P. 49.*"Group Areas Act", Muriel Horrell, P. 51.

The Town Council in 1954 proposed to the Group Areas Board that all colouredpeople should be moved from their present site to another.The Town Council proposed to move all Indians to one of two suggested sites,both, in Miss Horrell's opinion, unsuitable. Removal to either of these sites wouldmean a disastrous loss of business, of which nearly 80% is done with whitecustomers.The Nelspruit Chamber of Commerce (an all-white organisation) supported theplea of the Indian traders to be left as they were.The final proposals are not yet known.*WOLMARANSSTAD (Small country town, Transvaal. Population 2000 Whites,2287 Africans, 160 Indians, seven of whom have trading premises in the mainstreet).The Town Council proposed to move all Indian shops and dwellings toundeveloped land outside the town. No white persons will 'e affected.No final proposals have been made as yet.**WHITE RIVER (Small township, Transvaal. Population 269Whites, 54 Indians and 1244 Africans).The Village Council recommended to the Group Areas Board that "all the Indiansand their businesses should be moved to undeveloped municipal land somedistance south-west of the town....... and right away from any existing main roador natural thoroughfare. Were this proposal adopted, little would be left of Indiantrade."***No decision has been reached as yet.KIERKSDORP (Town, Transvaal. Population 15,000 Whites,13,730 Africans, 600 Indians. Indians first arrived in 1888. Property worth£500,000.Indians have 55 trdding licences out of 360approximately).The Town Council proposed removal 5 miles out of town. No decision has yetbeen reached.*"Group Areas Act", Muriel Horrell, P. 56.**"Group Areas Act", Muriel Horrell, P. 62.* **'Group Areas Act", Muriel Horrell, P. 60.

BLOEMHOF (Small town, Transvaal, Population 741 Whites,Whites, 200 Indians) 2445 Africans).The Town Council proposed a complete removal of all Indians to a new township.No decision has been reached as yet.NYLSTROOM (Small country town, Transvaal. Over 2,000Whites, 200 Indians, 2,445 Africans).The Town Council proposed that all Indians should be moved one mile out oftown. The Rand Daily Mail of September 29, 1953, carried the headlines "Plan toMove Indians from Town into Bush" and "A Mile Away from Present BusinessesFair, says Official."Dr. G. Lowen, appearing for the Indian community, asked Mr. Jacobus Joubert,the Town Clerk, - "in the 24 years you lived in the town, have you ever knownany friction between be Europeans and the Indians?" To which, after a pause anda repetition of the question, Mr. Joubert replied, "No, none at all".The town of Nylstroom has now been declared a white group area, and theIndians living and trading in the town will be compelled to move within a periodof four years.JOHANNESBURG (Largest city in SouthAfrica. Population over one million.Whites,888,000, Coloured people 45,000, Chinese 2,500, Indians 25,500,Africans over 600,00).Johannesburg has grown to its present size in some seventy years. Thereforemany of its non-white areas are now enclosed by white areas. Under the NativesResettlement Act of 1954, the Government gave itself powers to move allAfricans from the the Western Areas, and when the Johannesburg City Councilrefused to co-operate except on certain conditions, the Government created theatives Resettlement Board to carry out theremoval.The Johannesburg City Council submitted proposals to the Group Areas Board forthe zoning of the rest of the city. Though the Council accepted the principle ofGroup Areas, its proposals were characterised by a humanity absent from those ofthe great majority of Transvaal towns.What is more, this raw and turbulent metropolis is nevertheless a city of theworld, and its leading men, quite apart from

can customers ke" be moved many miles away.But, says Muriel Horrell, "thegeneral pattern that emerges is that all Africans, Indians and Chinese willeventually have to leave "be Western Areas and Pageview* (unless a few Asiatictraders- are allowed to remain under temporary permit). Coloured peopc will losetheir best suburb and will have to move from manyother parts of these areas; andwill be concentrated in the south of the Western Areas, separated from the Whitesby buffer strips. The white group will gain an.enormous amount of property fromthe non-whites."**The first proclamation of Group Areas in Johannesburg came like a bombshell tonon-white citizens, especially the coloured and Inian communities. But evenmany of the white citizeis were shocked by it, especially the decision to moveIndians twenty miles out of the city to Lenasia. Of all the Transvaal decisions (or

awaited decisions) in regard to Indian traders, this is the most catastrophic, andvirtuallv means disaster for 800 Indian traders whose shopping district has beenone of the most colourful parts of Johannesburg. But it is not only traders who areaffected; poorer Indian workers must pay 12/7 a week in fares, and many of themmust leave home at five in the morning, and do not get home until eleven at night.The actual fate of the trading areas in Johannsburg has not yet finally beendecided. The City Council has recommended that these areas should not be zoned.The trading community is therefore in a state of dep anxiety and uncertainty.Will the City Council succeed in its recommendation? We earnestly hope so. Itwould be an act of mercy from a so far merciless Act.*Pageview was allocated to Coloured people and Asians in 1887 by the TransvaalRepublican Government. This tenancy was confirmed in 1937 and again in 1941.Many Indian traders operate there and attract much white custom. It is also a verycongested area. "Group Areas Act", Muriel Horrell, P. 146.31

be thought intolerable, and their owners-Vl-Tfoved without re-.gard to their happiness or security.The day before Good Friday 1957 (the holiest day of theChristian year) 30 days' notice was served on Mr. H.,* a Chinese shop keeper ofSophiatown, to vacate his shop which wis then due for demolition. This tookOlace under the Natives Resettle(Iment Act, not the Group Areas Act, but incruelty they areidentical. The 30 days' notice is in itself a cruelty.But Mr. H. was not merely losing hs premises, he was alsolosing his business. He was allowed to occupy temporily a vacated house, butthere was no question of his getting a licence for a business in what was now to bea white area. Ile asked the officials, as so many have done before, and as so manymust yet do, what he must now do, and he heard, as so many hav heardand must yet hear, that it was not their business.So there he is, he and his wife. and his children, with noplace to go, and with his home and his business destroyed; and the authority whois directly responsible for it, washes its handsof him and his troubles.I have seen Mr. H. He has lost his home, he has lost hisbusiness. And it looks as though he is losing his mind too.DURBAN (Large Sea-port. Population 600,000: roughly one-thirdAfrican, one-third European, one-third Indian.)The first proclamations, based on proposals put forward bythe Durban City Council, an all-white body, were puplished on June 6, 1958. It isproposed to move about 100,000 Africans, 75,000 Indians, 8,500 Coloured peopleand a number of whiteresidents estimated by the Minister of the Interior at 1000.The fate of the extensive Indian trading centre in the heartof the town is awaited with apprehension.Some of the Indian residential suburbs to be re-zoned for

Whites are over 90 years old. They were originally cut out of the coastal bush, farfrom white habitations, but they have sincebeen surrounded by the expanding white population.32

Grave injusti-r also to be-done to the African population of Chateau and GoodHope. Here land is held in freehold by African owners. Now the residents are tobe removed and the freehold, as in many other parts of the country, willdisappear, in accordance with the theory that the African lives '"temporarily" inurban areas.The African land-owners of Chateau and Good Hope are stunnql. They had neverbelieved that a white government could so callhousy-rob them of their rights.STIRRINGS OF WHAT?It has now come home to the Durban City Council that the removal of 200,000people, and the provision of new housing for nearly all of them, is a task beyondits means. I believe that there is a stirring of conscience also, but conscienceshould have been stirred before the proposals were made. The Council isstaggered by the estimated cost of this vast undertaking, and there is every reasonto believe that Government will compel the Council by legislation to expedite there-zoning. The Government is meanwhile insisting that Durban should segregateits buses, so the cost of apartheid grows greater and greater.

PE -SONS OF NO ACCOUNTie tried to establish beyond doubt that t] ,t, quite apart from its goal of race separharacteristics.Under the Act, "without resort to discrii equal sacrifices by all sections," "with itis with negligible eXCeptions the no who have to move, who,"are despoiled ojwhose affairs are arranged for them by pwhat is best.Under the Act, it is the poor who-have away, to pay more for trtlling, andtimetravelling.The Act, whatever it says, and wbatev does not say, is being used to persecommunity, and in.particular to destroyS NO PROVISION MADE FOR COMPE.UNDER THIS ACT?.ave tried to establish beyond doubt that t an evil inistrument, being used for evilen ed contention that it is impossible - and contemplates it - to Compensate for theAct.

He a humble hawker in Zeerust, but saved k800borrowo more, and bought 'a shop in Sophiatown in 1 paid his bond in 1942.In 1954 he was told that his ro wastonfiscated, and thereafter he -paid £15 -Der mI rent fo hj..property. In November 1956 he was ordered 7 quit, and bis propertywas demolished.Friends set him, up in a little fruit shop, which he rents for k 12. 10.0 a month, buthe makes little more than this. He is now 76 years of age, and has lived ini South

Africa for 61 years. He cannot speak English, but his wife told 'me the story. Shebad to tell it in piecemeal, ining it necessary to stop at intervals to control heremotions.Mr. R was virtually fined more than £1000 ,for his mistake,, that is, his entire'possessions. This i~s more than~ some 4men payin South Africa for the brutalmisha~ndling of otihers, even when, these others have already died of theirinjuries.'Stories like this explode the myth that behind Acts like NativeResettlement and Group Areas there is a noble and generous in- < tention.There are still noble and generous people who believe it, bu/ they are beingfooled. It is time they opened t eyes.THE - STORY OF LOYALTY REWARDED** 'WMr. Cassim J. served for five years in the South African army. He fought againstHitler and against all that Hitler stood for.In January 1957 he was given twelve months to close down his business, and toremove himself and his family from the town ship of K-.*In terns of two recent decisions of the highest court of-the land' the confiscation"of his property wash itt fact duie to the wrong' interpre-tation of the relevantsection of the Act uinder 'which the confiscation was declared. In this kind of casecontfiscation was only legally possible if the property was registered in the .ameof a nominee after 1946. ,I have met Mr. and visited his shop in N.- and seen therelevatd G ... ments.394

hat was his offence? He had the wrong colour, the wrongere-is his story.Mr. Gsim J., after leaving the Army in 1945 finally set up a shop in te township ofK-, a mixed township with a large non-white population, a few miles to the south-west of Johannesburg. His landlord was a white man named V-.In 1954 Mr. V- decided to rebuild the premises of which Mr. J.'s shop was a part.He gave Mr. J. temporary premises in the neighbourhood.When in February 1955 the new premises were finished Mr. V- applied for adetermination from the Group Areas Board, as he was obliged to do. Thedetermination was a bombshell. The occupation was determined for the whitegroup.Meanwhile Mr. J. had returned to the new shop on the old site. In January 1957 hewas convicted of illegal occupation, and was ordered to vacate by December 31,1957.He asked the Group Areas Board Inspectors, where was he to go, what was he todo? But they replied that that was none of their business."I fought for my country, and I thought I was fighting for my freedom. That'swhat they toldme in those days," said Mr. J. to me."Can I use your name?" I asked.Anger and caution struggled in his face."I can't," he said finally. "My boy's training for a

teacher."Next to Mr. J. is Mr. T. He is in exactly the same position. He carries £10000stock, £2000 fittings, and reckons that his goodwill is worth £3000. The stock isnot paid for, but the rest represents the savings and labour of his life.He asked the Inspectors where was he to go, and what was he to do, but they toldhim they didn't know.

A STORY FROM DURBAN(One of many thousands)Mrs. C. R. Naidoo is a very old resident of Cato Mnor.and her husband bought a property there in 1900. Tleir proper was surrounded bysugar cane and indigenous bvis'h. They established a market garden, and theycarried their produce on foot to the market seven miles away. After 39 years ofhard work, they were able to erect a wood and iron house on their property and tofunish it;into this they put all their savings. In 1946, Mrs. Naidoo lost herhusband, but it was a consolation to her to be left with a home.The news of the Group Areas Act stunned her. This simple woman could notreconcile what she heard about the Act with her belief, handed down to her by herforebears, that what was hers was hers, and no one would take it from her.And what explanation can one give to her? How can one justify to her the loss ofthe property which she and her husband worked so hard to acquire?What white person will want to buy her wood and iron house? And if the GroupAreas Development Board pays her the "market value," how can she hope ever topossess another?ANOTHER DURBAN STORY -\Mr. S. Jogi Naidu is the vice-principal of a large Indian school, held in esteem byhis people. But neither his position nor his reputation can save him from losinghis property.Mr. Naidu's old father, who is still alive, came to South Africa as an indenturedlabourer, and when his indentures were finished, he, encouraged by theauthorities, settled in the area 50 years ago, at which- time there was not aEuropean home to be seen.The old man was industrious and frugal, and besides giving a good education tohis children, he built the house at Bellair, which today is an eight-roomedresidence with modem amenities.

r. Naidu said "It came as a cruel blow to us when we heard o rty had beendeclared white. To build a similarto a would probably cost us about £4000."Never did the family expect such a disaster, even when they v of the G )up AreasAct. They imagined that their early /al in the district would give them a priorright. They did not understand the true nature of the Group AreasAct.