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South
Africa?s Radical Tradition: A documentary history, Volume two 1943
? 1964.
Edited by Alison Drew.

Part
one

Document 8

The Ten-Point Programme [1943]

The aim of the Non-European Unity Movement is the liquidation of the National Oppression of the Non-European in South Africa, that is, the removal of all the disabilities and restrictions based on grounds of race and colour, and the acquisition by the Non-European of all those rights which are at present enjoyed by the European population.

Unlike other forms of past society based on slavery and serfdom. Democracy is the rule of the people, by the people, for the people. But as long as a section of the people are enslaved, there can be no democracy, and without democracy there can be no justice.

We Non-Europeans are demanding only those rights for which the Europeans were a; more than 100 years ago.

These Democratic demands are contained in the following 10 Points ?

1.The franchise, i.e. the right of every man and woman over the age of 21 to elect and be elected to Parliament, Provincial Council and all other Divisional and Municipal Councils.

2. Compulsory, free and uniform education for all children up to the age of 16 with free meals, free books and school equipment for the needy.

3. Inviolability of person, of one's house and privacy.

4. Freedom of speech, press, meetings and association.

5. Freedom of movement and occupation.

6. Full equality of rights for all citizens without distinction of race, colour and sex.

7. Revision of the land question in accordance with the above.

8. Revision of the civil and criminal code in accordance with the above.

9. Revision of the system of taxation in accordance with the above.

10. Revision of the labour legislation and its application to the mines and agriculture.

EXPLANATORY REMARKS ON THE PROGRAMME

1.This means the end of all political tutelage, of all communal or indirect repre­sentation, and the granting to all Non-Europeans of the same, universal, equal, direct and secret ballot as at present enjoyed by Europeans exclusively.

2. This means the extension of all the educational rights at present enjoyed by s European children, to all Non-European children, with the same access to higher education on equal terms.

3. This is the elementary Habeas corpus right. The present state of helplessness of the Non-European before the police is an outrage of the principles of democracy. The police should molest no man, nor should his house be entered without a writ from the magistrate. The same right to inviolability and privacy at present enjoyed by the European should apply to all Non-Europeans. All rules by regulations should be abolished.

4. This point hardly needs explanation. It is the abolition of the Riotous Assemblies Act, directed specifically against the Non-European. It embodies the right to combine, to form and enter Trade Unions on the same basis as the Europeans.

5. This means the abolition of all Pass Laws and restriction of movement and travel within the Union, the right to live, to look for work, wherever one pleases. It means the same right to take up a profession or trade as enjoyed by Europeans. This means the abolition of all discriminatory Colour Bar Laws.

7. The relations of serfdom at present existing on the land must go, together with the Land Acts, together with the restrictions upon acquiring land. A new division of the land in conformity with the existing rural population, living on the land and working the land, is the first task of a democratic State and Parliament.

8. This means the abolition of feudal relations in the whole system of justice - police, magistrates, law-courts and prisons - whereby the punishment for the same crime is not the same, but is based upon the skin-colour of the offender. There must be complete equality of all citizens before the law, and the abolition of all punishment incompatible with human dignity.

9. This means the abolition of the Poll-Tax, or any other tax applicable specifically to the Non-European, or discriminating between Europeans and Non-Europeans. There should be one; single, progressive tax, and all indirect taxation that fall so heavily upon the poorer classes should be abolished.

10. This means specifically the revision of the Industrial Conciliation and Wage Acts, the elimination of all restrictions and distinctions between a European worker and a Non-European worker, equal pay for equal work, equal access to Apprenticeship and skilled labour. This means the liquidation of indentured labour and forcible recruit­ment, the full application of Factory Legislation to the mines and on the land. It means the abolition of the Masters and Servants Act and the establishment of complete equality between the seller and buyer of labour. It also means the abolition of payment in kind, and the fixing of a minimum wage for all labourers without a distinction of race or colour.

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