Documents: Africans Acting Alone

DOCUMENT 48j. "ANC Calls for Passive Resistance." Statement in Umteteli wa Bantu June 27, 1931

A mass meeting was held last Sunday in Johannesburg and was attended by representatives from all over the Reef, Pretoria, and Evaton. . . . The heat with which the question of passes was discussed evidenced the intense indignation of the Native people. Eventually the meeting adopted the statement which appears below.

Since 1910 the African people, particularly in the Transvaal and the Free State, have been engaged in a fierce struggle against the pass laws for the following reasons

(1) The pass laws restrict their movements and brand them as criminals, (2) they make it difficult for them to bargain with their labour to their advantage, (3) they exclude them from the benefits derived from the Industrial Conciliation Act and the Wage Act and (4) they are to a large extent responsible for the lawlessness which prevails among them.

On more than one occasion women in the Free State defied the law with the result that eventually the pass laws in the Province were relaxed so far as women were concerned.

In 1918 and 1919 Natives on the Witwatersrand, after exhausting every constitutional means, resorted to a passive resistance against these iniquitous laws. There may be recalled the disturbances which took place in Johannesburg and which eventually led to the imprisonment of hundreds of our people and a baton attack on our womenfolk by the police. In view of the present situation it is essential that the public should be reminded of these happenings. The passive resistance of 1919 was not prompted by the agitators but by the disabilities under which our people were labouring under the pass laws. It was the indignity to which they were subjected under the pass laws that made thousands of Natives prefer imprisonment to a life of perpetual humiliation. No race of men will tolerate a system of government which does not recog­nise the elements of human rights such as the right to move freely in one's own country and to bargain with one's labour without restriction. The result of these disturbances was the appointment of the Moffat Commis­sion in 1918. This Commission after taking evidence found that the majority of Native grievances were legitimate and that one of the causes of Native unrest was the pass laws. After condemning the pass system, the Com­mission recommended their modification, adding that under no circumstances should Native women be included in the pass laws. It was in accordance with the recommendations of this commission that the Department of Native Affairs decided to issue the travelling pass free of charge.

In 1919, as the result of the passive resistance movement which culminated in the throwing away of passes and an outbreak of violence another Commission consisting of officials of the Departments of Native Affairs and Justice was appointed to inquire into the workings of the pass laws. The Commission went all over South Africa taking evidence from both Europeans and Natives. In 1920 the Commission issued its report in which it was recommended that the existing pass laws should be repealed and be substituted by one life long document for purposes of identification, and that it should be demanded, if necessary, only by an authorised police sergeant. The Commission condemned the multiplicity of passes.

Acting on the Commission's recommenda­tions the Smuts Government framed a measure entitled the "Native Registration and Protection Bill." This Bill was placed before the official Native conference in 1923; but for reasons known only to the Government it was not submitted to Parliament while some of its clauses were transferred to the Natives (Urban Areas) Act.

It may interest the public to know that in his speech on the second reading of the Native Affairs Act in 1920 General Smuts declared that the Commission which was to be appointed under that Act would assist the Government in finding a solution of the pass law problem. He emphasised the fact that Natives were chafing under these irritating laws and that therefore a solution should be found.

The Native Affairs Department, so far as it can be ascertained, is in favour of the modifi­cation of the pass laws. The Secretary for Native Affairs, Major Herbst, told a conference of farmers at Durban in 1928 that the Department favoured the substitution of the present system by a single document, preferably the Poll Tax receipt. The Minister of Native Affairs told a joint deputation of Europeans and Natives last year that the Government would be willing to consider the simplification of the pass laws "to the extent that public opinion would allow." He reiterated this statement at the last official Native conference. It will be seen therefore that white public opinion hinders Government action in this matter.

The legal position, we understand, is that the application of the pass laws can be modified or withdrawn by the Native Affairs Department without reference to Parliament. This step, however, the Native Affairs Depart­ment is not prepared to take until such time as white public opinion shall have been so educated as to realise the futility of the pass laws for the prevention of crime among Natives.

Since 1910 we have been hoping that the Government will bring about relief in this matter of the pass laws. But by the reenforcement of the night pass laws against our womenfolk, after it had cost us over £300 in 1926 to free them from these iniquitous laws, we are convinced that the Government is not prepared to consider the relaxation of the pass laws. Rightly or wrongly we consider this action of the Government as a challenge to our manhood, and as we have for upwards of twenty years patiently pleaded in vain for relief we feel compelled to accept the challenge. We have all along trusted in the goodwill of the white race and its sense of justice; but today we find that our trust has been betrayed. As men we can submit to injustice as long as we must; but we cannot tolerate the subjection of our womenfolk to the indignities and barbarities of the pass laws.

While we are grateful to the City Council of Johannesburg and those Europeans who are championing our cause, nevertheless we feel that the time has come when we should organise passive resistance throughout the country. With this end in view, this mass meeting calls upon the Executive Council of the African National Congress to organise a campaign of passive resistance against these iniquitous and barbarous laws.

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