"Muzzling the Natives." Editorial in Imvo Zabantsundu, March 23, 1887

The Bill which the Sprigg Government has given notice of introducing next Parliamentary Session, with the ostensible object of making 'better provision for the Registration of Persons entitled to the Electoral Franchise' is about the severest blow that has ever been aimed at Native rights since representative institutions were introduced into this country. The Cape Times, a journal that cannot be suspected of negrophilistic tendencies whatever, characterizes it as an attempt "to cloak injustice under the specious pretext of reform."

The Cape Argus, no blind partisan of the Natives, describes it as a "dishonest measure" which is "miscalled."

Under the first and third clauses of the Bill it is proposed to do away with the present lists compiled four months ago, during the present year. The object of this is of course obvious: The general election coming off next year, the ministry dread an appeal to the country on the present complete lists; and the register must needs be manipulated to suit their designs. Field-cornets are the officers entrusted with the important functions of placing on the roll such persons as they may deem entitled to send a representative to Parliament. Inasmuch, then, as it would be absurd to expect a Field-cornet to have a personal knowledge of any but a few natives in his Ward, it is fair to conclude that Whites alone would be enrolled. Then it is proposed to constitute the Civil Commissioner a final referee to decide upon the claims of those who may have been ignored by the Field-cornet. But what is given with one hand in this proviso is taken away with the other; for this appeal to the civil commissioner is to involve costs after the fashion of those adjudged in a civil action. Then, as if these stupendous difficulties were not enough to keep our countrymen from their rights as liege subjects of the Queen, the government proceeds to enact in clause 17 that "No person shall be entitled to be registered as a voter by reason of his sharing in any communal or tribal occupation of lands, or place of residence." Such are the provisions of a Bill whereby the aboriginal inhabitants of this portion of her Majesty's dominion are to be deprived of the privileges they have enjoyed in common with their fellow-subjects, the Colonists, since British rule was set up in these parts. This Bill, which seriously affects the rights of the majority of the inhabitants of the country, is to repeal the vital portions of the Constitution Ordinance granted to this country after due deliberation fifteen years ago, for clause 2 reads: --

"So much of every Act, Ordinance, or other statutory enactment having the force of law, which shall be in conflict with the provisions of this Act is hereby repealed." In their endeavour to stifle the feelings of black inhabitants of this country, the Government has gone to the extreme of raking up the Inquisition from the debris of the Middle Ages, for those black and white claiming by virtue of "salary" or "wage" are to stand cross-examination on "The names of their employers, from whom and the period of employment during which the necessary amount of salary or wage was earned."

Wherefore is all this, is the question which naturally rises to the surface at the contemplation of this coercive legislation. What has the native done to have such treatment meted out to him? That he has in the past exercised the franchise with intelligence and discretion is evidenced by the stamp of gentlemen he has sent to Parliament, and we challenge any one to place his finger upon a single member of the present or previous Parliaments, whose return is due to Natives, who has been a drawback to the House. This is perfectly natural, for it is generally admitted that there is nothing to which the Native of South Africa has, from time immemorial, given more earnest and closer attention than the philosophy of Government. Politics is to him a second nature; and it is to tamper with this that Sir Gordon Sprigg is introducing his Bill to Muzzle the Natives. It has besides, been over and over again acknowledged that our people have never abused their electoral privileges. To support this statement we can easily and readily cite the opinions of a large number of eminent gentlemen who have taken a leading position in the larger affairs of the country, but for space exigencies we forbear, and content ourselves with giving the views of two gentlemen at present at the head of the government of the Colony. In a speech which his Excellency the Governor delivered at the Empire Club banquet in 1884, Sir Hercules Robinson observed: "In the Cape and its dependencies the English bear to the Dutch the proportion of about nine to eleven, whilst both together bear to the Natives the proportion of only one to three." By eliminating the Native factor then, Sir Gordon Sprigg establishes the ascendancy of the Dutch in the Colony forever. We live to see if the English will tacitly allow this to be done. Well, Sir Hercules Robinson went on to say, "Responsible Government, as far as the Cape Colony proper is concerned, has been a complete success, notwithstanding the fact that the Natives within the represented districts exceed the Europeans in the proportion probably of two to one." This testimony of the Governor is very valuable to us. It shows conclusively that, however it may suit certain politicians to trot out what they choose to call the "barbarism of the Natives" as a bogey to frighten the crowd, our people have been on the side of light and progress. But Sir Gordon Sprigg's testimony is even more emphatic. In a truly statesmanlike speech delivered in 1877 by the Prime Minister in East London, Sir Gordon Sprigg argued on grounds both of Justice and of expediency that the Franchise should be freely granted to the Natives who possess the necessary legal qualifications. Mr. (not then Sir Gordon) Sprigg said:

Can it be affirmed that any evil arisen in the past Civil rights as us? I am unable to say that it has. In the division of King Williamstown a considerable number of Natives are registered, and many of them at an election record their votes. I may be told of instances when the successful candidate has been put in by the help of the Native vote, and that the defeated candidate had a larger number of Europeans. But the practical question is: Was the successful candidate the inferior man? I do not think that it can be affirmed that he was; and if so the Parliament and the country did not suffer from the Native vote; it might even be said that they gained by it I will not now go into the large question of the difference of race and the causes of the superiority of one race to another; but it is my opinion that the black man here distinctly recognizes the superiority of the white man, and that for a very long time to come, perhaps forever, the recognition will prevail to such an extent as to leave the representation in the hands of men of European descent. It is, in my opinion, extremely dangerous under a representative Government to establish the principle that the larger part of the population shall have no voice in the councils of the country. The true way to remove discontent is to provide a channel for its true utterance. It is the recognition of the soundness of this principle that has been at the bottom of many Reform Bills that have received the assent of the British Legislature. It is the refusal to recognise it that has led to so much disturbance and rebellion on the continent of Europe. Under Parliamentary Government representation is your safety valve. Tie down your safety valve and there is an explosion."

Source:

Karis, T & Carter G. M. (1972). From Protest to Challenge: A Documentary History of African Politics in South Africa, 1882-1964, Volume 1: Protest and Hope, 1882-1934. Stanford University: Hanover Press.

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