Testimony of James B. Mama and John Makue, Transvaal, before the South African Native Affairs Commission, October 7, 1904

[Extract] (Published in Minutes of Evidence, South African Native Affairs Commission, 1903-1905)

42,055. Chairman.] I understand that there is something that you wish to say to the Commission, and that the first thing you wish to speak about is the franchise? -- Mama: I wish that the Natives of this Colony should have the franchise.

42.056. Why? -- Because that is a thing which will make a people of us. We have no place to which we can go, or to which we can get out of the way of Colonies like this, and the only safety for us is to have the right of voting.

42.057. Mr. Samuelson.] When you have reached what stage of civilisation do you think you ought to have the franchise? -- I think that when Natives have got to that degree of knowledge that they understand what the meaning of franchise is, and of voting, they ought to have it.

42.058. Chairman.] Not before? -

42.059. The next point that you have marked on this list to speak about is labour. What have you to say about that? -- Work here in the Transvaal is carried out under pressure and is a hardship. You are given four days in which to obtain employment, and to get a master who will pay you that amount of money which will satisfy you, and if you are unable within the four days to get an employer who will pay you the wage you want for your services, you are compelled, in order to save yourself, to take employment from a man who will pay you only £l a month. There is also another matter. That is with regard to passes. If you happen to be in the country without a pass, or happen to have stepped into a place where you should have a pass and have not one, then you are subject to arrest at once. The only object of compelling Natives to have a pass in a town like this, is really to force them into obtaining employment within four days, at rates unfavourable to themselves. There cannot be any other reason for it, because if people want us to work here they should not require us to take out passes when we go to seek work. That matter causes a great deal of hardship to us Natives. Again, we get no special rewards or bonuses for our services in this country; all we get is the wages; and we are forced by this system to go into places where only lower rates of wages are obtainable than we could get if we had more time.

42.060. Do you know anybody in this town of your own age, who is a grown man, who is getting £l a month as wages? -- There are men working about here in the town sweeping the streets who are getting £l, £l 10s, up to £2, who have come into it that way. If reference is made to the Pass Office it can be definitely ascertained what wages are paid to Natives who have come in under passes.

42,061. How many days do you want to look for a master, for work? -- Why should there be any restriction or limitation at all? When we come here to seek work, we should be free. And there is another thing. You cannot leave your master to whom you have contracted your services until you have completed that time which is fixed in the pass. That is where the danger to us Natives who come to work is. It is in the pass.

42.073. Then you wished to speak on the subject of taxation? -- The tax here is heavy. It is £2 per head of the manhood. We living in towns have, in addition, to pay a rent, which amounts to 18s. Here in town we have also to pay 10s. dog tax; we have to pay 2s. 6d. for the removal of rubbish; we have to pay 7s. 6d. for w.c.; and we have to pay 7s. 6d for a stand.

42.074. Are you obliged by law to keep a dog? -- A dog is a man's property, and when he becomes possessed of one, then he has to pay a tax for it.

42.075. Do you pay unless you have a dog? -- No, I do not pay, because I have not got one. These taxes in the municipality here, I say, are heavy; these only, without reference to the poll tax. In addition to these municipal taxes, the Government has placed upon us the poll tax of £2 a head. We are men, we are not slaves. We are only servants to our employers. We are not in the same position as Natives out of the country, because while they pay tax they have ground to cultivate. We think the Government ought to see into this for us. The tax, which is paid outside the town, the poll tax itself of £2, is heavy; and the rates and payments we have to make here to the municipality in themselves are heavy without any additional taxation. Then, at the same time, the wages here are very low. The time has not come when men receive wages such as would enable them to meet comfortably these taxes.

42.076. What work are you doing? -- I am working in a lawyer's office.

42.077. What are your wages? -- £4 a month.

42.078. Mr. Sloley.] Are these municipal rates you speak of monthly? -- They are monthly with the exception, of course, of the dog tax.

42.079. Chairman.] Is the 7s? 6d. for sanitary rates the same as paid by the Europeans? -- We cannot be compared with the white man and the white man's servants. Here, in this municipality, they do not do what is done for us in other towns of
South Africa
, where water closets are erected for the use of the Natives. Here that is not the case. If the residents of the location were not forced to set up these w.c.'s, it would be all right, because then the poor man could go to the general w.c.'s, which the municipalities should put up.

42.080. Mr. Sloley.] What means have you of approaching the Government and stating anything you want to state? -- We have no other means of reaching the Government except through the Native Affairs Office.

42.081. Captain Dickson.] What religious denomination do you belong to? -- I am a Wesleyan. Makue: I belong to the Congregational Church.

42.082. You complained about the passes and said that four days was not long enough to get employment in a town like Pretoria. How long has that been the case, that four days was not long enough to get any employment whatever in the town of Pretoria? -- Mama: That difficulty has existed ever since I came to Pretoria.

42.083. Is not four days quite long enough to get some kind of employment in the town of Pretoria? -- Sometimes one day is quite sufficient for you to find an employer who will pay you the wages you want, but in other cases it takes longer; sometimes it takes more than four days.

42.084. If employment is to be got in the town of Pretoria, surely four days is long enough to find that employment if it is to be got? -- Yes, if one can find work within those four days, then the time is sufficient, but we do not see why there should be any restrictions of this sort. Why should there be pass regulations?

42.085. Is it a hardship, or is it only a matter of sentiment? -- It is a trying thing, and it makes work a troublesome matter.

[Mr. Sloley took the Chair.]

42.086. Acting Chairman.] Have you any­thing that you wish to say, Makue? -- Makue:

As regards voting, I think it would be much better that we should get the franchise and be able to vote. I do not mean that the raw Native should, who does not understand what it is. I think we would trust one another better if the Native were to get the vote. The case is like when there are two children in the house, and one will have bread and butter, and the other only soup. That creates a feeling that he does not believe in his father, because the father does not treat him well. One has soup and the other has bread and butter. As regards the work of the black man, to force him to work is not good. It is not good under any circumstances to be forced to work. Our earning power is very small. I think when we are forced to work there ought to be big pay. There is no decent black man that can manage to exist on £8 a month, pay all the taxes, and the upkeep of his house in the proper manner -- I mean a civilised Native. I do not mean the raw man who comes from the kraals. As regards the liquor law, I think it is better to throw it open, not to prohibit liquor to the Native. There are so many that drink, and so many that do not drink, and they are both good. There are some that do not drink who are bad. According to the eye of the white people, who look after us, they cannot draw a line between a good and a bad black man. If liquor were thrown open to the Native it would be found that there are as good black men as there are white. Then they could be classified. Now we are all blacks and are measured with the same measure. I might be a good man, but I am looked upon, perhaps, in the same light as a bad one. I know the black man is not as good as the white, as far as civilisation goes. I am sorry that I have had to condense my remarks as I have done. I am afraid I may not be understood.

42.087. Do you realise that this liquor law was originally imposed because the Government wished to take care of the coloured people and prevent them destroying themselves? -- It is so, but now I am measured with the same measure as the man who cannot look after himself, and who is not in the same position as I am. The white man does not know that there are some Natives who are decent; they are all put into one pot, as it were.

42.088. What do you mean by being forced to work? I do not see that you are forced to work in any other way than we are all forced to work. All the men you see in this room have been forced to work all their lives? -- Should the Native not be able to obtain work within the four days he is punished. A decent man, who has a house and family, cannot procure a master in four days who will pay him handsomely.

42.089. The regulation as to the four days is a municipal regulation, I presume, to prevent a lot of idle and disorderly people coming into the town without having any lawful reason for being here? -- Yes; although it is a municipal law, we are punished all the same.

42.090. Mr. Samuelson.] In Durban and Maritzburg, in Natal, the same law is in force, but the man who is not able to get work in four days can go again to the police office and get his pass extended, if he can show good reason that he has not been able to get work in those four days. Is that not the same case here? -- It can be done, but there is a lot of trouble. No good man can get work in four days, sometimes not within the month.

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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