LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Native Labour in South Africa
SIR,—Your article on the recent riots in -Johannesburg has naturally attracted a good deal of attention here, and I should be glad of the opportunity of airing a view not altogether in accordance with it. It may not be fully realised in England that Dr. Malan's policies have not been widely felt as yet, except as annoying trifles like the introduction of apartheid to the railway station : and, as such, the cause of the riots is far deeper than Dr. Malan. Though he and his policies may aggravate the position, no other party has ever, in or out of office, attempted to put forward a constructive policy which would make one
nation of this multi-racial population. -
As I see it, the problem of the urban native breaks down into two pans, the first to do with those people who come to the towns for a matter of months to eke out the livelihood they find in the reserves and then return to their homes and families ; the second to do with that portion of the urbanised natives who have no homes in the reserves, but live permanently in the shanty-towns on the outskirts of Johannes- burg and other cities. The problems are obviously to be tackled in different ways. Action taken at present consists of trying to reduce the number of natives in the cities by the pass system, whereby natives in Cities without passes are arrested and jailed. Removal of the incentives to come to the cities is an essential for the solution of the first part of the problem, and this can be done by encouraging and helping the natives to establish industries in their reserves, which would supply them with both employment and their basic requirements, and also improve their farming methods. To solve the problem of those natives who have made their homes in the towns, the frightened prejudices of a vociferous section of Europeans must be overcome. The natives must be given the opportunities of skilled employment and promotion within their present employment. The laws against this are crippling the progress of the country as well as being a relic of tknjust government. Not until the urban natives are allowed to compete equally in the labour market and decent clean housing is provided for them can they be expected to behave as law-abiding citizens.
To achieve these ends, the time is ripe for the founding of a political pressure-group to work for government grants and private finance to establish more industries in the native reserves in the interests as much of the European population in South Africa as the native. Apartheid is only a vote-catching cry, and a vigorous policy of " co-operation " would be equally attractive if well " sold " to voters.—Yours sincerely,
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