Black and White in Southern Africa
By The Rt. Hon. ARTHUR CREECH JONES* THE discussion ranging round the Seretse affair has revealed some anxiety as to how far our traditional colonial policy is being influenced by illiberal policies elsewhere, and as to whether Whitehall is proving too conciliatory towards the doctrine of European paramountcy in Africa.
Many factors contribute to this uneasiness. In a number of British colonial territories situations of some gravity are developing and obstacles are being put in the way of African progress—as, for example, the colour-bar in Northern Rhodesia. Such developments tend to obscure the advances in the political and economic fields and the benefits of improved social services to the African. Again, in the case of Southern Rhodesia, the local government is out of step with British colonial policy ; Britain has surrendered on prac- tically all matters relating to native policy. Anxiety is also felt regarding the attitude of Britain at the United Nations on matters affecting Southern Africa. To an uninitiated public the British line has seemed ambiguous.
These doubts are paralleled by suspicion among Africans about the bona fides of British policy. It is unfortunately a bad habit of many vocal Africans to put wrong and unjust interpretations on much constructive effort in the colonies. But confidence is not strengthened by the further retrogression of native policy in the Union of South Africa or by other tendencies in Southern Africa. The immigration of Afrikaans from the Union to Southern Rhodesia last year was 26 per cent, of the total immigrants. The Northern Rhodesian mines rely for recruiting their European personnel on South Africa, and a high proportion of immigrants arriving to mine and farm are Afrikaan. They preserve their language, are politically backward, maintain their sympathies with and loyalties to the Union and increase the tension in race relations. Africans fear that Central Africa is being prepared as a buttress to the native policy being worked out in the Union. Meanwhile all our efforts to modify the colour-bar in the copper belt have been resisted by the European Union at a time when the Africans are better organised in their trade unions than ever before and more alive to the issues involved. , Apprehension among Africans was never more widespread than now because of the moves by the Europeans in Central Africa to achieve some closer association of the Protectorates of Northern Rhodesia and Nyasaland with Southern Rhodesia. The projecp of " federation," which has filtered through the secrecy of the Victoria Falls Conference, implies to the African a damming up of his political progress, a limitation of his responsibility and freedom and a disregard of treaty and other obligations. It was in these terms that the Africans of Nyasaland, Barcitseland and other parts of Northern Rhodesia spoke to me last year. The sounding of the death knell of the Central Africa Council by Southern Rhodesia worsens the position.
Policy in dealing with such a situation should, of course, try to carry the conviction and goodwill of the people on the spot. So many Europeans in Central Africa persuade themselves that native problems are not understood in London and that Whitehall knows next to nothing about African conditions and the native African. London is felt to be remote from the influences and tensions which constitute the local problems, however modern devices may have modified this situation. There is a tendency to deride views held here as sentimental and unrealistic. Most Europeans in these pioneering colonies are far from secure and have their own important immediate interests to serve. It is natural that they should resent restraints which appear contrary to their interests and their established conceptions, and that they should assert the right of political responsibility and ascendancy over people at a lower stage of civilisation.
• Secretary of State for the Colonies, 1946-50. But responsibility by Britain in the Protectorates in this region of Africa cannot be transferred to any European minority without breach of trust and considerable African resentment. The pursuit in Southern Rhodesia of a policy based on ideas alien to British traditional policy is evidence of the changes which occur when London withdraws its responsibility. Parliament will not lightly set aside the assumptions on which our policy is built—recognition of equal rights of all subjects and progress to self-government. This is no matter of complacency, for, great as our colonial record may be, we are not unaware of our sins and mistakes in colonial policy. But because of her moral responsibilities as well as her own long- term interests, Britain cannot afford to graft on to her own tradi- tional policy the compromises of " segregation " or "parallel development," or weaken her authority and leadership by pursuing something less worthy than the positive and active principles which she has hitherto proclaimed as basic in her administration of over- seas territories. She can do no other than preserve in the practical application of her colonial policy the values and liberties she regards as essential in her conception of a free and humane society.
In any case, the further we depart from our policy, the more embittered will African feeling become and the more tension will increase. Africans do not remain uninfluenced by the world : they want more and more the things that are good in Western civilisation. The influences at work are both destructive and constructive. Southern Rhodesia must know that her policy carries with it a variety of practices and expedients which Africans regard as offen- sive to self-respect and dignity, and the Union of South Africa must also appreciate that the repercussions of her policy aggravate the difficulties already experienced in other parts. Statesmanship requires that steps should be taken in our own areas of responsibility to stop the gap between black and white from widening and to bridge it. It is a problem which international opinion is too sensitive to leave alone and one which contributes largely to the feeling of instability and insecurity in the world.
We cannot hold up the African's feeling of racial awareness and " nationalism " ; it has to be wisely channeled. That is difficult enough in West Africa, where the situation is not confused by European or Indian communities and where Britain is offering her technical and political skills for the unrestricted progress of the African and seeking to obtain his full understanding and co-opera- tion in the task. Our bold social and economic projects count little unless we remove the practices which cause offence. These are, chiefly, more matters of social convention than of discriminatory legislation. Some such laws are necessary to protect and promote African interests, just as certain non-discriminatory statutes may hinder African advance.
But all colonial governments have in recent years studied their statutes and their administrative practices with a view to adjusting anything inconsistent with African self-respect. Action has been taken in respect of identification and pass laws, forced labour and penal sanctions, native land rights and land alienation, colour-bars In industry and trade training, while in the colonial services the principle of equal reward irrespective of race is gaining recognition. Africans are being trained for responsibility and increasingly they occupy the important posts. Association on non-racial and non- political lines between black and white is also actively encouraged in social and cultural activities. And Britain has played an honour- able part in the international discussions concerned with rights in the dependent and trust territories and the making of conventions under the I.L.O. Parliamentary vigilance has also had its place in remedying offending practices.
Finally, a more positive approach to these matters is necessary from Africans themselves. Often they should be more forthcoming in creating confidence and displaying co-operation and good will in regard to projects which help development and welfare. These gains, however, depend on mutual respect and the participation by Africans in consultation and decision at all levels. This is British policy, and the only policy likely to disperse the shadows- over British Southern Africa.
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