ft

Here are the suggestions of the above-named organisations:-

"1; That all vagrant natives should be evacuated from Jo­hannesburg and its environs,"

M2. That organised inspections should be made at regular intervals of native quarters in private and business premises, for the purpose of arresting natives found sleeping there who are not employees of the mises."

"3 , That the system should be re-imposed of endorsing passes in the case of all natives who have been convicted of assault or robbery,"

"4, That as an emergency measure a curfew hour for natives should be introduced."

"5, That the Civic Guard should be augmented by Europeans and natives, and its nightly patrols extended from 4 a.m0 to 6 a.m ."

" 6 , That the European and native police force should be augmented,"

"7 . That sentences of persons convicted for crime should be such as to provide a stronger deterent from the commi­ssion of crime and that the practire of suspending the operation of sentences should be reviewed."

" r V ’-t Ban"

"The deputation further stated that its members had been credibly informed that if motor vehicles owned or dri­ven by natives could be forbidden the use of urban streets during the hours of darkness, the present wave of crime would asoon be very substantially reduced."

dfe do not propose to take either space or time to discuss these recommendations; but we shall, in passing, ask thege gentlemen some pertinent questions about their recommendations.

1. Vagrant Natives:

(a) Where do they propose to evacuate the 'vagrant natives1 from Johannesburg and its environs to?

(b) Where did these natives come from?(c) If they belong to Johannesburg and its environs, where

can they evacuate them to?(d) If they are from outside, wh. ■ did they come to Johannes­

burg?(e) Why are they vagrants?

^ • Arresting of Natives who are not empl oyee3 of the misesfound sleeping in " native quarters1 in private and businesspremi ses.

(a) Do they realise that some of these servants are bona fide husbands and wives who oust visit one another to keep the marital bond strong?

(b) Do they realise that Africans have no rendevous social centres and clubs near their work where they can meet their friends and chat? Even girls can only meet their boy friends in their rooms in the back yardsc

(c) Do they realise that absence of regular transport in the late evening forces many Africans to sleep with friends when it might have been more convenient to have returned home even late?

(d) Have they ever thought that the restrictions of pass laws and special regulations have forced many young men to remain overnight in g ir l ’ s rooms with moral tragedies?

3. Endorsing Passa

Does not endorsing a man's pass labC^/ a man to unemploy­ment and lead him to vagrancy and finally to anti-social attitudes and a career of crime as a revenge against alleged ill-treatment in the hands of society?

1 .—Imposing a curfew for ’Natives1 and forbidding the use of urban streets by motor vehicles owned or driven by natives during the hours of darkness. ---- ---

(a) Are the natives the only criminals? if not, why not apply such regulations to all?

(b) Are motor cars not used by saboteurs, house-breakerB, thieves, and carriers of stolen goods of other races; if they are} is it possible that many criminals pass un­noticed by motor cars or otherwise and are never sus­pected because in the mind of many Europeans, the 'native* is the criminal?

We are reminded here =t John X.Merriman once said, as quoted by Charles C.Don in his new book "with special reference to native legislation, that every new law ’ created about ten new crimes’ and it is undeniable that the Union native suffers many and serious disabi­lities, "

We wish here to record the appreciation of the African people of the broad and responsible attitude that the Minister of Justice showed towards the representation of the deputation. In public safe­ty he did the only reasonable thing, namely, he increased the police force as a result, but, :ihe authorised the statement that while there was slender statistical support for the claim that crime was increa­sing on the Rand, he recognised that the form and nature of certain crimes had lately taken a forbidding turn which called for strong preventive and protective measure s,'-

We are also grateful to the Honourable the Minister of Native Affairs, Colonel Reitz, for the statement he made to the deputation that saw him jointly with the Honourable the Minister of Justice, when he raid in effect the pass laws had nothing to do with the “crime wave". Half the African population lived.in the Cape and Natal provinces, he is reported to have said, and there was, if any­thing, less crime in those provinces. He was further reported to have said that there was no such a thing as ’Native Crime’ , Crime was committed by all races, Europeans and Non-Europeans,

This statement is supported by the revealing reply which the Minister of Justice made in Parliament in April last to Mr, J .S ,Marwicfc M.P, who had said arrangements should be made for the better control of natives,, In both Johannesburg and Durban, there had been outbreaks of crime, any C„Pr.S„ plan should have the control of na­tives as its first considerations, to prevent them from looting and rioting as they had done during the Jameson Raid and South African War; concluded Mr, MarwicI 4

The Minister of Justice was reported to have said that apart from subversive activitiest crime was below normal, but he agreed that there had been a wave of crime in Johannesburg, A ganp; had been caught of two Europeans> two natives, _and a_ Chinese to whom 27 theft's had been attributed, The police were faffcng close investigation into robberies.

Gentlemen, we wish to show notwithstanding all other statements made that crime is universal and interraciale Ofcourse, we did not

4. realise/^,.

realise that European attitudes and African attitudes were so differ­ent towards crime when committed by different races. For instance, it waB reported that Dr, van Rensburg said "Saboteurs are not crimi­nals, but soldiers of the future republic". And again, "Saboteurs are not gangsters, but idealists. Better wire-cutting than fence sitting ,"

As African leaders we can only say that we are proud that no member of our race can share in the high compliments of such acts.

As Africans we hate crime, we are against crime and criminals,, Our people are not inherently criminally minded although circumstances might drive them into criminal acts and carerers, We are ready and willing to do anything in our power to reduce the real criminality rate among our people, provided all handicaps or factors predisposing to crime are removed from their way and they are given an opportunity to develop their God-given abilities and apply them in earning their livelihood with adequate reward.

We would like, in passing, to record our regret that this Commi­ttee did not include in its membership a Psychologist and a Sociolo­gist whose duty it would be not only to assist gather the facts; but also to help us to interpret and evaluate those facts in relation to crime preferably its prevention and the rehabilitation of the criminal and the delinquent and only to a less extent consider penal sanctions.

We are only indirectly interested whether one goes to gaol for a life time or for ten years with lashes, spare diet or solitary con­finement, We are mostly concerned bout the circumstances that lead one into the reformatory or into gaol. We would like to find out if there were any factors in the individual's life or in the environment that favoured an eventual career of crime and gaol life . If so, is there anything that can be done to rehabilitate the victim and/or to prevent others, under similar or like eircumstances from suffering the same f a t e I t is the prevention, and the causes of crime and not the punishment for crime that we are chiefly concerned with.

In short, we are interested in the social welfare of every in­dividual instead of penal servitude.

Before we are able to reach any intelligent conclusions and make logical recommendations, we must bring forward certain facts which are fundamental to any intellignet appreciation of the problem and essential to its proper solution,

Firstly, we shall analyse briefly certain aspects of the crime statistics of the Union in the Official Year Book of the Union of South Africa etc ,, 1940, No, 21, in order to find the criminality rate of the various races in the Union, as well as the factors in relation to crime and thus be enabled to read meaning into the pre­sent situation.

We must have some back ground and basis on which we work. So far no one has presented us with any figures that prove statistically that there has been in fact an increase in crime.

Taking the year 1939, we find that the "Estimated Mean Popula­tion, Union" totalled 10,160,000 composed of 6,997,500 Natives (Bantu)| 231,200 Asiatics, 814,800 Coloured, a total of 8 ,043,500 Non-Europeans'

PHEDOKIN VJJ _ . ‘ ,

During the year, 1939, 108,631 _ ^opeans were convicted for what is called predominant offences. This was at the rate of 50,4 per 1000 Europeans; 633,0^9 Nor Europeans or 78,7 per 1000 were con- victed for predominant offences. But 299,133 or 30,7 per 1000 were convicted for Special crimes for Natives only, and if we included 20,037 convictions for trespass, this number is swelled to 319,170 convictions for statutory offences not crimes for other races. The rate for special crimes would rise to 39,7 per 1000 Non-Europeans,These rates are derived from the figures extracted from the Officia.1

5, Y e a r / , , . .

-5-

page 4 l T u i ) ^ X e a „ r th Afri°an’ * ’ * S1 ° f 194° ’ °h'1P-1X'

S p e c i a lX X l T r l “ " "

"Illegal possession of Native liquor ............ 77 582Location Regulations .................. .............. p0 */ •»Masters and Servants Act , ...................... ..Native Labour Regulations ...................... ??Native Pass Laws ................ * ............ " " i n / wNative Taxation ...................... .............................

^respasi11 Ar6aS) ACt ” *• ’ • ’ • 7^ 1 7 299,133 SpaS3 .................................................................. 20,037 319,179"

whlST,reduces the numbor ° f convictions for predominant offences among Non-Europeans by one-half, and makes their rate per 1000 less

f ' * ° f Eur°P eans. ^ r e then we have the beginning of our evi-

apparent § £ ; % £ £ « ° th6r thi" eS thBt AfTi0a” " l l n r t f t , is more"

SERIOUS__OFFENCES.

" ( i ii )^Prosecut^ne^and^Convictions”?-~Year B°0lC' qU°te4 a* °Ve’ under

"J " S?°^o?Uti0nS f0r sertous offences were institutedagainst 3^,724 persons representing 4.48 per cent of the per­sons brought before the Cour Of these 3,442 were Euro­peans, 28 P 423 Natives, 617 Asiatics, and 5,242 other Non-Euro­pean persons. The number of Europeans tried for serious offen-

5 S 6ql!+VS ^nt t0 2,61 per cent of a11 Persons of that rought before the Courts. The corresponding percentages

in the cases of the other races were: Natives 4 .62 , Asiatics and other Non-European persons 6 ,89,

The percentages of convictions in relation to persons prose­cuted for serious offences were as follows: Europeans 60,81, Natives 71,69, Asiatics 3C23, other Non-European persons 74,15. and for all races 70 ,58 ," *

This again tends to confirm the view that African criminality is not $s high as it is thought to be.

. „ It is interesting to note from this statement that "the number J , ! aJ 1Tes (Africans) tried for serious offences was equivalent to tv * ?en^ .of a11 persons of that race brought before the Courts " t (Notwithstanding the fact that they enjoy special crimes for Natives

« ™mbcr of the "other Non-European persons" tried was

q I * 2,27 per cent hiSher thar> ^ e Africans.This again tends to show that the African who has been maligned andmade South Africa s bogey criminal, although not an angel, is neither the only criminal nor perhaps the worst criminal in South Africa, notwithstanding the difficulties of language and problems of Court interpretation; his ignorance of Court procedure; his ignorance of the powers and rights of Police in dealing with the public; all of which are influences tending to create an apparently higher criminality for him as we shall, try to show.

What_are_some of the causes_of, and factors in,_crime?

Crime is a social disease. It results from frustration. It is a rebellion against thwarted ambitions; a breach of social sanctions and taboos; an attempt to satisfy one?s desires contrary to the social code and accepted conduct. The individual affected, the criminal so- called, is a patient who requires sympathy and treatment in the hands of a well trained person such as a sociologist (Social worker and Psychologist or'Psychiatrist) who may study his reaction and help him from his maladjustment and help him to adjust himself,

»Ve shall here deal with some of the causes of, and factors in, crime as they affect the Africans in particular,

6 , Overcrowding/.,

(_, Overcrowding in the so-called Native Seserves and the un- satisfactory regulations of the Native Trust Land Policy^ It is an open secret that for many years in the surveyed areas of the Tr,mskei and the Giskei young Africans coning of age and getting married by the hundreds each year are not able to acquire plots of land to es­tablish themselves and many are squatting on the commonage so that although they live in such areas they depend on wages for their live- lihood and for the support of their families. They have no roots in the land and the wages they pick while at work in urba,n areas are not supplemented by crops they have to buy from storekeepers®

Conditions were so bad in certain areas in the Ciskei that the then Chief Native Commissioner did not apportion land of the Trust Farms bought, his reason being that he was embax.- :3ed because there were too many applicants for the few plots available,,

We have heard a great deal said . icially about over-stocking of native areas which are acclaimed tc ' the most fertile in South Africa, and that with better methods oi agriculture there was suffi­cient land for Africans now in the so-called reserves,, These state~ ments are not wholly true. The fact is that the reserves are more over-popula.ted than over-j3t o eked and .that contrary to Mr. Heaton

'/X, tnao tiiey are one mos'o fertile p^eas in the t tn^y are subject to drought and whole country

sides starve together. Besides* unlike the European farmer who often fails, the African occupier does not own the land and does not have Government assistance through Land Bank facilities,;

The conditions are similar here in some of the Trust, farims in the Transvaalc Some are given 2-§-'morgen others 5 morgen depending upon the productivity of the land* This land is available only to tax-payers 0

We have been told that owners of these plots have been instruct­ed to plow for their own use and not to sell*

How can they get money for tax for themselx^es or their son?:'How can they clothe the families? How will they buy books for thuir children? because the armers pay in kind* irregularly and so little.

We have dwelt on this point rather fully because we want to po­int out clearly that it is inevitable for Africans in self-preserva­tion to drift into towns,, We know that the municipalities have been for years trying to keep these people out of their bounda„rie3 and they thought they had put up the highest Shinese wall with the Natives Law Amendment Act,19379 to be read with the Pass Laws and the Natives (Urban Areas) 1 Act, 1923c Actually some of the municipalities still pray that the Pass Laws be preserved and their passed on tothem. All this sounds good and, appears lovely on the surface but these gentlemen do not look far enough* If they look far enoughs we shall help* Let them help us find use this Committee and ask the Government to open land sufficient for occupation e i t h e r through pur~ chase, lease or hire by any Sojuth African irrespective of race or_ colour8 General Smuts has sail'd that Segregation has fallen on evil days, Actuaally no one wants ’it in fact^ except theorectically and to serve his own interestsc

Africans must come to tAwns as long as there is no suificienc land for them to make a living\on0 No human being have succeeded to live on air much less are Africans.,

Africans must continue to come to town as long as present ru~ ral conditions do not satisfy their need® They must come to towns oc satisfy their new growing w'&nts* to improve their lot« They must come to answer the uni versa'1 call cf industrialization wh'.ch 3S bounu up with urbanization of wot ersc

, t

7C Africans/,„ ,,

needs and'wUh I 't l t T t l I?!89 hQTe land ade,luate for thelr

Factories of Crimes y

JaJxiJnent fince its inception has excelled itself for ? restrictive and most discriminating laws against fellow

African!! + n°!T ln chf 1 ®te”dor1 These laws make it an offence for

with tS£ui?+v° What ° ther races in South Africa may doThere are so many such laws that hundreds of thousands

?re-ioS£Vi under them each year. There were 319,179such offences alonec Theae are the finest *

factories of crime. The basic principle of our State policy, through its legislation and administration, is to control the African and to keep him in his place apparently without regard to :'i.- t happens to the African unless he is rendered unable to do a day’ s jflrob for his European masters. The aim of these statutory regulations and laws is to make the African’ s services to European employers available at the cheapest rate of wages possible,, To this, some of the Europeans ob­ject .n theory; but in practice they are agreed since universally in South Africa the African is paid a lower wage or salary even though he or she does the job as efficiently or even more efficiently than

_ a member of another race is such a miracle can be admitted as possi­ble in South Africa.

Through tSese differential restrictive and discriminating laws the African finds himself unable to move about freely, unable to sell hi s j.! bour to whomsoever he will and leave them whenever he is dis­pleased, He may not organise and negotiate or resort to strikes if negotiations fa il. He commits a criminal offence subject to impria n» ment or fine0

Well might DrcFtE 0T cKrause say "The native is all the Jrime a prisoner in the land of his birth, although he might not be confined within prison, walls* "

These statutory offences are humiliating to the whole African race in South Africa. They are politically undemocratic; morally unchristian; Administratively unjust and unfair.

These laws tend to produce attitudes among some legislators, administrators and their victims which are not good for arace relati ions and mutual trust* The police, through these laws have to come into unnecessary and unfortunate clashes with Africans by the thou­sands, They have to arrest them for infringement of these regula­tions; but out of this might grow a temptation to persecute innocent Africans under the guise of the course of prosecution of official duties. We speak from experience0 The Prosecutors and Magistrates .have each to deal with thousands of cases with no chance of weighing ;all the evidence. The chance of miscarriage of justice becomes great. However, we may say, in passing, that there will be more asqul'Hals and there will b^reater n' 1 of the police taking better evidence from witnesses than what I saw on the 20th August, 1942, on the cor­ner of Creosus Avenue and Price Street, Newclare, at 10.30 a,m, as . African enlightment progresses0

As a result of dealing with so mr;ny cases, there may be a tendency for the police to bo careless and the magistrates to over­look certain aspects of the cases that might have changed the course of Justice and thereby reduced the population of the convicted on eaoh day. All the officers of Justice are under a strain and some do lose their tempers and others even develop prejudices such as the case of a Johannesburg prosecutor who was reported to have said he was sick and tired of the lips many of these natives tell or words to that effect. This was said in connection with an inquest where a man had died apparently from violence in police cells. Actually, while on this point, we may say thoit the Africans are much concerned about the administration of Justice; in certain directions. They do not believe that justice is blinda 1 The whole Ree # in fact, the whole thinking South Africa among . Orleans, does not know why the

8 , policeman/,J#,

policeman who shot two men dead and one in the leg at Sophiatown wasnever prosecuted^ We have mentioned this in passing to show thatwhat appears serious ends often in nothing if the African is the vic~ tim0

Court Fines:

The^African* for statutory offences and other crimes* comes before - magistrates "by the hundreds of thousandsc He usually is unable, un-

like ci white nrm* to provide good defence^ If h.e tries to secure defencej it moans two or three months- wages for attorney-s fees for a case in the lower courts* He often does not understand court pro­cedure and this may be vitiated by a difficulty of language which calls for interpretation which is sometimes more incriminating than the accused’ s statement,, These difficulties of language and procedure may have followed the accused from the taking of the statement by the police who^often bullies and threatens an African complainant or wit­ness especially where white and black are involved* All these com-

ned with mass t r ia l^o common in some of our Heef cou t ‘53'oecially Johannesburg courts more innocent Africans are likely to be convicted^

After they are convicted it is common experience that it is a tendency of many magistrates to fine Africans more heavily for most trifling offences* The fines are often out of proportion to the na­ture of the crime and the African1s ability to pay0 The consequence is that the African chooses to go to gaol and work out his sentence and if there is option of a fine, send the money to his parents or his children or use it for his needs. He does this because he feels that every magistrate knows the earning capacity of the African and when he fines him heavily he means for him to go to °o l0

If he is fined i-tr a statutory offence # he refuses to pay some­times even the smallest fine as a because he feels that in his offence there is no moral turpitude \ he is a victim of p8wer politics as yio member of any other race may suffer any penalty for such offences.,

These fines drain hund of pounds from African homes: impri­sonment of breadwinners keeps similar amounts from these homes. Both leave families destitute* Poverty increases;. The wife may thus be driven into criminal ways of earning a livelihood,, Who i3 to blam&‘

These conditions are a vicious cycle to the Africans® He has a sense of frustration? feeling of thwarted ambitions Some vow to avenge? arguimg that if they are disgraced and incarcerated in gaol for no crime at all they will do something serious next time0

Gaol experience even while awaiting trial and contact with sea­soned criminals develops disregard and disrespect for law and con­tempt for our system of justice which appears unjust for others,,

Some people who like to palliate with these things will say the offenders of statutory regulations are sent direct on to road work and they are not taken to gaol, But as Mr, CsP,A,Batb^ ^"'".xinten- dent of gaols in Johannesburg and the West Rand* to''- -..uia Committee "Non-criminal offenders who had received sentences of up to one mo< 1-’ imprisonment were sent to road camps4 They were not all first offen­ders, There was no means of finding out whether the road camp prison­ers had been in gaol before* They were questioned and if they ad­mitted having been in gaol before they were seperated from the new offenders," There is no way of keeping even innocent oaople from coming into contact with criminals once they are arrested,.

We say these men. are arresteds nerded with crimir* Is in 5pick­up vans’ , police cells* court yards and some in gaol while awaiting trial, and these periods and circumstances are sufficient for contami­nation e

South Africa is now fighting for Democracy* Christianity* and for human decency* White boys and blf-ck boys up North are dying not

a t 0/ a j a o

to see any kind of humanity demoralised; but 5o be raised*

We* therefore, most respect -.'^y urge shi j Committee to urge the Government to remove all legislation that creates special die- abilities for natives only and all other discriminating laws*

While discussing the fines imposed on Africans, we mentioned,^ among other things, that: the African went to gaol because he was un­able to pay the heavy fines from his low wages,,

Low Wages and Low E conomic St ate?.5

The low wages paid to the African are not only a factor in crime but are? in many cases? a direct cnirse of crime ard delinquency. It' is not for us to even attempt to argue our case3 We shall let Govern­ment and Municipal authorities establish our case for us, Mr, :DWL«

_-Smii> Secretary for Native Affairs and Chairman of the Government Committee Investigating Economic* Social and Health Conditions eic„ among Africans in November,,- 194.1, said' to the Durban Rotary Club*"Every--m.ember of the Committee has been stirred to pity, if not to shame, at "'the conditions of life vhich we have witnessed in the sha­dow of our largest and most beautiful cities? at the very poverty* the diseasev the dreadful infant nortt-lity t h a e x i s t at cur very gates* These conditions are having a disintegrating influence on native life , and are undermining the health of generations on T*hich the country depended for its future,

Mr, E aTcNaude, a member of the same Committee, after receiving evidence in Rouxville, 0,I%c.U, to the effect that the prevailing rate of wages was 12 /6a a month plu;» "ood but no accomodation, .said " T have been amazed since we have + ak©n evidence in the J?ree,j&-at'e at the low scale of wages paid to natives. S do lot know_Jk<rt<f a• native can make a living in the Free State

The statement of Mr. A^Imnink Chairman of the Native _Affairs Committee of the Johannesburg City Council is most interesting* part­ly because of its implications and bearing on our present problem and partly because of the attitude of the Johannesburg Municipality against the Wage Board Award raising the African s wages for unskilled labourers to about £6 * which would have been nearer the then cost of living for the Africanr I believe that their objection was that if that award was accepted? it would attract an influx of workers into^ Johannesburg and apparently they chose to see workers and taeir fami­lies live below the subsistence level and continue to supplement t;_ .r income in some cases by questionable waysu Again, our Cioy Council here failed to see the question is its true perspective.* in its na­tional settings, They should have organised and struck for an improve­ment all aroundo

Mr. Immink said "The Committee found that the' average 'wage of natives living in Orlando was <£4*- ~6d a month? but it cost t.aem at least £6 a month to keep themselvess their wives and an average oj two childrenc The difference of »l-17-6d had to oe jound either oy skokiaan brewing or by the mothers negleoting the1r c h i l d r e n ana going out to worko The result is that we have growing in our townsnips a set of hooligans who are the future criminals of :,he ^community* A minimum of £1 a month for rent and 8 / 5d for railway xare is a big drain on a Native's wage. He cannot live on it 0"

pioyment- ana m a u s t r y w it n o p o o rv .m i0 1 0 j. J fthrough training, to be employed or curr?nt w*ges according to hie

is an ec von intoberate him from his aivitalizing ana ii»-*viorai.xsi»g ly ! is kept in his place

i r: l./'J o i o-t-v/a +±'~f oure-

10 * a b il it y /,..

ability* and the recognition and registration of his Trade Unions un­der the Industrial'Conciliation Act3

The beginning ap.n he made as a total war effort. Short inten­sive training could oe given to many African youths some of whom are now walking the streets either because the small businesses for which they worked have cloned or they cannot get the type of work they want,

Africans, like all other human beings, have tastes, inclinations specail abilities^ They are not cut out only for agriculture, nines or menial jobs0

Africans, like Europeans, Coloureds etc, must be trained in technical colleges and be taken into employment. The reply may be that you will be up against European tradesmen and Trade Unionists, They cannot be truly Trade Unionists if they exclude the other work­ers from f led or well paid work only because they happen to be non-white * rihe power of the State must not be used to protect sec- U ons or colours.

The low wages lead to

Bajrd Housing Conditions0

People who are poor can neither rent nor buy good accommodation on their rate of wagesc. They remain in the particular areas with dilapidated buildings* walls cracked, plaster falling, houses vermin invested, drains out of .repair; yards usually wet and poorly drained.

Such an environment is not calculated to produce a maximum of school teachers, ministersf professional men that is men and women of high integrity,,

Africans as a class in our urban areas find themselves in the environment like those described above,. They have no choice. There seems for them to be no hope for the presents

The locations which are at present offered as release and re­lief are no real solution, they can never satisfy the yearning and the feeling secure that all .'.Lings being equal even if 'Daddy* dies there will be no Municipal Superintendent to sell them out. Besides, the locations do not improve the status of the people, Tou merely transport slum material and change landlords from private landlord to a Municipality, No attempt is made to raise the economic level of the people so that they may b*»y homes*

In the surroundings such as those described above there are congregated all sorts of characters and children who survive such an environment, its language, its game3 , its practices and retain its influences, must certainly be a problem for Social to rker, Probation officer, Magi3r\: rate? and, in many cases, Judge of the higher courts.

The distinccive thing about a human being is that he must be taught so that where there is

Lack of, or Insufficient Educational Facil it iesr there are bound to arise grave problems of maladjustment in the community. The first and the greatest teacher is the mother whose work is to be supple­mented later by the school teacher. The mother trains the child so that it may ad jus c it.3elf to others at home, at play, in school and later in the larger adult world,, She is a consultant and councillor in its problems. The teacher develops the- mind to be active by accu­mulation of human experiences.. All 'or adjustment. Even a child's play is guided* that is education. Character is being de­veloped through discipline,,

''w

South Africa pays huge sums* about £22 per European child on the basis of educational appropiat'Lon for 1939, £6 06 ,Od, per Coloured or Indian child; but only c£2u7o0d,. per African of the one-third of school going age children who are actually at school0 That means

11 . i f / ..........

if all the African children of school going age were at school on the basis of the grant in 1939, each African child would have received the princely sum of 16/'- per annum. What makes the situation worse is, that all the money for 'Native Educations1 comes from the ’ native* himself0 I ignore the £340*000 from the General Revenue, because some of the indirect and other taxes which Africans pay more than offset thi3 amounta

We are, however, grateful to know that whereas in 1923 Native Education was receiving £340,000 for the four provinces, the budget for 1942 was £1,173,000 plus £300,000 which accrued from l / 6th of the roll Tax income which the Minister of Finance decided to pass on to Native Education.

But *Native! teachers,are paid the imposing salary of £4,10e0d and £5o10c0d„ married and single,, Out of these amounts these men and women are expected, to dress well, to support their families in an ex- amplary fashion. How can they do it? Hois' must they do it? Why must they be so tSeated, while Coloured teachers of the same qualifications are paid more than twice those salaries?

We would not blame Africans if they all turned receivers for any goods they receive cheaply,

, We pointed out that only one-third to fifty per cen'c. if that many, of the African children do attend schools because there is no school accommodation. The Education Departments do not have suffi­cient money to hire new teachers and expand ’Native Education' so^that in the Transvaal and the Orange Eree State a regulation has been in­troduced limiting the number of children to 50 pupils per teacher0 This is educationally sound; but under the circumstances, it causes a hardship on both children and parents0

But I do not believe that the Education Department has intro­duced this regulation to impose a hardship; but merely to bring out the bad state of affairs obtaining financially in Native Education,,

However good though the intentions of the Education Department about the regulation its effect has been to make worse an already bad situation, .

In order to appreciate its effects, I took a survey of schools in a small area, Sophiatown and Newclare, Johannesburg suburbs and found the following results*-

ffaue of School ¥umber of Pupils sent away

Sophiatown, Lutheran 1^5" St, Cyprian?s 140" St. Mary Magdeline ISO11 Methodist 10 -11 Dutch Reformed 5911 Roman Catholic 150

Western Native Township Salvation Army 97i» 11 Amalgamated. (Nil)

Newc ..are UnitedH Anglican ^

Western Native Township

Orlando Schools

977 396

1*373

In the brief survey made* we find 1373 children of ohe 1/ord African children at school being turned away for lack of funds for increased school accommodation and for employment of new teachers.

The children are disappointed, t h e p a r e n t s are confused, Rou­ghly 2000 children must join the school of the street and the alleys and may give cause for another commission 10 years hence to solve

another crime wave0 Who will be tc blame? ^ T h e / . . . . . .

The question of proper finance of Fative Education is a short term policy like the question of African wagess It cannot wait till after the war, If we doy this generation is lost to society,,

ITc more money can he available from Native Taxation and even if ail of it were^given* it would not be sufficient to meet the educa­tional needs of the African this year0 Besides.-, there are more ob­jections to the existence of the Special Fative'Taxation*

We appeal to this Committee to urge t he ~^/eminent to adopt a new formula immediately for Fative Education, There must be ccmpul-

/free/sory/elementary education for all children and facilities for aptchildren to follow up their incliniations either in technical spheres or in higher educational pursuits, with openings for employment in Civil Service, Trades and Industry and Commerce according to trainings

Fative Education should, like the education of the Europeanf Coloured and Indian be financed from General Revenue on a per capita basis not on the number of African children at school them but on the African school-goi g age population in school* at the rate of at least £6 #6 ,i?dw per child per year to begin withc

The African teacher should be paid decent salaries bo that able men may remain as teachers and others gow engaged in other work may be attracted to teaching if they are qualified for it*

/

The African teachers should, as a 'beginning, enjoy the same scale 2>f salary as other Non-Europeansc t „ ,

T ke African boys in a Eeef town*. They play in the street,. One goes to schools the other two do not* One’ s mother has to go to work early so the little boy has to fend for himself the best way he can0 The other boy! s mother does illegal business and this boy ha* to watch the p lice and thus gets an early training in crime,. He may later attend school on certain days but finds that children of his age who are regular are ahead of him?and he is laughed out of class and returns to the street to complete his education and carry on gam­bling* He and the other little boy v'rho never went to school have no better heroes in life than the best gamblers and sharp pic3fc-pockets0 These they admire and hope to be like ■them when they become big,.They may try to get work but find that having no education they cannot run errandst Anyway* all jobs that arc- offered pay less that what the r heroes receive by gambling and thievinge The hird boy who attended school passes standard VI and seeks employment„ He is offer­ed 12/6 or 15/- a week to sweep an office or run errands and his fa­ther who ha.-r been working 25 years stilX receives <£3 a month. He feels u', agedt. There is a sense of frustration,: Ho wanted to develop his training for a secretary„ He wanted to be apprenticed but.he was born an African in South Africa where the colour and not the ability of trie man counts most; The youth ir despair joins the other two and their gangs ana vows to actings against the society thatgave him no opportunity® '

We must give training and avenadri for employment to every ti-vlned citizen Irrespective of race or colour0

There are many factors that coma to play in the causation or delinquency wuoh as (I) Lack of trainingsind schoolings

It is a known fact that one o-’ tjhe> distinguishing features of man from animals is his need for edncatic;n0 * He must be taught or must depend merely upon his instincts for food and procreation..Even this he does less e ffectively tha^i the lower animal a 3 Everyone of the constituent elements of a social group in a modern city^ as in a savage t r ib e , is Irmfvl VWwsa^ure* help', os tty without language? ^be-ie.. s

ideasp or social standards* Intellectual/ outlook, Social habits andI 13* moral/**.,®

moral attitudes have to he instilled into m through a var x -*y of agencies and instituticnsc Foremost and fundamental among them is the family - the home with the mother as its centre to be councilor and guide to the child in its problem,. The mother gives early ana fiundamental training in social adjustments which lai.er^s .^c pplemented by the intellectual discipline of t-.ne scnool assoc.a^.a with training in moral values which are also taught at home or better demonstrated by the life of the family,.

Thus, it can be seen that children whose mothers orjjuardians_ cannot for any reason at all give them their time must saffer greatly and i f s as is the case with many African children# there are no school facilities, no play grounds or other social agencies, taose children, socially, may be counted as lost* They b e c o m e maladjusted, unemployable or inefficient in modern industry and grow into mist its

in modern societyc,

(2) Low wages of the breadwinner $a) forces the mother to lea^e home to seek employment to supplement the h u s b a n d ’s wages ana tnus neglect the training of the children or gives them indificrent tra in- ing, Worese st ill? the mother may be driven to resort to i--ioit aays of supplementing income thus bringing up the caiidren -n an emiion ment of crime and from which we should be more surpr...sea i.o u n a xaw

(lif The low wages drives the yout.* into dispair as they know the current wages are far below the cost of living ana they t.,.us resort to illegal"means of making their livelihood as gambling* stealing} hold-up for robbery and housebreaking: o All these crimes are crimes associated with poverty. Money is the motive. Goods are sto ^n f * sale and"sold cheaply so we are told m order to get a qui-k turno

in money.

The victimes of the hold-ups are not injured or killed they are _ '-he perpetrators ox these acta k i ^ 0 ^ *evidence in case they are convinced tna*. -hey made a jiiota< • - -• bbing someone who knew them and may give nway the game*

mien asked some of those who have been caught red-handed dealare

that they know that what they aro doing is baas but — current rates of wages established for Africans no the most minimal standards of aecency* By^ tc^j.n0 are able to live well until they aro cau^hi-c

Other factors in African delinquency are lack of^

and children have to play in the ^ r e e t s » ^g^jxievous games which areunsupervised and thereby conce? v.- especially cyclistssometimes a danger to themselves and to ro ad ie s , c spec . a w .y

ana motorists^,

Houses are overcrowded without privacy or separation of sexes so that there is nc chance of inculcating lessons in modesty,.

The preponderance of men over aomen arising from tne>empxoy-

oo«either under customary law or under Christian .

in t.rincij»l» telin^ency amoKg the A friw ns * U I reduc*4

through sound education, a li*ir-8 wage ■ for i fr loar. dill- mothers with the cni-dren? fP^-i.-i^n supervisors, ade-

and their fani-

lies in all industrial centres apart from locations.

there has been criticism suggesting that ^irican3 a „ d J

bontrol^over their c h i l d r e n ^ we would suggest

should be given increasing executive powers as well

powers within their areas, the latter subject to review by the Ch’.ef Magistrate to avoid abuse0 There should be also a change of attitude in dealing with African adults as at present Lhown in public offices h H ying them and calling them boys in the presence of their childrene

Prohib itIon of anything that human beings want or need leads to illegal methods and devices of acquiring the article or product*, Illicit business develops with suppliers., smugglers, runners, liasons and receivers,, All are criminals under the law3 That is why the words of John X„Merriman are so fitting in cur discussion that ''every new law creates ten crimes,,:

The Liquor Act is one of the JUik2 illustrations of our point0 Before the passing of the (Roos Act) Liquor Act No 30 of 1928 Africans in Provinces like the Gape could get the liquor more or les3 freely.They could therefore drink at leisure and could get genuine "stuff. There was no demand for special concoctions and there was no business in theui; Th 3 who were bent on pfofit from clandestine liquor sale and manufacture of concoctions had to come to the Transvaal where there were restrictions that created a demand0 Prohibition denies some Africans something they wantc It gives suppliers an opportunity to sell liquors at huge profits because many Africans want it as they see Europeans drink it all around them* It encourages enterprising people to manufacture something that will be ready for use between police raids* Police have shot people dead from these raids. Police have received bribes in lieu of prosecution..

Those who visit the so-called shebeens must consume large quan­tities all at once to give room to other customers before the police arrive, Many Africans thus become dead drunk, Observers merely say Native drunkenness is increasing European drunkenness is de-creasingc The important factors we have mentioned here are never taken into account0

The conditions under which Africans get liquors under present restrictions creates drunkards. This prohibition has made the Afri­can a criminal in taking his drink while the European can have all the liquor *..< wants. It has brought the African into .-ontact with the European underworld. It has brought about manufacturers of con­coctions and has made a drunkard of the African by trying to torce him to be ’ dry* contrary to his nature and hi3 taste0

It was from the condition? created specially for Africans that in 1939 convictions under the liquor Act. were

Illegal Possession of Native Liquor 77,609 Drunkenn ess 39 >473Convictions 117 >082

In one year 117,,082 persons convicted under circumstances in which the rest of the population of South Africa is not subje<stc In other wo1 this section of the population is penalised, discriminatedagamso by an Act of Parliament9doomed to pa.y heavy fines o_* suffer long terms of imprisonment., because of their race and colour^

Perhaps this is another indirect way of taxing the Native and for revenue the liquor Act seems to bring in the funds*

Nothing is more depressing and arouses a spirit of revolt to anv one who has a sense of Justice and fair-play than to see half a "dozen tall* strong European police who flight have s ,arced their day with a tot of brandy or whisky surrounding a group o African mothers carrying babies and meek*harmless African mensnot drunk, w^t. pint tin3 cuns containing samples of iquors which is alleged to have been found in their possession,. These Africnas, it mus. be noted, had not disturbed public peacs in any way*

It seems that the polipe forre sralJ be used to fgjjgf t ^p o s e tracing real crime, Searching/for boor tine W * tlme waB .

society would Be protected ag/inst location Regula­t e d on- liquor, paseea, maflter. 15<

We most respectfully urge that • " e Committee recommend that Liquor raids he abolished and the Xiq&or Aat be amended along the lines we suggested before the Beer Commission. The discrimination under the Liquor Act with its Beer H&12 '.nonopolies has become exploi­tation of the African, *

fYeast.

Restrictions on the sale of yeast ha-'e -produced good and pro­duce :?rc '3. and profitable business on illicit yeast traffic. There is abundant evidence to show that more yeast is sold for purposes other than legimate, Africans may not buy yeast, None are excepted. This discrimination is a hardship.

If home brew and lecensed canteens and other recommendations in our pamphlet ’Kaffir Beer’ are accepted, the bottom would fall out of the yeast traffic,

Take# for instance, even an essential commodity like petrol9 I once heard a man in a small town say you can net go without petrol if you have money. The prohibition has created a demand and a ne­cessity and I suppose ’Necessity is the mother of invention1„

Pass Laws and the Civic Guards.

We have no intention to drag in the Pass Laws into this discuss­ion because our Chairman had informed us that they do not fall within the terms of reference. However, they are among the efficient fac­tories of crime with total conviction in 1939 of 101,309, Besides, the statement of Mr, T,Harper M,C, Inspector of the Greenside sub­district of the Civi® Guard compel us to make observations on the statement and the attitude and treatment of Africans by 3ome of the Civic Guards, "Mr* Harper handed in a letter from one of his ser­geants which he said illustrated the impossible position now arising as a result of the amendment of the pass law r e g u l a t i o n s , „ "because it was apparent that before any action could be taken* a cri­minal must be caught during or immediately after the commission of a crime," It would seem to us that the last view is the correct view.No man is t. criminal until he is in the course of committing a crime or has committed a crime.

We are surprised to find that inspire of the considered and ex­perienced opinion of the Minister of Native Affairs that the pass laws do not affect crime, some of the Civic Guards still believe they assist against crime. If they do we just wonder why South Africa has not used them for all races and why they are not universal, because the whole world has it crime and criminals without Africans from South Africa,

However, what we wish to emphasize is that some of the Civic Guards have been a thorn on the African's side and have been a per­secution in certain areas, Some definitely abused, their authority in dealing with Africans, All and sundr, were stopped at early hours in certain areas; seached on the street,, People were assaulted for no good reasons. Some of us reported these incidents and joined two deputations to the Civic Guard headquarters; but one always found that everything was explained away. One could not keep feeling that even the Civic Guard Headquarters did not seer* to take their public res­ponsibility seriously where Africans were concerned,

It was not tfntil the present witness went to see Col, Horaki Deputy Commissioner of Police that some raasonal suggestion about the Civic Guards were forthcoming. However, at this time five Africans had already been shot by the Civic Guards and one was fatally wounded from the area of which we had given reports.

Civic Guards as well as the police must be trained about their duties to the public and should be warned about the careless and too

frequent use of fire-arms,4 16, The/„ . . .

“16“

The Pe Lav/s except as an inst . ment of exploitation;., f cing the African to wages at the employer's conditions, do not prevent crime even though arrest under them may initiate a criminal career*

hl £& must have become clear during our analysis that our crime proDX arises factors and. causes fortunately most of which arewithin human control and remediable® We have found landlessness of the

African in rural areas with overcrowding in the so-called Native Re­serves and the Natite Trust farms as well as the unsatisfactory labour conditions on the farms are driving Africans into Urbr.n areas. In ur­ban areas an African has no land to occupy? he gets permanent accommo­dation after ho gets suitable employment otherwise he becomes no t Bn unemployed but a :vagrant.*',

These factors coupled with low wages which is the root cause of most of the African’s ills lead to poverty with its train of symptoms bad housing* overcrowding, lack of educational facilities9 lack of

Wo then saw the problems in relation to the dispensing of Jus­

tice, it affects the

tho Africanso (/

Finally, wo are deeply concerned with what we choose to call the factories of crimes - statutory offences that are crimes for Africans

ffiUsst l8nfl°«fc5«S1?oSo8^a^ igKt^sesSugl^cjita^te iyr•The essence of the State is to include all sorts of people^without reference to tho sort of people they are5 the sort of beliefs they hold, cr the scrt of work they dc0!!

State ignores the differences between men because it is >+ with their differences, but with their identitys and

■•The S1concorncd not ____ # . t _its function and interest are ccncerned with mon£s identity and net with their differences„tf

Seme of the recommendation es because of their urgency and lack of of real difficulties in offocting the changes will bo classified^as short term* Others that require certain long pj&anni.ng and negotiation to put them into operation w ill be referred to as long term policy©

Bhcrt torn Poll i cy ..

Baising of Wages of Africans to a Living Wage, immediately*

Ac Wage Determinat- on . .“TTT Railways and other Government departments and works inclu­

ding Provincial Councils*(2) Applying acceptable Wage Board Determinations tc Municipa­

lities affecting Distributive Trades s unskilled workers ana all ether workers®

(3) Wage Beard Determinations for smaller towns' at once*

side for urban areaa.*.

Cc Recognition and Registration cf African Prado LnxoiAS under the' Industrial Conciliation Act-,

Do Abolition of Paso I^aws tc protect all African workers under Indu s trio1 logislation*

Ea Intensive training of Africans ... do skilled work for war suoolioso This would be economic use cf African man pcvror and would give the African his chance t wards total war eilort

F, Delinquency and ,Va^sv3BSX>Educations ..The educaticn of the Airiern should be financed from the general revenue like tho educaticn of Europeans and other^ JTon-SuDppoans on tho basis of per child per ye^r

Collection Number: AD843

XUMA, A.B., Papers

PUBLISHER:

Publisher:- Historical Papers Research Archive

Location:- Johannesburg

©2013

LEGAL NOTICES:

Copyright Notice: All materials on the Historical Papers website are protected by South

African copyright law and may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, displayed, or

otherwise published in any format, without the prior written permission of the copyright

owner.

Disclaimer and Terms of Use: Provided that you maintain all copyright and other notices

contained therein, you may download material (one machine readable copy and one print

copy per page) for your personal and/or educational non-commercial use only.

People using these records relating to the archives of Historical Papers, The Library,

University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, are reminded that such records

sometimes contain material which is uncorroborated, inaccurate, distorted or untrue.

While these digital records are true facsimiles of paper documents and the information

contained herein is obtained from sources believed to be accurate and reliable, Historical

Papers, University of the Witwatersrand has not independently verified their content.

Consequently, the University is not responsible for any errors or omissions and excludes

any and all liability for any errors in or omissions from the information on the website or

any related information on third party websites accessible from this website.

This document is part of the archive of the South African Institute of Race Relations, held

at the Historical Papers Research Archive at the University of the Witwatersrand,

Johannesburg, South Africa.