JUNE 6, 1950
MRS. BALLINGER
PARLIAMENT
CAPE TOWN
DOCTOR DONGES (2)
STATEMENT THAT INDIA AND PAKISTAN DELEGATES AT TRIPARTITE TALKS FEBRUARY CAPETOWN HAD BEEN INFORMED INTRODUCTION GROUP AREAS BILL REFUTED BY ALL INDIA RADIO AND SAPA(3)
MESSAGE FROM NEW DELHI. PLEASE ELICIT EXPLANATION FROM MINISTER AND ASCERTAIN WHETHER GOVERNMENT PREPARED PRECIPITATE BREAK DOWN ROUND TABLE CONFERENCE BY PROCEEDING WITH BILL
DOCTOR NAICKER PRESIDENT SOUTH AFRICAN INDIAN CONGRESS
SEPTEMBER 30, 1950
Ladies and Gentlemen,
The Indian people of Natal are most grateful to Senator Dr. Edgar Brookes for agreeing to open this Annual Provincial Conference of ours. (4)
We had expected Senator Brookes to be with us at our Conference last year but he was unable to do so, as he was at the time engaged in championing our cause on the parliamentary front. He, however, sent us a written address in which he gave us important advice.
We are thankful to Senator Brookes for the advice he then gave us, and I am sure that what he has told us today will receive the serious attention of our delegates when considering the problems facing us. Although we may not agree with everything that Senator Brookes has told us, we are fully aware of the fact that he is one of the few individuals among the Europeans of this country who believe in justice and democracy for all. We remember with gratitude the well reasoned and outspoken speech he made in the Union Senate when the Group Areas Bill was under discussion. In that speech we found many things which we would have brought before Parliament ourselves had we the access to the legislature of this country.
In these dark days of growing racial tension in the Union we require more men of the calibre of Senator Brookes who can speak for South Africa as a whole, and not for a particular racial group. We hope that the spirit of liberalism which he symbolises will find a greater place, particularly among the Europeans of this country.
The Indian people of Natal are meeting in Conference only a week after the Nationalist Party Congress held in this very city and addressed by leading Government spokesmen, including Dr. D. F. Malan, the Prime Minister of South Africa. It is only natural that I should refer to some of the things which Dr. Malan told the Nationalist Congress and the English-speaking people of Natal in particular.
In his main speech Dr. Malan stated that on the colour question both the white racial groups in the country stood united and that this common outlook on the non-European question formed a unifying bond between them. His message to the English-speaking people of the province was to stand united with the Afrikaans-speaking people on the basis of apartheid. He was convinced that the present Government's policy had the support "inwardly, that is through conviction, if not always outwardly, of the great bulk of the English-speaking South Africans everywhere, and not the least of English-speaking Natal".
This was a call for the consolidation of a white bloc in South Africa. It was an appeal for unity based on a policy which relegates the non-white people of the country to a place of serfdom in a rigid caste society planned by the authors of apartheid. This attitude on the part of those who hold the reins of government of the country arises out of a desire for white dominance. Behind it lies the fear of losing the political power which today has become the monopoly of people with white colour.
What South Africa requires is not the counsel of despair - not the creation of a white bloc against the non-white peoples - but the removal of the antagonisms in our race relationship in the Union. The policy of apartheid can never lead South Africa to a better understanding between the white and the non-white people because this policy is based on keeping the majority of South African citizens in perpetual bondage. It is in the interest of all South Africans, white and non-white, to reject apartheid in toto and to adopt a sane and constructive policy which will enable all South Africans to give their best to South Africa.
This Conference today gives an answer to the challenge of the Nationalists. We have on our platform South Africans of all races demonstrating our faith and belief in South Africans of all colours working in peace and harmony on a basis of complete equality. Because we have this concept of the future, the Indian people can under no circumstances support the policy of apartheid. Our total opposition to apartheid arises from our firm conviction that this policy is leading South Africa to poverty, chaos and racial conflagration.
Today the Indian people find themselves in the inviduous position of being the chief target of the policy of apartheid. The Nationalists have declared that the complete segregation of our people is merely the prelude to the enforcement of their fantastic policy of banishing us from our homeland. It is most tragic that the English-speaking people of Natal, nurtured in race prejudices, are becoming a very easy prey of the Nationalists, particularly on the Indian question. Dr. Malan realised this fact when he spoke in Durban last week.
He stated that "English-speaking Natal rejoiced in her heart when the present Government repealed the Act granting representation to Indians in Parliament and in its own Provincial Council and that English-speaking South Africans generally - to a very large extent - are, together with Natal, in favour of at least that most important and vital part of the Government's apartheid policy, namely, the Group Areas Act of last session".
From this Conference I want to issue a serious warning to the English-speaking people of Natal and to all white South Africans who cherish freedom for themselves. If they believe that there exists a grave danger in the country of the establishment of an Afrikaner Republic based on the fascist draft constitution published with the authority of Dr. Malan himself, if they fear that the English language will be swept away and that the Constitution will be torn up by the Nationalists, then they must search their hearts and endeavour to discover the basic causes which make these threats possible. They must ask themselves whether by their actions they are not contributing to the dangers which South Africa now faces. If this question is faced honestly then it must be admitted that the clock has been put back in the Union because of the attitude of white South Africa on the colour question. The genesis of apartheid is to be found in the racial policies pursued by parliamentary parties in power in the country since the Union came into existence. In fact the very Constitution of South Africa embodies in it the principle of inequality.
The Nationalist victory has, however, emphasised one cardinal point, namely, that the cancer of racialism knows no colour bar. The extreme racialist policy of Dr. Malan and his Government seeks to destroy the liberties of all South Africans who stand in the way of a totalitarian republic. Let us make no mistake about that. Today the attack is primarily directed against the non-white people of the country. Tomorrow the Jewish people, the English-speaking people and the democratic Afrikaners will be the targets of this very same policy. My warning to the English-speaking South Africans is that if they want to save themselves from the horrors of a totalitarian regime then they must discard their racialism. Democracy is indivisible. Every time the Government takes away an existing right of the non-white people, the attack on the Europeans opposed to the Nationalist policy is brought a step nearer. If they refuse to discard their colour prejudices then they will fail to save themselves from the fate which ultimately befell even the democratic Nordic German people under the Hitler regime.
If the English-speaking people of Natal support the Group Areas Act and the policy of expatriating the Indian people then they are unconsciously bringing their own doom nearer.
As far as the Indian people are concerned I have not the slightest doubt that they will most strenuously oppose the policy of apartheid. They will count no sacrifice too great in their opposition to expatriation. They will never be a party to making the Group Areas Act work. They will rather perish than allow themselves to be so humiliated.
Our chief task is to defeat the Group Areas Act. We have no doubt that the primary aim of this measure is to make us impotent economically. As Dr. T. E. Donges, the Minister of the Interior, pointed out on Wednesday last at the Nationalist Party Congress in Bloemfontein the Government's declared policy is to expatriate us. The authorities believe that in the Group Areas Act they have the instrument which will make it possible for them to throw us out of South Africa.
Under this Act the Indian people are to be relegated to their own exclusive ghettos in slums and in poverty. The dangers which we face under this Act were brought out sharply by Dr. Donges himself in Bloemfontein. He stated that the Land Tenure Advisory Board could consider proposals to establish all Indians in the Transvaal in one Group Area only, if those interested in such a scheme made concrete proposals which indicated just where this area would be situated and suggested other details which would make the scheme practicable.
What Dr. Donges said for the Transvaal must hold good for the Indian people in Natal and the Cape as far as the Nationalists are concerned. Thus we see that the Group Areas Act strikes at the very basis of our existence in the country. No Indian vested interests are secure under it and all possibilities of economic progress for our people have been halted by this measure.
What can we do in the face of this grave threat? The Indian people must accept the challenge of the Nationalists with courage and determination. There must be no traitors in our ranks ready to compromise the birthright of our community and of the generations to come. The Indian people must, and the Indian people will, resist the Group Areas Act with all the resources at their command.
The Indian people realise that they are not alone in the struggle against apartheid. The African and the Coloured people stand united against this policy. We have many European democrats supporting our just cause. The fight against apartheid must become the fight of all South Africans who stand by the democratic ideals. It will thus be an endeavour of the Indian people to work towards a healthy cooperation among all South Africans who believe in justice and fair play for all.
I must mention that the past year has been one of growing cooperation and understanding between the Indian and the African people in particular. For the first time in the history of this province, on 26th June, mass political action was taken jointly by them. (5)
And today we can say with great pride that a most cordial relationship exists between the African National Congress and the Indian Congress.
When Dr. J. S. Moroka, President-General of the African National Congress, (6) opened the Conference of the South African Indian Congress in Johannesburg two weeks ago he declared that the African people were satisfied with the presence of Indians in South Africa. Dr. Moroka told the Indian people that "they must be very careful, very careful, not to be worked into a frenzy, and not to be tricked into believing that it is the wish of the Africans that they should be hurled out of South Africa. Any insinuations of that nature are the desperate efforts of desperate minds deliriously clutching at every straw to further their own ends and not in the interests of the Africans".
This declaration on expatriation by Dr. Moroka, a man who represents more South Africans than Dr. Malan himself, is there for the whole world to see. It is the true voice of South Africa proclaiming the rights of all South African citizens - Africans, Coloureds, Indians and Europeans - to stay in this country for the common good of all. As Dr. Moroka said, "South Africa is the only home we know and own for ourselves and our posterity".
My special appeal to the delegates to this Conference is that they must work even harder than before to build a lasting Indo-African cooperation in this province. The delegates must return to their centres to see to it that there is no ground for any friction between the Indian people and their African brothers. Our actions must be such that we conclusively prove to the African people that we are not standing in the way of their economic progress. Our relationship with the African people must be on the basis of complete equality.
We have been receiving support for our cause from all parts of the world. We welcome this support. We realise that in this one world all the forces of progress have to stand together for a more harmonious international relationship. We cannot remain in isolation. Just as the freedom-loving people of the world are taking a vital interest in our problems and are declaring against injustices in the Union, we too must show our solidarity with all the oppressed peoples of the world engaged in the common struggle to make this world a better place for all of us.
Although we realise that essentially our struggle for human rights must be decided by South Africans on our own soil we are with great interest looking to the General Assembly of the United Nations now meeting at Lake Success. Our question is once again on its agenda and we are hopeful that the world will once again condemn racialism as being a danger to world peace.
This Conference comes very shortly after the Conference of our parent body, the South African Indian Congress. The SAIC Conference has taken some important decisions which we will have to implement in our province. I hope that the delegates to this Conference will discuss the problems that face us in a calm and dispassionate atmosphere. We want some concrete decisions to emerge from Conference which will lead to our striving for a better life for the Indian people of this province, over seventy percent of whom are living below the bread line.
Let us face the future with courage. Let this Annual Conference mark another milestone in our determination to fight oppression and injustice. Let it lay the basis for a more harmonious relationship between all the races that go to make our multi-racial society. Our decisions must be such that posterity can say that the Indian people in the hour of their gravest crisis were not wanting in giving a correct lead for the establishment of a true democratic South Africa for all.
(1) Member of Parliament representing African voters
(2) T. E. Donges, Minister of the Interior
(3) South African Press Association
(4) Edgar H. Brookes, a distinguished educator and a prominent liberal, was member of Parliament from 1937 to 1952, representing Africans.
(5) A national stay-at-home was organised on June 26, 1950, by the African National Congress and the Indian Congresses in protest against apartheid laws and repression. (TO ELABORATE).
(6) Dr. Moroka was President-General of the African National Congress from 1949 to 1952.