FEBRUARY 5, 1954 (1)
We are most thankful to Mr. Walter Sisulu, Secretary-General of the African National Congress, for declaring open this Seventh Annual Conference of the Natal Indian Congress. Mr. Sisulu is a person whose name has come to be respected throughout the length and breadth of this country because of the positive role he has played in the cause of freedom and democracy. Only recently Mr. Sisulu returned from an interesting visit overseas where he was a true ambassador of the people, for he voiced the hopes and aspirations of the oppressed people of South Africa. (2)
Unlike the official representatives of the Union Government who encounter serious difficulties in gaining support overseas, Mr. Sisulu was warmly received by the people of the different countries he visited, because he was not faced with the task of justifying a policy of oppression. He advocated a policy of equality and preached the gospel of the brotherhood of man.
We, the Indian people of Natal, welcome back in our midst Mr. Sisulu as a true son of South Africa, as a man who stands for freedom and justice for all, irrespective of race, colour or creed.
My comrade Chief Lutuli and I are indeed unhappy that we cannot be present to hear the opening address of Mr. Sisulu, but although we have been banned and cannot be with you on this occasion, let me say that despite the banning orders of Minister Swart, (3) and no matter how many persons he may ban, the noble work of liberation undertaken by the African and Indian Congresses will go on unflinchingly until this country becomes free and takes her rightful place in the family of democratic nations.
Mr. Sisulu's presence today has yet another very significant aspect. It symbolises the spirit of united action for democracy on the part of the African and Indian peoples who are working in conjunction with the Coloured community and European democrats. Despite all the attempts to sow seeds of division in the ranks of the people of South Africa, and despite the preaching of apartheid and segregation, steady progress is being made in the field of interracial cooperation.
While the government of the day has pursued a policy which has resulted in increased racial tension and friction, the African and Indian Congresses have been the most active force in the promotion of race harmony and in striving for a genuine people's democracy in South Africa.
When we met in Conference last year we were on the eve of a general election. In my Presidential address I stressed the fact that the major parliamentary parties in the country were unanimous in their resolve to maintain white supremacy and the perpetual subjection of the masses of the non-white people; to preserve the social and economic pattern of domination and subordination, hatred and fear.
The general election resulted in the Nationalist Party obtaining an increased majority. The campaigning during the elections indicated that the participating parliamentary political parties were determined to entrench the iniquitous caste society of South Africa in which the non-European people are relegated to a status of inferiority. Whether they preached apartheid or segregation for the non-European people, these connotations meant one thing - the deprivation of fundamental human rights and the denial of equality of opportunities. The consequences of such a policy can be only disaster for South Africa.
As we meet in Conference to review our past year's work and to plan for the year that lies ahead, a new session of Parliament is meeting in Cape Town. The last session of Parliament was one during which the Government of Dr. Malan passed measure after measure curtailing the meagre rights of the people of this country. Through administrative action the Government continues to carry out its full-fledged attack on civil liberties. The Riotous Assemblies and the Suppression of Communism Acts are being ruthlessly used against the leaders of the national liberation and trade union movements, not only to stifle and gag them, but to remove elected leaders from their organisations in an attempt to destroy all opposition to the maintaining of Nationalist apartheid tyranny. To stem the democratic upsurge of the freedom-loving people in South Africa, demonstrated in the Defiance of Unjust Laws Campaign of the Congresses, the Nationalist Government enacted the martial laws - Public Safety and Criminal Law Amendment Acts.
The Native Labour (Settlement of Disputes) Act deprives the African workers of the right to organise themselves into legitimate trade unions, and prevents them from raising their standard of living and improving their working conditions and wages; while the Bantu Education Act is part of the Nationalists` nefarious scheme to ensure that the African people remain hewers of wood and drawers of water - slaves in the land of their birth.
Yet another attack was made on our people by the enactment of the Immigrants Regulation Amendment Act, a measure which violates the basic human right of marriage and the sanctity of the family.
The Coloured people face the threat of being removed from the Common Roll. The Separate Representation of Voters Validation Bill was introduced at a Joint Sitting but has been temporarily shelved. The danger of the Coloured people losing the franchise still remains.
Added to this battery of vicious measures was the Separate Amenities Act which gives legal sanction to the diabolical fascist doctrine of racial inequality.
The session of Parliament which is now meeting in Cape Town is, like its predecessors, pledged to carry out a legislative programme further implementing the policy of apartheid aimed at entrenching white minority rule for all time.
The policy pursued by the Government has not failed to have tremendous international repercussions. The name of our country has been brought into disrepute at international assemblies. The blame for this lies squarely with the Malan Government.
Throughout the world great forces are at work for the liberation of mankind. Imperialism is on the retreat. Except for vestiges of imperiaiist rule, which are being gallantly eradicated, the continent of Asia has rid itself of this evil force. With the great awakening in Africa, the last stronghold of imperialism must inevitably be shattered.
The common people of the world are against exploitation of man by man. They stand for peace and equality, ideals which have arisen in response to the fundamental needs of the human race. It is because of this that we find such tremendous world-wide opposition to colonialism and racial discrimination.
Peoples who were once subjugated and who suffered the humiliation of race discrimination are today smashing the shackles which bind them and are engaged in the task of building a new society. It is only natural that the Arab-Asian bloc should at the United Nations and elsewhere speak out against colonialism and racial discrimination.
Today mankind is yearning for lasting peace and progress. Since we last met the fighting in Korea has come to an end. A great feeling of relief passed through the world when hostilities ended there. The attention of the people of the world is now focussed on Berlin where momentous four-Power discussions are taking place in an attempt to ease world tension. But we are more than satisfied that if racial discrimination is not eliminated from the face of the earth the constant danger of a global conflict will remain.
It is the desire of the peoples of different countries for peace that has been responsible for the continuous attacks on the Union Government's policy of apartheid and segregation.
It will not help the Union Government to find scapegoats in order to explain why the name of South Africa has fallen into disrepute. It may be good strategy on the part of the Nationalists for the Platteland consumption to blame the non-European "agitators" and Pandit Nehru for the attacks on the South African Government, but the Government must realise that these attacks will persist if it continues to proceed along the insane path it has chosen.
A note of warning is necessary on the question of the role of India and Pakistan in the United Nations where they have championed the cause of South African citizens of Indian origin and been instrumental in focussing international attention on the policy of apartheid. There are strong rumours to the effect that the South African Indian Organisation, or members of its Executive Committee, are at present engaged in attempts to appease the Malan Government and advocating the removal from the United Nations agenda the complaints against the Union Government. Without hesitation let me reiterate that any such move will be most severely condemned by all sections of the Indian people who have unanimously resolved that the treatment meted out to them should become a subject of discussion in the world forum.
The Indian people will not tolerate any individual who, in his own interests, seeks to pursue a course of action which can result in incalculable harm to the entire community. Anyone who tries to injure our just cause must be mercilessly exposed. It is criminal on the part of anyone through backdoor maneuvres to attempt to denounce a stand which is demanded by all Indians of South Africa.
We have on all occasions welcomed the support we have received for our democratic struggle from peoples abroad, but we have on all occasions emphasised that our liberation can only and must come from forces within the country. We have unequivocally chosen the path of direct opposition to all that is unjust and inhuman in the body politic of this coutnry. It was in keeping with this approach that Mahatma Gandhi launched out the historic passive resistance campaign on this soil of South Africa, a campaign which was a forerunner to even greater campaigns in giving a new status to 400 million subjugated people of India.
After the departure of Mahatma Gandhi there followed a long period of inactivity, but in 1946 South African citizens of Indian origin again employed passive resistance against injustice and oppression and during this campaign over two thousand people went to gaol as a mark of concrete protest.
The struggle for liberation was launched on a higher plane in 1952 when, in the Defiance Campaign, for the first time in the history of this country, under the leadership of the African National Congress, peoples of all races took part in united joint action against unjust laws. During this campaign over eight thousand volunteers suffered imprisonment.
The sacrifices our people have made in the cause of freedom are great, but we shall be called upon to make even greater sacrifices before we can make our country a true democracy. The road to freedom will be hard and difficult but we draw strength from the fact that our cause is just and that a just cause must triumph. We solemnly believe that equality of opportunities is the birthright of all sections of the South African people. We believe that universal adult franchise is a prerequisite to the enjoyment of that equality. It is for that reason that we reject all other forms of franchise. The African and Indian Congresses, I am positive, will not deviate from this just demand. We welcome the emergence of the South African Congress of Democrats in which European democrats are also pledged to this common ideal.
In December the African National Congress, when it met at Queenstown, took vital decisions which must affect our future course of action. I am sure that in the very near future the South African Indian Congress will meet to give serious consideration to the Queenstown resolutions.
The African National Congress Conference has instructed its National Executive Committee "to make immediate preparations for the organisation of a Congress of the People of South Africa, whose task shall be to work out a Freedom Charter for all the peoples and groups in the country". To this end, the Conference urged a meeting of the Executive Committees of the African and Indian Congresses, the Congress of Democrats, the Coloured People's Organisation and any other democratic organisations for the purpose of placing before them the plan of the Congress and to obtain their cooperative support in creating a truly representative convention of the peoples of South Africa. This resolution in particular must receive the urgent attention of all South Africans who wish to further the cause of democracy.
The year that lies ahead of us will require all our resources and strength to meet the challenge that faces our country. I am more than satisfied that the Indian people of this province will not be found wanting when the call comes. My appeal to the delegates to this Seventh Annual Conference of the Natal Indian Congress is that they must advance the cause of freedom; that their activities against reaction and for liberation must not cease until democracy for all has been won. Let this be the only guiding factor in our discussions and deliberations.
Let us move forward unitedly with ever increasing speed and strength, towards a South Africa in which justice and equality will triumph over the forces of oppression and tyranny.
AFRIKA!
JULY 9, 1954
Chief A. J. Lutuli,
Fellow Delegates,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
As the Acting President of the South African Indian Congress, I extend my heartfelt thanks to Chief A. J. Lutuli, President-General of the African National Congress, for declaring open this Twenty-first Conference of the South African Indian Congress.
At our last Conference, my colleague, Dr. Yusuf Dadoo, was elected President for the second time of this highest political body of our people but like so many other democratically-elected leaders, Dr. Dadoo has been banned by the Minister of Justice from attending this or any other gatherings. And the same applies to two other office-bearers of the SAIC, namely Mr. Nana Sita, Vice-President, and Mr. Yusuf Cachalia, a Joint Honorary Secretary.
Under the Nationalist regime, banning orders bearing the signature of Mr. C. R. Swart (4) have become certificates of recognition for services rendered in the cause of democracy. Thus our great national leader, Chief Lutuli, himself was banned from voicing the aspirations of his people. Chief Lutuli's ban has just expired and I am proud of the fact that he is making his first public appearance in Durban after the expiry of his ban from our platform, thereby emphasising the strong bond of comradeship that has been forged between the Indian and African people in particular in their common struggle for freedom, justice and human decency.
The movement for liberation of the oppressed people in South Africa will not be stemmed by the banning orders. The voice of freedom will be heard from all corners of our country for it is the voice of our people and it will not be stifled.
Our demand for "Freedom within our Lifetime" is part of the world demand for freedom on the part of oppressed humanity. We realise that there can be no lasting peace in the world until the basic causes of world tension are ended and among them is racial discrimination.
When we oppose racial discrimination in South Africa, we are advancing the cause of race harmony and world peace, while those who preach segregation and apartheid are sowing the seeds of dissension not only in our country but on an international plane.
We are much heartened by the fact that the forces of peace are making tremendous headway on all continents. The common people of the world want the atom and hydrogen bombs banned, they want imperialist exploitation ended and they want lasting peace established.
It is because of the world realisation of the dangers of racial discrimination that the United Nations has annually condemned the action of the Union Government when South Africa's racial policy has come up for discussion on the initiatives of India and Pakistan.
In the United Nations, countries which have recently acquired freedom have been in the forefront in condemning racial discrimination and in advancing the cause of world peace. In particular we are proud of the role played by India in easing world tension.
Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru has consistently pursued a foreign policy, the keynote of which is world peace. It is because of this that he has on all occasions spoken out against imperialist domination, particularly on the Asian and African continents. The part played by India in achieving a truce in Korea is one worthy of world acclamation, and Pandit Nehru's proposals for a cease-fire in Indo-China have again shown the constructive approach of India in the international field.
In the Asia of today a great bond of friendship has been established between the peoples of India and China. The recent visit of Mr. Chou En-lai, the Prime Minister of China, to New Delhi has demonstrated to the world the desire of 960 million people for friendship and world peace. We are proud of the fact that amongst messages of support received by this Conference are messages from these two great countries.
The many messages of support which we have received from different parts of the continent of Africa underline the great and common cause we have espoused to make Africa free. The continent of Africa is assuming an increasingly important role in world affairs. Its people from Cape to Cairo are astir with their demand for freedom and independence.
While the forces of progress and democracy are making a tremendous headway in all parts of the world, the Government of Dr. Malan with its policy of apartheid is trying to put the clock back. The Union Government has paid no heed to the decisions of the General Assembly of the United Nations and has thereby flouted world opinion with impunity. Not only has the deadlock between the Union Government on the one hand and the Governments of India and Pakistan on the other continued, but the situation has further seriously deteriorated with the closing down of the office of the High Commissioner for India in South Africa. (5)
The complete break in diplomatic relations between India and South Africa is a matter of grave concern for all countries. It further raises serious questions of past agreements and treaty relations betwen these two countries. The Government of Dr. Malan has by its declaration and action branded the Indian people as a foreign and outlandish element and has failed to implement the "Uplift Clause" of the Cape Town Agreement. (6)
It is the declared policy of the present Government to enforce expatriation on the Indian community. In the face of this policy and in the face of the recent actions of the Union Government, the time has arrived for the Government of India to give serious and urgent consideration to the underlying concept of the so-called "assisted emigration scheme" and decide whether it should not cease being a party to it.(7)
Expatriation is dead. The Government of India should make it known to the Union Government that it will not be a party to any further attempts to implement the "assisted emigration scheme", for we are South African citizens.
I am sure that during Conference sessions, delegates will give serious consideration to this vital question arising out of the further deterioration of relationship between India and South Africa.
Since we last met in Conference, the forces for democracy in South Africa have taken vital steps and decisions in their fight against apartheid oppression. The Secretarial Report deals at length with the mighty Defiance of Unjust Laws Campaign in which some 8,000 South Africans of all races participated. The Defiance Campaign has laid a solid foundation for united democratic action. It is our task to make that united front a broad front of all peoples of South Africa who stand for human dignity and democracy. The African National Congress, the premier liberation body in South Africa, has given the country a call to rally to the cause of democracy for all in South Africa, and has taken the initiative in the convening of a Congress of the People. We have endorsed that call and it is for this Conference to take positive decisions to rally the Indian people behind it.
The Congress of the People gives opportunity to all South Africans who stand for freedom to come together in a mighty convention to advance the cause of democracy in South Africa.
The South African Indian Congress is pledged to work with all other organisations on specific issues on which there is agreement. Thus our constituent bodies will work in closest cooperation with all organisations who are opposed to the Western Areas Removal Scheme (8) and to the Group Areas Act. Both these issues are of major national importance to those who are genuinely opposed to the policy of apartheid.
The Verwoerd scheme of removal of 58,000 people in the Western Areas of Johannesburg is a major apartheid attack on the rights of our people. There has been a spontaneous opposition and resentment to this monstrous plan by all South Africans opposed to oppresion and injustice.
The Western Areas have become the battleground between the forces of apartheid and the forces of democracy and today on this question has emerged a united front of white and non-white peoples who stand for human decency.
The African National Congress, the South African Indian Congress, the South African Coloured People's Organisation and the South African Congress of Democrats, realising the grave nature of the situation in the Western Areas, and realising its national importance, have jointly issued a call for 50,000 volunteers to oppose and frustrate apartheid in its worst form. It is our task to rally our people behind this call.
Since the present leadership in the Indian Congress came into power, first in Natal, later in the Transvaal and later nationally, it has pursued a policy of resisting segregation and apartheid. In 1946, Passive Resistance was launched against the Asiatic Land Tenure Act, and in 1952, jointly with the African National Congress, the Defiance Campaign was launched. Both the African National Congress and the South African Indian Congress have adopted non-violence as the basis of their struggles. While we have preached non-violence at all our meetings and in all our activities, the authorities have adopted a most hostile and provocative attitutde. In particular, the recent utterances on the part of the Minister of Justice call for severe condemnation by all South Africans opposed to violence.
Delegates attending this Conference have a serious responsibility to themselves and to South Africa. Chief Lutuli in his opening address has dealt with "Our Common Task". I call upon the delegates to give serious consideration to the questions raised by Chief Lutuli. We are living at a time when far-reaching changes are taking place in the economic life of our country and with these changes new problems are arising, crying out for solutions on our part.
It is our common task to find a solution to the problems created by the tremendous industrial progress made by South Africa, progress which in its wake has brought thousands of Africans and Indians into urban areas. The policy of apartheid will not be able to stem the tide of industrialisation which has made a large portion of our mixed population a permanent urban population. The demand of these industrial workers for trade union recognition is a demand which must engage our most serious attention and we must condemn the Nationalist attacks on the trade union movement.
It is also our common task to understand the problems of our people in the rural areas and to assist them in overcoming their difficulties. The culling of the cattle is an issue which is of national importance for all South Africans interested in the progress of our country.
The activities leading to the convening of the Congress of the People will give all South African democrats an opportunity of finding for themselves as never before the common tasks which face us in this country. Let us go forward to make this Congress of the People a mighty Assembly at which the hopes and aspirations of the real people of our land can be made known to the entire world and let us jointly - Indians, Africans, Coloureds and Europeans - enshrine our legitimate demands in the FREEDOM CHARTER.
DECEMBER 16, 1954 (9)
Mr. Speaker,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
The National Executive Committee of your Congress has done me a great honour by inviting me to declare open your Annual Conference here. I was very pleased to accept your invitation and wish to take this opportunity at the outset of thanking you for the great honour you have done me, particularly at a time when the ban imposed on me by the Minister of Justice under the Suppression of Communism Act is in force.
The invitation you have extended to me symbolises the great, unbreakable links which have been forged between our Congresses and between the African and Indian people we represent. Today we find a great bond of friendship and understanding that has grown between our peoples through the joint, heroic struggle for freedom launched under the banners of our Congresses, and it is my fervent hope and prayer that jointly we shall advance together with all true democrats in South Africa to the goal which we have set to achieve - freedom in our life-time.
Your Conference meets at a time when grave issues face not only people of our country but the peoples of the world. Today in every country, in all the continents of the world, the forces of peace and freedom are making great headway. The days of colonialism and imperialism are rapidly coming to an end, and we see the emergence of free and independent nations on the continent of Asia, a continent which has been subjected to centuries of colonial exploitation.
Because the forces of imperialism have received the shattering blow in Asia, it is only natural that Africa should assume a place of tremendous importance to those who had exploited Asia hitherto, but Africa, long described as the dark continent, is today astir. From the shores of the Mediterranean to the Cape Point, powerful forces of liberation are making themselves felt, to enable the 150 million people of this continent to take their rightful place within the family of nations through their own democratic governments.
We in South Africa have no hesitation in making our stand clear on the international question. As oppressed people, believing firmly in the ideals of democracy, we totally reject all forms of imperialism and colonialism. We reject the exploitation of man by man. We make common cause with the world-wide movement for peace, and are pledged to make positive contribution towards this peace for which mankind yearns. We make this contribution in particular by opposing all forms of racial discrimination. In our hearts we are convinced that in racial discrimination lies the seat of a massive global conflict and this conflict we are pledged to avert. As protagonists of peace, we are the enemies of war, and are opposed to the armament race which is now in progress. We stand for total banning of the atom and hydrogen bombs.
Because we stand for world peace, and against the exploitation of man by man, we find ourselves in strong opposition to the policies which have been consistently pursued by the white ruling classes in South Africa before and after the coming into existence of the Union. The policy of segregation and apartheid based on the maintenance of white domination has today brought our country to the brink of disaster. More and more people in the country are beginning to realise that like peace, freedom is indivisible. Laws, which in the past affected only one section of the people, invariably the African people, are today being extended to the rest of the people of the land. Freedom and liberty of the people, Black and White, are in danger.
It is only a matter of weeks since Dr. Malan resigned, and today more strongly than ever before the country finds itself under the rule of a group firmly pledged to the policy of apartheid and all that apartheid stands for. The Strijdom-Verwoerd era (10) has commenced, and the anti-Nationalist forces in the country realise that even greater attacks on democracy and freedom are on the way. Our beloved country is heading towards chaos and disaster, under a policy which has resulted in increased racial tension, in a climate in which there is little respect for human dignity. A small minority group are seeking to impose on the majority an Afrikaner tribal rule, a rule which seeks to perpetuate a caste structure in South Africa, under which the non-white people are to remain in perpetual subjugation.
South Africa has reached the parting of the ways. Those who rule us have chosen the narrow and bigoted path of Afrikaner triablism, embodied in the theory of apartheid. With deep regret we are forced to admit that the vast numbers of the white electorate of the country have given their support to this basic policy of apartheid. It is in such an atmosphere that African nationalism is asserting itself in the Union.
Let us remember that never in world history has any single movement for national liberation failed in achieving its object, and I am confident that in South Africa too the movement for national liberation is destined to triumph, notwithstanding all the obstacles which may exist today.
A movement for national liberation can become reactionary in character. Nationalism under anti-democratic leadership can become a great threat to the basic values for which we stand. Afrikaner nationalism is an example of how a movement essentially progressive in its initial stages has today become a great threat to democracy, and has become the spearhead of fascism in South Africa.
African nationalism too, under wrong leadership, can become an anti-democratic force giving rise to the emergence of Black fascism in the Union. It is to the credit of the leadership of the African National Congress that African nationalism has chosen the path of democracy, notwithstanding the environment in which it has emerged. The slogan of the African National Congress is not South Africa for the Africans but South Africa for all her peoples of all creeds and nationalities.
Today the African National Congress is the most important factor for democracy in the country, for the A.N.C. enshrines the hopes and aspirations of the nine million oppressed Africans to be free in the land of their birth. The A.N.C. seeks to achieve this freedom, not at the expense of any other group; it seeks to exercise the freedom of its people among the rest of free South Africans.
The political maturity and the ideals of the African National Congress are clearly demonstrated in its call for the convening of the Congress of the People for the formulation of the Freedom Charter, the call which your Congress made last year in Queenstown and which has resulted in the launching of a movement of freedom for the first time jointly sponsored by African, European, Coloured and Indian peoples. The convening of the Congress of the People is the most important task which faces all true democrats of all colours in the country today. Let me express the earnest desire that before you meet in your Annual Conference next year, this mighty assembly of South African people will have taken place, and that the Charter for Freedom will have been drafted, enshrining the hopes of the millions of our land, particularly those who are voiceless today.
Let me assure you, on behalf of the Indian people, that the Indian Congress will do everything in its power to make the Congress of the People a success and that we shall answer unflinchingly to the call of your President-General to enrol within the ranks of the 50,000 volunteers for freedom. I visualise the Freedom Charter as one of the most historic documents to emerge from South Africa. It will not only in the clearest possible terms state what freedom is, but will be a document by which all South Africans will be judged, whether they stand for freedom and democracy, or for oppression and segregation.
While we are engaged in this great organisational task of convening the Congress of the People, the Government of the day is not hesitating in its attempts to stifle the true voice of democracy in the country. I am, however, convinced that banning orders and deportations will not halt our onward march to freedom and democracy. Action on the part of the Government against our leaders will only make our people even more determined to resist injustice and oppression.
While we talk of freedom and organise our people to make all South Africa truly free, the rulers of South Africa are continuing to bring measure after measure for the perpetual subjugation of the non-European people. The most hated apartheid measure of the Nationalists is undoubtedly the Bantu Education Act, a law which seeks to make the African people a subject people for all times. There can be no compromise with the principle which seeks to enslave a people and, therefore, this Act has to be fought with all the resources available to the democratic forces of South Africa.
All South Africans should realise that the people of the Western Areas in the Transvaal are presently engaged in a bitter struggle in defence of their homes. What is happening in the Western Areas is of national concern, for a great deal depends on the outcome of their struggle. What is happening in the Western Areas today will happen in many parts of South Africa tomorrow, if the Group Areas Act is allowed to be implemented. The race zoning plans submitted by local authorities under the Areas Act demonstrate how tens of thousands of people are to be removed from their homes to satisfy the ideology of apartheid. We will have to unitedly oppose this obnoxious law with all our might.
The African National Congress has come of age and, with its present leadersip, no democrat in South Africa should have any hesitation in making common cause with the African National Congress for the achievement of democracy. The Indian people have already made the decision. Not only have we been equal parties in the great Defiance Campaign, a campaign which will fill a glorious chapter in the liberatory struggle of our country, but we are presently working as great allies together with European and Coloured democrats. It is our task to strengthen that alliance so that it becomes unbreakable.
I would like to have been present at this assembly. I would have liked to have heard Chief Lutuli deliver his Presidential Address, and inspire us to make even greater contributions to the cause of liberation. I would have liked to have sung with you the songs of freedom, led by Chief Lutuli, and to hear his voice which has moved so many in so short a time. But Chief Lutuli and I cannot be with you today, because of the ban imposed on us. But a day will dawn when Swart (11) and his Cabinet will be forgotten and when South Africa will be free, when men and women will meet to talk of freedom and build a free society without fear and hatred. I urge you, in the name of South Africa, to work unceasingly towards that great freedom we all desire, and we assure you that we will work unceasingly for our common objective.
In the name of freedom, I have now the pleasure in declaring your Annual Conference open. History has placed the torch of freedom in your hands; may you hold high its flames!
Afrika!
(1)Dr. Naicker could not attend the Conference and deliver the address personally because of banning orders served on him.The address was read by Mr. I. C. Meer.
(2) Mr. Sisulu was abroad for five months in 1953 visiting several European countries and China.
(3) C. R. Swart, Minister of Justice
(5) The office of the High Commissioner of India in South Africa was closed in 1954 on the demand of the South African Government.
(6) Under the Cape Town Agreement of February 1927 between the Governments of the Union of South Africa and India, the Union Government undertook to take steps for the "uplifting" of the Indian community in educational, economic and other fields.
(7) The Cape Town Agreement provided that the Union Government would organise a scheme of "assisted emigration" to India or other countries for Indians in the Union who may desire to avail themselves of it, and that the Government of India "recognise their obligation to look after such emigrants on their arrival in India".
(8) In 1954, the Government announced plans to move Africans from the "Western Areas" of Johannesburg - Sophiatown, Martindale and Newclare - to Meadowlands, some 13 miles from the city. The scheme aroused strong opposition.
(9)Dr. Naicker could not personally deliver the address since he was banned by the regime, as was Chief Albert J. Lutuli, President-General of the ANC.
(10)Strijdom succeeded Dr. Danial F. Malan in 1954 as Prime Minister. Dr. Hendrik Verwoerd was Minister of Native Affairs.