PAPER ON THE GROUP AREAS ACT AND ITS EFFECTS ON THE INDIAN PEOPLE OF NATAL

MAY 1956 ⁽¹⁾

A: HISTORY AND AIMS OF THE ACT

The Group Areas Act enacted by the Union Parliament over six years ago in 1950 may be described as the high water mark of the Union's legislation against non-European land rights in South Africa. Like its predecessors, the chief aim of this law is to give effect to the racial policy of the white ruling group in South Africa.
Segregation and apartheid are fundamentally based on the maintenance of white domination by creating a reservoir of cheap labour among the non-white population of the country. As far as the African people are concerned, territorial segregation has been deeply rooted in the Union's history and Conference has the benefit of having before it the views of Chief Albert J. Lutuli, President-General of the African National Congress, on this vital question.
While this paper of the Natal Indian Congress deals specifically with the effects of the Act on the Indian community, nevertheless it is right and proper to emphasise that this law is aimed at the entire non-white people of the Union. The Land Act of 1913, the Urban Areas Act of 1923 and the subsequent amendments to it and the Native Trust and Land Act, 1936, are some of the primary laws directed against the African population.
To the Coloured people of the Union the Group Areas Act comes as a first attack on their land rights. As far as the Indian community is concerned, laws dealing with its land restrictions also go back into history. In the Transvaal, Law 3 was enacted in 1885. We have the history of the "Class Areas Bill" and the "Areas Reservation Bill" introduced before the so-called Cape Town Agreement of 1927. There was the Natal Pegging Act of 1943 and in 1946 the Asiatic Land Tenure and Indian Representation Act was passed. The Group Areas Act is indeed a climax to the many laws that came before it seeking to attack the property rights of the Indian community.
The Group Areas Act is a product of the Nationalist Party and hence it embodies that Party's policy of apartheid.
When this measure was before Parliament Dr. the Hon. D. F. Malan, the then Prime Minister of South Africa, made it known that Parliament was dealing with undoubtedly the most important of all apartheid measures. "What we have in this Bill before us is apartheid. It is the essence of the apartheid policy which is embodied in this Bill", declared Dr. Malan.
What precisely apartheid means is difficult to determine even from the pronouncements of Nationalists themselves. A study of official and semi-official statements on this question leaves one with a very confused picture. But removed of its frills and trimmings, apartheid is an accentuated form of the policy of segregation, though differing in some respects from the traditional segregation policies of the previous Union Governments. A study of the Manifesto issued by the Nationalist Party, prior to their coming to power in 1948, throws some light on apartheid and the non-European policies of the Nationalist Government.
Dealing with the Indian people the Manifesto, after declaring that the Nationalists believed in the definite policy of separation between the white and non-white racial groups, says: "The Party holds the view that Indians are a foreign and outlandish element (Vreemde En Uitheemse) which is unassimilable. They can never become part of the country and they must therefore be treated as an immigrant community." The Nationalists accept as a basis of their policy the repatriation of as many Indians as possible. The Manifesto adds: "So long as there are Indians in the country, a definite policy of separation will be applied as far as possible between Europeans and Indians in every sphere, as well as between Indians and other indigenous non-European groups."
When the Group Areas Bill was introduced in Parliament the Government sought to justify its action by primarily relying on the report of the Inter-departmental Sub-Committee apppointed by Dr. Donges ⁽²⁾ in 1948. The Joint Report of the Asiatic Land Tenure Laws Amendment Committee, published in 1950 on the eve of the enactment of the Group Areas Act, makes interesting reading and underlines that one of the chief aims of this law is to attack the Indian people. The so-called Indian question seemed to have been uppermost in the mind of these sub-committees.
It was not surprising that these Committees to some extent re-echoed the policies and precepts of Dr. Donges, the Nationalist Minister of the Interior, who had appointed them. Their findings are blatantly of a political nature and bear little resemblance to what may be expected of a judicial commission.

"Before stating our recommendations we feel that reference should be made to one matter which, strictly speaking, falls outside our terms of reference but which is so closely associated in the public mind with the Asiatic question that it has a determining influence on the evidence tendered to us and accordingly also on recommendations based on such evidence and that is the possibility of repatriating the Asiatics from South Africa.

"There appears to be an ever-growing belief in the public mind that the only satisfactory solution of the Asiatic question is repatriation, and that whatever is done by way of legislation should be such as not to endanger the possibility of repatriation and deprive the public of one of its most deeply cherished hopes.

"The fundamental theme of the evidence throughout the years has been and still is: repatriation or, failing which, compulsory segregation. In the most recent evidence there is noticeable a distinct tendency for this theme to assume the form of: repatriation, and, pending which, compulsory segregation... In its most advanced form this then reads: repatriation and, failing which, compulsory segregation with boycott to induce repatriation."

One may observe that in the typical South African racialist pattern these Committees use the word "public" to mean only the white racial group of the Union. The report further adds that failing or pending repatriation, "the present situation has to be dealt with incisively if civil commotions arising from racial tension and strife are to be avoided. We can see no way of attaining this end except to legislate for total territorial segregation of the different racial groups, so that in the course of time homogeneous racial groups are brought about". (para. 333 of the Report).
Hence the Group Areas Act was born.
It is significant that because of the Nationalist policy of regarding the Indian people as a foreign, alien and outlandish element to be expatriated, the Act makes primary provision only for the "White", "Native" and "Coloured" groups. In this primary division there is no room for the Indian people. By Proclamation 73 issued on the 30th of March, 1951, the Indian group was created as a sub-division of the Coloured group, perhaps to emphasise the immigrant status given by the Nationalist Government to the Indian people.....

B. OPPOSITION TO THE ACT

The Group Areas Act is perhaps the only law of a member State of the United Nations which was circulated to delegates of the General Assembly as an official document for consideration when the world forum discussed the racial policies of the Union Government.
It is natural that this law should have received the condemnation of democratic world opinion, for does not Article 17 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights read:

" Every one has the right to own property alone as well as in association with others;
No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his property"?

The Act, its background and the present policy of the Nationalist Government all go to indicate that this law seriously infringes the principles contained in this international Declaration.
Within the borders of the Union this Act is totally opposed by the vast majority of the people. In 1946 the Indian people of the Union, under the banner of the Congress, launched Passive Resistance Campaign against this Act's predecessor, the Asiatic Land Tenure and Indian Representation Act. In opposition to that law over two thousand men and women, young and old, served terms of imprisonment in order to show their abhorrence of the principles underlying it.
In 1952, under the leadership of the African National Congress and the South African Indian Congress, the Defiance of Unjust Laws Campaign was launched against a number of measures, amongst whom was the Group Areas Act. In that heroic struggle over 8,500 individuals of all races went to jail rejecting the policy of apartheid and upholding the principles of democracy. That opposition to the Act is enshrined in the hearts of the masses of South Africa.
We reject apartheid and the contention that separation of races leads to racial harmony in a multi-racial society. We oppose the uprooting of any peoples from their homes and we are firmly convinced that the policy of apartheid leads further to the oppression of the non-European people. The application of this policy has accentuated racial tension, conflict and bitterness on an unprecedented scale. No policy which attempts to keep the majority of the population of South Africa under permanent subjection or "baaskap" can ever succeed. The non-European people rightly claim full democratic rights in the land of their birth.
In relation to the Indian community, it is clear that the real motives behind the Group Areas Act are:

To deprive the Indian people of their long established ownership of land and homes;
To facilitate the uprooting and expatriation of South African citizens of Indian origin;
To ruin the Indian people economically; and
To confine them to ghettos as a source of cheap labour.

Any act conceived under the policy of "baaskap" and apartheid and passed by Parliament from which all non-Europeans are strictly excluded can only be in the interest of the white dominating section of South Africa.
A law which is manifestly unjust cannot be applied justly.
Arising from the above contentions the Congress policy on the Act is unambiguous and clear. We declare our total opposition to the law and at no stage will we be a party to its implementation.
This paper is being presented to a Conference which is historic in that it presents a broad united front against the Act which is the cornerstone of the policy of apartheid.
Not only have we to be united but we must be for ever vigilant.

PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS TO THE NINTH ANNUAL CONFERENCE OF THE NATAL INDIAN CONGRESS, DURBAN

JUNE 22, 1956 ⁽³⁾

Mr. Chairman

Ladies and Gentlemen,

As the banned President of your Congress I have the greatest pleasure in expressing our sincerest thanks to Dr. Letele for agreeing to declare open this Ninth Annual Conference of the Natal Indian Congress. ⁽⁴⁾

The presence of Dr. Letele in our midst symbolises the working unity which exists between the African and Indian Congresses. From our platform each year on the occasion of our Annual Conferences come messages of unity and democracy from all sections of the South African people who go to make our multi-racial society.

We do not talk of apartheid, of division, of race oppression and of race hatred. We speak of racial harmony, of brotherhood of man, and of equality of opportunities for all peoples regardless of race, colour, ideology or creed. It is this inspiring message, which has come down to mankind from time immemorial, which is an inspiration to us all in these dark days when almost all the lights of liberty have been extinguished in South Africa, the land we so dearly hold to our heart.

We know that the gospel we preach is based on truth and that eventually South Africa will emerge as a mighty democratic nation in which all her children - white and black - will be able to hold up their heads in dignity and pride working for the common good when racial discrimination, the pick-up vans and the pass laws will recede into the dimness of past memory.

For those of us who belong to the Congress movement, and indeed, for all those who believe in democracy for all in South Africa we have a historic mission to fulfill in our lifetime. Freedom in our lifetime is no idle slogan in an age when humanity is fast throwing aside the shackles which had bound it for so long. Asia has emerged from her dark days of colonial oppression and imperial subjugation. And our Africa is astir from north to south making colonial oppressors shudder.

In evaluating our national problems and in attempting to find solutions, it is vitally necessary for us to remember constantly that we are part of one world. We have to study and understand international events and learn from the collective experience of mankind in search of freedom.

The most significant feature in the international field since we last met is the continuous relaxation of tension. The forces which have stood for world peace, supported by the common peoples throughout the world, have been triumphant with the result that the nightmare threat of an atomic holocaust which would have destroyed our common civilisation has receded.

The Natal Indian Congress has a clear and unambiguous policy on international affairs. We belong to the great world-wide camp for peace. We stand for the banning of the hydrogen and the atom bombs and the banning of nuclear weapons, for we believe that all nuclear energy should be harnessed for peaceful purposes and not for the destruction of mankind.

On the international front, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru and the Republic of India have given mankind a clear lead. The Panchshila enunciated by the Premier of India has become an important yardstick in measuring the peaceful content of the nations of the world. ⁽⁵⁾

The growing friendship between India and China on the basis of the Panchshila has produced a mighty alliance for peace and progress.

One of the most outstanding events in the international field during the year under review has been the successful holding of the Bandung Conference held in April last year. At this Conference two South African leaders, Mr. Kotane and Moulvi Cachalia, were present to give first-hand account of conditions in the Union.

The Bandung Conference must be regarded as a historic milestone in Afro-Asian cooperation on the road to emancipation from colonialism and for world peace. One day the government of truly democratic South Africa will also participate at such historic conferences.

The Bandung Conference showed the determination of the colonial peoples to end foreign domination. It also demonstrated in clearest possible terms the desire on the part of nations like India, recently freed, to see the eradication of colonialism from the face of the earth.

The Bandung Conference was no mere talking shop. It reflected what was happening actively on the anti-imperialist front, particularly on the continents of Africa and Asia and it was right and proper that Kotane and Cachalia should have been there.

While colonialism is rapidly coming to an end in Asia, the retreating imperialists are trying to dig in into the sacred earth of Africa. It is vitally necessary for us to realise how important a prize Africa has become in the eyes of the imperialists of the world. But let us remember that it is not only in Africa that the imperialist is making his last stand against the rising tide of the freedom movement of the world. The people of Cyprus, the people of Malaya, the people of British Guiana and the people of Algeria are all bound together in their noble and inspiring struggle for freedom.

This Conference knows too well my fervent belief in non-violence and knows my great abhorrence for violence. I am satisfied that violence cannot achieve the objectives of freedom that we hold so dear and I realise that on the colonial front a great deal of violence that exists today is violence which was imposed on the oppressed people by the very nature of subjugation.

We declare unequivocally against colonialism and give our whole-hearted support to the fight for freedom throughout the world. In the fight against colonialism the people of Africa are daily playing an increasing role and we in South Africa must make a common cause with the rest of our brethren in this emergent Africa.

While in the international field we declare our total opposition to war and colonialism, we at the same time emphasise that racial discrimination is a curse of mankind, having within it the seeds of a global war. As long as racial discrimination is tolerated in any part of the world, for so long will mankind remain without lasting peace.

The hotbed of racialism is South Africa. Here in the twentieth century is a country in which a small white ruling group dominates over the vast masses of the non-white people. It is the country of segregation and apartheid, a country in which human dignity counts for nought as far as we of colour are concerned.

Last year we had the proud privilege of having Father Huddleston declare open our Conference. He was then one of our bravest non-violent soldiers for freedom on the battlefield of apartheid in the Union. Today this great South African is no more with us in our midst. He is abroad physically but in spirit Father Huddleston will for all time remain a part of the freedom movement of the Union. ⁽⁶⁾

We could not have sent a better ambassador overseas to interpret the heart and the mind of the millions who must remain voiceless under the cruel and naked policy of racial intolerance.

During the year under review the Nationalist Government has in its well-calculated plan proceeded step by step in implementing its policy of apartheid oppression. The last session of Parliament which has just ended was yet another apartheid session during which individual Ministers arrogated to themselves more and more power, becoming "little Czars" who could issue at will their ukase affecting the lives of millions of people.

Under measures such as the Urban Areas Amendment Act and the Natives (Prohibiton of Interdict) Act, the rule of law has suffered yet another devastating blow. The law courts are not to be accessible to South African citizens under such measures, if these citizens happen to be black.

That apartheid is a fraud has been fully exposed, if such exposure was necessary, by the publication of the Tomlinson Report and the subsequent white paper issued on it by the Nationalist Government. After many years of labour an unscientific report is produced extolling apartheid and yet the Government is not prepared even to finance the Tomlinson project. How hollow is apartheid!

Our answer to Tomlinson and apartheid is clear. We do not want any puppet kingdoms conjured up in the dreams of Dr. Verwoerd. ⁽⁷⁾

We want a common society in South Africa based on sound democratic principles enabling every South African to make his maximum contribution for the common good.

How fearful is the Nationalist Government of true democracy is borne out by the banning orders and banishments under which the leaders of the democratic movement in South Africa have suffered further during the period under review.

Conference must give serious consideration to the spate of new laws which have been enacted during the last session of Parliament by the Nationalist Party in its drive towards a police State. We have a duty to our people and to the world to expose the ruthless and oppressive nature of apartheid and to rally our people in their united opposition to the Nationalists` onslaught on human dignity.

What is our answer to apartheid and segregation? Firstly, we must be clear on our objectives. Since the time when Jan van Riebeeck landed at the Cape over 300 years ago, there have been many big and small struggles for freedom in this land of ours. Some of these struggles have been recorded, some are fresh in our memory and there are yet others which democratic historians will record in due course. We will then have the names of our heroes, many of whom remain unknown and unnamed today, heroes who have advanced the cause of freedom.

Yes, our freedom struggle has a glorious history and one of the most important milestones in this history was the formulation and adoption of the Freedom Charter at the Congress of the People held at Kliptown, Johannesburg, on June 25th and 26th, 1955.

The great assembly which ratified this Charter was more representative of the people of the Union than any Parliament which has met in Cape Town. This Assembly has given us in clear and concise terms our ultimate objective. The Freedom Charter enshrines the hopes and aspirations of all South Africans who believe in democracy and freedom.

It is the duty of each and every Congressman throughout the length and breadth of the Union to become a missionary spreading the gospel of the Charter. Posterity will judge each one of us on the part he or she played in making the Charter a living reality.

Our support for the Charter will come from the people, for the support is already there, if we link the demands in the Charter with the day-to-day demands of our people. You will only be good Congressmen and good Congresswomen if you understand the problems of your people and selflessly go to their help in order to assist them in their sufferings. Your own support of the Charter will only have a meaning if you will by your own action show that by being Congressmen or Congreswomen you are truly servants of your people.

The Congress of the People which was convened at the initiative of the African National Congress showed that African nationalism under the banner of Congress movement was not following a narrow and bigoted path. The African National Congress had invited all South Africans of all colours to come together in drawing up the Charter, the common heritage of all South Africans.

When separation and hatred is preached in high places in South Africa it is our duty to preach with all the emphasis at our command the message of unity and racial harmony. We must work unceasingly for active democratic united front against apartheid and this front must become broader and broader so that the preachers of apartheid and segregation stand isolated.

A great lesson in united action has been learnt by us by the convening in this province of the Conference on the Group Areas Act and the Group Areas Development Act. Delegates will deal with the achievements of that conference at the business sessions of Conference. But I want to emphasise that in our opposition to apartheid we will have to follow the pattern adopted at the Group Areas Conference. It is the urgent task for all true democrats in South Africa to unite on issues on which they agree. Our emphasis must be that on which we agree and not that on which we disagree.

There are many burning issues before Conference. Delegates taking part in discussions and decisions must weigh each question calmly and arrive at conclusions which will be in the interests of our people as a whole and in the interest of South Africa. The Group Areas Act, the Group Areas Development Act, the question of increasing unemployment among the Indian workers are some of the issues on which the community expects a lead from the Natal Indian Congress which has, since it was founded by Mahatma Gandhi in 1894, become the voice of our people.

I wish your deliberations all success. Let us, with the Congress movement and with all true democrats, march forward on the road of liberty.

PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS TO THE TWENTY-SECOND CONFERENCE OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN INDIAN CONGRESS, JOHANNESBURG

OCTOBER 19, 1956 ⁽⁸⁾

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Our twenty-first Conference was held in July 1954 in Durban when Chief Albert Lutuli in his opening address outlined the" common task" facing the liberation movement in the Union. Since that inspiring message of Chief Lutuli, much has happened, both in the international and national fronts, and it will be the task of the delegates assembled here to deal with the new problems that arise in our common task in the struggle for freedom.

We remember graphically the departure of Chief Lutuli from our twenty-first Conference in Durban to Johannesburg to address a momentous gathering at the Western Areas and we remember the news that was brought to Conference of the banning order served on him on his arrival in Johannesburg. Thereafter the bannings came swiftly and many leading members of the South African Indian Congress who were delegates to the last Conference have had their freedom curtailed by them.

I am addressing this Conference in absentia owing to the ban which has been imposed on me but I share with you, one and all, the great joy that Chief Lutuli is once again actively with us. We are proud to have him once again to declare this twenty-second Conference open. Chief Albert J. Lutuli has become the foremost spokesman of the underprivileged South Africans of all races. We rightly claim him to be our leader just as the African National Congress does. His inspiring address will live long in the memory of freedom-loving South Africans.

On behalf of the South African Indian Congress, I greet Chief Lutuli and say "Afrika! Mayibuye!" We express our sincerest thanks to you, Chief Lutuli, for opening once again our biennial Conference.

Chief Lutuli is coming to us from a historic conference held earlier this month at Bloemfontein where African leaders gathered together, at one of the most representative conferences ever to be held in the Union, to discuss the Tomlinson Report and its underlying policy of apartheid. ⁽⁹⁾

That conference marked yet another milestone on the hard and bitter road to freedom in South Africa.

Delegates assembled here must pay special attention to the well-reasoned, objective analysis of apartheid which has come from the Bloemfontein conference.

The Bloemfontein conference was convinced that the present policy of apartheid constituted a threat to race relations in the country and, therefore, in the interests of all people and the future of the country, it called upon all national organisations "to mobilise all people, irrespective of race, colour or creed to form a united front against apartheid".

The conference further issued a call to all South Africans "who realise the danger and effects of apartheid to take a positive step to break down the colour bar in group relations". It is for us at this Conference to declare our unequivocal support for the declarations made by African leaders at the Bloemfontein conference, for in so doing we are not only advancing the cause of our own freedom but also the cause of world freedom.

At times we do not seem to realise the significance of the role we are playing in this southern tip of Africa in a struggle which is a world-wide struggle for human dignity and freedom. Racial discrimination - a by-product of colonialism and imperialist domination - today constitutes a major threat to the peace of the world. We are convinced that mankind will not be able to bring peace on earth and goodwill among men until the cancer of racialism is eliminated from the face of the earth.

Today the world over, imperialism is receiving shattering blows from the struggles of the common peoples of the world united against colonialism and human exploitation. The frontiers of freedom are rapidly extending with almost the whole of Asia emerging free and with the whole of the continent of Africa astir with new awakening.

In this one world, our struggle against segregation and apartheid is only just one facet of the great international struggle for freedom. We welcome the world-wide support we have received for our struggle and we unhesitatingly declare as our own the world-wide struggle on the part of colonial peoples everywhere for their liberation.

Because we hold these views, we declare our fullest support for the Egyptian people in the so-called Suez crisis, a crisis which has shown how imperialism in its death throes is making its final stand on the continent of Africa.

We must take note of the fact that Africa today occupies the battlefront of the struggle between imperialism and the colonially oppressed people and in this struggle we have a positive role to play with the rest of the freedom-loving people of the world.

On the international front, the Bandung Conference has given a new hope, particularly to the peoples of Africa and Asia who are today united as never before in their common resolve to end imperialism and eliminate racial discrimination. We note with pride the positive role played by Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru in international affairs and in particular in the cause of world peace.

Once again, on the international scene, the racial policies of the Union Government will come up for discussion in the General Assembly of the United Nations. While we reiterate that our freedom in this country will come from our own efforts, we nevertheless realise how important it has been for us to receive the support of the member States of the United Nations.

On the national front the most significant event since we last met in Conference has been the holding of the Congress of the People at Kliptown, Johannesburg, on June 25th and 26th last year. The Freedom Charter which this conference formulated has become the guiding star of all South Africans of all races advancing on the road to freedom. In all our deliberations, decisions and actions, our main concern should be to make this great Charter a living reality.

Just as the Bloemfontein conference has issued a call for a united front against apartheid, so too must this Conference go forward with a call to South Africans to unite against apartheid and to work constructively for the creation of a truly democratic society in South Africa, free from colour bars and race discrimination.

The Nationalist Party is marching ahead with its avowed aim of establishing a Broederbond ⁽¹⁰⁾ Republic in which there will be freedom for none. The parliamentary opposition has proved itself impotent and hence we who constitute the extra-parliamentary front have a very important and decisive role to perform in these days when darkness threatens to engulf the country we love so dearly.

I am personally a great believer in non-violence. The non-violent army of freedom in South Africa will and must triumph and daily our ranks are swelling. We have the urgent task of marshalling a powerful united front against apartheid. We have to rally our people on issues which vitally affect them.

As far as the Indian people are concerned the Group Areas Act constitutes the greatest single threat to their existence in this country. The aim of the Act is to bring about the economic ruination of our people with the object of facilitating their repatriation.

This Conference meets on the eve of contemplated forced expulsion of our people from the western suburbs of Johannesburg. The proclamation of Group Areas in certain parts of Johannesburg has forcefully brought to the notice of South Africa and the world the truth of our contention that the Act spells our economic doom.

Let the people of the western suburbs know that the entire democratic South Africa and the freedom-loving world is with them in their firm resolve to defend their homes. The western suburbs of Johannesburg constitute a test case for the rest of the country. We cannot and must not under any circumstances suffer a defeat there.

I am sure that Conference will give detailed consideration to the grave threat which faces our people from the Group Areas Act and the Group Areas Development Act. It is for the South African Indian Congress and its constituent bodies to give our people a clear lead on this question in every city, town and village in the Union. We have seen how effective our policy of a united front can be by the way in which democratic forces rallied to the call issued by our Congress against the Group Areas Act, both in Natal and the Transvaal. We must strengthen that united front and go forward until we defeat this obnoxious law.

Since we last met in Conference the Nationalist Government has placed a large number of apartheid laws on the Statute Book. These laws have seriously curtailed the meagre freedom which the non-white people have enjoyed in the Union. The country under Nationalist rule has become a fully fledged police State. It is our task to prevent South Africa drifting further on the road to disaster and chaos.

I am confident that Conference will give serious consideration to the numerous laws enacted by the Nationalists and take appropriate decisions. To carry out our decisions we require a well-organised and disciplined liberation movement in South Africa. I call upon each and every delegate assembled here to discuss the problems facing us calmly and objectively with the aim of strengthening our organisation and of advancing the cause of liberation.

We are passing through dark and difficult days but we are not despondent. We know that history is on our side. Never in the history of mankind has the national liberation struggle of a people failed. In the sure knowledge of the truth of this statement, we march forward to a free South Africa in a free Africa.

Afrika! Afrika! Mayibuye!

(1) This paper was presented by Dr. G. M. Naicker, on behalf of the Natal Indian Congress, to the Conference on the Group Areas Act, convened by the NIC in Durban on May 5-6, 1956. Only the first and last sections of the paper are reproduced here. The rest of the paper contains an analysis of the Group Areas Act and the Group Areas Development Act and information on its effect in Durban.

(2) T. E. Donges, Minister of the Interior

(3) The address was read by Dr. M. N. Padayachee, Vice -President of the Natal Indian Congress, since Dr. G. M. Naicker was banned from attending gatherings.

(4) The Conference was opened by Dr. Arthur E. Letele,Treasurer-General of the African National Congress.

(5)Panchshila (Five principles) were first enunciated in the agreement of 1954 between India and China in regard to Tibet which declared that the relations between the two countries would be governed by the following principles:

mutual respect for each other's territorial integrity and sovereignty;
mutual non-aggression;
mutual non-interference in each other's internal affairs;
equality and mutual benefit; and
peaceful co-existence.

These principles were subsequently endorsed by many other governments.

(6) Father Huddleston was recalled by his Order to Britain in 1956 and the South African Government then declared him a prohibited immigrant. He continued to promote international action against apartheid. Since his retirement as Archbishop in 1982, he has been President of the Anti-Apartheid Movement and Chairman of the Council of Trustees of the International Defence and Aid Fund for Southern Africa.

(7) Dr. H. F. Verwoerd, Minister of Native Affairs, later Prime Minister

(8)The Presidential Address was delivered on behalf of Dr. Naicker, Acting President of SAIC, as he had been banned from attending gatherings. Chief Albert J. Lutuli, President-General of the African National Congress, opened the Conference.

(9) The All-in African Conference was convened by the Interdenominational African Ministers` Federation in Bloemfontein from October 4 to 6, 1956, to consider the Tomlinson report.

(10) A secret society of Afrikaners to which many of the leaders of the Nationalist Party belong