Petition to King George V

Petition to King George V, from the South African Native National Congress

20 July 1914

(Published in The Cape Argus)

The "Argus" to-day is in a position to publish the full text of the petition protesting against the Native Lands Act, which a deputation representative of the various South African native sections now in London, have handed to Mr. Harcourt (Secretary for the Colonies) for presentation to the King.

The petition runs as follows: -

To His Most Excellent Majesty, George V., by the Grace of God, of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and of the British Dominions beyond the Seas. King, Defender of the Faith, Emperor of India:

May it please Your Majesty:

The humble petition of the undersigned most humbly and respectfully showeth:

That petitioners are Your Majesty's most loyal and humble subjects, who have always been loyal to Your Majesty's throne and person, and still desire to continue being loyal to Your Majesty's throne and person.

That petitioners, in their capacity as representatives of the South African National Native Congress, which is again the representative body of natives of the Union of South Africa, most humbly approach Your Majesty as their King, their father and protector, and say:

(1.)

That petitioners are descendants of a race that for many years have had a respect and love for the British people, and a most loyal and respectful disposition for Your Majesty's throne and person, whose beneficent rule the petitioners and their forefathers have experienced, more especially when this the land of their birth was under Crown rule.

(2.)

That petitioners represent a vast number of Your Majesty's subjects, the denizens of this land, the former owners of this land, whose all in all is in this land, and who have no other country to go to, as all others of Your Majesty's subjects have, and who love this their land with a most intense love.

(3.)

That petitioners are descendants of a race which, when their forebears were conquered by Your Majesty's might, and their land taken from them, their laws and customs mangled and their military and other institutions brought to nought, loyally and cheerfully submitted to Your Majesty's sway in the full belief that they would be allowed to possess their land as British subjects, and would be given the full benefits of British rule like all other British subjects.

(4.)

That on the 12th day of May, 1843 [sic] the British Government in the reign of that most gracious and most Christian of the world's sovereigns, Queen Victoria, whose memory will never die with us, and whose most beautiful influence bound us to the British throne and people, and will ever remain in our hearts as a memento of what such influence can effect among a subject race, issued a proclamation to the first emigrants, both English and Dutch and others, who were the first to come to this land of our birth, whose special terms were as follows, with regard to the denizens of this land:

"That Her Majesty's said Commissioner is instructed distinctly to declare that the three next mentioned conditions-all of them so manifestly righteous and expedient as to secure, it is to be hoped, their cheerful recognition by the inhabitants of Natal-are to be considered as absolutely indispensable to the permission which it is proposed to give the emigrants, to occupy the territory in question, and to enjoy therein a settled Government Under British possession.

"1st. That there shall not be, in the eye of the law, any distinction or qualification whatever, founded on mere distinction of colour, origin, or language, or creed; but that the protection of the law, in letter and in substance, shall be extended impartially to all alike.

"2nd. That no aggression shall be sanctioned upon the natives residing beyond the limits of the Colony, under any plea whatever, by private person or any body of men, unless acting under the immediate authority and orders of the Government.

"3rd. That slavery, in any shape, or under any modification, is absolutely unlawful as in every other portion of Her Majesty's Dominions."

(5.)

That petitioners claim that proclamation, in letter and in spirit, as their gift and Charter from the British Government, and as a contract by the British Government, as guardian and protectors of the native races with all the white races that have settled in this land, and they most humbly pray that Your Majesty may see that that contract is implemented.

(6.)

That petitioners say that there was an attempt to carry out the spirit and letter of that proclamation while this land was under Crown rule, but that since Crown rule was withdrawn that proclamation has been quite ignored, and the treatment of the natives and all that concerns them has gradually drifted, and is still drifting, from the sweet influence of that memorable rule of Queen Victoria, our mother and Queen, to a state of things, the issue of which we shudder to contemplate unless a return from that course is made very soon.

(7.)

That petitioners say that when their forebears submitted themselves to the rule of the British Government, and paid homage to them, they fully accepted the Sovereignty of Great Britain and no other, but fully believed that their land would be reserved for them, and that they would have the full right of British subjects, more especially with regard to the possession of land and all the right incident thereto.

(8.)

That petitioners wish to be allowed most humbly and respectfully to refer to the proclamation of Sir Garnet Wolseley, made in June 1880, after the Zulu War, with regard to the future of Zululand, which was a clear pronouncement from him, as the representative of the Crown, to the effect that so long as the sun ran its course the Zulus would not be deprived of their land, but that the best parts of Zululand have since, by Colonial legislation, been surveyed into [acres?] and sold to any but the natives.

(9.)

That petitioners have never begrudged members of the white race, who are British subjects, getting a share of the land, but protest most strongly and solemnly against being gradually squeezed out of rights to and in land, and claim that the natives should be put into possession of land in proportion to their numbers, and on the same terms and conditions as the white race.

(10)

That petitioners say that the only portion of the South Africa Act aforesaid, which has reference to the natives is Section 147, which reads as follows: -

"The control and administration of native affairs throughout the Union shall vest in the Governor-General-in-Council, who shall exercise all special powers in regard to native administration hitherto vested in the Governors of the Colonies or exercised by them as supreme chiefs."

(11.)

That the petitioners say that they consider themselves and the native races to be still under the direct rule and control of the Crown through the Governor-General-in-Council, and therefore appeal to the Crown.

(12.)

That the petitioners say that they have never accepted the Union Government in place of the Crown, but have only accepted the Union Government as advisers of the Governor-General, through their Ministers, for and on behalf of the Crown.

(13.)

That petitioners say that they and the native races have been friendly and still desire to be friendly, to the Union Government and all Your Majesty's subjects, but in all matters affecting them adversely look to Your Majesty for the security of their rights and protection of themselves and such rights as Your Majesty's subjects.

(14.)

That petitioners most humbly say that the Native Lands Act No. 27 of 1913, passed by the Union Government, is an Act that has shown to the natives that the Union Government have overlooked the Queen's Government Proclamation, as quoted in paragraph 4 of this petition, and have started to pursue a policy towards the natives of entirely eliminating them from the interests of this country, and of ignoring their rights as British subjects, and are taking a course that must inevitably lead to disaster.

(15.)

That petitioners say this Native Lands Act has caused the greatest disappointment to, suspicions among, and the deepest opposition from, the native races.

(16.)

That petitioners say that they recognise that it is necessary to initiate without delay a policy dealing with the land question, and other questions affecting the Europeans and natives in this land, but most humbly and respectfully submit that the Union Government failed to do what was right with regard to the said Land Act.

(17.)

That the petitioners object to the said Land Act as being generally an act of class legislation, and one that would never have been dreamt of had only Europeans been in this land, and see in it the beginning of that policy towards the natives which will end in making them slaves.

(18.)

That petitioners beg permission to draw attention to the fact that it was the European who came to this land and settled in it alongside the native, and the native could not help it, and that they (the natives) most keenly feel and resent the spirit exhibited by the Europeans towards the native races by that Land Act.

(19.)

That the petitioners and the native races, while admitting the wisdom of initiating a policy to deal with the land question, and other cognate questions in this land without delay, most earnestly protest against the following with regard to the Native Lands Act of 1913 passed by the Union Government of South Africa, viz.:

It was conceived, framed and bought [sic] into the Union House of Parliament without any previous notice to the natives, and without consultation with the natives and without the taking of the natives into confidence as should have been done, seeing that the question at issue affects the natives more than any other subjects of Your Majesty.
It was dealt with in both Houses of Parliament in a most reprehensible hurry, and without consideration, and passed into law with such haste, as could never have been the case if the European subjects of Your Majesty were to be alone affected by the provisions thereof.
Its conception, its framing, and the manner of its being passed into law, is a precedent for future legislation in the Union Parliament with regard to questions affecting the natives, who are entirely unrepresented, though they pay a large sum in taxes, and are the majority of labourers and inhabitants of the Union of South Africa.
It was passed in such a crude and ambiguous shape that it is difficult to understand its true import, even after many explanations by those who think they can explain its meaning.
It has not been yet explained to most of the natives whom it affects as it should have been, and a vast number of natives have no explanation of it at all, but have commenced to feel its cruel effects.
It is an Act which instead of being based on the principles observed in the Cape Colony with regard to the natives and the land there, has been based on principles subversive of all that is right, just and likely to conserve the peace, prosperity and happiness of the various races of the Union of South Africa.
It is an Act whose provisions, if they are carried out as they stand, will mean the deprivation of the natives of their most sacred rights as British subjects, will turn them into slaves, and will create such a strained and bitter feeling between the white races and the native races as will always in the future mean opposition between the two races and continual conflicts.
It is an Act that ignores the natives and his [sic] feelings, and leads them to believe that the Union Government consider them nonentities in this the land of their birth, and they may only expect worse things in the future.
Its provisions are entirely opposed to the principles of British policy and justice, and are laden with dynamite tendencies which mean agitations, schemings, upheavals, and conflicts in this land we love so much, and the scandalising of the British name and prestige.

(20.)

The petitioners say, that they and the native races object most strenuously and earnestly against all the provisions of the Native Lands Act, passed by the Union Government in 1913, which have for their object, viz.: -

The segregating and separating of the natives and the Europeans, as if they were so many animals, because:

The natives are the original denizens of this land, and the white races came and located themselves alongside the native in their own land, and it was not the native who went to the white man's country and located himself alongside the white man.
The native does not recognise any wrong he has committed to deserve this segregation and separation.
The natives are as fully British subjects as are all the other members of the various races constituting the Union of South Africa, and claim for themselves equal consideration and treatment.
The effect of segregating and separating the natives will be to at once satisfy the natives that the white people intend evil to them, and they (the natives) will deeply resent the treatment and combine against the white people, and the white people will combine against the native, and that inevitable and continual conflict between the two races will be initiated, which the natives do not desire, as they wish to live as friends of the white race, in peace with the white race, in co-operation with the white race, and in loyalty to the British Crown and Throne, from which they have received so many blessings.
The natives most solemnly protest against any policy which will drive them into conflict with the white races, for it would be to the serious disadvantage of both, and they submit that a policy of segregation and separation will immediately lead to such conflict.
The natives have had all their institutions broken up by the white race conquering them, and have been driven by circumstances and choice to the light of civilisation, and they do not want segregation and separation, which will have the effect of throwing them backward.

(21.)

The petitioners and the native races most strenuously and earnestly object to the provisions of the Union's Native Lands Act, where they differentiate against the natives.

In that they limit the right of the native to the free purchase of and dealing in land on the same terms as the white subjects of Your Majesty.
In that with regard to natives on the farms of the white people, they interfere with the vested rights of the natives exercised for generations, on land once theirs, and on which lie buried their ancestors, by altering the right they have as British subjects to bargaining in any way they please with the owners of these farms, for a place for their homes and a means of existence, which is not done to any other of Your Majesty's subjects, and which exposes them to a condition that will enable and even force the farmers to eject them from their farms, leaving them to wander about or submit to living on the farms, on the sole terms of giving three months' service, which at once turns them (the natives) into slaves.
In that they have for their object the forcing of the native to labour by making it the only condition of his living on a white man's farm; that they are to bargain with the owner of the farm on the sole condition of supplying three months' labour.
In that they have for their object the expropriation of lands already held in freehold by the natives, where the native is found to live on land in an area which it is intended to convert into a white man's area.
In that they have for their object, in the Orange Free State, the deprivation of the natives of all rights of purchase of land, and any right to or in any land.
In that they have for their object the most unjustifiable interference with the rights of races the common subjects of the King, and the common inheritors with the white race of lands of the Union of South Africa.
In that they even place the other natives of the Union of South Africa in a less favourable position than their brethren and cousins in the Cape Province, whose rights are secured to them, while the mighty and most beneficial influences of Victorian rule existed, were safeguarded in the South Africa Act of Union, to the eternal credit of those who took part, on behalf of the Cape Colony, in drawing up that Act of Union.

(22.)

The petitioners, therefore, ask for themselves and the native races they represent, that Your Majesty may be graciously pleased to protect them, and stave off from them the calamities impending over them by reason of the passing of the Union's Native Lands Act of 1913, by refusing to confirm it, and by remitting it to the Union Government of South Africa for the deletion therefrom of all the obnoxious provisions we have complained of, and by the insertions of such provisions as we have suggested, and more especially by such provisions as would have been in the said Act, had it been drawn by Your Majesty's Home Ministers in matters appertaining to Your Majesty's subjects at Home.

(23.)

The petitioners further ask for themselves and the native races that Your Majesty may be graciously pleased to advise the Union Government of South Africa to secure to them in addition to the locations and native reserves already existing, substantially large additional areas of land, within the Union, commensurate with the proportion in numbers of the natives and the white races, so that there may be land whither the natives leaving farms or evicted from farms may go to and live.

(24.)

The petitioners, for themselves and the native races, most humbly respectfully, and loyally assure Your Majesty of their continued homage and loyalty to Your Majesty's throne and person, and their friendliness to General Botha and his Government, and to all Your Majesty's subjects.

We are, Your Majesty, Your Majesty's most humble subjects and servants.