SUBMISSIONS OF THE AFRICAN NATIONAL CONGRESS AND THE SOUTH AFRICAN INDIAN CONGRESS TO THE SELECT COMMITTEE TO ENQUIRE INTO THE SEPARATE REPRESENTATION OF VOTERS ACT VALIDATION AND AMENDMENT BILL, NOVEMBER 1953

1. The African National Congress and the South African Indian Congress are the oldest and most representative organisations of the African and Indian peoples of the Union and therefore speak for the majority of South Africans. It is consequently our duty to state our views on a matter which not only affects the Coloured population of the Cape Province but deeply involves the future of the country as a whole and the basic principles of democracy as well.

2. It is obvious that any proposal to remove Coloured men from the common roll of voters in the Cape Province constitutes a diminution of the already shamefully restricted remnants of the non-white franchise. The Appellate Division of the Supreme Court has ruled that the contemplated change would be such a diminution. The experience of the African people during seventeen years of communal representation has proved abundantly that this system operates to their grave detriment. The endless stream of legislation discriminating against the non-white people which has passed virtually unopposed through Parliament during this period demonstrates beyond question that the representation of one section of the community by a fixed and insignificant minority of members of Parliament is no safeguard whatsoever of the rights of that section. It is nothing but a pretence of democratic representation which deceives no one.

3. For a century the Coloured man in the Cape has exercised his vote. It is entrenched in the Act of Union which was passed in 1910 and its maintenance has been the subject of constant pledges by white politicians of all parties since then, particularly at a time when those politicians were depriving the African of his vote. The spokesmen of "White South Africa" assert their so-called civilising mission in Africa and their devotion to high ethical principles. The legislation which you are considering exposes the hollowness of these pretensions for it is both uncivilised and a crude betrayal of solemn pledges.

4. It is regretted that in discussing this Bill and its predecessors, the racial obsession of Parliamentarians has obscured a vital issue, viz., the general character of the Coloured electorate. For many years these voters have exercised the franchise in a serious and responsible manner. They are mainly working people; artisans, small businessmen, and professional people. They have therefore, as a part of the electorate exerted a beneficial and progressive influence impelling politicians to deal with bread and butter matters rather than the sterile racial issues and demagogic flag-wagging which have for so long disfigured South African public life. To remove these voters from the roll will serve further to strengthen the undue domination of vested interest and reaction in Parliament.

5. The proposed legislation is yet another in the series of harsh and unjust laws oppressing the non-white people, which particularly in the past five years, have been placed on the statute book. It cannot be assumed that the victims of this oppression will continue to tolerate ever-renewed attacks upon their rights and dignity as human beings. The proposed legislation will once more slam the door of Parliament in the face of a big section of the non-white people and thereby deny them the right to redress their wrongs and obtain their just demands by constitutional means. There can be one outcome - disastrous upheavals in which white and non-white will suffer alike.

6. The outcome can only be avoided by drastic reversal of the present policy of suppression and discrimination. The principle of government by consent must be reaffirmed. While throughout the civilised world the people have attained an ever greater measure of participation in government through the abolition of property qualifications for voters, and the achievement of women's suffrage, South Africa has retrogressed from the Cape Constitution of 1853 which did not discriminate between voters on the grounds of race or colour. There must be a return to the great democratic tradition which has been the pride of the advanced nations of the world, including the lands of origin of the main white population groups of South Africa.

For the sake of the harmonious development and future well-being of South Africa, the non-white population must be given its full share in the making of the laws of the country. We demand the retention of the Coloured vote in the Cape, we demand the abolition of qualifications required for Coloured voters which do not apply to Europeans. We demand the extension of the franchise to the other provinces and to all non-whites, both men and women.

7. The African National Congress and the South African Indian Congress express their emphatic opposition to the Separate Representation of Voters "Act" in its entirety.