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House of Assembly Debates (Hansard), Union/Republic of South Africa

Literature › Primary sources

Kind parliamentary debates
Producer Parliament of South Africa
Coverage 1910-1994
Works using it 82

Debates

Debate Works
Origins, coherence and ideology of apartheid and Afrikaner nationalism 17
Cheap labour thesis and the function of the reserves 15
Liberal vs revisionist: was apartheid functional or dysfunctional for capitalist growth? 14
Homelands, separate development, decentralisation and removals 12
The job colour bar, white labour and its erosion 10
Influx control, pass laws and African urbanisation 9
Sanctions, disinvestment and the anti-apartheid movement 9
The state and capital: instrumentalism, autonomy and fractions of capital 9
Industrialisation, protection and industrial structure 6
Farm labour: mechanisation, labour shedding, wages and labour control 5
The mine migrant labour system: origins, recruitment, foreign labour and stabilisation 5
Worker consciousness, strikes and conflict on the mines and shop floor 5
Agricultural policy, productivity, farm size and land reform 4
Agrarian transition to capitalism and the fate of the African peasantry 4
White electoral politics, delimitation and party systems 4
Why apartheid ended: reform, transition and elite bargaining 4
Urban segregation, Group Areas and the apartheid city 4
Black trade unions: growth, wage effects, Wiehahn and strategy 4
Living standards, health and social policy 4
Coloured Labour Preference policy in the Western Cape 3
Pre-Union colonial economy, the mineral revolution and the South African War 2
Did the apartheid economy fail? Growth, productivity, investment and the post-1970s crisis 2
Education, Bantu Education and skills 2
Data reliability and econometric method 2
Post-apartheid economic policy, governance and corruption 2
Resistance and liberation movements 2
Racial wage gaps, wage convergence and wage determination 2
Finance, capital flight, the 1985 debt crisis and banking 1
Unemployment: causes, measurement and labour market institutions 1

Works using this source

Work As cited Period How used
(ed.) et al. (1983) Hansard 1954 and 1963 ministerial statements on Coloured Labour Preference (House of Assembly) 1954-1963 Source for Verwoerd's 1954 statement and De Wet Nel's 1963 redefinition of the Eiselen line.
(ed.) et al. (1987) Parliamentary debate on Electricity Act 1922 (Dr Van der Bijl quotation) 1922 Quotation illustrating the aims of Escom's founding.
Author not named in text (MSc candidate (2012) House of Assembly Debates (Hansard), 1947, 1948, 1951, 1953, 1955, 1959, 1976, 1991 1947-1991 Quoted for the white bread promise, bread subsidy debates, the 1953 price increase fight, monopoly complaints and enriched bread assessments.
Baldwin (1975) House of Assembly Debates, 17 May 1973 (Janson and P. Z. L. Vuuren) 1973 Quotes the Deputy Minister and a Nationalist MP to show government positions on homelands and temporary sojourn of Africans.
Baldwin (1975) House of Assembly debate, 4 February 1969 (Koornhof), quoted in Desmond 1969 Shows the official attitude to removing 'redundant' Africans from white areas.
Bozzoli (1975) Parliamentary speech by Smuts, 17 September 1919 1919 Shows Smuts's rhetorical support for industrialization as a cure for political ills.
Carter (1958) Parliamentary debates: House of Assembly Debates (Hansard) and Senate Debates 1946-1957 Main source for party positions and arguments on the Citizenship, Suppression of Communism, Group Areas, Bantu Education, Separate Representation of Voters and other bills.
Christopher (1983a) Assembly Debates, Vol. 8 (1980) 1980 Cited for parliamentary rejection of proposals to reduce the range of constituency sizes.
Christopher (1983b) Assembly Debates, Vol. 8 (1980) 1980 Documents rejection of parliamentary proposals to reduce the range of constituency sizes or equalise them.
Christopher (1990) Official data on racial reclassification under the Population Registration Act, 1988 (South Africa, 1989, Parliamentary Debates) 1988 Table 3 shows 867 people reclassified in 1988 to illustrate the imprecision and arbitrariness of racial classification.
Christopher (1991) Hansard 1990 (reclassification figures and de Klerk speech) 1989-1990 Provides 1989 racial reclassification numbers and de Klerk's Feb 1990 reform announcement retaining population groups.
Christopher (1991) Hansard, House of Assembly debates 1950 (Donges speech on Group Areas Bill) 1950 Quoted to establish the government's stated intent behind the Group Areas Act.
Christopher (1994a) Hansard (House of Assembly Debates) 1961, vol. 107, col. 4173 1961 Quoted Verwoerd speech illustrating the government's isolationist attitude to the Afro-Asian bloc and the UN.
Christopher (1994b) Parliamentary debates (Hansard) quotations: Schoeman 1954, Malan 1950, Swart 1953, Verwoerd 1953, Malan 1954, Verwoerd 1959 1950-1959 Ministerial statements are quoted to establish the white-supremacist intent behind job reservation, group areas, separate amenities, Bantu education and partition.
Clark (1987) Hansard, House of Assembly Debates (21 Feb 1927; 23 May 1922) 1922-1927 Quotes government rationale for Escom and Iscor as promoting industrialisation.
Clynick (1990) Parliamentary question by AP Swart and Mr Labuschagne MPs on Africans on the Trust, with SNA reply 27 July 1941 1941 Shows white farmer political pressure over African tenants moving to Trust farms.
Cobbett and Nakedi (1987) Parliamentary question to Deputy Minister Morrison on the Luckhoff removals c.1984-85 Shows the official justification for removing Luckhoff's black residents and the lack of criteria offered.
Cornell (1960) Parliamentary debate on the Natives (Abolition of Passes) Act, 1952 (statement by a Native Representative) 1952 Source of the claim that one in ten Africans was imprisoned annually, mostly for pass offences.
Coupe (1990) House of Assembly Debates, 6-10 June 1955, pp. 7147-7259 1955 Cited for publicity about the Nationalist directors of Vekawerksklerefabriek.
Crankshaw (1990) Debates of the House of Assembly (Hansard), Volume 103, 1960 January-May 1960 Cited for craft unions calling on the state for protection by the end of the 1950s.
Davenport (1969) House of Assembly debates 1937 (Free State parliamentarian quoted) 1937 Quoted to illustrate the non-consultation attitude in the 1937 debates.
Davenport (1969) Young and Barrett 1935 investigating committee of municipalities (as cited in H. of A. Debates, 1937, cols. 6112-5, speech by M. Alexander) 1935; 1937 Evidence that municipalities were strongly opposed to the Stallard doctrine on the eve of 1937 legislation.
Davies et al. (1976) 1913 parliamentary Select Committee and House of Assembly Debates 1922 (Tielman Roos) 1913, 1922 Quoted to show the dominant classes regarded unemployed poor whites as a threat to stability.
Davies et al. (1976) Hansard 1947, Column 5009 (Minister of Native Affairs) 1947 Quoted to illustrate the United Party's contradictory labour policy.
Delius and Schirmer (2000) Parliamentary Assembly Debates 1945, 1946 and 1960 1945-1946; 1960 Used to show widespread parliamentary support for conservation, racial arguments about black tenants, and the 1960 shift toward large farms.
Devereux (2007) House of Assembly Debates (South Africa) 1965a, 1965b, 1973a, 1973b, 1973c 1965-1973 Supplies ministerial and MP statements on racial differentials, de-urbanisation, the homelands policy, work disincentives, and the extension of pensions to Namibia.
Duncan (1993) House of Assembly Debates (Vol 34 1939; Vol 51 1945; Vol 61 1947) 1939-1947 Nationalist and ministerial statements on cost of African welfare and health.
Edgecombe (1987) Parliamentary questions (Arthur Marwick) referenced in debates 1937 Cited as prompting the decision to send Lugg to investigate the token system.
Ehlers (2007) Union of South Africa, Debates of the House of Assembly, Fourth Session, Sixth Parliament, 12.2.1932 1932 Cited for lobbying of parliamentary support by rural trust companies.
Feinberg (1993) Union of South Africa, House of Assembly, Debates, Third Session, First Parliament, January 24 - June 16, 1913 (Hansard) January-June 1913 Establishes the content of the Natives Land Bill debate, speakers' stated aims (segregation vs squatting vs labour), and members' references to Free State pressure.
Feinberg (1993) Votes and Proceedings of the House of Assembly, 1913 and Senate Debates, June 13, 1913 1913 Confirms motions, amendments and Senate remarks about the Bill.
Giliomee (1995) Transcript of TV interview with De Klerk, 14 May 1989, and House of Assembly Debates, 23 May 1989 May 1989 Documents De Klerk's view that a perpetual-opposition NP would be a death knell, so negotiations were only about power-sharing.
Giliomee (2003) House of Assembly Debates (HAD), 1944 (Malan and Sauer speeches, cols. 75, 6697-6699, 6713) 1944 Documents the first parliamentary use of 'apartheid' and the paternalist/trusteeship content of Malan's and Sauer's defence of it.
Giliomee (2009) House of Assembly Debates, 1953 (Verwoerd's speech on Bantu Education, cols. 3585) 1953 Documents Verwoerd's criticism of the earlier education policy as uneconomic and frustrating to educated blacks, and his call for education rooted in Bantu society.
Giliomee and Schlemmer (1985) House of Assembly Debates (1959 Verwoerd; 1978 Mulder) 1959, 1978 Quotations establish the political purposes of separate development and denationalisation.
Gould (1981) Hansard 1976 (Minister of Justice on Internal Security Act) 1976 Quotes the Minister to show the Act targets subversion generally, not only communists.
Hallett (1984) Parliamentary statement by Minister of Bantu Administration and Development, 14 May 1975 (as quoted by SPP) 1975 Shows the official rationale of 'homeland consolidation' behind the Tsitsikama removal.
Hallett (1984) Statement by Minister of the Interior Dr T. E. Donges introducing the Group Areas Act, 1950 1950 Evidences the explicit white-supremacist intent behind the Group Areas Act.
Horner and Kooy (1980a) Hansard 3, question columns 205-210, 21 February 1975; Hansard 5, Q. cols. 415-6, 7 March 1975 1975 Sole source for strikes at Balgray Collieries and several other mines (De Aar, Boshof) not reported in the press, and for a 1975 Free State incident.
Horner and Kooy (1980a) House of Assembly Debates, Q. cols. 59-60, 14 February 1979 1979 Source for the economically active population of 9 440 000 used to size the mining workforce.
Horner and Kooy (1980b) Hansard 3, question columns 205-210, 21 February 1975 1975 Sole source for police intervention at Balgray Collieries and for several minor incidents (Copperton, Loxton, Boshof) in the tables.
Horner and Kooy (1980b) Hansard 5, Q. cols. 415-6, 7 March 1975 March 1975 Cited as a source for the March 1975 Hlobane/Northfield and Western Deep incidents in the Diary.
Horner and Kooy (1980b) House of Assembly Debates, Q. cols. 59-60, 14 February 1979 1979 Source for the economically active population figure of 9 440 000.
Horner and Kooy (1980c) House of Assembly Debates (Hansard 3), Q. cols. 205-210, 21 February 1975 21 February 1975 Sole source for some incidents (Balgray Collieries, Copperton, Loxton) not reported in the press.
Horner and Kooy (1980c) House of Assembly Debates, Q. cols. 59-60, 14 February 1979 14 February 1979 Gives the economically active population (9 440 000) as the denominator for mine employment.
Horrell (1968) Hansard (House of Assembly, Senate) 1967 parliamentary questions and debates 1966-1967 Ministerial replies supply most statistics (classification, security detentions, banning, pass laws, education, pensions, housing) and the debates on Acts.
Horrell (1970) Hansard (House of Assembly) debates, 1969 (no confidence debate, Votes, questions and replies) 1968-1969 Supplies ministerial statements on policy, security statistics, detentions and deaths in detention that the Survey reports.
Horrell (1970) Hansard 1 col. 92 (Minister of the Interior on Coloured voter eligibility, 4 February) 1969 Provides the numbers of Coloured men and women eligible to register for the Coloured Persons' Representative Council elections.
Horrell (1970) Minister of Justice replies, Assembly 27 May 1969, Hansard 16 col. 6681 (security law convictions 1968) 1968 Gives convictions under security laws in 1968, by race.
Horrell et al. (1972) Hansard (House of Assembly) questions and replies, 1971 1971 session Principal source for statistics on reclassification, Immorality Act charges, banning, passports, removals, labour, education, welfare and housing.
Houghton and Dagut (1973) Hansard: House of Assembly Debates 1924, 1925, 1927, 1969 1924-1969 Used for the Governor-General's speech, the civilized-labour definition, the protection debate, the ISCOR Bill and the 1969 petroleum gas announcement.
Hyslop (1987) Hansard vol. 82-3 (1953), Verwoerd's 1953 parliamentary speeches on Bantu Education 1953 Establishes Verwoerd's stated aim of black 'co-responsibility' for control and finance of education, the hegemonic design behind the boards.
Kantor and Kenny (1976) Debate on the 1958 Native Taxation Bill (Hansard), as quoted by Legassick 1958 Quoted to show that the state recognised the burden of urban services on the state rather than employers, undermining the thesis that the state serves capital.
Keegan (1985) House of Assembly Debates, 18 February 1913 1913 Source for the figure that 78 farms were bought by blacks in the Transvaal in 1910-12.
Kerby (2016a) Parliamentary Hansard (various: 1972, 1977, 1978, 1979, 1982, 1986) 1972-1986 Quoted for policy intentions of ministers (anchoring Africans, labour-intensive industry, incentive generosity) and parliamentary debates on decentralisation and Taiwan productivity.
Kerby (2016b) South African Parliamentary Hansard (1972, 1977, 1978, 1979, 1982, 1986) 1972-1986 Ministerial and MP statements on decentralisation aims, incentives increase and Taiwan productivity comparisons.
Korf (2010) Hansard (House of Assembly debates), e.g. 31 May 1950 cols 7938-7946; 26 May 1952 1924-1953 Used for Malan's account of the Graaff-Reinet residential segregation scheme and Suppression of Communism debate.
Legassick (1974) Hansard: House of Assembly Debates (HAD) and Senate Debates, 1947-1971 1947-1971 Main source of ministerial statements (Malan, Verwoerd, Vorster, Jansen, Ministers of Labour and Finance) that trace Nationalist policy and ideology on job colour bars, migrancy, taxation, resettlement and decentralization.
Lumby (1974) Hansard 1914-1939 and Cape Times reports of debates 1914-1939 Ministers' statements on revenue vs protection, imprint bill, and tariff rationale.
Mabin (1992) Group Areas Bill debates and Donges's citations; Votes and Proceedings of the Cape Provincial Council, July 1940 1940, 1950 Shows defeat of the Cape segregation ordinance and Donges's later reliance on Cape demands.
Mabin (1992) Hansard, House of Assembly, Vol. 33 (1939) 1939 Documents Hertzog's and Stuttaford's 1939 proposals for servitude-based segregation.
Major (2005) Parliamentary speech of Minister of Labour Ben Schoeman on the 1953 bill 1953 Shows the government's intent that African workers would have no incentive to organise.
Maree (1985) Hansard (7 June 1979), column 8031; Minister of Labour statement; 1953 Minister of Labour statement quoted via Horner 1953, 1979 Shows the state's concern about union involvement in politics as part of explaining the 1979 recognition policy.
Mariotti (2008) Hansard (as quoted in SAIRR Annual Report 1972) c.1972 Minister of Finance statement used to show government remained committed to apartheid while allowing job reservation concessions.
McGrath and Simkins (1985) Hansard 1984, No. 12, Col. 5356 1984 Cited to show the Prime Minister referred approvingly to Simkins's simulations.
McNamara (1985) Hansard, No. 5, Column 1969, 5 March 1975 1975 Cited for parliamentary concern about the new intensity of mine riots.
Mohamed (1991) Parliamentary reply by the Minister on 1987 apprentices 1987 Noted as an alternative figure (127 new apprentices in 1987) contradicting the Manpower official figure.
Nattrass (1976a) Hansard, House of Assembly, 5 March 1971 (Minister of Bantu Affairs reply), via Survey of Race Relations 1971 1971 Source for the distribution of foreign African migrants by industry (Table A7 column F).
Nattrass (1976b) Reply by the Minister of Bantu Affairs, House of Assembly, 5 March 1971 (Hansard cols. 5,384-386), via SAIRR Survey of Race Relations 1971 1971 Supplies the industrial distribution of foreign African migrants in Table 6.
Nattrass (1976c) Minister of Bantu Affairs reply in House of Assembly, 5 March 1971, Hansard cols 5384-386, quoted in SAIRR Survey of Race Relations 1971 1971 Provides the industrial distribution of foreign African migrants in Table 6.
Nattrass (1990) Hansard, Budget Speeches (vol.66 1949, vol.78 1952, vol.84 1954) 1949-1954 Used for Minister Havenga's statements on inflation, austerity, deflation and distrust of refugee capital.
Nielsen (1922) General Smuts's speech introducing the Native Affairs Bill in the Union Parliament, May 1920 May 1920 Cited to show that territorial separation was now law and that pass laws were condemned.
O'Meara (1977) House of Assembly Debates, 1935 (Dr Bremner) and 1940-1 (Malan on Ossewa Brandwag membership) 1935; 1940-41 Cited for Gesuiwerde critique of capitalism and for Malan's claim of Ossewa Brandwag membership.
O'Meara (1978) House of Assembly Debates (HAD) 1938, 1942, 1956, 1958 1938-1958 Cited for Spoorbond's history, Schoeman's views on abolishing collective bargaining and the later fate of the BWBB.
Posel (1990b) Hansard (HAD 1952, 1956, 1976) and Senate Debates 1967 1952-1976 Used for NAD policy statements, Verwoerd's refusal on Tomlinson funding, M.C. Botha's statements on homeland citizenship.
Posel (2011) House of Assembly Debates, 17 March 1967 1967 Minister of the Interior's statement that race classification rests on social judgement.
Posel (2011) House of Assembly Debates, 1961, vol. 107 1961 Verwoerd's statement that the homeland policy departed from original intentions.
Price (1953) Party strengths in the House of Assembly at dissolution, February 1953 1943-1953 Shows the shift in Government and Opposition majorities across 1943, 1948 and 1953.
Savage (1984) House of Assembly Debates, question columns (1980/1 to 1982 pass law prosecutions, arrests in urban centres, women arrests, Cape Town deportations) 1955-1983 Supplies post-1980 national prosecution figures and the 1974-82 arrests in 11 urban centres, and parliamentary evidence of endorsements out and deportations.
Savage (1986) House of Assembly Debates: annual answers by the Minister of Law and Order and the Minister of Cooperation and Development after 1980 (also 1955, 1962 answers on endorsements) Supplies pass law prosecution figures after 1980, when police reports ceased to give them, and indicates summary endorsements.
Schirmer (1995) House of Assembly Debates, 1925 (Nieuwenhuize) and 17 March 1932 1925, 1932 Shows farmers' low profit margins and the labour shortage in Lydenburg.
Schirmer (1999) Union of South Africa, Assembly Debates, 12 May 1960 1960 Cited for the growing state bias against land sub-divisions.
Schirmer (2004) Union of South Africa Assembly Debates, 12 May 1960 1960 Cited for the growing state bias against small farms and subdivision.
Schneider (2000) Parliamentary debate on tariff policy (M. Kentridge, quoted in Botha 1973) 1925 Illustrates that white employment was an explicit goal of the 1925 tariff.
Seekings (1990) Hansard, Questions and Replies (Q&R), 1983-1985 1983-1985 Gives the Deputy-Minister's denial of promises, numbers of new houses built, township population and rented-house proportion, and ERAB capital allocation.
Simons (1956) Senator Verwoerd's estimate of the number of pass-type documents Africans must carry c.1950s Used as a reliable figure for the number of documents Africans must carry (27 or 28).
Simons (1956) Verwoerd statements to the Assembly/House of Assembly (April 1950, June 1952) and on the 1952 amendment 1950-1952 Quoted to show government intent on freedom of movement and the farm-versus-city relationship.
Simons (1956) Verwoerd's 1952 admission of departmental expenditure on pass clerks' salaries and forms 1952 Quantifies part of the administrative cost of the pass system.
Spandau (1972) House of Assembly Debates (Hansard), No. 13, 1972, cols. 6653-6655 1972 Minister of Labour's statement to show broader labour policy beyond the Wage Board is restrictive.
Spandau (1980a) Hansard (House of Assembly Debates), Questions and Replies, 22 February 1977, Qu. 7 1977 Documents the Minister's statement that an enquiry into capital-intensity would be made, supporting the claim of no settled policy.
Spandau (1980b) Hansard (House of Assembly Debates), Questions and Replies, 22 February 1977, Qu. 7, pp. 422-23 1977 Documents the Minister of Economic Affairs' statement of concern about rising capital-intensity and a promised enquiry.
Stemmet (2002) Hansard, 8th Parliament of South Africa (1985-1987 debates) 1985-1987 Listed as primary source for parliamentary statements on security and emergencies.
Van Schoor (1986) Speech by J.C. Smuts, House of Assembly, 13/3/45 1945 Shows cross-party consensus on maintaining white supremacy.
Van Vuuren (2006) Hansard (Parliamentary statements, e.g. 8 December 1980; PFP MP Malcomess on oil suppliers) 1980-1984 Used for allegations of corruption in oil purchasing and secrecy.
Venter (1979) Parliamentary budget vote statement by Prime Minister Vorster on the land question 1978 Used to show South Africa's stated position that it has fulfilled its land undertakings.
West (1982) House of Assembly Debates (HAD) quoting a minister's speech on the Western Province as the area for apartheid policy unclear (cited text truncated) Shows the government regarded the Western Province as the area where apartheid could be implemented with greatest ease.
West (1982) House of Assembly Debates (Hansard), No. 4, 1981, cols 230-1 (Koornhof on illegal black population of greater Cape Town) August 1981 Supplies the minister's admission that 85,436 of an estimated 199,600 blacks in the area were illegally present (42%).
West (1982) House of Assembly Debates 1981 (Nos. 3, 4, 5) and 1979 (No. 6, No. 7): pass arrest figures for major centres and Cape Peninsula 1978-1981 (Jan-June) Parliamentary replies give arrest totals and women's arrests, from which Tables 3 and 4 are compiled to show the Cape's rising share.
West (1982) House of Assembly Debates, No. 4, 1981, col. 156 (qualifications of Commissioners and prosecutors) 1981 Establishes the limited legal qualifications of Commissioners and prosecutors in the pass courts.
West (1982) House of Assembly Debates, No. 6, 1979 and No. 7 and 1981 replies on influx control fines, Cape Peninsula 1978, 1979, 1981 (Jan-June) Provides fines paid to the Administration Board by employers and individuals, used to estimate share of arrestees imprisoned for non-payment.
West (1982) House of Assembly Debates, No. 7, 1981, cols 406-7 and 390-1, 395 (Nyanga arrests and deportations) August-September 1981 Gives the number arrested (1,472) in the August 1981 raids and the numbers deported to the Transkei.
White (1990) Parliamentary debate on the Separate Representation of Voters' Bill, May 1951 (via African World) May 1951 Shows government attacks on the United South Africa Trust Fund as 'organised money power' and Oppenheimer's reply.
Wilkins and Strydom (1978) Hansard, House of Assembly debate, March 21 1945 (Broederbond and civil servants) 1945 Quoted for Smuts's case against the Broederbond and the Nationalists' replies.
Wilkins and Strydom (1978) Hansard, January 25 1946 and Senate debate June 13 1950 1946-1950 Used for the Marshall Clark retirement affair and parliamentary criticism of Broederbond influence.