Influx Control: The Pass Laws¶
Chaskalson, A.; Duncan, S. (1984). Influx Control: The Pass Laws. Second Carnegie Inquiry into Poverty and Development in Southern Africa, Carnegie Conference Paper No. 81. SALDRU, University of Cape Town.
| Type | conference paper |
| Scope | Economics and economic history of apartheid |
| Method | policy analysis |
| Period studied | 1913–1983 |
| Regions | South Africa, Homelands (Transkei, Bophuthatswana, Venda, Ciskei, KwaZulu), Western Cape, Soweto and Pretoria townships |
| Themes | bantustans removals influx, labour markets wages, origins segregation, demography urbanisation, inequality poverty unemployment |
| Citation key | chaskalson1984 |
Argument¶
Chaskalson and Duncan, writing as lawyers, describe influx control as it stood in December 1983 and argue that it has been a central pillar of segregation. The system restricts black presence in towns to what white labour needs. It works through two pillars, control over employment (labour bureaux, contract labour, registration) and control over residence (Section 10 rights, housing permits, reference books). They argue that it limited black urban employment and was a major cause of rural and urban poverty. They also argue that the 1968 housing and labour regulations failed to stop economic migration, producing overcrowding, illegal residence and resentment that surfaced in 1976. Independence for homelands threatens to strip the Section 10 rights of urban blacks' descendants.
Evidence and method¶
Statutory analysis: the Urban Areas Act 1945, Black Labour Act 1964, the 1952 Documents Act, Labour Regulations 1965 and Proclamation R74 of 1968, the 1968 residential regulations and the Status of Homeland Acts. It also uses Survey of Race Relations volumes, the Stallard Commission 1922 and an anecdotal Soshanguve court case.
Place in the debates¶
- Function of influx control: labour allocation and cheap/controlled labour vs. economic rationality (see Influx control, pass laws and African urbanisation). Treats the system as a mechanism that ties urban presence to white labour demand and channels workers into low-paid unpopular jobs. It also argues that attempts to curb migration were unenforceable against economic forces. It makes no formal engagement with the liberal/revisionist literature.
- Effectiveness of apartheid urban policy (see Influx control, pass laws and African urbanisation). The 1968 policy of restricting family housing and promoting commuting and hostels failed to reduce the urban black population and produced overcrowding, illegal residence and contempt for the law.
Findings¶
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Influx control is framed as a central pillar of segregation that produced white prosperity and black poverty. (p. 2)
Influx control has been one of the central pillars of the policies of segregation pursued by successive governments in South Africa since Union;
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The 1922 Stallard principle that black urban presence depends on white needs underpins the legislation. (p. 4)
It should be a recognised principle that Natives - men, women and children - should only be permitted within municipal 'areas in so far and for so long as their presence is demonstrated by the wants of the white population
-
Control of black land (7% rising to about 13%) and mobility left the reserves overpopulated and unable to sustain subsistence agriculture. (p. 3)
In time this led to the concentration of black persons in particular rural areas which have as a result become overpopulated and unable to sustain even a sUbsistence agrarian economy.
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Under Section 10 of the Urban Areas Act, blacks are barred from urban areas for over 72 hours unless they qualify through birth, long employment or residence, or permission from labour bureaux; contract (10(1)(d)) workers have no family rights. (p. 6)
All other black persons require permission from the manager of the local labour bureau to be in that area for a period in excess of 72 hours.
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Labour bureaux register homeland men from age fifteen and classify them for particular work, used to supply a stable pool for lowly paid jobs. (p. 9)
In practice this procedure is used to ensure a stable pool of labour for a number of unpopular and usually lowly paid occupations.
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Women from the homelands are in effect excluded from establishing themselves in cities. (p. 9)
In effect, this means that women from homelands are excluded from establishing themselves in cities, and may only seek work in homelands, resettlement areas or farms.
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Housing policy since the 1950s was used to curb family settlement; the 1968 regulations tied family housing to male employment. (p. 14)
Family accommodation was to be available only to those where the male head of household was in employment and was to be given up if the householder was unemployed for more than 30 days.
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The 1968 housing/labour policy could not stop economically driven migration, producing overcrowding, illegal residence and resentment culminating in 1976. (p. 14)
Migration to the cities which was the result of economic forces was not prevented, nor was there any reduction in the urban black population.
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Homeland independence strips citizenship and threatens the Section 10 rights of descendants, who become 'foreign blacks'. (p. 21)
the rights and privileges which urban blacks who qualify under section 10 presently have in regard to residence and employment in urban areas are ultimately destined to disappear unless there is a change
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Employment in the Western Cape is limited under Coloured labour preference. (p. 10)
The number of black persons who may obtain employment in the Western Cape is limited and controlled in accordance with the policy of 'Coloured Labour preference'
Evidence ledger¶
Sources used¶
| Source | Kind | Period | How used |
|---|---|---|---|
| Native Land Act No. 27 of 1913 | legislation gazette | 1913 | Establishes the land segregation framework (about 7% of land, later about 13%) to which influx control is tied. |
| Report of the Transvaal Local Government Commission (Stallard Commission), 1922 | commission or official report | 1922 | Quoted to show that the principle of admitting Africans to towns only to serve white needs was enunciated early and underlies later legislation. |
| Blacks (Urban Areas) Consolidation Act No. 25 of 1945 (esp. sections 10, 11, 12, 14, 28, 29, 29bis, 31, 38bis, 43bis) | legislation gazette | 1945 (as amended to 1983) | Main statutory source for the 72-hour rule, section 10 qualifications, removal powers, curfews and the position of foreign blacks. |
| Black Labour Act No. 67 of 1964 and Black Labour Regulations, 1965 (Chapter VIII etc.) | legislation gazette | 1964-1965 | Describes the labour bureau, requisitioning and recruitment system that controls employment in prescribed areas. |
| Regulations for Labour Bureaux at Bantu Authorities, Proclamation R74 of 1968 | legislation gazette | 1968 | Source for registration at fifteen, worker classification, record cards, contract limits and restrictions on women's contracts. |
| Development Trust and Land Act No. 18 of 1936 | legislation gazette | 1936 | Legal basis for controlling black residence and numbers on farmland through labour control boards. |
| Regulations Governing Urban Black Residential Areas, Government Notice R1036, Regulation Gazette No. 976 of 14 June 1968 | legislation gazette | 1968 (amended 1979) | Source for the permit system for township housing, cancellation after 30 days' unemployment, and the detailed criminal offences in townships. |
| Government Notice R1072 of 25 May 1979 and section 6A of Act No. 97 of 1978 | legislation gazette | 1978-1979 | Shows post-1976 changes to the housing regulations, such as 99-year leasehold and the end of cancellation for unemployment. |
| Blacks (Abolition of Passes and Co-ordination of Documents) Act No. 67 of 1952 | legislation gazette | 1952 | Basis for the reference book requirement, fingerprinting and production on demand. |
| Status of Transkei Act 100 of 1976, Status of Bophuthatswana Act 89 of 1977, Status of Venda Act 107 of 1979, Status of Ciskei Act 110 of 1981; National States Citizenship Act 26 of 1970; National States Constitution Act 21 of 1971 | legislation gazette | 1970-1981 | Establishes loss of South African citizenship and 'foreign black' status for citizens of independent homelands. |
| Black Affairs Administration Act No. 45 of 1971 | legislation gazette | 1971 | Cited for the effect of moving between Administration Board areas on section 10 rights. |
| A Survey of Race Relations in South Africa, 1968 and 1969 | secondary literature compilation | 1968-1969 | Documents the 1958 decision to withhold sub-economic housing funds and the shortage of black township housing by 1968. |
| Transvaal Provincial Division Applications Nos. 5767/83, 10260/83 and 11907/83 | state archives | 1983 | Court case records back the Mr K example of a superintendent unlawfully cancelling a house permit. |
Inference¶
Quantification: None.
Doctrinal and descriptive legal analysis of statutes and regulations as they stood in December 1983, supplemented by a single illustrative court case and a few Survey of Race Relations references. Claims about the system's effects are asserted rather than tested against data.
Key claims¶
| Claim | Basis | Strength |
|---|---|---|
| Influx control and land policy have been used since Union to restrict black presence in towns to the needs of the white economy, and are a major cause of rural and urban poverty. (p. 3) | Stallard Commission 1922 quotation, the 1913 Land Act and the statutory scheme; no statistical evidence on poverty is given. | Asserted |
| Employment of blacks in prescribed areas is controlled through labour bureaux, registration at fifteen, requisitioning or recruitment, and one-year contracts. Women from homelands are effectively excluded from urban employment. (p. 9) | Direct reading of the Black Labour Act, the 1965 regulations and Proclamation R74 of 1968. | Systematic data |
| From the 1950s and especially 1968, housing policy was used as an instrument of influx control: subsidies were withheld, hostels were favoured and family housing permits were tied to section 10 status and employment. (p. 12) | 1968 Regulations Governing Urban Black Residential Areas and Survey of Race Relations 1968/69 references. | Partial data |
| The 1968 labour and residence measures failed to stop migration or reduce the urban black population, and produced overcrowding, illegal residence and resentment that contributed to the 1976 riots. (p. 14) | Asserted by the authors without population counts or other data. | Asserted |
| Township superintendents hold wide arbitrary powers and still use housing as an instrument of influx control, as shown by the Soshanguve case of Mr K. (p. 18) | One anonymised example drawn from Transvaal Provincial Division court applications, plus the township regulations. | Illustrative or anecdotal |
| Independence of the homelands strips citizens of South African citizenship, so the section 10 rights of urban residents will disappear over generations and their descendants will become 'foreign blacks'. (p. 21) | Status Acts of the independent homelands, the National States Citizenship Act and section 12(1) of the Urban Areas Act. | Systematic data |
Gaps in the evidence¶
The paper describes the legal system but does not measure its effects. It has no data on pass-law arrests and convictions, the size of the urban black population, housing waiting lists, or labour bureau placements. Those figures existed in Department of Justice, Bantu Administration and SAIRR records, and in censuses, and would let the claims of 'major cause of poverty' and 'failure to prevent migration' be tested. The housing and 1976 claims rest on a few Survey of Race Relations pages and on assertion, and so could be tested with administration-board and local-authority records.
Replicability: Data public and well described.