African Townsmen? South African Natives (Urban Areas) Legislation through the Years¶
Rodney Davenport (1969). African Townsmen? South African Natives (Urban Areas) Legislation through the Years. African Affairs, Vol. 68, No. 271. Oxford University Press on behalf of The Royal African Society.
| Type | journal article |
| Scope | Wider apartheid literature |
| Method | archival narrative |
| Period studied | 1912–1968 |
| Regions | South Africa, Southern Rhodesia, East Africa, Congo, Witwatersrand, Western Cape |
| Themes | origins segregation, bantustans removals influx, demography urbanisation, labour markets wages, politics ideology elections, comparative theory |
| Citation key | davenport1969 |
Argument¶
Davenport traces the Natives (Urban Areas) Act from its first consideration in 1912 through its 1923 enactment and later amendments (1937, 1952, 1964). He argues that South African policy was not monolithic: the 1923 Act was relatively mild, and the Stallard doctrine was contested within white politics. The 1937 amendments and the post-1948 Nationalist governments then tightened influx control and urban segregation. While British colonial Africa after the late 1950s rejected influx control and migrant labour, South Africa held to its earlier course, and the author sees this as a more extreme form of a problem found elsewhere. The legislation grew steadily more complex and coercive, was never based on African consent, and failed to halt the growth of the urban African population.
Evidence and method¶
Parliamentary debates (Hansard), Union and colonial commission reports (Stallard 1922, Holloway 1932, Smit 1942, Fagan 1948, Tomlinson 1955, East Africa Royal Commission 1955, Plewman 1958), Native Affairs Department reports, Horrell's Survey of Race Relations, Black Sash and Institute of Race Relations casework, 1911-1960 census figures for six cities, and secondary biographies (Hancock on Smuts, Paton on Hofmeyr).
Place in the debates¶
- Whether South African urban policy was monolithic and consistent (see Influx control, pass laws and African urbanisation). Argues policy was not always monolithic: the 1923 Act was mild, the Stallard doctrine was opposed, and the Smuts government considered abandoning influx control in the 1940s.
- Whether the 1964 contract-labour legislation marked a retreat from Verwoerdian efforts to reduce African urbanisation (see Influx control, pass laws and African urbanisation). Rejects the view that influx control had been abandoned in favour of undermining rights. Removal of 'redundant' Africans intensified after 1964, notably in the western Cape.
- Whether South Africa was a special case compared with settler and colonial Africa. Holds that it was an extreme form of a common problem, with divergence driven mainly by political calculation and by the scale of relative demographic change.
Findings¶
-
The 1922 Stallard Commission stated the orthodox white view of towns as white spaces in which Africans were tolerated only as labour. (p. 2)
the native should only be allowed to enter the urban areas, which are essentially the white man's creation, when he is willing to enter and to minister to the needs of the white man
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The East Africa Royal Commission rejected influx control on economic grounds, in contrast to South Africa's course. (p. 4)
such control is undesirable on economic grounds because it restricts mobility and therefore inhibits the development of the exchange economy, and is impracticable
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Uptake of the 1923 Act by municipalities was gradual but substantial by 1937. (p. 7)
There were 64 locations under the Act in 1927, a good many of which had been in existence in 1923; by 1937 the number registered under the Act had risen to 234
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Urban African growth in the interwar years, driven by industrial demand, was the context for the 1937 amendment. (p. 8)
the urban African population, which had stood at 587,000 in 1921, had risen by 1936 to 1,150,000, and was increasing at a steady rate in response to the demands of expanding industry
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The 1937 Act introduced a time limit on work-seekers' stay in town, the first real influx control. (p. 9)
at the end of which they had either to have found work or depart
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The Smit Report of 1942 recommended abolishing the pass laws, citing mass convictions, but was not implemented. (p. 10)
in the three years 1939-41 over 300,000 Africans had been convicted for pass law offences
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The 1952 amendment defined Section 10-type qualifications for the right to remain in town, giving qualifiers greater legal security. (p. 11)
He had either to have been born there and lived there continuously, or to have worked continously in the same town for the same employer for 10 years, or to have lived continuously in the same town for 15 years.
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The 1964 Act made urban residence rights contingent on employment, undermining the security granted in 1952. (p. 11)
It made the rights enjoyed under the 1952 Act dependent on their owner's continuing in employment.
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Fixed-term contracts and compulsory return to the homelands weakened African workers' bargaining power. (p. 12)
This had the effect of greatly weakening the employee's bargaining power, for it ceased to be a simple, or safe, or cheap operation for him to change his job.
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Endorsing out produced resettlement camps holding tens of thousands of dependants and non-workers by 1967. (p. 12)
In October 1967 they housed about 50,000 women and children, and (on an estimate) another 20,000 men
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The Tomlinson Commission's estimated job requirement for its policy was far from being met. (p. 13)
The Tomlinson Commission estimated that refoulement of this nature would require the creation of 50,000 jobs a year in the Bantu areas down to the end of the century
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Africans came to outnumber whites in the large South African towns since Union, and the relative change is what matters. (p. 14)
In all the large towns a white majority has given place to an African majority in the period since Union.
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The Act lacked African consent, with governments repeatedly missing opportunities for consultation. (p. 15)
In no meaningful sense of the word could the Urban Areas Act be described as legislation based on consent.
Evidence ledger¶
Sources used¶
| Source | Kind | Period | How used |
|---|---|---|---|
| Report of the Transvaal Local Government (Stallard) Commission, TP 1-1922 | commission or official report | 1922 | Supplies the Stallard doctrine that Africans may be in towns only to serve whites, the ideological benchmark for the whole article. |
| Report of the East Africa Royal Commission, 1953-1955, Cmd. 9745 | commission or official report | 1953-1955 | Comparative evidence that East African policy rejected influx control, set against South Africa's course. |
| Southern Rhodesia, Report of the Urban African Affairs Commission, 1958 (Plewman Report) | commission or official report | 1958 | Comparative case showing Southern Rhodesia questioned its urban assumptions and rejected influx control. |
| J. C. Smuts, Africa and Some World Problems (Rhodes Lectures 1929) | other | 1929 | Illustrates the 1920s assumption that migrancy did not detribalise Africans. |
| Natives (Urban Areas) Act 21 of 1923 and its amendments (1930, 1937, 1944, 1945, 1952, 1964 etc.), including the Native Services Levy Act 1952 | legislation gazette | 1923-1964 | The main object of analysis; its provisions on locations, advisory boards, pass control, brewing and influx control are traced across amendments. |
| Union Gazette Extraordinary, 19 January 1918 (published Urban Areas Bill) | legislation gazette | 1918 | Documents the first published draft Urban Areas Bill, used to show early mild policy intentions. |
| Reports of the Department of Native Affairs, UG 14-1927 and UG 41-1937 | official statistical series | 1927, 1937 | Source for counts of locations registered under the Act (64 in 1927, 234 in 1937), housing loans and uptake by municipalities. |
| Report of the Native Economic Commission, 1930-1932 (Holloway), UG 22-1932 | commission or official report | 1930-1932 | Shows the Commission retained existing urban restrictions but declined to propose more. |
| Young and Barrett 1935 investigating committee of municipalities (as cited in H. of A. Debates, 1937, cols. 6112-5, speech by M. Alexander) | parliamentary debates | 1935; 1937 | Evidence that municipalities were strongly opposed to the Stallard doctrine on the eve of 1937 legislation. |
| Native Affairs Commission Report for 1936; Report of the Native Affairs Commission 1939-40, UG 42-1941, Appendix H (J. M. Young) | commission or official report | 1936; 1939-40 | The 1936 Report shows the Nicholls-influenced Stallardist turn; Young's 1939 appendix shows earlier criticism of pass laws. |
| Report of the Inter-Departmental Committee on the Native Pass Laws, 1920 (Godley), UG 41-1922 | commission or official report | 1920 | Source for the 1913 Free State unrest over passes for women and for 1920 recommendations of sweeping change. |
| Report No. 282 of the Board of Trade and Industries, 1945 (Norval) | commission or official report | 1945 | Supports the claim that industrialists stressed semi-skilled African labour in manufacturing in 1942-48. |
| Report of the Inter-Departmental Committee on the Social, Health and Economic Conditions of the Urban Natives, 1942 (Smit) | commission or official report | 1942 | Evidence of a liberal shift: acceptance of urbanisation, links of low wages to absent bargaining, pass law convictions of 300,000 in 1939-41, and call to abolish passes. |
| Report of the Native Laws Commission, 1946-1948 (Fagan), UG 28-1948 | commission or official report | 1946-1948 | Shows continued official criticism of migrant labour and pass laws just before the 1948 Nationalist government. |
| Tomlinson Commission Summary Report, UG 61-1965 | commission or official report | 1955 (summary published 1965) | Population projections of urban Bantu-speakers and the need for 50,000 jobs a year in Bantu areas, used to assess Verwoerdian policy. |
| M. Horrell (ed.), A Survey of Race Relations in South Africa (1953-4, 1955-6, 1956-7) | secondary literature compilation | 1953-1957 | Source for descriptions of the Native Services Levy Act and the 1950s unrest over passes for women. |
| Union censuses 1911, 1936, 1951, 1960 (as tabulated by the author); urban African population 1921 and 1936 | population census | 1911-1960 | Table showing white majorities replaced by African majorities in large towns; also the urban African total rising from 587,000 (1921) to 1,150,000 (1936). |
| Black Sash and M. W. Cluver, 'Resettlement Villages', The Black Sash, Nov. 1967 | newspapers periodicals | 1967 | Source for the number of people in resettlement camps (about 50,000 women and children, 20,000 men) in October 1967. |
| Department of Bantu Administration statements via South Africa House, London | other | 1967 | Official description of the purpose of resettlement camps and the rents and pension provisions. |
| Case work of the Black Sash and South African Institute of Race Relations | union or movement records | 1960s | Cited as the source of examples of spouses separated under administrative endorsement-out rulings. |
| Municipal health reports for larger centres; annual reports of the Department of Justice (arrests and convictions) | official statistical series | 1950s-1960s | Used to assert improvements in morbidity and infant mortality and to indicate the scale of pass and liquor law convictions. |
| Location Advisory Boards Congress records and Institute of Administrators proceedings (Koller presidential address, 1967); author's own observation | union or movement records | 1929-1967 | Used to show growth of the Congress (under 30 to about 120 municipalities), its disowning in 1956, and the Institute's views. |
| House of Assembly debates 1937 (Free State parliamentarian quoted) | parliamentary debates | 1937 | Quoted to illustrate the non-consultation attitude in the 1937 debates. |
Inference¶
Quantification: Illustrative figures.
Chronological legislative and policy history based on reading statutes, commission reports and debates, with comparison to East and Central African colonial policy; a small census table and scattered figures are used illustratively; the author's judgement fills the gaps.
Key claims¶
| Claim | Basis | Strength |
|---|---|---|
| The 1923 Act was a relatively mild enabling measure that left influx control to later legislation, with uneven take-up by municipalities. (p. 99) | The Act's provisions; Department of Native Affairs reports for 1927 and 1937 on the number of locations and loans. | Partial data |
| The 1937 Act introduced systematic influx control, which the Hertzog/United Party government pushed through even though municipalities and the Holloway Commission opposed further restriction. (p. 101) | 1937 statute, Native Economic Commission report, Young-Barrett municipal survey as cited in Hansard, and the Native Affairs Commission report for 1936. | Partial data |
| Between 1942 and 1948 official thinking, including the Smit and Fagan reports, moved towards liberalisation, but the Smuts government failed to act, and after 1948 the Nationalists reverted to the 1937 policy. (p. 102) | Smit and Fagan Commission reports, the Board of Trade and Industries report, and secondary biographies of Smuts and Hofmeyr. | Partial data |
| The 1952 and 1964 amendments first defined and then undermined urban residence rights, shifting towards fixed-term contract labour while removal of 'redundant' Africans intensified. (p. 104) | The text of the amendments, Black Sash and SAIRR casework, and resettlement camp figures. | Partial data |
| Despite ever-tighter control, South African policy failed to arrest urban African growth, and whites lost their numerical majority in the large towns. (p. 107) | Census table for six cities 1911-1960 and urban African totals 1921 and 1936. | Systematic data |
| South Africa diverged from other settler territories after the late 1950s, which rejected influx control and migrant labour, because its demographic problem was an extreme case and political calculation dominated. (p. 97) | East Africa Royal Commission and Plewman reports compared with South African legislation; author's judgement on demography. | Illustrative or anecdotal |
| Physical conditions in big-city African townships have improved (housing, morbidity, infant mortality) even as slum clearance and short leases deprive Africans of property rights. (p. 106) | Municipal health reports (unspecified) and the author's general observation. | Asserted |
The author's caveats¶
Notes that squalor, poverty and under-employment 'are not easily measured', and that particulars on resettlement camps are 'very sparingly supplied from official sources'. The camp population figure is partly 'on an estimate'. Notes it is likely that many centres did not comply with the advisory board requirements.
Gaps in the evidence¶
The argument depends on legislative and commission texts but offers little systematic data on enforcement, such as pass-law arrests by year, numbers endorsed out, or municipal labour-return data, and nearly none on African opinion or experience. Annual Department of Native Affairs and Justice statistics, municipal records, and the censuses existed at the time and could have been tabulated; archival files on the 1937 and 1952 drafting are now available. The health and housing improvement claims cite no figures, and the comparison with other African territories rests on a few commission reports rather than comparable urban data.
Replicability: Data described but not public.