Labour Preference, Influx Control and Squatters: Cape Town Entering the 1980s¶
Dudley Horner (ed.); Martin West; Delia Hendrie; Stephen Devereux; George Ellis (1983). Labour Preference, Influx Control and Squatters: Cape Town Entering the 1980s. SALDRU Working Paper No. 50. Southern Africa Labour and Development Research Unit, University of Cape Town.
| Type | working paper |
| Scope | Economics and economic history of apartheid |
| Method | mixed |
| Period studied | 1900–1982 |
| Regions | Cape Peninsula, Western Cape, Transkei, Ciskei, Eastern Cape |
| Themes | origins segregation, bantustans removals influx, labour markets wages, manufacturing industrial policy, demography urbanisation, inequality poverty unemployment, resistance social movements, politics ideology elections, business and state |
| Citation key | ed1983 |
Argument¶
The collection argues that the Coloured Labour Preference policy, announced in 1954-55 and defined by the Eiselen line, was ideological and not economic. Together with influx control it failed to stop African urbanisation in the Cape Peninsula, while imposing heavy costs in housing, arrests, fines, deportation and family separation. Horner's introduction frames the policy as anti-African rather than pro-Coloured. West describes the legal and administrative machinery, including pass courts, the Section 10 rights and the use of the Admission of Persons Act against 'foreigners' created by homeland independence. Hendrie's survey, the Advice Office case studies, Devereux's press diary and the two chronologies supply the evidence that economic necessity overrode legal penalties.
Evidence and method¶
Parliamentary Hansard and annual reports of the Departments of Bantu Administration and Development and of Community Development; the Theron and Riekert commissions; SAIRR Surveys and Horrell; Athlone Advice Office (Black Sash) files, including a sample of 673 Nyanga East squatters; West's observation of Langa pass courts in 1981; press cuttings (Cape Times, Argus, Financial Mail) for the diary; and a bibliography of SALDRU and other working papers.
Place in the debates¶
- Rationale of Coloured Labour Preference: protecting Coloured workers vs. ideological apartheid design (see Coloured Labour Preference policy in the Western Cape). Argues the policy was not economic: no evidence of African-Coloured competition was produced, the Riekert Commission said it rested on non-economic grounds, and the BER (1981) advised scrapping it. The contributors read it as anti-African and tied to grand apartheid and a 'white homeland of last resort' idea.
- Effectiveness of influx control and homeland policy vs. economic forces of urbanisation (see Influx control, pass laws and African urbanisation). Holds that the policy failed to reverse African migration to the Western Cape. Rural poverty makes illegal urban work worthwhile even with repeated arrests, and the state conceded on housing and Crossroads when pressed by economic forces.
Findings¶
-
The 1955 Eiselen statement set the aim of removing Africans from the Western Cape. (p. 15)
which would becare a 'Coloured Labour Preference Area', and stated that it was goverrurent policy eventually to renove all Blacks fran this area.
-
The Riekert Commission judged the policy non-economic, and no evidence supported the competition claim. (p. 16)
it had not 'expressed its views on the Governnent' s labour policy in regard to the Western Cape', because it was 'of the opinion that this policy was based on grounds other than eoonanic grounds
-
The minister admitted that a large share of the Cape Peninsula's Africans were there illegally. (p. 18)
His estimate was that 42% of the population was 'illegal', and this is likely to be a conservative figure.
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Cape Peninsula arrests of women under the pass laws were unusually high. (p. 21)
The Cape Peninsula is the only area in the country where roore waren than rren are arrested under the pass laws.
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Arrest and fines were burdens that migrants rationally accepted because rural conditions were so poor. (p. 27)
I calculate that roughly 10-11% of the total de facto adult population of the Cape Peninsula is likely to be arrested in any given year
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Homeland independence let the state deport Cape Town Africans without court recourse. (p. 32)
When the Ciskei gained 'independence' in Decemter 1981, virtually every Black person in Cape Town becane a technical foreigner.
-
The Nyanga squatter sample was long-resident, illegal and mostly employed. (p. 41)
Eighty-eight per cent of the sample were living in Cape Town illegally with the proportion being marginally higher for waren and laver for 17En.
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Employer levies in the Western Cape were raised above those elsewhere to enforce the policy. (p. 102)
This was the first tirre that employers iIi one area were siIigled out to pay higher levies than elsewhere.
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Contract regulations were designed to stop migrants from acquiring urban residence rights. (p. 97)
This last condition would prevent contract workers fran earning the ri.ght, under Section 10(1) (b) of the Black (Urban Areas) Consolidation Act 1945, to live permanently in the '''estern Cape
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Group areas removals fell overwhelmingly on Coloured people despite the claimed protective intent. (p. 4)
Of the 'coloured' papuiation 94 148 (89% of the total to be rerroved) would endure disruption
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The Bureau for Economic Research advised scrapping the policy in 1981. (p. 111)
the Bureau suggested that Coloured workers no longer need the protection affo.rded them by the Coloured Labour Preference Policy as IlOSt were now enployed in skilled and semi-skilled jobs.
Evidence ledger¶
Sources used¶
| Source | Kind | Period | How used |
|---|---|---|---|
| Annual Reports of the Department of Community Development (Group Areas resettlement, squatter huts, housing completions) | official statistical series | 1961-1982 | Supplies the figures on families resettled under the Group Areas Act, registered and demolished 'coloured' squatter huts, and Mitchell's Plain/Atlantis housing (Tables 1, 2, 4). |
| Commission for Coloured Affairs, Report for the year ended 31 March 1952, U.G. 45/1952 | commission or official report | 1951-52 | Quoted for the claim that African competition harmed unskilled Coloured labour in the 'traditional sphere' of the Coloureds. |
| 1980 Census data (population of Cape Peninsula by group) | population census | 1960-1980 | Used to compute group population shares and to estimate the proportion of each group resettled; the text notes the African and 'coloured' undercount. |
| South African Institute of Race Relations, Survey of Race Relations (annual, 1961-1982) | secondary literature compilation | 1961-1982 | Source for pass arrest statistics (Tables 1-4), Savage's cost estimates, population figures and the chronology items. |
| Annual reports of the Commissioner of Police (pass law investigations) | official statistical series | 1976-1979 | Cited for the numbers of cases investigated under the pass laws, taken via the SAIRR Survey. |
| Professor Michael Savage's estimates of pass law prosecutions and costs, as reported in the SAIRR Survey 1979 | secondary literature compilation | 1965-1975 | Establishes nearly six million prosecutions, R32 million annual cost and about 12 million lost man-hours. |
| Riekert Commission Report, RP 32/1979 (White Paper on the Report of the Commission of Inquiry into Legislation Affecting the Utilisation of Manpower) | commission or official report | 1979 | Quoted to show the Commission's view that the Western Cape labour policy rested on non-economic grounds. |
| Athlone Advice Office (Black Sash) case files and client records, 1980-1981 | union or movement records | 1980-1981 | Basis for the Nyanga East sample survey (673 clients), the February 1980 client survey and 18 case studies of influx control. |
| Nyanga East squatter sample survey (routine questions by Advice Office interviewers) | author survey or fieldwork | July-September 1981 | Gives profile of length of residence, legal status, employment, origins, marital status and children of the squatters (Tables 1-12). |
| Martin West's observation of Langa Commissioner's Court sessions and Athlone Advice Office court visitors' records | author survey or fieldwork | 1981 | Describes the operation of pass courts, the average speed of cases and sentence patterns, with two sample court days. |
| Newspaper reports compiled in the Nyanga Squatter Diary (Cape Times, Argus, Sunday Times, Sowetan, Cape Herald etc.), July 1981-Dec 1982 | newspapers periodicals | 1981-1982 | Provides a day-by-day chronology of the Nyanga squatter evictions, raids, deportations and negotiations. |
| Financial Mail, Argus and Cape Times reports on court judgments, Koornhof announcements and Khayalitsha | newspapers periodicals | 1979-1983 | Source for the Kanani, Mhlongo, Rikhoto and Mthiya judgments and the Khayalitsha announcement. |
| Legislation and Government Gazette notices (Black (Urban Areas) Consolidation Act 1945, Admission of Persons to the Republic Regulation Act 1972, Government Gazette Nos. 8169 and 8209 of 1982, Black Labour Regulations, draft Orderly Movement and Settlement of Black Persons Bill) | legislation gazette | 1945-1982 | Analysed to show how the legal framework created a large 'illegal' population and enabled deportations without court recourse. |
| Hansard 1954 and 1963 ministerial statements on Coloured Labour Preference (House of Assembly) | parliamentary debates | 1954-1963 | Source for Verwoerd's 1954 statement and De Wet Nel's 1963 redefinition of the Eiselen line. |
| Eiselen address, 'The Coloured and the Native', SABRA 1955 | other | 1955 | Outlines the staged policy to remove Africans from the Western Cape and defines the Eiselen line. |
| Previous SALDRU/UPRU studies of Cape Town squatters and workers (Simkins WP 21; Graaff & Maree WP 12; Maree & Cornell WP 17) | secondary literature compilation | 1975-1978 | Cited as evidence on unskilled African wages in the Cape Peninsula and squatter characteristics. |
| Ellis et al., The Squatter Problem in the Western Cape (SAIRR 1977) and other SAIRR/UPRU compilations | secondary literature compilation | 1900-1982 | Source for the historical African population and housing figures and for the Ellis chronology. |
| Athlone Advice Office annual reports and survey of Cathedral squatters (1982) | union or movement records | 1980-1982 | Used to describe the volume of cases handled by the Advice Office and the profile of the fasting squatters (tenure, arrests). |
New data¶
Dataset of about 650 respondents from Athlone Advice Office intake forms on Nyanga East squatters (July-Sept 1981), tabulated in 12 tables, plus a February 1980 sample of 335 Advice Office clients and 18 case histories. Also compilations of Group Areas resettlement, squatter hut, housing and pass arrest series from official reports.
Inference¶
Quantification: Descriptive tables.
A descriptive and documentary collection by several contributors: a policy chronology built from Hansard, commission reports and statutes; compiled official statistics presented in tables; a non-random sample survey of Advice Office clients; selected case studies; and a newspaper-based diary. Claims about policy intent and effects rest on documentary reading and inference from arrest, resettlement and housing figures, with no regression or formal comparison.
Key claims¶
| Claim | Basis | Strength |
|---|---|---|
| Group Areas resettlement fell overwhelmingly on Coloured and Asian residents of the Cape Peninsula, with about 30% of the 'coloured' and 47% of the Asian population relocated against under 0.2% of whites. (p. 4) | Department of Community Development annual reports (Table 1) converted from families to persons by an assumed family size, compared with 1980 Census totals. | Partial data |
| Coloured Labour Preference and the housing freeze did not stop African urbanisation; roughly 42% of the African population (85 436 of 199 600) were 'illegal' by the minister's own admission. (p. 18) | Koornhof's Hansard answer in August 1981 and West's reading of the legislation and arrest data. | Partial data |
| Pass law enforcement in the Cape Peninsula targets women disproportionately; it is the only area where more women than men are arrested, and the Peninsula's share of women arrests in major centres reached about 25-29% in 1980-81. (p. 21) | Pass arrest tables from SAIRR Surveys and Hansard (Tables 3 and 4). | Systematic data |
| Influx control fines imply that 30-40% of those arrested served prison time because they could not pay, amounting to some 175 000 days in 1979 and 250 000 days in 1981. (p. 28) | Table 5 fine totals from Hansard read against Table 3 arrests, with an assumed average fine of R50. | Partial data |
| The Nyanga East squatters were mostly long-term Cape Town residents rather than new arrivals, and 88% were illegal; 63% were employed, mostly women as domestic workers. (p. 39) | Advice Office intake forms for 673 clients, tabulated in Tables 1-6 and 3-4. | Partial data |
| Pass courts operate as summary administrative processing with almost no legal representation, trying cases in about 2-4 minutes each. (p. 25) | West's personal observation of Langa courts in 1981, two sample court days from Black Sash files, and a Centre for Applied Legal Studies report. | Illustrative or anecdotal |
| The Admission of Persons to the Republic Regulation Act was used from August 1981 to deport Transkeians without court recourse; 3 666 had been deported by mid-September 1981. (p. 32) | Hansard 1981 figures, newspaper reports and West's reading of the Act. | Partial data |
| The Coloured Labour Preference policy had no economic basis, was not shown to protect Coloured workers, and was in effect anti-African, being driven by ideology. (p. 14) | Riekert Commission remark, Eiselen's 1955 address, the policy chronology and Bureau for Economic Research advice. | Asserted |
The author's caveats¶
Hendrie stresses that the Nyanga sample is a non-random, self-selected group of Advice Office clients, so the results may overstate illegality and unemployment. Interviewers left forms incomplete and no analysis was planned in advance, hence 'unspecified' cases and non-response (especially on husbands). West warns that pass arrest figures are unclear on whether police and Administration Board arrests are combined, that no 1980 fines figures exist, and that 1981 figures are provisional. Horner notes possible undercounting of Africans and Coloureds in the 1980 Census and 1960 census, and that the Advice Office cannot give detailed statistics.
Gaps in the evidence¶
The argument on the policy's motives and its failure to curb African migration needs systematic data on Western Cape employment by race, wages and unemployment, and employer labour-bureau records, to show whether Coloured workers were actually displaced or protected. Labour bureau and Administration Board files on permits, endorsements out and refused employment applications, and pass court records, would test the arrest and fine inferences directly instead of back-of-envelope estimates. Many of these records existed then in state archives, and some are now open; a representative household survey of squatters would also replace the self-selected Advice Office sample.
Replicability: Data described but not public.