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A Survey of Race Relations in South Africa 1971

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Muriel Horrell; Dudley Horner; John Kane-Berman (1972). A Survey of Race Relations in South Africa 1971. Annual Survey of Race Relations. South African Institute of Race Relations, Johannesburg.
Type report
Scope Wider apartheid literature
Method descriptive quantitative
Period studied 1971–1971
Regions South Africa, South West Africa/Namibia, African homelands (Transkei, Ciskei, Zululand, etc.), Witwatersrand, Cape Peninsula, Durban/Natal
Themes bantustans removals influx, labour markets wages, inequality poverty unemployment, business and state, politics ideology elections, manufacturing industrial policy, agriculture land, mining migrant labour, education human capital, resistance social movements, sanctions divestment, demography urbanisation, unions strikes
Citation key horrell1972

Argument

This annual compendium records South African race relations for 1971, drawing mainly on Hansard replies, official reports and the press. It documents the National Party's homeland and parallel-development policy, the enforcement of pass laws, influx control and group-areas removals, and wide racial gaps in wages, education and welfare. The Employment chapter shows an acute skilled-labour shortage, job reservation under pressure, wage gaps widening, and border-industry decentralisation under the Physical Planning Act. The tone is liberal-documentary rather than analytical, but it gives a dense record of state policy and its measurable effects at the start of the 1970s.

Evidence and method

Parliamentary Hansard questions and replies, ministerial statements, departmental annual reports (Prisons, Police, Bantu Education, Labour), Estimates of Expenditure, Reserve Bank report, Department of Statistics news releases, press reports (Rand Daily Mail, Star, Sunday Times, Financial Mail), Institute of Race Relations studies, and surveys of African opinion and cost of living.

Place in the debates

Findings

  • Mine wage gap widened sharply; white mine pay was about 17 times African pay. (p. 229)

    in the 1920s and 30s white wages on average were 10 to 1l times more than African wages, bui in 1970 they were more than t7 times African wages

  • Foreign Africans made up three-quarters of the WNLA mine labour force by end-1970, and recruitment of South Africans fell. (p. 230)

    Between 1969 and 1970 the recruitment of South African nationals dropped by 19 674 while that of "foreign" Africans increased by 49775.

  • Average monthly mine earnings of Africans were a fraction of white earnings. (p. 228)

    Whites 341 354 Coloured... 71 90 Asians 93 87 Africans ... 19 17

  • Manufacturing white/black wage ratio rose between 1966 and 1971, and the mining ratio rose as well. (p. 180)

    in manufacturing the white/black ratio had increased from 5,1 to I in May 1966 to 5,7 to I in June 1971 while in ffoe mining industry the ratio of 17,5 to I had increased to ?.0,3 to l.

  • Pass-law prosecutions made up over a quarter of all cases sent for trial. (p. 73)

    These constituted 26,8 per cent of all cases sent for trial.

  • The decentralisation White Paper set labour-ratio rules steering African-labour-intensive industry to the homelands and border areas. (p. 211)

    the dividing line between Whitelabour- in1"niiu" and Afiicanlabour-intensive industries will, for the next two years (i.e. until 31 May 1973)-, be drawn at a labour ratio of f Wtritb per 2,5 Africins

  • Border-area wages in clothing were far below those in white metropolitan areas, prompting complaints of unfair competition. (p. 217)

    a beginner male marker received 58 per cent less, a_beginner male macf,inist 6l per cent less, a qualified machinist 45 per cent less and a labourer over the age of 18 years 64 per cent less

  • The Reserve Bank reported strong macro imbalance in 1970/71, with a large payments deficit offset by record capital inflow. (p. 172)

    An all-time record net inflow of capital from abroad, amounting to R725 000 000, obviated the high balance of payments defrcit of R1084000000

  • The farm African population grew while the farm workforce was reportedly short of regular labourers. (p. 226)

    The Agricultural Union's Survey reported that there was a .shofagg of 65 000 rqgrr,lar farm labodrers^in the Transvaal, 49 00d in rhe.Cape, 14-000 in Natal and 13 000 in the Orange Free State.

  • The Bantu Affairs Administration Act centralised control of urban African labour in appointed boards, enabling reclassification and transfer of workers. (p. 139)

    If a shortage of labour developed in one of these categories in the area of an Administration Board, while there was a surplus in another, the Board would be able to transfer and reclassify the necessary number of workers.

Evidence ledger

Sources used

Source Kind Period How used
Department of Statistics news release 18 August 1971 (age distribution) and preliminary 1970 census educational attainment figures population census 1970 Gives age structure of Whites, Coloureds, Asians and educational standards attained and African literacy.
Hansard (House of Assembly) questions and replies, 1971 parliamentary debates 1971 session Principal source for statistics on reclassification, Immorality Act charges, banning, passports, removals, labour, education, welfare and housing.
Report of the Commissioner of the South African Police, 1 July 1969 to 30 June 1970 (R.P. 45/1971) commission or official report 1969-70 Provides number of cases sent for trial including pass-law prosecutions (26.8 per cent of all cases).
Report of the Commissioner of Prisons, 1 July 1969 to 30 June 1970 (R.P. 102/1970) commission or official report 1969-70 Supplies prison admissions by race and sentence length and death sentences/executions.
Official Estimates of Expenditure 1971-72 (R.P. 2/1971, R.P. 3/1971 and related Votes) official statistical series 1971-72 Used for defence, homelands, education, Coloured Council and health budgets.
Departmental Reports of the Department of Bantu Administration and Development (R.P. 58/1971), Bantu Education (R.P. 18/1971), Coloured Affairs (R.P. 75/1971), Indian Affairs (R.P. 5/1971), Labour (R.P. 93/1970, R.P. 83/1971), National Education (R.P. 95/1970) commission or official report 1969-1970 Supply data on homeland agriculture, schools, pupils, bursaries, teachers and labour disputes.
Tomlinson Commission report (U.G. 61/1955) commission or official report 1949-50 data Used to compare maize and kaffircorn yields on white farms and in Bantu areas.
South African Reserve Bank annual economic report for year ended June 1971 national accounts macro 1969-71 Describes GDP growth, balance of payments, capital inflow and consumer price index.
Department of Statistics news releases on employment (manufacturing, construction, finance, wholesale/retail, public sector) official statistical series 1971 Gives employment numbers and average monthly earnings by race, used to show the widening wage gap.
Mining Statistics, 1970 (R.P. 32/1971), Department of Mines official statistical series 1970 Supplies mine employment and average monthly pay by race.
Mine Labour Organisations Limited (WNLA) Report for the year 1970 chamber of mines or recruiting records 1970 Gives origin of African mine labour, showing 75.86 per cent foreign.
Report of the Permanent Committee for the Location of Industry for 1970 and White Paper on the Riekert Committee Report commission or official report 1960-1970 Provides data on employment created, investment and incentives in decentralised industrial areas and policy for decentralisation.
Annual Reports of the Bantu Investment Corporation and Xhosa Development Corporation for year ended 31 March 1970 company records or reports 1969-70 Details loans, enterprises and employment in homeland commerce and industry.
Agricultural Census 1959/60 (as compared in Financial Mail article) agricultural census 1959/60 Baseline for farm population compared with the 1969 Agricultural Union survey.
Government Notices, Proclamations and Acts of 1971 (e.g. Transkei Constitution Amendment Act, Bantu Homelands Constitution Act, Bantu Affairs Administration Act, Proclamations 118/87/156 etc., Government Notice 446, Notice R1791, Notice 216) legislation gazette 1971 Summarises the terms and creation of legislative assemblies, banning lists and stand prices.
SAIRR-commissioned socio-economic studies: Cleary (Port Elizabeth municipal Director of Housing) report; Roux & St Leger, Grahamstown: Fingo Village; Whisson & Weil, Domestic Servants; Maasdorp & Pillay, The East Rand Indian Community author survey or fieldwork 1969-1971 Provides poverty and wage levels for Coloured, African and Indian households.
University of South Africa Bureau of Market Research survey of 410 African households in Pretoria area (1970) household or labour survey microdata second half of 1970 Gives average household income and size of African households.
Human Sciences Research Council minimum family budget study (A Manual for Determining the Cost of Maintaining a Family); Soweto Budgets A, B, C; Johannesburg municipal Non-European Affairs Department estimates secondary literature compilation 1969-1971 Establishes minimum family budgets, poverty datum line and minimum effective level.
M. L. Edelstein survey of 200 Soweto matriculation pupils (published Sunday Times, 11 Sept 1971) author survey or fieldwork 1970 Used to describe African youth attitudes to race, government and education.
World newspaper pilot poll of African opinion (Worrall and Bertelsman questionnaire), Nov 1970 author survey or fieldwork November 1970 Illustrates African elite attitudes.
Mia Brandel-Syrier, Reeftown Elite (study of 60 African men) secondary literature compilation 1960-62 Contrasts attitudes of older African elite to Afrikaners and English.
Newspapers and periodicals (Rand Daily Mail, Star, Sunday Times, Financial Mail, Bantu Education Journal, Race Relations News etc.) newspapers periodicals 1970-1971 Principal source for events, speeches, political developments, wages and employment reports.
Advice Office reports of Black Sash (Johannesburg, Athlone) and Memorandum on the Application of the Pass Laws and Influx Control union or movement records 1970-71 Documents effects of pass laws on housing, wives and widows.
Court proceedings and trial reports (Apdusa, April, ffrench-Beytagh, Essop affidavits) newspapers periodicals 1971 Accounts of security trials and detention allegations.
Acta Juridica account of Van Niekerk trial, capital punishment statistics 1947-1966 secondary literature compilation 1947-1966 Shows racial disparity in rape convictions and death sentences.
Professor J. L. Sadie, unpublished paper Labour Supply in South Africa (National Labour Conference, April 1971) secondary literature compilation 1936-1970 Provides labour force estimates by race, sector shares and unskilled proportions.
Gazetted Industrial Council agreements, Wage Board determinations and Wage Board report on unskilled labour in the Cape commission or official report 1971 Illustrates wage regulation and minimum wages.
National Productivity Institute report on clothing industry (1970); Steel and Engineering Industries Federation manpower survey 1970 company records or reports 1960-1970 Documents labour shortages and workforce composition in clothing and engineering.
Report of the Department of Railways and Harbours 1969-70 and General Manager of Railways report commission or official report 1969-70 Supplies passenger journey numbers and African commuter numbers and subsidy.

Inference

Quantification: Descriptive tables.

Annual compilation and chronological narrative: events, official statements and parliamentary replies are assembled by topic, supplemented by descriptive statistical tables drawn from official sources and press reports, with occasional arithmetic (percentages, monthly averages) by the writers. No formal analysis or causal testing; comparisons are descriptive across racial groups and over time.

Key claims

Claim Basis Strength
The racial wage gap widened in the main sectors (manufacturing and mining) and African earnings rose more slowly than other groups. (p. 180) Department of Statistics employment/earnings releases, Mining Statistics 1970, and a Financial Mail article on white/black ratios. Partial data
Most urban African households live at or below the poverty datum line and minimum effective level. (p. 179) HSRC, municipal NEAD and Soweto budgets, SAIRR regional estimates, UNISA survey. Partial data
Pass-law enforcement imposes enormous prosecution volumes: over 640 000 prosecutions, about 26.8 per cent of all cases sent for trial. (p. 73) Commissioner of Police report 1969-70 and Minister of Justice reply in Assembly. Systematic data
Government policy is to move urban African families into homeland townships and freeze family housing in white towns, with commuting subsidised. (p. 163) SAIRR survey of local authorities, Hansard replies, Railways Administration figures. Partial data
Africans in the homelands face land shortage, low yields and resettlement-village poverty, while the quota land of 1936 remains unfulfilled. (p. 113) Hansard replies of Deputy Minister, Department reports, Tomlinson Commission comparison, press and SAIRR descriptions. Partial data
Severe labour shortages, particularly of skilled labour, push employers and government toward limited relaxation of job reservation and decentralisation of industry. (p. 192) Departmental employment data, Riekert White Paper, business and union statements in the press, Reserve Bank report. Partial data
Foreign African workers dominate mine labour (75.86 per cent) and African mine wages are very low (about R17-19 per month plus payment in kind). (p. 228) Mining Statistics 1970, Mine Labour Organisations report, Chamber of Mines spokesman statements. Systematic data
Group Areas proclamations have disqualified and forced the resettlement of tens of thousands of non-white families, especially Coloured and Indian families. (p. 155) Minister of Community Development replies in Assembly. Systematic data

The author's caveats

The compilers repeatedly note gaps: no reliable statistics on malnutrition, African unemployment, or racial breakdown of passports; African birth/death registration incomplete; some Minister replies omit figures; official tables contain misprints corrected by the writer; figures from different sources are not strictly comparable (revised sample survey basis); the homeland population totals are misleading since border townships are counted as homeland.

Gaps in the evidence

Argument relies heavily on parliamentary replies and press reports, so selection and accuracy depend on what Ministers and newspapers chose to disclose; independent household or establishment microdata (African wages, unemployment, migrant flows, resettlement conditions) would test claims better and mostly did not exist publicly then. Archival records of the Departments of Bantu Administration, Chamber of Mines and local authorities now exist and could verify the housing, removals and wage-gap claims. Systematic African-population surveys and complete influx-control/removal statistics would also be needed.

Replicability: Data described but not public.