"Doom at One Stroke of the Pen": Urban Planning and Group Areas c. 1935-1955¶
Alan Mabin (1990). "Doom at One Stroke of the Pen": Urban Planning and Group Areas c. 1935-1955. History Workshop, University of the Witwatersrand, 'Structure and Experience in the Making of Apartheid', 6-10 February 1990. University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg.
| Type | conference paper |
| Scope | Wider apartheid literature |
| Method | archival narrative |
| Period studied | 1900–1960 |
| Regions | South Africa, Transvaal/Witwatersrand (PWV), Natal/Durban, Cape Province/Cape Town/East London, Johannesburg, Pretoria, Uitenhage |
| Themes | origins segregation, demography urbanisation, business and state, politics ideology elections, resistance social movements, bantustans removals influx |
| Citation key | mabin1990 |
Argument¶
Mabin argues that the Group Areas Act (GAA) was not simply an inevitable component of a grand apartheid plan but grew out of decades of urban planning practice, municipal pressures and Smuts-era institution-building (the LTAB, the NRDC and the SEPC's regional planning ideas). The literature wrongly treats Natal anti-Indian agitation as its sole origin. The Cape coloured-segregation campaigns of the 1930s, Transvaal interests and the wartime reconstruction ideas of planners all contributed. The HNP supplied the retroactive and comprehensive element, with the civil servant D.S. van der Merwe as key draftsman. After 1950 the LTAB centralised racial zoning and remade the planning process, and many planners were 'seduced' by it as an extension of their social-reform agenda. The paper is exploratory and flags how little is known about the actual effects of local property and commercial interests and of opposition.
Evidence and method¶
State Archives files (Land Tenure Advisory Board, Group Areas Board, Department of Planning, NRDC, SEPC series), Cape Archives municipal files (East London, Simonstown), Transvaal Archives, parliamentary and commission reports (Thornton, Lange, Wilcocks, Broome, SEPC 5th Report), Hansard, newspapers, D.S. van der Merwe's papers, an interview with R.J. Davies, and secondary literature (Smit, Western, Kuper et al., Posel, Lewis).
Place in the debates¶
- Origins of the Group Areas Act: Natal/Durban anti-Indian agitation versus broader origins (see Urban segregation, Group Areas and the apartheid city). Rejects the view (Kuper, Watts and Davies; Meer; Johannesburg's lawyer) that the Act was primarily about Indian property in Natal driven by Durban Council. Stresses Cape coloured segregation campaigns, Transvaal interests and planning developments.
- Was the GAA an inevitable, pre-planned part of a grand apartheid design (including 'strategic' motives, per Western)? (see Urban segregation, Group Areas and the apartheid city). Argues the GAA was not a pure product of a grand apartheid plan; the HNP manifesto lacked any means of implementation. It built on Smuts-era institutions and planning ideas, and policy was contested (aligns with Posel, Hindson, Hyslop and Kros).
- Planning as complicit or reluctant partner in group areas (see Urban segregation, Group Areas and the apartheid city). Finds planners largely embraced racial zoning as a continuation of their reform agenda and were 'seduced' by group areas, while cautioning that the evidence for a model radial/buffer design guiding the LTAB is thin.
- Material (economic-interest) explanation of group areas (see Urban segregation, Group Areas and the apartheid city). Notes the 'ritual repetition' of the material explanation but says the actual influence of property, commercial and development interests on group areas policy remains unknown and needs research.
Findings¶
-
The GAA is poorly understood historically; planning's link to it is an open question rather than something proven. (p. 3)
to convict planning at this stage would depend on trumped-up charges and flimsy evidence.
-
The Act's changes were multiple, including some that are usually overlooked, which points to a complex genesis. (p. 6)
centralised control over racial segregation, effectively undermining municipal autonomy; laid the basis for long-range, wide-scale land allocation planning
-
The Cape campaign to segregate coloureds in the late 1930s provided an impetus for group areas, contrary to later UP protestations. (p. 13)
The Cape thus provided, contrary to the protestations of UP MPs in 1950, a strong impetus for group areas, specifically to segregate coloureds from whites.
-
The SEPC's 1944 report translated British planning ideas of green-belt-separated neighbourhoods into racially distinct zones, and its officials privately framed segregation as a planning function. (p. 19)
regards the separation of residential areas of different races ... as a function of town planning in this country
-
The Smuts government's creation of the LTAB (1946) and NRDC (1947) laid the institutional and practical foundations later used for the GAA. (p. 20)
the planners associated with these agencies laid some of the foundations on which the Group Areas Act was implemented in the fifties and beyond
-
The UP failed to resolve urban problems except through segregation, and some liberal planners praised the NP for acting. (p. 22)
Ad hoc segregation did not work; planned, compulsory segregation appeared to do so, as the UP's own creations - the LTAB and NRDC - set about demonstrating.
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D.S. van der Merwe, a little-known civil servant, was the key architect of the Act's drafting and its retroactive, comprehensive design. (p. 23)
In some respects, therefore, this little known figure was the Eiselen of group areas.
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The LTAB used funding leverage (African housing finance via the National Housing Office) to force local authorities to produce group areas proposals. (p. 29)
Without a group areas plan for their area, municipal officials found that they could not raise funds through the National Housing Office for housing Africans.
-
Group areas planning blended with ordinary town planning and appealed to planners and consultants, who were readily drawn in. (p. 31)
In short, planners were readily seduced by group areas.
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Opposition by whites was usually effective, while others' opposition succeeded only when it suited the LTAB; opponents faced a participation-or-boycott dilemma. (p. 34)
For the group areas opposition, both among black organisations and town councils, the terrible choice was: participation or boycott?
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Mabin concludes that society was already highly segregated and the Act's main effect was reallocating urban land, except in the Cape. (p. 36)
has, with exceptions mainly in the Cape, had rather little effect on increasing that segregation. But it has vastly changed the allocation of land
Evidence ledger¶
Sources used¶
| Source | Kind | Period | How used |
|---|---|---|---|
| State Archives Pretoria, Land Tenure Advisory Board series (ARG), incl. ARG 10, ARG 12 (typescript Joint Committee Report), ARG 144, ARG 16, ARG 228 | state archives | 1938-1955 | Establishes Van der Merwe's role, the Joint Committees' evidence-gathering from municipalities, and the origins of retroactive group-areas segregation. |
| State Archives Pretoria, Department of Planning series (BEP), e.g. BEP 146 G7/139, BEP 131 G7/137, BEP 42/43, BEP 192 | state archives | 1950-1957 | Source for hearings on group areas proposals, ratepayer and council submissions, and LTAB-planner interactions. |
| State Archives, Group Areas Board series (GGR), e.g. GGR 49, 59, 63, 64, 69 | state archives | 1939-1960 | Used for LTAB circulars, correspondence with the Native Affairs Secretary and National Housing Office, and LTAB pressure on municipalities to prepare group areas proposals. |
| Cape Archives, East London Municipal series (3/ELN) and Simonstown series (3/SMT) | state archives | 1938-1953 | Shows municipal responses to the 1938-40 Cape segregation ordinance and to the Group Areas Act, including planning consultants' reports and council defences. |
| Cape Archives, Provincial Secretary series (PAS) | state archives | 1920-1939 | Documents municipal requests to the Administrator for powers to segregate coloureds, including CPMA 1931 congress minutes. |
| Transvaal Archives Pretoria (Colonial Treasurer CT 152; Local Government TPB 539) | state archives | 1907-1938 | Evidences early municipal demands for racial zoning and the transfer of Asiatic Bazaars to municipalities. |
| Social and Economic Planning Council series (SEC 47) correspondence | state archives | 1945-1946 | Shows that SEPC officials privately regarded residential segregation as a function of town planning. |
| Asiatic Land Tenure Committee series (ALTC 5), D.S. van der Merwe personal papers file | state archives | 1944-1946 | Source for Van der Merwe's marginal notes, meetings with councils (Vereeniging), and views on Indian rights. |
| Natural Resources Development Council series (RNH 279), First Annual Report of the NRDC to 31.12.1948 | commission or official report | 1947-1948 | Establishes the NRDC as the first regional planning body with power over racial zoning of new goldfield towns. |
| Report of the Transvaal Local Government Commission (Stallard), 1921 | commission or official report | 1921 | Cited (via Smit) for the link between town planning and neglected housing/segregation. |
| Report of the Lange Commission, UG.4-1921; Class Areas Bill AB41/24; Select Committee on the 1926 Areas Reservation Bill | commission or official report | 1921-1926 | Traces earlier attempts at municipal racial zoning of Indians and the Natal Municipal Association's demands. |
| Report of the Commission of Inquiry (Broome), UG.39-1941 | commission or official report | 1927-1940 | Supplies comparative Indian property purchase figures in white areas in Natal and the Transvaal. |
| Report of the Commission of Inquiry Regarding the Coloured Population (Wilcocks), UG.54-1937; Murray Commission report 1939 | commission or official report | 1937-1939 | Shows divisions over residential segregation of coloureds and over Indian pegging legislation. |
| Report of the Committee to investigate areas which are becoming urbanised (Thornton), 1938-39 | commission or official report | 1938-1940 | Used to show official concern about uncontrolled non-African urbanisation and racial mixing. |
| Social and Economic Planning Council Report No. 5: Regional and Town Planning, UG.34-1944 | commission or official report | 1944 | Shows planners' conception of racially separate neighbourhoods separated by green belts as foundation of later group areas planning. |
| Sauer Report (Verslag van die Kleurvraagstuk-kommissie van die HNP, 1947) and its appendix on coloureds | other | 1947 | Used to show the HNP manifesto lacked any means for implementing compulsory segregation. |
| Report of the Joint Committees on Asiatic land tenure, UG.49-1950 (chapters published) and unpublished typescript | commission or official report | 1949-1950 | Source for the argument that the Joint Committees' report supplied the legal means for the Group Areas Act, including retroactivity. |
| Legislation: 1919 Public Health Act, 1920 Housing Act, 1923 Natives (Urban Areas) Act, 1931 Transvaal Town Planning Ordinance, 1934 Slums Act, 1946 Asiatic Land Tenure Act, 1947 NRDC Act | legislation gazette | 1919-1947 | Traces the legislative accumulation of planning and segregation powers culminating in the GAA. |
| Draft Further Powers of Local Authorities Ordinance, Cape Provincial Gazette 22.07.38; Votes and Proceedings of the Cape Provincial Council 1940 | legislation gazette | 1938-1940 | Shows that the draft ordinance gave municipalities power for racial zoning, foreshadowing the GAA. |
| Newspapers: Rand Daily Mail, Cape Times, Transvaler, Natal Mercury, The Star | newspapers periodicals | 1937-1960 | Used for statements by planners and officials (Cutten, Moolman), the 1939 CPMA debate, and councillors' involvement in land schemes. |
| Interviews with R.J. Davies, Cape Town, 09.01.90 | interviews oral history | 1990 | Supports claims about Durban's fear of permissive implementation of the 1946 Act and about city council pressure after the Durban riots. |
| Programme of Post-War Development: Report of the Special Committee (Durban, 1943); Reconstruction reports (Agriculture 1944-5; Natal Post-War Works Committee 1945) | company records or reports | 1943-1945 | Shows wartime planning reports featuring racial zoning and state-led reconstruction planning. |
| Kuper, Watts and Davies, Durban: a Study in Racial Ecology (data and recollection used) | secondary literature compilation | 1950s | Used for descriptions of Durban's post-war plans and Indian property acquisition. |
| Unpublished theses and papers (Smit 1989 PhD; Posel 1987; Adler 1988; Sapire 1988; Southworth 1988; Van Tonder 1990; Barnett 1989) | secondary literature compilation | 1980s | Relied on for planning history (Smit), Uitenhage resistance (Adler), Brakpan, and Western Areas removals, supplying data and archival findings used in argument. |
| Afrikaner Broederbond material via Wilkins and Strydom, The Superafrikaners | secondary literature compilation | 1933-1944 | Evidence for AB policy on coloured segregation from 1933 and its 1944 constitution. |
| 1946 population census (referred to) | population census | 1946 | Cited as showing that cities had majority black populations growing faster than white ones, adding to white anxiety. |
Inference¶
Quantification: None.
Archival narrative history and process-tracing: reads municipal, LTAB, planning-body and commission documents chronologically (1900s-1955) to argue that group areas planning emerged from planning practice, municipal demands and bureaucratic initiative. Evidence is illustrative case-by-case with inferential guesses; no systematic comparison or quantitative analysis.
Key claims¶
| Claim | Basis | Strength |
|---|---|---|
| Cape municipal and CPMA demands in the 1930s-40s for powers to segregate coloureds, and the 1938-40 draft ordinance, provided an important impetus for group areas, not just Natal anti-Indian action. (p. 13) | CPMA congress minutes 1931/1939, East London and Simonstown municipal files, the draft ordinance in the Provincial Gazette, and Votes and Proceedings of the Cape Provincial Council. | Partial data |
| Wartime planning reports (Thornton, SEPC Fifth Report) and SEPC officials' correspondence treated racial residential separation as a function of town planning, laying groundwork for the GAA. (p. 19) | Thornton report 1938-39, SEPC Report No. 5 (UG.34-1944), and SEC 47 archive correspondence of 1945. | Partial data |
| The Smuts government's 1946 Asiatic Land Tenure Act (LTAB) and the NRDC created the institutional forerunners and practice of racial zoning later taken over by the GAA. (p. 20) | ARG Joint Committee typescript, the 1946 Act, the NRDC annual report and Fair's paper, and a draft Natal ordinance. | Partial data |
| D.S. van der Merwe, as chairman of the LTAB and Joint Committees, was the key architect of the GAA's design, including central LTAB control and retroactivity. (p. 23) | ALTC 5 DSvdM file, ARG 10/12/144 files, the Joint Committee report, and UG.49-1950; the draft bill itself could not be found. | Partial data |
| The LTAB used procedural and financial levers (e.g. National Housing Office funding, circulars, racial surveys) to bring municipal planners into group areas planning, centralising control and eroding municipal autonomy. (p. 30) | GGR and ARG correspondence, NHO circulars 1953, LTAB circular to local authorities. | Partial data |
| Planners and consultants were readily seduced by group areas because it extended familiar planning practice and gave them central power, and no single national segregation model was imposed. (p. 30) | Floyd's East London report, municipal memoranda, minutes of LTAB-planner meetings, and quotes from Cutten and state planners. | Illustrative or anecdotal |
| Opposition to group areas was weak and divided; effective mainly when whites objected or when it suited the LTAB. (p. 33) | BEP 146 and GGR 59 hearing files on Albertville/Newclare, East London council reports, Southworth's thesis and Adler's paper on Uitenhage. | Illustrative or anecdotal |
The author's caveats¶
Acknowledges that the paper rests on partial, early archival reading: no systematic evidence yet of a group areas model in LTAB policy, the key March 1950 draft bill is missing from the archives, and the impact of opposition and opportunism on policy is described as unknown. Admits the paper has not developed an argument about contests over implementation and that much is guesswork ('it seems reasonable to guess').
Gaps in the evidence¶
The argument would benefit from systematic coding of group areas files across many towns to test claims about LTAB pressure and planner enthusiasm, and from the missing draft bill and Van der Merwe's papers. Evidence of causal links between planners' proposals and the drafting of the GAA is largely inferential, and records on property, commercial and developer interests and on ordinary residents' experience are thin. Many of these archives, now open, and later GAB records and oral histories could test the claims.
Replicability: Data described but not public.