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South Africa: A Long Time Comin'

South Africa: A Long Time Comin' image
Parent Issue
Day
10
Month
September
Year
1976
OCR Text

 

(Partial Article)

South Africa: A  Long Time Comin'  

person. Thus, it was not surprising that the Christian Africans fought it on the side of the British against their own people. They believed the Wars of Dispossession pitted the soldiers of progress against the forces of darkness. They had tasted what "progress" was in their Christian life, they liked it and wanted as many of their people brought in as possible.

   In those days there wasn't much racial distinction at the mission stations. Whites and Blacks went to the same schools, churches, etc, and it seemed that if they could qualify to be like the missionary or the teacher, they would be absorbed into the new society. The emphasis on education was to qualify them for this new society.

   When Sir George Grey came from New Zealand, he arrived in South Africa with a crash program that would brine the whole African community into the ambit of British culture within a generation. But little did the Africans know that one of Grey's central missions was to break the bone of the African kings.

   Grey tore away as many subjects of the kings as possible in order to influence the African people; his ultimate aim was to turn the African people into workers. After the Wars of Dispossession, their only possession would be their labor; and by 1858, three-fourths of the Africans in the western and eastern provinces had been reduced to common laborers.

DIAMONDS AND GOLD

   But what really accelerated the rate of colonial expansion in South Africa was the discovery of diamonds in Kimberly, located in the Boer Republic of the Orange Free State. Under the pretext of protecting "their friend" Adam Kok and his people, the British moved against the Boers " and took over Kimberly. Adam Kok and his people were moved to East Griqualand. north of the Transkei and south of Natal. The little town in this area was named "Kokstad" in "honor" of Adam Kok. Capital from Europe poured into South África and so did European investors and foftune-seekers.

   With the discovery of diamonds, the question of labor took a sharp turn. At first the English imported Chinese from Hong Kong, but this proved too expensive. So they turned their eyes on the indigenous population. In 1872 Proclamation introduced the Pass System, the purpose of which was to control, direct and channel African labor in and out of any area that needed labor.

   In addition, three taxes were imposed upon the African lation-the Poll tax, the Hut tax, and the Labor tax-and only those Africans, - not working for white men paid these taxes. More wars were provoked: against the, Xhosa and the Zulu in 1 879; against the Sotho and Mpondomise in 1880-81; for the pose of annexing Pondoland and East Grigualand in 1885; with Botswana and Swaziland by 1890. All Africans in these areas were turned into potential labor recruits for the colony that was growing and expanding.

   Twenty years after the discovery of diamonds in Kimberley, gold was discovered in the Witwatersrand, Transvaal (another Boer Republic). This time the British made no pretense but marched into Pretoria, the Boer capital. Diamond and gold mining led to the building of railroads, seaports, towns; farming had to be modernized to produce enough food for the growing population. South Africa was fast developing into an industrial country; more and more labor was needed. The African people were to provide this labor.

  THE UNION OF SOUTH AFRICA-or the U.S.A.

   In 1910 South Africa was granted its independence. The four provinces-two English and two Boer Republics-came together to form the Union of South Africa, proposing in the process to formulate a uniform labor policy for the whole country now that South Africa was becoming industrialized. At that time, only the Africans in the Cape Province had the franchise, i.e., voting power. One of the first laws passed by the now independent South African state was the "Land Act" of 1913, which stated that no Black Africans could live on land owned by White people.

    The Land Act meant the demise of the sharecropping system, which compelled most of the Blacks to sell their livestock, totally stripping them of what they had and forcing them to sell their labor in order to live. At the same time certain areas, by this same Act, were set aside for occupation by Africans, and, somewhat later, The Group Areas Act of 1950 closed what loopholes remained.

   The pass was the instrument used to direct Blacks to those industries that needed labor. City industries paid better wages, but workers were needed in the mines. Thus the government closed the cities to Blacks, channeling them into the open areas-the mines- instead.

THE SHARPEVILLE MASSACRE

   In 1960 the Black workers organized a major strike in Cape Town and stayed out for two weeks. By the end of the first week the shipping industry alone had lost $13.5 million. The government, stopping at nothing to crush the workers, sent every unit of the army to surround the African townships of Langa and Nyanga. For 3 days the soldiers moved from house to house, beating and shooting the workers, forcing them back to work with violence.

   If the strike had been co-ordinated throughout the country, the workers could have bankrupted the South African economy. But the Chase Manhattan Bank stepped in to bail South Africa out of its economic catastrophe.

THE CURRENT STRUGGLE

    Today 18 million Africans are faced with not only the four million whites in South Africa, but also the capitalist forces of Britain, America, Germany and France (in that order). The super-profits from southern Africa 's vast natural wealth go to these four countries. When Kissinger and Prime Minister Vorster meet, it is to find a way to save their nations' investments in South Africa. Their hope is to create a corridor of calm around South Africa.

   But if the Namibia question is not settled, and if the Rhodesian question is not settled, America will be forced to protect its interests in South Africa. If and when this happens, the Vietnamese experience will be peanuts. It will be a fight to the last African and, finally, the most decisive demonstration of self-determination and freedom for the African people.