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SOCIAL PROBLEMS IN SOUTH AFRICA

THE

HE Union of South Africa is a unique laboratory for experiments in racial problems; in it a white community, which has grown to be a nation in its mental attitude and its aspirations, lives on the same territory as an outnumbering black people which maintains its virility unimpaired. There are many examples in the world of white settlements amongst alien races, where the settlers expect to play their part and go home to their own country; there are some white colonies where the native race has gone under; and in the United States there is an unassimilable negro minority which is a thorn in the flesh. There is no other country than South Africa where two intermingled nations live, and the issue between them is uncertain.

A brief historical review is needed to understand the present situation. The Dutch and English settlers did not come into effective contact with the Kaffirs until the middle of the nineteenth century, when increase of population in the country round Cape Town drove the settlers further afield. But a century and more ago the presence of Hottentots in the neighbourhood of the Cape created problems somewhat like those of the present day. The Hottentots were not nearly so numerous as the Kaffirs are, but the phases of contact present some similarity. First the government tried to treat them as foreigners with whom they had as little to do as possible; then, the Hottentots being needed for their labour on farms, they were admitted in a semi-servile condition, of which the Pass Law was evidence; finally, the Pass Law was repealed and common rights of citizenship conceded. The Hottentots are now only represented by their share in the half-bred coloured race which forms the majority in the Western Cape province.

Early contact with the Kaffirs was more hostile. A succession of wars marked the advance of the white people into the interior of the country. The white race was represented by the type, chiefly of Dutch origin, to which the name Boer (Burgher) has been given, though it is a purely rural type. The Boer is a pastoral farmer, living an isolated life in patriarchal style, on a

piece of land so large that it is his pride to have no neighbour's house within view. The fighting between Boers and Kaffirs was so severe that it has left, even to the present time, a tradition of fear and hatred: yet economic intercourse became indispensable, and the Boers soon came to depend entirely on native farm labour, while they lived the easy life of the landowner. The sentiments that lie at the root of the present policy of the Dutch party in South Africa were formed in that period; the white settlers, derived from a highly civilised European people, possessed the usual hardy virtues of pioneers, while the Kaffirs were barbarians. It was roughly true, then, that any European was superior to every native.

The white race in the interior, however, degenerated, owing to isolation, want of education, possibly to in-breeding, certainly to dependence on the labour of inferiors. The English section of South Africa has had a different history. Remaining, for the most part, at the coast or in the towns, they did not come closely into contact with the uncivilised native. Subsequently the English section was largely reinforced by immigrants, chiefly urban workers, who, of course, were ignorant of the earlier history of the country, and had no special cause for dislike of the natives.

Before this immigration, the contrast was not so much between Dutch and English, as between the interior, peopled by Dutch, and the coast districts where both nationalities were found. Policy was controlled by the Western Province (i.e., the country round Cape Town) which was then much the most populous, and the outcome of that policy may be seen in the Western Province to-day. There are few pure-bred natives; there is a marked social gulf between the whites and half-bred “coloured" people; but there is occasional inter-marriage between the two, and quite an amicable relation between them. It is a relation between superior classes and peasantry, rather than between conqueror and conquered; the coloured people are recognized as amiable folk and good citizens. The situation, in fact, is not very different from that prevailing in some Mediterranean countries, with which the Western Province has much similarity of climate and industry.

The end of the nineteenth century brought the discoveries of diamonds and gold, the incursion of a crowd of immigrants-not of the best type-the growth of industrial conditions, and of a

white working class. The centre of gravity of the country shifted from the surroundings of Cape Town to the High Veld: the intermediate region, the Karroo, is barren and thinly inhabited; the High Veld, of which Natal is practically an outlying portion, is moderately fertile, and possesses coal in addition to its wonderful gold deposits. Already its population is much larger than that of the Western Province, so that the Union of South Africa is made up chiefly of two regions, a larger and a smaller, rather widely separated, and diverse in their conditions. Already the policy of the High Veld predominates.

In that region there are few of the Cape half-breeds: the population is sharply divided into European and Kaffir (Bantu), with a small addition of Indians in Natal. Originally it consisted of pastoral farms of the Boers in the Transvaal and the Orange Free State, with English farms in Natal, whose owners had not lost touch with the outside world, but whose farming was of much the same pastoral character. The discovery of diamonds in the 'seventies, and of gold in the 'eighties, of last century brought into this country an extensive and completely alien development of mining, which caused the growth of towns; and in turn has led in recent years to manufacturing, not only in the interior, but in the coast districts of Natal and the Cape, which are suffering some transformation in consequence.

The immigrants of the later nineteenth century were of all classes, and included a much larger number of urban manual workers than had ever before come to South Africa. Miners and artisans, congregated in small areas, formed a new constituent of South African society. Before the mining discoveries the European population even in the towns, belonged largely to the higher classes, with coloured people and natives to do the manual work, whilst on the farms, as we have noted, the settlers were of good type, though poor in money. But new industrial conditions brought immigrants of a lower class, while the growth of the indigenous white population made it impossible to keep up the superiority which the early Boers, as landowners, possessed. Meanwhile the native peoples had not stood still they showed considerable power of assimilating European ways. They have had very little formal education, though they are keen to make use of what chances they can get; they have learnt chiefly by working under the direction of white men. The notion that all

white men are superior to natives is no longer in the least tenable— there is overlapping both ways. Some natives have proved themselves capable of professional and other high-grade work, and some Europeans belong to the dregs of society. In a community where the two races are sharply contrasted, problems arise both of finding work for the inferior members of the higher race, and of satisfying the legitimate ambition of able men among the lower race.

We must turn now to the facts of the present situation. First, the number of the people: this according to the 1921 census is :

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The mixed population-often called "coloured "—live for the most part in the Western Cape Province. Their mode of life is practically that of a poorer class in Europe, and the Prime Minister, General Hertzog, though leading the party most wedded to white exclusiveness, proposes to treat them as whites politically. This is wise, for it is certainly the ambition of the coloured man to follow European ways, and an increase in prosperity would enable him to do so. Although the coloured folk form the majority in the district they mostly occupy, their number is not large enough to create a major problem of the country as a whole.

The Indians live chiefly in Natal. The Indian problem has special features, which there is no space to discuss here: it may be suggested that considering their small numbers the wisest plan would be to give them full citizenship, and trust to their standard of living being raised gradually nearer to that of the whites. There is no danger of the Indian population approximating in numbers to the whites in any period that one can foresee.

The fundamental problem of the country lies in the fact that there are more than three times as many Bantus as whites. In

the past the white population has been well supported by immigration, intermittent, it is true, but on a fairly large scale. This however has ceased: economic opportunity no longer tempts settlers. There are a few immigrants, of whom those from the Baltic States, chiefly Jews, are the largest group, and they are about balanced in number by emigrants, chiefly British returning to their homes. Practically the white population is self-contained and depends on the excess of births for its increase. The birthrate shows in quite a marked way the same tendency as in all other civilized countries. The figures for the white birth rate are:

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Statistics are not available earlier than 1910, the year

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of Union.

The death-rate is low on account of good hygiene, combined with a favourable age distribution, so that the natural increase in population is still rather high, but it is obvious that if the birthrate continues to fall the white population cannot increase very greatly beyond its present amount.

The present government is unfavourably disposed towards immigration, but that is of no consequence as the economic circumstances of the country do not tempt immigrants, at least from England or Holland. They might be had perhaps from Southern Europe, but any large movement of that kind would change the racial constitution of the Union to an extent that no one at present contemplates. It is quite unsafe to predict birth-rate changes, but the matter is so important to the country that it is perhaps worth while to make a hypothetical calculation. If the birth-rate continued to fall for a quarter of a century more, as fast as it has done since Union, and then remained constant, arithmetic shows that the white population, unless augmented by immigration, would never rise above two and a-half millions. Thus the whites would be faced by the alternatives of welcoming settlers, probably of a foreign nationality, or of remaining greatly outnumbered by the natives.

As to the rate of increase of the Bantu, there are no trustworthy statistics. Recent censuses appear to show that the Bantus increase about as fast as the whites have done of late, i.e., 1 per cent. per annum; but the native census is not as reliable as could be wished. The birth-rate is unknown, and there is much dispute as to how far endemic diseases keep down numbers. There

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