Reinforcements for the Laager From STANLEY UYS
CAPE TOWN
TT seemed only yesterday that Government j politicians were accusing the Opposition of wanting to bring in immigrants to 'plough the Afrikaner under.' This kind of speech was being made up to 1962, with Prime Ministers (includ- ing Dr. Verwoerd) joining in as vociferously as any back-bencher. 'Bread will be taken out of the mouths of South Africans by the millions Field- Ivfarshal Smuts wants to unload on our country from overseas—is the man wanton or mad?' ran the cry then. And : The United Party want 50,000 immigrants to compete with you for your job . . . stop this mad immigration policy, this wild and crazy scheme. . . . We cannot have immigrants from countries who do not under- stand our colour problem.'
How the scene has changed. Immigrants, even from Britain, are welcomed now with open arms, officially, by the Verwoerd Government. They arc even given £60 towards their fares. The Minister of Immigration claims that the immigra- tion campaign is now `one of the most attractive Schemes in the world.' The main immigration Winces are the other African territories (whites in retreat) and Britain. It is interesting to see the reasons they give for emigrating. In the one case it is a flight from a political climate; in the other it is a flight just from the climate.
In 1962, when the big immigration jump started (detailed figures for 1963 are not avail- able),
Britain produced 4,968 of the 10,143 immigrants from overseas countries—approxi- mately half. It seems that politics were not among their motives. Only a nominal number said they were fleeing from socialism or seeking a country where a white man was still a white man. Their wives spoke for many of them: they said they could no longer stand the combination of drudgery and the English climate. The Verwoerd Government, incidentally, is fully aware of the debt it owes to the savage English winter of 1962-63.
What has caused European emigrants to lose their fear of South Africa? In the first place, not all of them have lost their fear. A total of 10,143 (a few thousand more in 1963, apparently) is not a big contribution from Europe, the Americas. Australia and New Zealand. But those who are coming appear to have decided that people have been crying 'wolf!' about South Africa too long, and that revolution is not around the corner. They may be right. There are so many people in gaol that it is difficult to find out exactly what is happening in this country. Anyway, here they are, nicely settled in (barring some complaints about no jobs and no housing), and wondering what all the fuss was about considering that everything is so tranquil on the surface.
The immigrants from the other African terri- tories are a different crowd. The majority of them, far and away, arc from the Rhodesias, probably many returning South Africans among them. Of 10,773 immigrants from the African continent in 1962, no fewer than 7,257 were from the Rhodesias and Nyasaland, 1,707 from Kenya, 275 from Tanganyika and sixty-nine from the Congo. In the main, they are fugitives from 'Uhuru.' Some have money, others not. Most are pretty bitter about the blacks. Some can be heard reviling them in terms which strike even South African ears as being crude. It is a naïve 'all black men are apes' kind of racialism which is no longer fashionable in South Africa. These chagrined immigrants arrive in a particular state of mind, believing that Dr. Vcrwoerd is a strong man who knows what's what. They certainly are not going to 'plough the Afrikaner under'—not unless the situation turns sour on them here as well and they become disenchanted.
Meanwhile, it is sound politics and sound psychology for the Verwoerd Government to encourage an image of the Republic of South Africa as the one reliable bastion of the white man on the continent, the one safe place of refuge. The Verwocrd Government does not ac- tively recruit immigrants from the other African territories--there is a gentlemen's agreement that the territories should not steal sorely-needed white men from each other - but, on the other hand, the Minister of Immigration, Senator Alf Trollip, feels that South Africa is 'morally com- mitted' to assist immigrants from the African territories. Occupational selection is not applied as strictly in their cases as it is with European immigrants. Immigrants from Southern and Northern Rhodesia are even allowed special customs facilities. They do not have to pay duty on cars, furniture and other personal items. These concessions come under the heading of 'en- couragement,' not recruitment.
The immigration graph, then, is as follows: 1948 (the last year of the Smuts Government) was the peak year, with 35,631 arrivals and 7,534 departures, leaving a net gain of 28,097. The Nationalist Government immediately put a stop to the State-sponsored immigration scheme and the graph plummeted. In 1949, arrivals dropped to 14,786 and departures climbed to 9,206. In the next two years. there was a net loss—of 1,841 in 1950 and 131 in 1951. After that, the annual net gain fluctuated at around 3,000 souls. In 1962, the tide turned and the net gain climbed to 11,971, and for the first eleven months of last year it was 24,219.
This was almost where Smuts went out. Why were those fourteen crucial years wasted? (South Africa's immigration gain was, and still is, peanuts compared with the gain of Canada or Australia.) What caused the Nationalist Govern- Ment to change its mind? The explanation is that, in 1948, it feared that white immigrants would vote for the apposition and 'plough the Afrikaner under.' Now it no longer thinks so. It is operating from a position of strength. It is seemingly con- fident that whites who come today are all rein-
'1.ticky white heather, sir?'
forcernents for the laager. No doubt it is right. Anyone who emigrates to South Africa today must at least be neutral in his politics—no liberal would emigrate—and it does not take long for a neutralist in Africa to become a rightist these days, especially if he is an immigrant, still insecure in his newness.
White immigrants are bringing much-needed skills to South Africa, where the 3,500,000 whites have to provide practically all the skills required to run a country of 17,000,000 people. (Non- white leaders retort, of course, that if their people were not prevented by the colour bar from acquiring and exercising skills, the need for white immigrants would fall away, or at least diminish.) But it is not only for their skills that white immigrants are being brought in. It is also for their whiteness. Whether this will redress the balance of white and non-white, even • in the distant future, is unlikely-, 3,500,000 whites against '11,645,000 AfriCans and 2,000.000 coloureds and Asians? Nevertheless, this con- tinued arrival of determined-looking whites is good for white morale, and without morale white civilisation in this black continent would really be in the dumps.
Previous page
