The Significance of the Tomlinson Report

After the conquest of Southern Africa in the nineteenth century, certain areas remained in occupation by various Bantu tribes, and, by the Land Act of 1913, Africans were given the sole right of occupation of these areas, but were restricted in their rights to acquire land outside them. The Native Trust and Land Act of 1936 made provision for additional land for Native occupation, so that the Reserves now amount to some 17,^00,000 morgen (about £7,000 square miles) and they represent about 13 per cent of the area of the whole country. These Bantu Areas, as the Commission calls them, are situated for the most part in the higher rainfall areas of the country and have fairly good farming potentialities, but they have remained under-developed areas where traditional primitive tribal subsistence farming still prevails. Overstocking and bad husbandry are destroying the fertility of the soil, and productivity, always deplorably low by modern standards, is declining still further. The pressure of poverty has led to considerable emigration into the expanding industrial and commercial economy of the rest of the Union, and the Reserves at present accommodate less than half the African population of the country. Of a total of 8.£ million Bantu in 19^1, a little over 3.6 million were in the Reserves, 2.6 million were on European farms and 2.3 million were in urban areas. These latter, who are mainly employed in mining, manufacturing, transport and commerce, have been increasing rapidly in recent years. This influx of Africans into the towns has been absorbed in the expanding urban economy and has been an important factor in facilitating the rapid growth of mining and manufacturing, but housing and social services have lagged behind and deplorable slum conditions have developed on the outskirts of many large cities. Moreover the large cities have been traditionally European centres and the large influx of Africans, which inevitably alters their character, has given rise to severe tensions.