IsiXhosa Intellectual Traditions (IsiXIT) Digital Archive

R. DE WET, the Secretary for Native Affairs, will, we understand, be soon on the Frontier to carry out the decision of Parliament in connection with the removal of the Glen Grey and Peddie Natives. We confess we do not fall in with this step. True it is that it is to be carried out at the instance of Mr. ROSE-INNES, a gentleman who has not as yet 8n?wn himself inimical to the interests of the Native people. It may, however, be pointed out that Mr. ROSEINNES may have been acting on the principle that half a loaf is better than nothing at all. The Bond member for Queen's Town had in Parliament put a motion which, if carried, would have resulted in the wholesale sweeping of the Glen Grey location of all its present Native residents, but Mr. ROSEINNES stepped in with his amendment, giving the Natives the option of moving or remaining. There is thus no harshness covered by the amendment. Our anxiety comes in when we come to consider the manner of giving effect to the Parliamentary resolution. It is well known that many of our people, pinched by circumstances, have been ready to do exactly what everybody ignorant of the country would do under the same conditions—to seek fresh fields. Better informed men know, however, that there is such a thing as jumping from the frying-pan into the fire, and we make no manner of doubt that many Natives have applied for leave to cross the Kei in blissful ignorance of this somewhat hackneyed aphorism. Indeed, the drought now seems to be worse in the Transkei than in Peddie. Besides there is another consideration that seems to be lost sight of in the discussion oi this subject. Some of the people wish to go because they say they are crowded in their present locations. As a rule sons are sent on with part of the stock while the old talks remain behind with the rest. Were the fact that they forfeit the lands they vacate more widely known we doubt if they would care to move at all. In the course of the debate in Parliament Mr. DE WET clearly stated that the Natives must not expect more land in the Transkei than they vacate, and, of course, this will go far to minimize the inducements for going. Having a these facts in regard we would urge upon the Secretary for Native Affairs the importance of dealing with this question with great for¬bearance ; for we tremble to think of the consequences of sending to places where there is plenty of in- flamable material a lot of people full of high expectations, who on their arrival would probably discover that the ideal picture they may have formed falls far short of realization, and who would have nowhere to return, for their former homes might be transformed into farms. In changing homes in these bad seasons the people run the risk of losing whatever stock they Possessed, and Government would for some time have to support them in their new locations. It must besides be borne in mind that they are being removed from places within easy reach of markets and humanizing influences. It is for the merchants to dilate upon the effects upon trade in clearing thou¬sands of consumers and replacing them with a hundred farmers owning large tracts which they cannot possibly turn to account. We have, we think, said enough to justify the very grave misgivings we entertain in respect of the policy forshadowed by the news of Mr. DE WETS coming. We trust the honourable Secretary will not withold any light from the people so that they may not hereafter complain that they had been forced to take a leap in the dark. It is again important for them to know that they are not oblige to go. We may, moreover, in this connection urge upon Mr- WET the fact we made use of las week, that Natives have been trained to attach no weight to deci¬sions arrived at by majorities. Instead of driving into the Natives the conviction that they have no right to the lands they occupy and thus making them fee that they have no stake in the country, we think Government might well consider the wisdom o giving them fixity of tenure in their present holdings, and the responsi¬bility of maintaining order in their Locations might have a sobering effect, and, to a certain extent, de¬crease stock thefts.