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This resource is hosted by the Nelson Mandela Foundation, but was compiled and authored by Padraig O’Malley. It is the product of almost two decades of research and includes analyses, chronologies, historical documents, and interviews from the apartheid and post-apartheid eras.

1911. Native Labour Regulation Act

This "reserved farm workers for white agriculture, closing the Orange Free State and considerable tracts of Natal, the Transvaal and the Cape to mine recruiting" \ (Crush et al. 1991: 138); see the BANTU LABOUR REGULATIONS ACT of 1965. It also "reduced the industrial power of blacks by making strike action by them a criminal offence" (Davenport 1987: 531). Furthermore, it imposed the "first statutory obligation ... to compensate Africans for injuries. The benefits ranged from £1 to £20 for partial incapacity and from £30 to £50 for total permanent disablement" (Simons & Simons 1969: 94).

In addition, "Shortly before the formation of the Union ... the authorities in the Cape banned cattle advances in Pondoland and restricted cash advances in the Transkei to a limit of £5 per worker. These restrictions were extended to the whole of South Africa by the UNION NATIVE LABOUR REGULATION ACT of 1911 and the cash limit was lowered to £2. Although the government was intent on eliminating advances altogether it was forced to vacillate in its approach due to changing circumstances" (Allen 1992: 164).

This act was amended by the NATIVES LAWS AMENDMENT ACT of 1952.

This resource is hosted by the Nelson Mandela Foundation, but was compiled and authored by Padraig O’Malley. Return to theThis resource is hosted by the site.