"Inside The Witwatersrand Native   Labour
Association (W.N.L.A.) Depot"
The Entrepot Of African Labour
A. The Importer ce of Mice Labour.
Ever since thc contact between Africans
and Europeans, the latters' sense of duty and
ability to work faded away into the "thin
air", for a habit developed whereby it had become a "disgrace" for a Furopean to do the
so-called "Kaffir work". This tendency grew
and developed like a mushroom into a national habit in which the European assumed
the position of an overseer. In other words,
all thc laborious work in the country became
the imposed responsibility of the Africans,
local  or  foreign.
Today the African labour forms the
backbone of all industrial establishments in
the country. As more and more Africans
flocked to the mines, the mining magnates of
South Africa decided upon building a big
labour entrepot in Johannesburg from whence
the African miners are distributed like
merchandise to the various mining centres of
South Africa. This centre became known as
the W.N.L.A. Depot, with its Head Offices at
the Chamber of Mines - the rendezvous of
mining monopolists of South Africa. Indeed,
thc importance of mine labour to the mining
industry of South Africa can be seen by a
glance at the daily labour traffic in thc
W.N.L.A. Depot (Rooysens) where from 500
to 1,000 new recruits are received from the
African countries, Mozambique, P>asutoland,
Rechuanaland.   the   Khodesias   and  Angola).
B. The Pess System In The Mine*.
The
Portuguese and South African
minority governments have an almost
identical, if not completely identical policy
towards the Africans in the respective countries.    In both countries, the pass system is
practiced  as  a  means  of  controlling  the  so-
called influx and enflux of Africans.
t
There are many stories that are overhead by those decades-old-walls of thc
W.N.L.A. among which is the pass system.
Since Mozambicans form the bulk of the
mine labour, I elect to write more about them.
I asked one Mozambican why he chose to
come and work in the mines : the answer
was "the Portuguese Administration is
forcing us". Then I asked him how? "By
means of passes." Among other things he
told me was the system of "forced labour".
By means of this enactment the victim can
be sentenced to six months imprisonment
with "hard labour" without payment (except
exempting him from taxes of that year).
The pass system in the mines is so rigid
that it is impossible for a miner to be employed in the mines without permit. To get their
passes fixed, the miners must stand for
several hours in long queues, sometimes in
the rain or the blazing sun, or worst still in
the biting winter weather of South Africa.
On the other hand, the Portuguese "Cura-
doria" is sitting comfortably in his office
whilst drinking tea at short intervals. The
rate of writing being 3 people every half an
hour.
By means of a system of Portuguese
security police headed by a certain Mr. H.,
any miner suspected of any offence, be it
genuine (very rare) or false, can be traced
and hurried back home for imprisonment unnoticed  and  without  trial.
The miner in S. Africa carries two
passes; one from his country of origin and
the other the  S.  African   so-called   reference
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