Population Registration Act

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Personal certificate according to the Population Registration Act with the registered population group white

The Population Registration Act , Act No 30/1950 ( Afrikaans : Wet op Bevolkingsregistrasie ; German as: "Population Registration Act") was a 1950 enacted law of South African apartheid government , the comprehensive population registry had with new identity documents for all residents of South Africa to the goal. For its implementation, data and recording methods according to the Census Act of 1910 (Act No. 2/1910) were used. It came into force on July 7, 1950 and served to further expand the policy of racial segregation .

General

The Population Registration Act , together with the Prohibition of Mixed Marriages Act (enacted 1949) and the Immorality Act (in 1950, the law enacted in 1927 was expanded and tightened again in 1957), formed a fundamental, discriminatory law within the framework of apartheid policy.

The Ministry of the Interior was responsible for this law. The specialist authority in charge was called the Director of Census .

The Population Registration Act was repealed by the South African Parliament on June 17, 1991.

Essential legal content

The concern was a categorization of the population and the related issue of an identity card, identity card (roughly equivalent to the identity card ) including an identity number ( identity number ) in accordance with Section 6 of the Act. The legal definition of the term "foreigner" was adopted on the basis of the Aliens Act ( Act No. 1/1937 ).

Section 5

Under Section 5 of that law, every South African was classified according to an “ethnic or other group”. The law provided for three different groups of people: whites , colored and natives , in the original text "... white person, a colored person or a native, ....".

A description and definition of the “classification” of the Coloreds and Natives groups was reserved to the governor-general by publication in the Government Gazette , including subsequent changes. The residents referred to as "natives" were already defined in Section 1 (X), according to which any person of an "indigenous race or tribe of Africa" ​​fell under this designation. The group of Coloreds was later further subdivided in order to distinguish even residents of Asian descent. They were called Cape Malay , Griquas , Indians , Chinese or “Cape Coloreds”.

Section 7

According to Section 7, the following personal information was recorded or requested:

according to paragraph 1 for whites and coloreds (colored)

  • full name, gender and main place of residence
  • Classification according to Section 5
  • Birthday and place of birth
  • the citizenship or nationality
  • marital status
  • in the case of eligibility to vote under the Electoral Consolidation Act ( No. 46/1946 ), the constituency and the constituency
  • the date of entry if the person was not born in South Africa
  • a recent passport photo if the person has not yet reached the age of 16
  • the identity number

according to paragraph 2 for natives (meaning black people)

  • full name, gender and the district of the main place of residence
  • the nationality or nationality, the ethnic group or other group and the tribal origin
  • Dates of birth, if not known, the assumed date or year, and place of birth, if not known, the respective district
  • marital status
  • the date of entry if the person was not born in South Africa
  • a recent passport photo, if the person is under the age of 16, and if they are not a South African citizen, their fingerprints
  • the identity number

Section 8

Section 8 stipulated that a copy of the official list of residents was to be publicly displayed in every district administration office. It contained the following personal information:

  • Name, gender and main place of residence, in the case of black persons, the district of habitual residence
  • the classification according to section 5
  • the citizenship or nationality
  • in the case of eligibility to vote under the Electoral Consolidation Act ( No. 46/1946 ), the constituency and the constituency
  • the identity number

Section 13

Section 13 described what information the identity card should contain. A distinction was made between two ID cards, one for white and colored people and another for black people.

according to paragraph 1 for whites and coloreds (colored)

  • Name and gender
  • Classification according to Section 5
  • Citizenship or nationality
  • Identity number
  • the passport photo
  • Date of issue of the identity card

according to paragraph 2 for natives (meaning black people)

  • Name and gender
  • the ethnic or other group affiliation and the tribal affiliation, in the case of foreign persons, the citizenship or nationality
  • Identity number
  • the passport photo and, in the case of foreigners, the fingerprints
  • Date of issue of the identity card

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ africanhistory.about.com (English), accessed on March 7, 2014