Tomlinson Commission

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The Tomlinson Commission (short name) was an advisory body founded in 1950 by the South African government with headquarters at the University of Pretoria and was headed by the ethnologist and agricultural economist Frederik Rothmann Tomlinson (born October 21, 1908, † February 25, 1991). Her full name was in English Commission for the socio-economic development of Bantu areas within the Union of South Africa and in Afrikaans Kommissie vir die sosio-ekonomiese ontwikkeling van die Bantoe-gebiede bin die Unie van Suid-Afrika .

Goal setting

The aim of this commission consisted in a scientific reduction for the racial segregation policy of the ruling National Party and in the development of feasible implementation strategies. According to the opinion of the time, it created scientifically based foundations for apartheid policy in South Africa.

Prime Minister Malan initiated the creation of a socio-economic plan for the rehabilitation and development of residential areas of the black population in order to develop them into "self-governing" homelands . As a working body for this purpose, he appointed the Tomlinson Commission in 1950.

From their work comes the statement that the politically wanted apartheid can only be achieved with consequent separate development within the South African Union and with the inclusion of Swaziland , Basutoland (today Lesotho ) and Bechuanaland (today Botswana ). Only one member of the commission came to the conclusion in 1956 that extensive racial segregation could not succeed. However, the overriding principle prevailed that all affairs of the “indigenous” population must be centralized politically and administratively. As a result, different approaches to regional policy in the country were eliminated in the 1950s.

Results

The work of this commission resulted in two scenarios for the future shaping of indigenous policy by the apartheid government:

  1. Assimilation of the black population in all areas of society through a complete cultural decline (cultural assimilation - economic assimilation - social assimilation - political assimilation - final biological assimilation)
  2. a separate development with upgrading of traditional settlement areas and the avoidance of a further urbanization of black population groups in the existing urban agglomerations.

The final report of the Tomlinson Commission ( Verslag van die Kommissie vir die Sosio-ekonomiese Ontwikkeling van die Bantoegebiede binne die Unie Van Suid-Afrika ) suggested three key points for future government policy:

  1. the separation of farmers from non-farmers,
  2. a land reclamation policy,
  3. the industrialization of the indigenous reserves.

In the course of these recommendations was to tribalism and the Bantu self-government ( self-government ) should be encouraged. One wanted to counter the increasing problems of overgrazed and eroded agricultural areas with a comprehensive land division.

Other specific suggestions were, for example:

  • Repatriation of black South Africans living outside of existing reservations (5.6 million people),
  • Unification of the 264 indigenous reserves to form a self-governing and economically relatively independent area,
  • Establishment of a commercial and industrial structure in the combined reserve in order to be able to use the workforce in a more concentrated manner.

To achieve these goals, the commission estimated the financial outlay for the South African state. Cautious assumptions were made for a sum of £ 104 million over a period of ten years. The government viewed this recommendation very critically and was a point in the report that was later to be discredited by various means .

Oswald Pirow (left) at a reception given by Nazi Foreign Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop in conversation with Erhard Milch (right) and Walter Hewel on November 19, 1938

The results of the work of the Tomlinson Commission were not entirely new, but were based in part on findings of the Native Economic Commission from 1932 ( Report of the Native Economic Commission , Pretoria) and on preparatory work by Oswald Pirow , a lawyer and former South African defense and defense officer Minister of Justice with good connections to National Socialist Germany .

In 1956, the South African government officially commented on the report. She praised the confirmation of her policy, which did not provide for the integration of the black population and, on the other hand, sought the path of separate development. However, three recommendations from the work of the commission were rejected:

  • Land ownership reform in South Africa
  • Attracting European capital investments for projects in rural areas of South Africa
  • Establishment of an institutional development corporation under the direction of the Department of Native Affairs.

Issue of the report

The report consists of 18 volumes with a total of 3755 pages. It was divided into 15 chapters and had 598 tables and 66 maps. There is a summary of this extensive work from 1955 with the title: Summary of the Report of the Commission for Socio-Economic Development of the Bantu Areas within the Union of South Africa or Samevatting van die verslag van die Kommissie vir die Sosio-Ekonomiese Ontwikkeling van die Bantoegebiede binne the Unie van Suid-Afrika . It is provided with a foreword by Werner Willi Max Eiselen , the then State Secretary for Native Issues.

Some members of the commission were influenced by their family or professional background from the Boer circles . Tomlinson himself was a professor of agricultural economics at Stellenbosch University . Chris Prinsloo was from the Urban Affair Section , Michel Daniel Christiaan de Wet Nel was Chairman of the Naturellesakegroep (Native Affairs Group) and CB Young, an Under-Secretary of State from the Native Areas government .

Positions

Chapter 4 of the summarized report (Summary of the Report…) is entitled Development of the Pattern of Racial Relations in South Africa (literally: Development of [action] patterns of racial relations in South Africa). In point 16, following the factual basis adopted by the Commission, six (sections (i) to (vi) ) alleged main socio-cultural differences are listed. With regard to historically traditional religious differences, the "Christian Protestant faith" was invoked , which was "strengthened by Calvinist views" as a result of the influences from the Huguenot circle (section (i) ). In section (iv) under the postulate of "The Racial (Biological) Differences" (literally: The racial (biological) differences) is stated:

"The physical differences and dissimilarities especially between Europeans and Bantu , led to a feeling of aloofness and physical abversion."

"The physical differences and differences, especially between Europeans and Bantu, lead to a feeling of detachment and physical aversion."

- Tomlinson Commission, Summary of the Report of the Commission ..., 1955

literature

  • Andrea Lang: Separate Development and the Department of Bantu Administration in South Africa. History and analysis of the special administrations for blacks (= work from the Institute for Africa Customer , 103). Hamburg 1999. ISBN 3-928049-58-5
  • Harold Jack Simons, Ray Esther Simons: Class and Color in South Africa, 1850–1950 . Lusaka 1969, Chapter 18: White Terror .
  • Ivan Evans: Bureaucracy and Race. Nature Administration in South Africa . University of California Press, Berkley / Los Angeles / London 1997, cdlib.org

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Bibliographical evidence of the commission in the holdings of the University of Pretoria
  2. ^ South African History Online: Timeline of Land Dispossession and Segregation in South Africa 1948–1994. 1950 . on www.sahistory.org.za (English)
  3. ^ Commission for the Socio-Economic Development of the Bantu Areas within the Union of South Africa: Verslag van die Kommissie vir die Sosio-ekonomiese Ontwikkeling van die Bantoegebiede binne the Unie van Suid-Afrika . explore.up.ac.za ;, Universiteit van Pretoria, library, online catalog (English) bibliographic evidence of the report of the Tomlinson Commission
  4. ^ Andrea Lang: Separate Development . Pp. 63-64
  5. ^ A b Ivan Evans: Bureaucracy and Race. Nature Administration in South Africa . 1997, Berkley, Los Angeles, London, University of California Press, Chapter: The Tomlinson Commission and Bantu Authorities
  6. ^ Pierre L. van den Berghe: Racial Segregation in South Africa: Degrees and Kinds . In: Cahiers d'études africaines. Vol. 6 (1966) No. 23, p. 417, footnote
  7. ↑ Andrea Lang: Separate Development , p. 66, footnote 250
  8. ^ Robert L. McCormack: Man with a Mission: Oswald Pirow and South African Airways. 1933-1939 . In: Journal of African History, Vol. 20 (1979), pp. 543-557, jstor
  9. ↑ Racial segregation. The white dream . In: Der Spiegel . No. 26 , 1959, pp. 35 ( online ).
  10. ↑ WWM Eiselen , FR Tomlinson et al .: Summary of the Report of the Commission for Socio-Economic Development of the Bantu Areas within the Union of South Africa . Pretoria, The Government Printer, 1955, pp. 18-19, (citations)