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Salient. Victoria University Student Newspaper. Vol 35 no. 9. 9 May 1972

Assembly and Association

Assembly and Association

Assembly and association banner

An African who has lived continuously for fifty years in the town in which he was born is not entitled as of right to have an African friend visit and remain with him for more than seventy-two hours.

It is unlawful for a white person and a non-white person to drink a cup of tea together in a cafe anywhere in South Africa unless they have obtained a special permit to do so.

Unless he has obtained a special permit, an African professor delivering a lecture at a white club, which has invited him to do so, commits a criminal offence.

A coloured person attending a public cinema in a town (even though he occupies specially separated seating) is guilty of a criminal offence, unless a special permit has been issued.

An African attending a Church fete in a town is guilty of a criminal offence, unless a special permit has been issued.

If there are no cinemas in a coloured township a permit will be issued allowing coloured persons to attend a cinema in a town, provided that separate entrance, seating "and other facilites" are available for coloured persons.

A permit will not be granted to a white orchestra to accompany an African choir presenting performances even though the audiences are segregated.

A permit will not be granted to Africans to watch a Carnival organized by the students of a white university; it will be granted to coloured persons and Asians only on condition that no refreshments are served.

If an Asian (or a coloured person or an African) sits on a bench in a public park (which has been set apart for the exclusive use of white persons), by way of protest against the apartheid laws, he commits a criminal offence punishable by a fine of not more than $840 or Imprisonment for not longer than three years or a whipping of not more than ten strokes, or both such fine and imprisonment, or both such fine and whipping, or both such imprisonment and whipping.

Anyone who has rendered aid to the family of a person convicted of committing an offence by way of protest against apartheid laws is also guilty of an offence.

If there is only one waiting-room in a railway station, it is lawful for the station-master to reserve that waiting-room for the exclusive use of white persons, and any non-white person wilfully entering it commits a criminal offence.

An unmarried man who is "obviously in appearance" or "by general acceptance and repute" a white person and who attempts to have sexual intercourse with a woman who is not "obviously in appearance" or "by general acceptance and repute" a white person is guilty of a criminal offence punishable by imprisonment with compulsory hard labour for not longer than seven years, unless he can prove to the satisfaction of the court that he had reasonable cause to believe, at the time that the alleged offence was committed, that she was "obviously in appearance or by general acceptance and repute" a white person.

A coloured person is guilty of attending a "gathering" if he has two friends to dinner.

It is unlawful for any political party to exist unless all its members are persons who belong to the same ethnic group i.e. unless all its members are Africans or whites or coloured persons.

If a white person addresses a gathering most of the members of which are coloured, and calls on his audience to support any political party, he is guilty of a criminal offence.