History of Pass Laws

The pass system originated in 1760 in the Cape Colony to regulate the movement of slaves between the urban and the rural areas. The slaves had to carry passes from their masters. Subsequently, the system was extended in various forms to the whole country and was eventually collated in the Native (Urban Areas) Consolidation Act of 1945. This Act made provision for a variety of passes, including registered service contracts and for passes permitting men to seek work in particular areas. But through the years an increasing number of Africans had been given exemption from these laws.

In 1952 a new act, ironically called "The Abolition of Passes Act", made it compulsory for every African male to carry a reference book. To the Africans, reference books are passes for they contain all the details which were previously entered on the various pass documents. Failure to produce it on demand constitutes an offence for which an African may be detained up to 30 days while inquiries are being made about him. In the 12 months ending 30 June 1966 no less than 479,114 Africans were prosecuted for offences against the "pass laws". At the time of Sharpeville there were 1,000 prosecutions a day for these offences. By 1966, this had risen to over 1,300 a day. These figures speak for themselves.