Coloureds To Be Employed In Former "Whites Only” Jobs

Press, Issue 32345, 10 July 1970, Page 4

Coloureds To Be Employed In Former " Whites Only” Jobs

(N.Z.P.A .-Reuter—Copyright) PRETORIA. The South African Labour Minister (Mr Marais Viljoen) has warned the country’s industrialists not to jump to the wrong conclusions about the Government’s decision to employ Coloured (mixed race) workers in former “white only” jobs. Mr Viljoen has announced that Coloureds would be allowed to work in certain occupations where whites were in short supply. He said: “The Government desires that there should be sufficient employment opportunities for all racial groups. This is, however, not to take place at the expense of the white worker, and in the opinion of the Government it need not be so.” The Minister explained to a Confederation of Labour congress in Pretoria recently: “It must be accepted without reservation that the Government will continue to protect the white worker, and that job reservation will be enforced as in the past, wherever circumstances demand it.” Strict provisos for the employment of non-whites would apply. No whites would be replaced by non-whites; there would be no racial mixing on the same work level; and no whites would work under the supervision of nonwhites, he said. There were people, he continued. who wanted the Government to open the doors to the employment of non ■ whites. “They have visions of this creating a powerful industrial country. But to these people, my I answer is that this will cause’ chaos, and have a detrimental i effect.”

South Africa’s manpower shortage, especially in the skilled artisan bracket, would not be solved by the largescale employment of Africans, Mr Viljoen said.

The Government’s move had been seen in some quarters as a major relaxation of laws applying to apartheid in employment. The laws forbid non-whites (Africans, Indians, and Coloureds), who form a

majority of the population, from doing certain jobs reserved for whites only. Designed to protect the white worker, the laws have led to an artificial manpower shortage in commerce and industry, and in South Africa’s vital goldmines. Industrial leaders had warned that they might have to accept losses in production because of shortages of skilled and unskilled white labour.

Recognising the effect this might have on foreign investment, the Government ruled that, where white Workers were in short supply in certain occupations, Coloureds may do the job. In announcing the new move, Mr Viljoen said that it might also be applied to other nonwhites, meaning Africans and Indians.

He emphasised: “It is the Government’s policy that the white workers’ employment opportunities must be guaranteed at all times, and that the engagement of workers of other races will have to take place in such a manner as not to result in the displacement of whites or in the mixing of races on the same work level.” The Minister said that he had given permission to a Cape Town business to staff a separate floor of a new branch with Coloureds because whites could not be found to do the work.. “I am convinced,” he explained, “that the engagement of Coloured workers in this manner need not create any problems, provided it takes place in consultation with the white workers and the Department of Labour.” Mr Arthur Grobbelaar, | general secretary of the [Powerful Trades Union | Council of South Africa, wel--1 coined the move and said: “The Minister, while reassuring white workers, appears to have recognised the necessity of employing more nonwhites in areas where there are very great shortages of white workers.” Mr T. P. Stratten, chairman of a big mining concern, Union Corporation, Ltd, said recently: “With the rapid

growth which has taken place in our economy and the demands which modern technological progress makes for a more and more highlytrained work force, it is quite clear that, despite immigration, the white population of South Africa cannot alone provide the skilled and semiskilled labour needed to continue our expansion and obtain a satisfactory rate of

growth in our national income." However, one Johannesburg newspaper commented after Mr Viljoen’s announcement last week: “The answer is that though non-whites are, in fact, acquiring skills, the great majority are still being deprived of advancement. “And because the majority are not being trained and are being allowed to take only

unskilled or semi-skilled work, the country is not making the best use of its labour resources. As a result, the labour shortage is critical. “It is time the Government accepted the facts of industrial and commercial life, and saw to it that nonwhites officially are permitted to advance to tbe best of their ability.”