Urban Natives in South Africa Elect Communist Member

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXXVI, Issue 22872, 16 February 1949, Page 4

Urban Natives in South Africa Elect Communist Member

CAPE TOWN. Jan. 1. The election of the Communist, Mr. Sam Kahn, to the House of Assembly as one of the Native Representatives is regarded by political observers here as an event fraught with far-reaching and potentially dangerous possibilities. For the first time the Natives have as one of their spokesmen in the House a man pledged to the doctrine of full equality. Observers regard his election as a smashing defeat for the Liberals, who in the past have ably championed the cause of the Native without in any way committing themselves to the explosive promise of equality. Sincere Convictions Mr. Sam Kahn is a capable man, who is sincere in his convictions. There is no doubt that the urban natives carried him to victory. These natives, who come to the towns and in many cases cannot find work, are easy prey for the Communist promises of utopia. With its wide circulation among the non-Europeans the Communist weekly newspaper helped the Communist candidate with its propaganda carefully tuned for native consumption. The Liberal, Mr. Douglas Buchanan, Mr. Kahn’s opponent, may have spoilt his chances by reducing the contest to one of personalities and attacking Mr. Kahn as a Moscow Communist. Fopular With Natives Mr. Kahn is popular among the natives who would not tolerate any insinuations against their candidate. Political observers, however, fear that with the Government committed to abandoning native representation they will now create a huge wave of native resentment against the authorities.

The natives, according to observers, will now say that when for the first time they get a spokesman after their own heart the Government silences him.