Pass book

Pass laws

Pass laws in South Africa were designed to segregate the population and limit severely the movements of the non-white populace. This legislation was one of the dominant features of the country's apartheid system. Introduced in South Africa in 1923, they were designed to regulate movement of black Africans in urban areas. Outside designated "homelands", black South Africans had to carry passbooks ("dom pas", meaning dumb pass) at all times, documentation proving they were authorised to live or move in "White" South Africa.

The laws also affected other non-white races. Indian people, for example, were barred from the Orange Free State.

These discriminatory regulations sparked outrage from the black population and the ANC began the Defiance Campaign to oppose the pass laws.

This conflict climaxed at the Sharpeville Massacre where the black opposition was violently put down, with 69 people killed and over 180 injured.

The system of pass laws was repealed in South Africa in 1986.

Pass laws also stated that black Africans could not hold a higher business position within a company than the lowest white employee.

The first pass laws were introduced in 1760 to regulate the movement of slaves in the Cape. The Urban Areas Consolidation Act of 1945, together with the Natives (Abolition of Passes and Coordination of Documents) Act of 1952, were key laws. The Urban Areas Act outlined requirements for African peoples' "qualification" to reside legally in white metropolitan areas. To do so, they had to have Section 10 rights, based on whether

the person had been born there and resided there always since birth;
the person had laboured continuously for ten years in any agreed area for any employer, or lived continuously in any such area for less than ten years;
the person was the spouse, spinster or son under eighteen years of age of an African person, falling into the above two categories, usually lived with him and had originally entered the area legitimately; or
the person had been granted a permit to remain by a labour bureau.

Native Urban Areas Act

The Native Urban Areas Act 1923 deemed urban areas in South Africa as "white" and forced all black African men in cities and towns to carry permits called "passes" at all times. Anyone found without a pass would be arrested immediately and sent to a rural area.

Pass Laws Act

The Pass Laws Act 1952 made it compulsory for all black South Africans over the age of 18 to carry a "pass book" at all times. The law stipulated where, when, and for how long a person could remain. This pass was also known as a dompas.

The document was similar to an internal passport, containing details on the bearer such as their fingerprints, photograph, the name of his/her employer, his/her address, how long the bearer had been employed, as well as other identification information. Employers often entered a behavioural evaluation, on the conduct of the pass holder.

An employer was defined under the law and could be only a white person. The pass also documented permission requested and denied or granted to be in a certain region and the reason for seeking such permission. Under the terms of the law, any governmental employee could strike out such entries, basically canceling the permission to remain in the area.

A pass book without a valid entry then allowed officials to arrest and imprison the bearer of the pass. These passes often became the most despised symbols of apartheid. The resistance to the Pass Law led to many thousands of arrests and was the spark that ignited the Sharpeville Massacre on 21 March 1960, and led to the arrest of Robert Sobukwe on that same date.