Departheid

The South African government's official policy of apartheid--vaguely defined as "separateness" for 2,000,000 dominant whites and 8,000,000 subordinate blacks--reached an ultimate. In gold-mining Klerksdorp, at the request of the local Handelskamer (Chamber of Commerce), the town council agreed to provide separate hearses for the two races. It was unpleasant and unhealthy to contemplate, explained Councilman D. J. Piennar, that a hearse bearing a black corpse to the cemetery might next day be used to carry a white man's coffin.

Capetown's anti-government Cape Argus sputtered indignantly over Klerksdorp's "incredible apostles of apartheid," derided their ban against "mixed traveling on man's last journey" as "departheid." Cried the Cape Argus:

"Those who believe Heaven is their destination and that class distinction exists behind the pearly gates should make a point of dying in Klerksdorp . . . Yet the enlightened men of Klerksdorp have not assuaged all our post-earthly anxieties. Will St. Peter provide separate counters for applicants for immortality? Will mixed celestial orchestras twang their harps and so destroy in heaven all the good the intelligentsia of Klerksdorp have done on earth? We must not be captious. It is enough for the moment to know that one can see Klerksdorp, and die--like a white man."

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.