CHASING WOMEN IN SOUTH AFRICA

Once upon a time, black women, in South Africa had an advantage over the men: they at least did not have to carry the pass which must be signed by some white authority every time a native changes jobs or stays in another town for more than 72 hours. Recently the government of Hendrik Verwoerd, going beyond the black regimentation of his predecessors, decided to enforce more strictly the rule that all South African women over 16 should carry passes. All told, 900,000 "reference books" had been issued, and though the campaign met with protests and occasional violence, it was not until the government tried to extend its policy last month to the big city of Johannesburg, that it found it had seriously underestimated the power of the women. The black women of Johannesburg adopted an unusual strategy: not to avoid arrest but to welcome the chance to overcrowd the jails. Morning after morning, they would board buses in the suburbs, some carrying umbrellas, others carrying babies on their backs, and head for the grimy brick building that houses the pass office. There they would chant, "Sera sa motho ke pasa [The pass is the enemy of man]," and sometimes they would hurl an insult: "Let the Prime Minister give his own wife a pass if he wants them!"

Swinging sticks (see above) or using their handcuffs as clubs (see below), the police chased women away, and rounded up resisters by the truckload. In one day alone last week, 128 women were found guilty of unlawful demonstration, fined $9 apiece (two weeks' wages) with the alternative of one month in jail. Cried one: "We are all washerwomen. Please give us time to pay our fines." Next day 248 more went on trial. But in spite of the government's efforts, the black women's campaign against carrying the hated pass seems only to be beginning. Ex-Chief Albert Luthuli, President General of the African National Congress, called upon men to join the resistance. "The men of South Africa," said he, "will not stand by and see their women suffer the indignities that they have experienced under the pass laws."

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