Roots of Outrage. John Davis Gordon

haven’t got a valid pass! And the courts, which should be dispensing justice, are clogged up with these pass offenders! And the jails are overflowing!’ He stabbed the air with his finger. ‘It’s madness, Mr Speaker. And the further result of this monumental stupidity is massive black resentment. Even if the pass laws were humanely enforced they would lead to massive resentment, but as they are enforced by our totally Afrikaans police force – the entrance qualifications for which are low in order to provide employment for poor whites –’

      Angry cries from the government benches.

      George Mahoney shouted:’ – enforced by our Afrikaner police force, the pass laws have become instruments of racial persecution, bringing justice into disrepute, turning millions of innocent black men who only want a job into potential subversives! Mr Speaker, these black people will one day rise up against this stupid, cruel injustice and bring this government to its knees!’

      Cries of Never! Nonsense! The Speaker sighed and nodded. George Mahoney shook his head disparagingly, then continued: ‘And what does the unfortunate black man encounter when he’s got his precious pass? Job reservation! Apartheid in employment to protect the white worker from black competition – particularly the poor unskilled Afrikaner! Job reservation – no, Sambo, you can’t be a bricklayer because that job is reserved as white man’s work! No, Sambo, you can’t do an apprenticeship to become a mechanic, or a plumber, or an electrician, because that job is reserved for white men. No, Sambo, you can only dig ditches or be a garden boy or work on the mines because we want to enjoy our Lekker Lewe at your expense!’

      A government backbencher shouted: ‘What work did the black man have before the white man came – he Was only a cattle-herder and his wives hoed the fields –’

      ‘The Honourable Member,’ George Mahoney cried, ‘is quite right for once. But the white man came some centuries ago, and in those days the white man was also only a cattle-herder, Mr Speaker. But then civilization changed the economy, although the Honourable Member hasn’t noticed as he is still only a cattle-herder at heart. But we white men have resisted this change by imposing job reservation, and though the Honourable Member can’t grasp the folly of it being a cattle-man, it will result in an unhealthy economy and eventual rebellion which will, sure as God made little green apples, destroy not only the honourable member but the Lekker Lewe he so recklessly, mindlessly, brainlessly cherishes!’

      George Mahoney smiled sadly at the boos and derisive laughter, spread his hands and appealed theatrically to the heavens for help. Up in the stranger’s gallery, young Luke Mahoney was grinning with pride. His father continued: ‘Alas, Mr Speaker, half of the government benches are occupied by brainless, blind, silly asses!’

      Midst outcries the Speaker thundered: ‘The Honourable Member for Transkei will withdraw that remark!’

      George Mahoney held up his palms. ‘Mr Speaker is quite right, of course. And I do withdraw it: Half of the government benches are not brainless, blind, silly asses!’

      Anger and laughter. Mr Speaker banged his gavel. George Mahoney went on happily: ‘And now look at this wondrous God’s will in the field of education in this wondrous Malice in Blunderland of ours.’ He frowned. ‘If this government knew anything about economics it would realize that a well-educated populace is the essential requisite of a nation’s prosperity nowadays. Repeat nowadays, Mr Speaker – not the age of the oxwagon, the voorlaaier and the Great Trek in which the government is still living. I’m speaking of the real world, the world of telephone, radio, the atom bomb and, would you believe, this new thing called television – which the government does not allow us to have lest it corrupt our tiny minds. The new world of the Cold War, in which communist Russia is exploiting the anger of the underdog and promoting world revolution! That is the dangerous world we live in and this real, dangerous world is best met by a prosperous people. Which means a labour force which is properly educated, fairly treated, and fairly paid!’ He frowned around the government benches in wonder. ‘But what does this government do? Does it educate its populace properly?’ He held up a finger. ‘Ah yes – it educates its white populace very well! But what does it give to its black populace? Only such education necessary to equip them for their role as “hewers of wood and drawers of water”!’

      ‘Quite right too,’ shouted a member of the government benches.

      George Mahoney punched his finger at the floor and cried: ‘This government intends to keep the blacks as perpetual serfs, to serve the Lekker Lewe! To supply labour for menial tasks, as they think befits the Sons of Ham! What unchristian arrogance! And what utter folly to imagine that they, a minority of Afrikaners, can keep a majority of blacks suppressed forever, and insult their intelligence –’

      ‘What intelligence?’ a government frontbencher shouted.

      ‘You see, Mr Speaker – that’s how the Honourable Member thinks. And it will lead to this country’s downfall, for not only will they create an ill-educated populace which cannot contribute properly to a modern economy, but sure as God made little green apples these black students will one day rise up in rebellion –’

      ‘And we’ll be ready for them! Who’s paying for their education – the white taxpayer!’

      George Mahoney’s bushy eyebrows shot up. ‘Ready for them? With your kragdadigheid – your batons and guns! Is that the way a sensible government runs its country? No, it is a crazy way, to have to rely on force! It is moonshine madness to spend the taxpayers’ money in such a way that the country is angry, resentful, bitter, rebellious!’

      He glowered, then went on with withering scorn: ‘As it is moonshine madness to antagonise the populace by cruel social engineering which attempts to stop human relationships between the races! Punishes people who fall in love across the colour bar! The Population Registration Act classifies each one of us into card-carrying racial groupings and thereafter determines who may do what to whom for the rest of our lives! The Prohibition of Mixed Marriages Act forbids people of different races to marry – and if they were already married before that date they either have to divorce or the white spouse has to be reclassified as non-white and thereafter live in a non-white area!’ He spread his hands in appeal. ‘What kind of a law is it that says you must divorce? Is it a Christian law? No – it is the law of the devil! And even the children can receive different racial classifications depending on their appearance – and families have had to split up and live in different areas! I ask you, Mr Speaker – is it a Christian law that forces a family to split up?’ He punched his palm. ‘No, it is a diabolical law! And the Immorality Act punishes people of different pigmentation who have sexual intercourse! Throws them in jail! Drags them before the courts for public humiliations, brings scandal upon their families, ruins their careers! It has driven people to suicide. What kind of country makes sexual intercourse between consenting adults a crime? It is grotesque.’

      ‘Immorality is against the word of God!’

      ‘Then so is all sexual intercourse unless the parties are married! Okay – if that is the will of God, I challenge this government to make all sexual intercourse outside wedlock a crime! I defy them! Come on! Make a total laughing stock of yourselves!’

      The Speaker pounded his gavel. ‘I warn you, Mr Mahoney, that personal insults will not be tolerated.’

      ‘“Personal insults”?’ George Mahoney echoed, astonished. ‘But these laws are personal insults, Mr Speaker, and just as insulting, just as humiliating, just as unchristian, just as stupidly cruel, are the laws governing public places! Petty apartheid. The Separate Amenities Act is the most conspicuous form of insult, made in public for all the world to see! The petty apartheid, designed by petty minds and strictly enforced by petty policemen, the notices that insist on separate amenities like public lavatories, benches, playgrounds, beaches, railway coaches, entrances to public buildings, separate libraries, cinemas, bars, hotels, eating establishments, buses – even separate elevators, for God’s sake, Mr Speaker!’