Southern African Collections : Campaign against Blackspot removals folder 1

Southern African Collections

<p style='text-align: justify;'>Correspondence; press cuttings; reports, including a 37 page report on the Blackspots and a report on the Roosboom prayer meeting; signed protests and petitions; resolutions of the Liberal Party Conference of 1964; photograph and cuttings on Elliott Mngadi, National Treasurer of the Liberal Party and Secretary of the Natal African Landowners' Association, and protests at his treatment; material concerning student protests; questions and answers in the House of Assembly.</p><p style='text-align: justify;'>This is folder 1 of 3. Follow this link for the <a href='/view/MS-RCMS-00218-00009-00002'>second folder </a> and the <a href='/view/MS-RCMS-00218-00009-00003'>third folder</a>.</p><p style='text-align: justify;'>Collected by John Aitchison documenting the impact of the Blackspot Removal Campaign in Natal. Aitchison was the Natal Secretary of the Liberal Party of South Africa in the period 1964-5. </p><p style='text-align: justify;'>During the Blackspot Removal Campaign the National Party Government in South Africa passed legislation that forced black communities living on freeholdings in white rural areas to leave and resettle on infertile land and in townships. The campaign was at its height during the period covered by the material in this collection. The Liberal Party, which had campaigned against ‘blackspot removals’ in Natal, was forced to disband in 1968. From 1979, the Association for Rural Advancement (AFRA) took up the campaign initiated by the Liberal Party against forced removals. </p>