The Transvaal from Within eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 649 pages of information about The Transvaal from Within.

The Transvaal from Within eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 649 pages of information about The Transvaal from Within.

Mr. R.K.  LOVEDAY, in the course of an address dealing exhaustively with the subject, said:  The President uses the argument that they should naturalize, and thus give evidence of their desire to become citizens.  I have used the same argument, but what becomes of such arguments when met with the objections that the law requires such persons to undergo a probationary period extending from fourteen to twenty-four years before they are admitted to full rights of citizenship, and even after one has undergone that probationary period, he can only be admitted to full rights by resolution of the First Raad?  Law 4 of 1890, being the Act of the two Volksraads, lays down clearly and distinctly that those who have been eligible for ten years for the Second Raad can be admitted to full citizenship.  So that, in any case, the naturalized citizen cannot obtain full rights until he reaches the age of forty years, he not being eligible for the Second Raad until he is thirty years.  The child born of non-naturalized parents must therefore wait until he is forty years-of age, although at the age of sixteen he may be called upon to do military service, and may fall in the defence of the land of his birth.  When such arguments are hurled at me by our own flesh and blood—­our kinsmen from all parts of South Africa—­I must confess that I am not surprised that these persons indignantly refuse to accept citizenship upon such unreasonable terms.  The element I have just referred to—­namely, the Africander element—­is very considerable, and numbers thousands hundreds of whom at the time this country was struggling for its independence, accorded it moral and financial support, and yet these very persons are subjected to a term of probation extending from fourteen to twenty-four years.  It is useless for me to ask you whether such a policy is just and reasonable or Republican, for there can be but one answer, and that is ‘No!’ Is there one man in this Raad who would accept the franchise on the same terms?  Let me impress upon you the grave nature of this question, and the absolute necessity of going to the burghers without a moment’s delay, and consulting and advising them.  Let us keep nothing from them regarding the true position, and I am sure we shall have their hearty co-operation in any reasonable scheme we may suggest.  This is a duty we owe them, for we must not leave them under the impression that the Uitlanders are satisfied to remain aliens, as stated by some of the journals.  I move amongst these people, and learn to know their true feelings, and when public journals tell you that these people are satisfied with their lot, they tell you that which they know to be false.  Such journals are amongst the greatest sources of danger that the country has.  We are informed by certain members that a proposition for the extension of the franchise must come from the burghers, but according to the Franchise Law the proposition must come from the Raad, and the public must consent.  The member for Rustenberg

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The Transvaal from Within from Project Gutenberg. Public domain.