On 4 January 1953, hundreds of Black women assembled in Langa Township outside Cape Town to protest against new pass laws. The apartheid regime’s influx control measures and pass laws were what women feared the most and reacted to most vehemently.
Their fears were not unfounded. In 1952 the Native Laws Amendment Act tightened influx control, making it an offence for any African (including women) to be in any urban area for more than 72 hours unless in possession of the necessary documentation. The only women who could live legally in the townships were the wives and unmarried daughters of the African men who were eligible for permanent residence.
In the same year the Natives Abolition of Passes and Coordination of Documents Act was passed. In terms of this act the many different documents African men had been required to carry were replaced by a single one – the reference book – which gave details of the holder’s identity, employment, place of legal residence, payment of taxes, and, if applicable, permission to be in the urban areas.
The act further stipulated that African women, at an unspecified date in the near future, would for the first time be required to carry reference books. Women were enraged by this direct threat to their freedom of movement and began their anti-pass campaign, which was one of the most vociferous and effective protest campaigns of any at the time.
Protests began as early as 1950 when rumours of the new legislation were leaked in
