African Activist Archive

Copy of a letter to Ambassador George W. Ball at the United States Mission to the United Nations from George M. Houser, Executive Director, American Committee on Africa. The letter says the threatened forced removal of 8,000 people from their homes in the Old Location of Windhoek, South West Africa (Namibia) on August 31 is a human tragedy of incalculable dimensions; it also creates a grave crisis of confidence for the United Nations. For the dispossession of the people of the Windhoek Old Location is a final step toward the establishment of the South African system of apartheid in the capital city of a territory South Africa controls illegally, in defiance of the United Nations. The letter says to summarize the facts as we know them; since 1959 the Hereros (with some Damara, Ovambo and other African people) have been resisting the attempts of the South African-controlled government to move the African community to a new location 3.5 miles northeast of the city, allegedly to improve living conditions. The letter says the resistance is based on practical objections: their own homes and community should be improved, rather than a new on built; the move would increase rents and transportation costs beyond their limited means; and restrictive controls over the people are included in the new community plan. The letter says above all, they object to the extension of apartheid. The Old Location stands in the way of European residential expansion, which is now in conflict with regulations of the Minister of Native Affairs requiring a permanent buffer strip of at least 500 yards between the communities. The letter says at the time of the 1959 resistance, when 11 Africans were killed and 44 in injured, the U.N. General Assembly, in Resolution 1567, deplored the actions of the South African Government and asked that housing developments be carried out in accordance with the freely expressed wishes of the people concerned; instead; continuous pressure has been applied to the residents; schools have been closed, some services cut off, employment made contingent on moving; yet 8,000 still cling to their homes, facing an August 31 deadline when the bulldozers are expected to move in. A crisis even greater than that of 1959 threatens. The letter says in the intervening years, the United Nations has terminated South Africa's mandate over South West Africa because of persistent violations of the mandate such as this, and has assumed responsibility for the territory itself. The letter says we understand African delegations will call for an urgent meeting of the Security Council to consider steps which should be taken to meet this emergency; we trust the United States will support this move and a program for action which will come out of it. [Note: the actual letter to Ambassador Ball was presumably sent on letterhead. Presumably this is how the letter was distrusted to other people.]

African Activist Archive

[Dear Ambassador Ball: The threatened forced removal of 8,000 people from their homes in the Old Location of Windhoek]

Creator

Place Created

Date

Type of Item

Length/duration

Description

Publisher

Organization

Coverage Africa

Language

Digital Format

Rights Management

Collection