a1956_T348_4

SAED:POLITICS:APARTHEID:DRUM JULY 1956 – A Native by Mistake – Mr. Holyoake, the coloured who was classified as a ‘’Native, “ has won his appeal. Is Coloured again. Thomas Holyoake, of Alexandra, reads order which reclassified him as a coloured. The Holyoake Children even attend a school for Coloureds exclusively. His wife looks on. From the end of last year the coloureds have been harassed by the need for the reclassification of their racial status in terms of the population Registration Act of 1950. To be reclassified as an African could, everybody understood only too well, mean a whole new train of daily embarrassments and disabilities, but hundreds of Coloureds went over to the Native Affairs Department and there cam up grim stories of comb and pencil tests, nose and ear inspections and of people being summarily classified as African. It seemed that the whole process was pretty cursory and foregone. Of course, most of those grim stories were strenuously denied by the Government. It even went on to explain that it was setting up a Reclassification Appeal Board, so that if any person felt aggrieved or wrongly classified he could always appeal to the Board and put his case. (Photograph by Drum Photographer ©Baileys Archives) NEG T348 Frame 4