Gandhi, at the moment , after studying in England and practicing briefly in India,he accepts a job in South Africa. From that, the pass laws which were designed to regulate the movement of black Africans, including all non-white settlers in urban areas.
The pass laws started and were introduced in 1760 , where The Urban Areas Consolidation Act of 1945, along with the Natives Act of 1952 or,"Abolition of Passes and Coordination of Documents"were key laws.
The Urban Areas Act- the structured requirements for qualification of African people to reside legally in white metropolitan areas & acquire the Section 10 rights that included;
-the person had been born there and resided there always since birth;
-the person had laboured continuously for ten years in any agreed area for any employer, or lived continuously in any such area for less than ten years;
-the person was the spouse, spinster or son under eighteen years of age of an African person, falling into the above two categories, usually lived with him and had originally entered the area legitimately; or
-the person had been granted a permit to remain by a labour bureau.
In order to regulate the movements, black South Africans had to carry passbooks at all times, which in the act of degrading them, was called a, "dom pass" (meaning dumb pass).
Native Urban Areas Act - forced all black African men in cities & towns to carry the permits at all times, and anyone found without one would be arrested immediately and sent to a rural area.
Gandhi was appalled by the treatment of Indian immigrants there,and joined the struggle to obtain basic rights for them; during his 20 years in South Africa, he was sent to prison countless times.
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