The latest Department of Plural Relations report for the year 1 April 1977 to 31 March 1978, states that the SA government now has a centralized record of almost 15 million fingerprints of Africans.
This record, which is kept for identification purposes and to prevent the "infiltration" of people from "other parts of Africa" is kept at the Dept. of Plural Relations Reference Bureau.
The bureau has a register with personal details of all Africans over the age of 16 who are South African citizens, and it also contains passport particulars of African workers from neighbouring states who have been recruited for contract work.
