During the first half of 1983 the government continued attempting to restrict the number of Africans staying in the urban areas outside the bantustans, while the controversial Orderly Movement and Settlement of Black Persons Bill remained under consideration by a parliamentary select committee. The Administration Boards, which enforce the 'influx control' laws in the towns, have continued to oppose in the courts the granting of permanent urban residence to migrant workers in a series of court cases, despite verdicts that have been in contradiction to their policies (see FOCUS 45 p. 1).
In each of three cases, the most recent of which was concluded in May this year, a contract worker born in a bantustan area who had worked for one employer for ten years continuously, was granted by the court the right to live permanently in the town where he worked, in terms of Section 10(1)(b) of the Black (Urban Areas) Act.
In May the Appeal Court dismissed an appeal by the East Rand Administration Board against a verdict passed in 1981 granting permanent urban residence to Mehlolo RIKHOTO. In the Cape, a contract worker also won his case in court in 1981, but these verdicts have failed to create an effective precedent for the tens of thousands of other workers born in the bantustan areas and working in towns designated 'white' (T 31.5.83).
The Administration Boards' refusal to regard work on an annual contract basis as continuous employment is in line with a regulation to that effect introduced in 1968. It also accords with the stringent requirements contained in the Orderly Movement and Settlement of Black Persons Bill, a number of which have already been implemented administratively, although a decision has yet to be made on enactment of the Bill itself (CT 22/23.4.83; S 25.4.83; FM 29.4.83; see FOCUS 45 p. 1).
