80 Women arrested for anti-pass protest

Passes and measures to control the mobility of the Black population particularly centring on White urban areas, were being implemented all over South Africa. Following the declaration to embark on an anti-pass passive resistance campaign, Black women in Bloemfontein that were committed to this movement returned to the city centre to demand answers from the Mayor, Ivan Haarburgen on the 29th of May 1913. He told the women that the pass laws were subject to the authority of the Union government and not in the power of local government decision-making. After months of arduous efforts in bringing their grievances forth to the authorities about the burden of the passes to the daily functioning and finances of these women, they took to the Waaihoek police station in the evening. There they tore up and burnt their passes. As a result 80 women were arrested. Read more on the 1913 anti-pass campaign, the history of women’s struggle and pass struggles in Bloemfontein.