White But Illegal

Undocumented Madeiran Immigration to South Africa, 1920s–1970s

Bibliographic Data

ID9395783
AuthorsClive Glaser (0000-0002-4980-3862, University of the Witwatersrand, corresponding author)
Year2012
Volume31
Issue1
Pages74-98
Publication date2012-05-23
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueImmigrants & Minorities (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0261-9288 • E-ISSN: 1744-0521
PublisherTaylor & Francis (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/02619288.2012.686216
OpenAlexW2020525337
LanguageEN
Citations received5
References cited3

Illegal entry was a central feature of the Madeiran immigrant experience in South Africa between the 1920s and 1970s. Unskilled Madeirans, who were generally not welcomed by the South African state, tapped into human smuggling networks to enter the country. It was a common practice to work illegally on farms or in shops owned by legally resident Madeirans. A large portion of these eventually secured work permits after having worked in the country for long periods. Not only were illegal immigrants generally destitute and illiterate, but they had to live under the radar to avoid arrest and deportation. In spite of their official status as ‘white’ and the many advantages this offered them, illegal Madeirans lived on, at best, the fringes of white society for several decades. This support gave me the opportunity to work on this paper during sabbatical leave. Notes [1] Estimates by the early 1990s varied from 300,000 to 700,000. An article in the Sunday Times (10 August 1980) estimated ‘at least 400,000’. There was significant growth through both birth and slow but continuous net immigration throughout the 1990s. Writing in 1990 Da Rosa and Trigo, weighing up their various pieces of evidence, suggested a figure of half a million. See Da Rosa and Trigo, ‘Islands in a Segregated Land’, 185–6. 400,000–500,000 is certainly not unrealistic. In 1995, the Portuguese language weekly, O Século, claimed a nationwide readership of 200,000, while TV Portuguesa claimed 80,000 subscribers. See CitationMcDuling, ‘Language Shift and Maintenance’, 223, 229–30. The estimates of my interviewees ranged from 300,000 to a million. They were judging the current size, rather than the peak, which, almost all agree, was in the early 1990s. For a more general discussion on Portuguese immigrant history in South Africa, see CitationGlaser, ‘Portuguese Immigrant History in Twentieth Century South Africa’. [2] SA Panorama, April 1985, quoted in Da Rosa and Trigo, ‘Islands in a Segregated Land’, 184. Most of my interviewees, whether of Madeiran origin or not, supported this view. [3] CitationMachado, ‘Little Madeira’, 5. [4] Note, though, that the subject of Portuguese illegal immigration in other settings is well developed. See, for example, CitationBrettell, Anthropolgy and Migration, which deals with Portuguese immigrants in France. See, in particular, 43–7. [5] CitationPeberdy, Selecting Immigrants. [6] CitationPeberdy, Selecting Immigrants, 46–8, 54. [7] CitationPeberdy, Selecting Immigrants, 57. [8] CitationPeberdy, Selecting Immigrants, especially 63–76. [9] CitationDonsky, ‘Aspects of the Immigration of Europeans’, 1–2, 21–6; Peberdy, Selecting Migrants, 85–107. [10] Peberdy, Selecting Migrants, 58–61. [11] Peberdy, Selecting Migrants, 63–4. [12] Peberdy, Selecting Migrants, 65–71. [13] Donsky, ‘Aspects of the Immigration of Europeans’, 8–11; Peberdy, Selecting Migrants, 87–92. [14] Donsky, ‘Aspects of the Immigration of Europeans’, 8–11; Peberdy, Selecting Migrants, 24–6; Ibid., 99–103. [15] Donsky, ‘Aspects of the Immigration of Europeans’, 8–11; Peberdy, Selecting Migrants, 27–8; Ibid., 109–25. [16] Star, 17 August 1965. [17] Richards, Du Preez, and Koornhof are quoted in Sunday Times, 29 June 1969. For more of a taste of the backlash, see Sunday Times, 6 July 1969; Vaderland, 2 May 1968 and 25 July 1969; Star, 17 August 1965, 8 August 1969 and 16 October 1969. [18] Peberdy, Selecting Immigrants, 127–8. For more general detail on South Africa's immigration policies from 1946 to 1970, see Donsky, ‘Aspects of the Immigration of Europeans’; Peberdy, Selecting Immigrants, 85–136. [19] Machado, ‘Little Madeira’, 8. [20] CitationDa Rosa and Trigo, ‘Islands in a Segregated Land’, 183. [21] For an overview of this early phase, see CitationTozzo, ‘People in Transition’, 23–6. [22] Tozzo, ‘People in Transition’, 24. Tozzo's dissertation was the first piece of writing I came across which dealt with the experiences of illegal Madeiran migrants in South Africa. [23] CitationCentral Archive Depot, Pretoria, CitationCommissioner for Immigration and Asiatic Affairs (CAD CIA) 65 M716: confidential letter from J. N. O. Spence, the Deputy Commissioner of South African Police (SAP), Witwatersrand Division, to the Commissioner of Police, SAP, 22 July 1939 (31 affidavits attached); confidential letter from the Commissioner (CIAA), Goodwin, to The Secretary for the Interior, 4 August 1939 (11 affidavits attached); confidential letter from J. N. O. Spence, the Deputy Commissioner of SAP, Witwatersand Division, to Commissioner of Police, SAP, 25 August 1939 (20 affidavits attached). [24] This affidavit appears as an attachment in the first of the aforementioned letters. (I have left the grammar and capitalisation intact.) [25] This dovetails with Brettell's observations in Northern Portugal: Anthropology and Migration, 43. [26] For a comparative discussion on trust networks in chain migration, see CitationTilly, ‘Trust Networks in Transnational Migration’. [27] CAD CIA 65 M716: See, for example, a letter from the Intelligence Record Bureau to Mr Kincaid, the CIAA, 9 October 1941 over-stamped ‘Secret’, including a translated letter, 26 September 1941, intercepted by police between members of a smuggling ring who bring people over on the liner, Joao Bello. The smugglers are clearly squabbling among themselves over the reliability of members and the dividing up of money. See also the exchange of letters between Dr J. B. F. Da Fonseca, the Portuguese Envoy in Pretoria, and P. F. Kincaid, the CIAA, October 1941 to May 1942, regarding concerns over ongoing illegal entry from PEA to SA. CAD SAP 338 18/36/40: Letter (and enclosed affidavit) from Chief of Police of Swaziland (E. D. Fenn), to the CIAA, 29 April 1942. [28] CAD CIA 65 M716: This is a composite picture dawn from numerous items in the file. See alsoTozzo, ‘People in Transition’, 26–7. [29] See CAD CIA 65 M716: A memorandum, 12 August 1940 (signature illegible), summarises a discussion between the CIAA and the Secretary of the Interior. See also a memorandum from the CIAA with handwritten comments, 16 August 1941, which discusses the decision to grant illegal Portuguese whose applications have been turned down under Aliens Registration Act of 1939 Temporary Permits to remain ‘until a clearer policy has been developed on whole question of illegal Portuguese entrants’. [30] CAD CIA 65 M716: Letter from the Deputy Commissioner of SAP (signature illegible) to the CIAA, 24 March 1941. [31] CAD CIA 65 M716: Letter from the Portuguese Association to the Department of Immigration, 23 November 1939. [32] CAD CIA 65 M716: See, for example, a letter from the Portuguese Association to the CIAA, 21 November 1939, signed by the Secretary [name unclear, possibly Carvalho]; letter from A. G. Gladwin (Solicitor) to the Commissioner for Immigration, Pretoria, 30 March 1940; letter from the Secretary of the Portuguese Association [name illegible] to the CIAA, 1 February 1940; letter from the president of Casa da Madeira [signature illegible, possibly ‘Pestana’] to the CIAA, 4 August 1941. [33] CAD CIA 65 M716: Letter from the Deputy Commisioner, SAP, Witwatersand Division (J. N. O. Spence) to the Commissioner of SAP, 2 March 1940. [34] Interview with the author, Father De Nobrega, Johannesburg, Citation9 December 2009. [35] CAD CIA 65 M716: Handwritten list of ‘Portuguese illegal entrants placed before the commissioner’, 7 August 1940 and 12 August 1940. Note a similar pattern with the four illegal Madeirans in Bezuidenhout Valley: Letter from the Deputy Commissioner, SAP, Witwatersrand (J. N. O. Spence), to the Commissioner of SAP, 2 March 1940. [36] CAD CIA 65 M716: Letter from Mr A. G. Gladwin, a solicitor representing the Portuguese Association, to the Minister of the Interior, 20 April 1940. [37] See, for example, CAD 65 CIA M716, letter from the CIAA, van der Merwe, to the Principal Immigration Officer, Durban, 1 November 1945, which discusses a strategy for dealing with illegal immigrants who were unable to leave the Union for the duration of the war. [38] CAD CIA 65 M 716: Two letters from the Deputy Commissioner, SAP Witwatersrand Division, to the Immigration Officer, Johannesburg, 12 June 1946; 5 July 1946. The extract is from the second letter. The banana crate method was still being used in 1959. See a letter from Senior Immigration Officer, Komatiepoort, to the CIAA, 26 August 1959. [39] CAD CIA 65 M 716: Letter, marked ‘secret’, from J. H. Basson, the CIAA, to the Secretary for the Interior, 11 December 1947. [40] CAD CIA 65 M 716: Letter, with enclosed affidavit from F. F. Gouveia, from the Principal Immigration Officer, Johannesburg, to the CIAA, 17 February 1948. [41] CAD SAP 338 18/36/40: Confidential memorandum, and attached affidavits, from J. C. Kriek, the Deputy Commissioner of the SAP, Witwatersrand Division, to The Commissioner of the CitationSouth African Police, Pretoria, 27 April 1948. [42] CAD CIA 65 M 716: Memorandum: ‘Illegal Alien Entrants’ [presumably written by the CIAA], with hand-written date 30 August 1948. [43] The letter deals separately with the three different nationalities and includes some fascinating material about Indian businessmen encouraging and facilitating illegal entry in order to exploit vulnerable illegal Indian labour in their businesses. Immigration officials were allegedly being paid off to cooperate. CAD CIA 65 M 716: Letter, marked confidential, from an Inspector working in Asiatic Land Tenure (P. J. L. Otto) to the CIAA, 18 October 1948. Much of Otto's information on Portuguese immigrants is revealed earlier in a communiqué from C. L. Stander, the District Commandant, Nelspruit, to the Deputy Commissioner of SAP, 12 July 1948. Stander was particularly worried that ‘Indians and other prohibited immigrants will also eventually use the route taken by them’. See CAD SAP 338 18/36/40. [44] CAD CIA 65 M716: Letter from Inspector Otto to the CIAA (detailed above), 18 October 1948. [45] CAD SAP 338 18/36/40: Letter from the Office of the Deputy Commissioner of the SAP, Transvaal Division, to the Commissioner of the SAP, 10 August 1948; letter from C. A. M. Da Silva, Commandant, LM, to the Consul General of the Union of SA, 6 October 1948; letter from the Principal Immigration Officer, Johannesburg, to the CIAA, 30 June 1949; letter, marked ‘secret’, from the Deputy Commissioner of the SAP, Witwatersrand Division, to the Commissioner, SAP, 1 October 1949; letter from the Senior Immigration Officer, Komatiepoort, to the CIAA, 12 October 1949; letter from the Deputy Commissioner of the SAP, Witwatersrand Division, to the Commissioner of the SAP, 7 November 1949; notes on interrogation of Frank Vieira, signed on 2 December 1949, LM. See also CAD CIA 65 M 716: Letter from P. H. Philips, the Vice-Consul, LM, to the CIAA, 10 December 1949, in which he informs the CIAA that local authorities have instituted an ‘all-out drive against clandestine emigration’. Note that the Portuguese authorities were simultaneously concerned that illegal Portuguese aliens were treated fairly and not singled out for harsh treatment in the Union. See CAD Department of Foreign Affairs (BLB) 3 11/5: Exchange of letters between the South African Legation in Lisbon, the South African Minister of External Affairs and the Portuguese Ministry of Foreign Affairs in May and June 1950. [46] CAD SAP 338 18/36/40: Letter from the CIAA to the Secretary for the Interior, October 1949. [47] CAD CIA 65 M 716: Letter from the Consul-General, F. Du Plessis, to the CIAA, 26 April 1950. [48] CAD CIA 65 M 716: Letter from the Acting Commissioner of Police, Swaziland, to the CIAA, 20 December 1949. [49] CAD SAP 338 18/36/40: Letter from the Consul-General, LM, to the Secretary for the Interior with enclosed translated press reports, 13 July 1950. [50] The same can be said for most of Tozzo's Durban-based interviewees in ‘People in Transition’. [51] Although the documentary record is somewhat thinner after the early 1950s, the oral evidence is supported by several newspaper articles and documents. See, for example, Star, 26 September 1961; Dagbreek en Sondagnuus, 2 September 1962; Argus, 6 June 1971; Star, 14 April 1975; Star, 14 April 1975; CAD SAP 338 18/36/40: Letter from the Senior Immigration Officer, Komatiepoort, to the CIAA, 26 August 1959; CAD BLB 3 1/5: Letter from the Ambassador, A. H. H. Mertsch, and the Immigration Attache, W.S Hugo, to the Secretary of Foreign Affairs, Lisbon, 14 November 1962, with enclosed notes on meeting with Col. Baptista, ‘Hoof van die Emigrasie Junta’. [52] Interviews: Carlos Farinha, Farinha family, De Melim, De Andrade, Castro, Gonçalves, Fiandeiro. [53] Interviews, CitationFarinha family, Castro. [54] Star, 26 July 1961, ‘Portuguese will flock here, says official’; interviews: Galego, CitationPestana, Farinha family. [55] See Sunday Times, 29 June and 6 July 1969. [56] For an overview and chronology of the Estado Novo's emigration policy, see CitationBaganha, ‘From Closed to Open Doors’. [57] CAD BLB 3 1/5, Ministry of Foreign Affairs Memorandum, November 1961: Translation of Portuguese Decree-Law 44 of 8 November 1961 that allows for free movement of Portuguese within its national territory, including colonies. [58] CAD BLB 3 1/5: Letter from the Ambassador, A. H. H. Mertsch, and the Immigration Attache, W.S Hugo, to the Secretary of Foreign Affairs, Lisbon, 14 November 1962, with enclosed notes on meeting with Col. Baptista, ‘Hoof van die Emigrasie Junta’. [59] Conscription as an incentive to migrate has a long history in Portugal. See Brettell, Anthropology and Migration, 12–13. [60] Interview, Castro. [61] Interview, ‘Marazinha’ CitationGonçalves. [62] Brettell, Anthroplogy and Migration, 107, makes the interesting observation that patrons and ethnic brokers often deliberately exaggerated the vulnerability of their clients in order to strengthen their own position. [63] Interviews: Galego, Castro, Fiandeiro. [64] Dagbreek en Sondagnuus, 2 September 1962. [65] Interviews: Galego, Fiandeiro, Farinha. [66] See Glaser, ‘Portuguese Immigrant History’ for an attempt to draw parallels between the experience of Portuguese immigrants in South Africa and nineteenth-century Irish immigrants in the USA. The American ‘whiteness’ literature suggests interesting ways of thinking about race and immigration. See, for example, CitationIgnatiev, How the Irish Became White; CitationRoediger, ‘Whiteness and Ethnicity’; CitationSpickard, Almost All Aliens. [67] Caroline Brettell's work on Portuguese migration to France is exemplary in this respect. She has researched both ends of the migrant chain, an undertaking that demands enormous effort and skill. It may eventually be possible to do something similar with the Madeira-South Africa migrant chain, but it is beyond the scope of this paper. See Brettell, Anthropology and Migration

Biology · Criminology · Geography · Immigration · Political science · Sociology · White (mutation · African history and culture studies · Law · Migration and Labor Dynamics · South African History and Culture

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