June 19, 1913

Natives Land Act, 1913

The Natives’ Land Act is gazetted and takes effect in South Africa

The law was signed on 16 June but did not bite until it appeared in the Gazette three days later. Sol Plaatje wrote that Black South Africans awoke the next morning "a pariah" in their own birthplace.

Signed on the 16th, in force on the 19th

Act No. 27 of 1913 was gazetted on 19 June 1913 and immediately came into operation. Parliament had already passed it, and Governor-General Lord Gladstone had signed it three days earlier, on 16 June.

The listing describes 19 June as the day Parliament passed the Act. It was the day of gazetting and commencement — publication in the Gazette was the legal trigger.

Sol Plaatje, the journalist and South African Native National Congress leader who documented the Act's passage and early effects, wrote that the next morning Black South Africans awoke as "a pariah" in their own birthplace.

What the Act made criminal

From commencement, a Black African could not purchase, hire or otherwise acquire land or land rights from a person classified as non-Black outside the scheduled areas without the Governor-General's approval, with a reciprocal restriction on non-Black acquisition inside those areas.

Transactions newly made in contravention were void from the outset, and taking part in a prohibited purchase, sale, hire or lease became a criminal offence: a fine of up to £100, up to six months' imprisonment with or without hard labour for defaulting on it, and up to £5 a day for a continuing offence.

The scheduled areas contained about 7 percent of South Africa. The familiar 13 percent figure belongs to the 1936 Native Trust and Land Act, not to the 1913 schedule.

What it did not do on the day

The Act did not transfer every acre outside the scheduled areas to white owners on 19 June. It restricted future acquisition, hiring and occupation while preserving categories of existing rights — section 8 protected lawful purchases and hiring arrangements made before commencement, and the voiding rule applied to transactions made in contravention of the Act.

Municipal areas, inheritance, certain pre-existing agreements and some townships were expressly excepted. Section 4 tied the power to acquire or expropriate land to areas recommended under a commission process and to money voted by Parliament, and the Act ordered the Governor-General to appoint that commission to recommend and map the reserved areas.

Plaatje reported that the practical crisis became apparent toward the end of June, when expiring farm tenancies could not lawfully be replaced or registered.

Sources

Researched 24 Aug 2026 5 sources not yet audited

How this was checked

Researched from the web into a fact sheet and rewritten from that sheet. This article has not yet had an independent model audit. How the pipeline works →

What the sources leave uncertain

The date is secure, but the listed description is mistimed: 19 June was the gazetting and commencement date, not the day Parliament passed the bill. Royal assent was given on 16 June.