In the mid to late 1950s the United Party controlled Johannesburg City Council (JCC) and the Nationalist Government were thrown into crisis when a white man was murdered outside the Mai-Mai Beerhall to the east of the City. Patrick Lewis, the Chariman of the Council’s Non-European Affairs Committee, provided the following description of the incident:
Two Europeans returning from the Turffontein Race Course one Saturday afternoon stalled the very old motor car they were riding in near the Mai–Mai Beer Garden in City and Suburban just at the time when patrons were pouring out after closing time. The Europeans ordered the passing crowd to push their car to get it re-started, but the Bantu objected to the terms in which they were addressed and an argument started culminating in blows being exchanged, and finally the one European was so seriously assaulted that he died, but the other managed to run away.
The Department of Bantu Administration and Development (BAD) responded to the incident by ordering the JCC to close all central beerhalls and build alternative facilities in African areas in line with the Government policy of Separate Development. In order to understand the disagreement between the Council and the Government it is important to trace the seeds of the controversy.
In 1937 the amendment of the Native (Urban Areas) Act made it legal for Africans to brew their own beer in locations or native villages where local authorities did not erect a beerhall. In 1938, rather than allow home brewing...
