election."!
Bythat time, the Smuts government had finally lost the confidence of the
older Africans who controlled the Natives Representative Council, created
by the legislation of 1936. The councillors had become increasingly frus-
trated. They had taken their assignment seriously, but the government had
continued to ignore their advice. In August 1946, when the council as-
sembled in Pretoria for its regular session, the white chairman refused to
make a statement about the massive strike of African miners that was
taking place nearby on the Witwatersrand. The council then passed resolu-
182