ABSTRACT
The Indians registered voluntarily, to the satisfaction of the Transvaal Government. It only remained for the Government to repeal the Black Act, and then the whole Satyagraha struggle for the time being would come to an end. The repeal of the Black Act was a matter of life and death to Mahatma Gandhi and his followers. But instead of repealing it, as they had fully expected, General Smuts suddenly took a fresh step forward. He maintained the Black Act on the statute-book in spite of his promise to Gandhi. He then introduced into the Transvaal Legislature a measure validating the voluntary Indian registration already effected and the certificates already issued subsequent to the date mentioned in the Black Act. At a later time in the struggle, the European creditors of Kachhalia caught him as in a noose. The firms gave Kachhalia to understand that they would not press him for immediate payment if he left the Satyagraha movement.
