Black competition or white resentment? African retailers in Salisbury 1935–1953

At the beginning of rapid African urbanisation in the mid‐1930s, the African retail trade in Salisbury was set for promising growth. However, in the following twenty years this growth was effectively dwarfed by the segregatory policies and bureaucratic legalism of the settler administration. These restrictions were imposed upon African businesses because whites wanted to ‘keep the city white’ and not because they were afraid of black competition. Whites rather wanted to protect their socio‐cultural environment than their businesses, which were under no real threat from African traders.