SOUTH AFRICA
FROM THE PAST TO THE
PRESENT
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Before whites came to South Africa, the Western
area was sparsely populated by two groups of
Native Africans: the Khoikhoi and the San.
These groups included Xhosa and the Zulu
tribes.
Many of these cultures were common to many
Africans in southern Africa.
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Extended families were very strong
Men were heads of the family
Children respected their elders
Gender specific roles were assigned
People are people through other people
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Though black Africans have always lived in what
is known as South Africa, European settlers
began to farm there in the 1600s
Eventually taking away more and more land
from the natives
Later, given self rule by the British, the settlers
united to form the Union of South Africa, with a
constitution that gives whites almost complete
power
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In control were the Afrikaners, whose leaders
often viewed themselves as “civilized” people
superior to non-whites, with a mission from God
to rule South Africa
In 1948, the Afrikaner Nationalist Party won
control of the government
D.F. Malan promised that if he won, he would
preserve a pure white race
After the election, apartheid became official
government policy
Apartheid: (meaning separatism) was a system
of racial segregation that was enforced in South
Africa from 1948 – 1991. Apartheid was designed
to form a legal framework for continued economic
and political dominance by people of European
descent.
The Laws of Apartheid
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Population Registration Act: Classified
all South Africans as
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Bantu (black)
Colored (mixed race)
White
Asian (consisting of Indians and Pakistanis)
The Laws of Apartheid
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Group Areas Act:
Set aside separate
living areas and
business districts for
each race within
cities; this law
ensured that the white
minority (about 1520% of the
population) would
own 80% of the land
% of Land Owned
Black SA
White SA
The Laws of Apartheid
 Influx
Control Laws: Prohibited
blacks from being in a white area for
over 72 hours or from living in one of
the black townships unless they had a
job in a white home or business
The Laws of Apartheid
 Pass
Laws: Required all NON
WHITES over the age of 16 to carry a
passbook with important
documentation such as birth date,
race, tribal affiliation, and work history
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These identity documents became a passport to
control the migration of Blacks to ‘white’ South Africa
The Laws of Apartheid
 Mixed
Marriages Act: Forbid
marriages between whites and those
of another race
The Laws of Apartheid
 Bantu
Education Act: Established
separate, inferior schools for blacks
where they were primarily taught
about tribal life in tribal languages
The Laws of Apartheid
 Bantu
Homelands Citizenship Act:
made every black South African, no
matter where he/she lived, a citizen of
1 of the 10 homelands, but NOT of
South Africa – this prevented nonwhite people – even if actually
residing in South Africa – from having
a vote or influence
The Laws of Apartheid
 The
Reservation of Separate
Amenities Act: allowed the
government to provide different levels
of amenities for the different races
 Schools
 Hospitals
 Transportation
An Apartheid Sign on a Durban
beach in 1989
SA National Flag 1928-1994
Defines SA as an inherently white nation, recognizing the
country’s British and Dutch ethnic roots, but offering no
symbolic recognition of the black majority.
SA National Flag 1994- present day
Internal Resistance
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1949 – ANC developed an agenda that for
the first time advocated open resistance
 Strikes
 Acts
of public disobedience
 Protest marches
Sharpeville Massacre
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1960 – a group of ANC members, seeking
to sever ALL ties with the white
government, broke away to form the more
militant PAC
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Nationwide demonstrations took place against
the hated “pass laws”
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March 21, 1960
Black people congregated in Sharpeville to
demonstrate against the requirement for
blacks to carry identity cards
 Estimates vary widely, from 5000 up to as
many as 20,000 with larger figures coming
from the police, wishing to stress how much
danger they had been in
 The crowd converged on the local police
station, singing and offering themselves up for
arrest for NOT carrying their pass books.
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A group of about 300 police opened fire on the
demonstrators, killing 69 and injuring 186
ALL victims were black, and most of them had
been shot in the back
The crowd was effectively unarmed; many
witnesses stated that the crowd was NOT
violent, but the senior officer stated, Hordes of
natives surrounded the police station. My car
was struck with a stone. If they do these things
they must learn their lesson the hard way
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This day became known as the
Sharpeville Massacre
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In its aftermath, the government banned the
ANC and the PAC
Resistance goes Underground
To many domestic and international
onlookers, the struggle had crossed a
crucial line in Sharpeville, and there could
no longer be any doubt about the nature of
the white regime
 In the wake of the shooting, a massive
stay-away from work was organized and
demonstrations continued
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Prime Minister Verwoerd declared a state
of emergency, giving security forces the
right to detain people without trial
Over 18,000 demonstrators were arrested,
including much of the ANC and PAC
leadership, and both organizations were
banned
 Together, with ANC leader Nelson Mandela,
they were tried for treason
 In 1964, Mandela and seven others were
sentenced to life imprisonment for terrorism
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Activist against Apartheid
Nelson Mandela
Oliver Tambo, another member of the ANC
leadership, managed to escape South
Africa and was to lead the ANC in exile for
the next 30 years
 The trial was condemned by the United
Nations Security Council, and was a major
force in the introduction of international
sanctions against the South African
government
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With the ANC and PAC banned, and
Mandela and his fellow leaders in jail or
exile, South Africa entered some of its
most troubled times
Apartheid legislation was increasingly
enforced, and the walls between the races
were built even higher
 In 1966 Verwoerd was stabbed to death, but
his policies continued
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Black Consciousness Movement
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During the 70s, resistance again gained
force spearheaded by the South African
Students’ Organization under the
charismatic leadership of Steve Biko
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organization stressed the need for:
Psychological liberation
Black pride
Non-violent opposition to apartheid
In 1974, the government issued the
Afrikaans Medium Decree which forced all
schools for blacks to use the Afrikaans
language
 This policy was deeply unpopular, since
Afrikaans was regarded as the language
of the oppressor
 April 30, 1976 – students at Orlando West
Junior School went on strike, refusing to
go to school
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This rebellion spread throughout Soweto
 The students organized a mass rally for
June 16, which turned violent – police
responded with bullets to the stones
thrown by the students
 The official death toll on that day was 23,
but some placed it as high as 200
 The incident triggered widespread
violence throughout South Africa, which
claimed further lives
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INTERNATIONAL ICON:
Hector Pieterson aged 12
One of the first casualties
In September 1977, Steve Biko was
arrested. The security police beat him
until he lapsed into a coma; he went
without medical treatment for 3 days and
finally died in Pretoria
 The magistrate ruled no one was to blame
 South African Medical Assoc took action
against doctors that failed to treat Biko
 South Africa was never to be the same
again – liberation before education
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Activist against Apartheid
Steve Biko
Activist against Apartheid
Robert Sobukwe
Activist against Apartheid
Patrick Chamusso
While the majority of white South African
voters supported the apartheid system,
between 15% - 20% were opposed to it
 Cultural opposition came from
internationally known writers like Andre
Brink and Alan Paton.
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International Opposition
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Nov 6, 1962 UN General Assembly condemned
SA apartheid policies
Aug 7, 1963 UN Security Council established a
voluntary embargo against SA
Following the Soweto uprising, the arms
embargo became mandatory
In 1978 and 1983 a movement started to
pressure investors to refuse to invest in SA
companies or companies that did business with
SA
The End of Apartheid
1990 F.W. de Klerk became State
President and lifted the 30 year ban on
anti-apartheid groups
 Between 1991 and 1994 many of the legal
dismissal of apartheid took place
 After being released from a 30 year prison
term Nelson Mandela was elected the first
black South African president
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Rally of ANC to end Ban
SA sports teams were barred from
international events
 SA culture and tourism was boycotted
 Late 1980s the US, the UK, and 23 other
nations had passed laws placing various
trade sanctions on SA
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HIV/AIDS epidemic
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1982 – the first recorded death from AIDS
occurred
Within a decade, the recorded number of AIDS
cases had risen to over 1,000
By the mid 1990s, it had reached 10,000
At the end of 2005, 5 ½ million with about 1,000
dying each and every day
With antiretroviral drug treatment, HIVpositive people can maintain their health
and often lead relatively normal lives
 Sadly, few people in South Africa have
access to this treatment
 This means that AIDS deaths are
alarmingly common throughout the country
 It is thought that almost half of all deaths in
South Africa, and a staggering 71% of
deaths among those aged between 15 and
49, are caused by AIDS.
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So many people are dying from AIDS that
in some parts of the country, cemeteries
are running out of space for the dead
 A recent survey found that South Africans
spent more time at funerals than they did
having their hair cut, shopping or having
barbecues
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Why did South Africa’s AIDS epidemic go
unchecked for so long?
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The most rapid increase in SA’s HIV popularity took
place between 1993 and 2000, during which time the
country was distracted by major political changes
While the attention of the SA people and the world's
media was focused on the political and social changes
occurring in the country, HIV was rapidly becoming more
widespread
Although the results of these political changes were
positive, the spread of the virus was not given the
attention that it deserved, and the impact of the epidemic
was not acknowledged
It is likely that the severity of the epidemic could have
been lessened by prompt action at this time.
HIV Treatment in SA
SA’s national HIV treatment program has
been the topic of much debate
 The SA government was initially hesitant
about providing antiretroviral treatment to
HIV-positive people, and only started to
supply the drugs in 2004 – years after
many other nations had begun to do so –
following pressure from activists
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Even since 2004, the distribution of
antiretroviral drugs has been relatively
slow, with only around 33% of people in
need receiving treatment at the end of
2006
 The government was also initially reluctant
to provide drugs that could prevent HIVpositive mothers from passing HIV on to
their babies, and has been accused of not
making enough effort to get these drugs to
women that need them
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KAFFIR BOY
Mark Mathabane
Kaffir Boy is a searing indictment against
South Africa's National Party's bigoted and
unethical abuse of power
 First-person viewpoint is, of course, the
norm in autobiography
 In Kaffir Boy, however, Mathabane
skillfully juxtaposes the voices of Mark
Mathabane, the adult author, with the
developing voices of Johannes, the child,
and Mark, the politically savvy teenager
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The adult author begins his story with the
full text of the legal warning posted on
every road into the ghetto of Alexandra--a
warning deliberately designed to prevent
whites from entering the black world
 Thus, most white South Africans remain
ignorant of how blacks are forced to live,
because the forced segregation allows
them to believe what they want to believe
and to turn a blind eye to the true
conditions apartheid not only creates but
also enforces daily
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The white man of South Africa certainly
does not know me, Mathabane challenges
and then dares the white man to ignore
the warnings and enter the black world
through his story, to feel vicariously what
he felt each time a white called him a
"Kaffir boy"
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The tone of Kaffir Boy takes the reader on a
roller coaster ride of severe drops, wild curves,
and steep climbs relieved by very few level
straight-aways
At times ironic or educational, it moves rapidly
from fear, to reassurance, to anger, to
despondency, to determination, to hope, to
disappointment, to despair, to elation
The resulting mood changes provide readers
with a real sense of having walked in
Mathabane's shoes, forcing them to confront
head-on the evils of apartheid and other forms of
racism
Critical Reviews
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Initial reviews of Kaffir Boy in the spring of 1986
were mixed
New York Times Book Review critic Lillian
Thomas appeared either unable or unwilling to
grasp the significance of the book, suggesting
that it should have been written in a different
way and questioning why the author was no
longer living in South Africa
Two other critics, whose reviews appeared in the
same month as Thomas's, praised the
uniqueness and power of the book
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Despite mixed reviews, just a few months after
Kaffir Boy's initial publication, Readers' Digest
Condensed Books purchased the condensation
rights and New American Library bought the
paperback rights
Dave Grogan's favorable story in People and an
appearance on the Oprah Winfrey Show in 1987
brought the autobiography to the attention of a
wider audience
It became an almost overnight bestseller,
reaching third place on the New York Times
bestseller list and first place on the Washington
Post bestseller list
Its importance as the influential
autobiography of black experience in
apartheid-ruled South Africa remains
unquestioned
 Textbook companies and school systems
throughout the United States include it in
their standard high school curricula
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Unfortunately, like other books that dare to
address racial injustice and abuse, Kaffir Boy
has been banned by some parent groups and
school systems who find the book inappropriate
because of one scene
Ironically, the scene in question is crucial not
only to Mathabane's survival but also for his
readers to be able to understand just how
warped and destructive apartheid is
It separates men from their wives and children
and forces them to live hundreds of miles away
in all-male barracks
Victims themselves, some of these men turn
young, starving boys in the nearby ghetto into
prostitutes in exchange for money and food
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A starving Mathabane includes the story of being
solicited by the promise of food, his horror when
he begins to realize what is about to happen,
and his successful flight from the barracks in
time to prevent becoming a victim
The story not only forces readers to see how
corrupt and horrible apartheid is but also warns
readers, young and old, of the need to be wary
of promises that sound too good to be true, to
realize that ignorance often leads to victimization
Shantytown in SA
His family and their 1 room shack
Tennis courts in SA
His family viewing a copy of Kaffir
Boy for the 1st time in SA
His family on Oprah in 1987
President Clinton greets Mark at
the White House
Hillary Clinton with his sisters
Mark, his wife Gail and their
children