Apartheid
South Africa
South Africa
Tribes in South Africa
• Zulu
• Xhosa
• Sotho
Apartheid
• The official policy of racial
segregation formerly practiced in
the Republic of South Africa,
involving political, legal, and
economic discrimination against
nonwhites.
1652
• The Dutch settled the Cape Colony in Southern Africa.
• Over time they considered themselves more African
than European and called themselves Afrikaners.
They considered themselves superior to native
Africans and used them as slaves until the early 1800s
when the British took control of the Cape Colony and
abolished slavery.
Early 1800s in Southern Africa
After defeating the black South Africans, the Afrikaners
had migrated north of the Orange River, known as the
Great Trek, due to the British presence in the Cape
Colony.
Early History
A Time Line
• 1806 – British seize Cape of Good Hope
• 1835 – Great Trek
• 1856 – Orange Free State (Afrikaner republic)
• 1854 – Transvaal (Afrikaner republic)
• 1867 – Discovery of Gold
• 1886 – Discovery of Diamonds
• 1889 – 1902 – The Boer War (British and Dutch settlers)
The Boers
• The Boers were white
farmers who were
descendants of the Dutch.
• They migrated from the
Cape because of British
colonialism and constant
border wars between the
British and the natives.
Boer War
• Native Africans fought alongside the
British due to their abolishment of slavery.
• The British won the Boer War and after a
few years of negotiation with the
Afrikaners, combined four colonies (2
Dutch and 2 British) into the Union of
South Africa in 1910.
• Even though it was a republic, the black
South Africans had no rights.
• The Boers and the
British ruled together
under the Union of
South Africa.
• In 1948, the National
Party was voted into
power and instituted a
policy of apartheid.
• The apartheid was a
policy of segregation.
http://www.south-africa-tours-and-travel.com/images/signboard-from-theapartheid-era-apartheid.jpg
Apartheid
• Starting in 1948, the Nationalist
Government in South Africa enacted laws
to define and enforce segregation. With
the enactment of apartheid laws in 1948,
racial discrimination was
institutionalized. Apartheid "maintained
white power by denying political and
economic liberty to black South
Africans."[
Apartheid Laws
• The Population Registration Act, 1950,
required that every South African be
classified into one of a number of racial
"population groups.
• The Reservation of Separate Amenities
Act, 1953 allowed public premises,
vehicles and services to be segregated by
race, even if equal facilities were not
made available to all races.
• The implementation of
the policy, later referred
to as "separate
development," was
made possible by the
Population Registration
Act of 1950, which put all
South Africans into three
racial categories: Bantu
(black African), White, or
Coloured (of mixed
race). A fourth category,
Asian (Indians and
Pakistanis), was added
later.
How did the new
government
enforce this new
policy?
How it Worked
• Under apartheid, people were legally
classified into a racial group - the main
ones being White, Black, Indian and
Colored
• They were geographically, and forcibly,
separated from each other on the basis
of the legal classification.
• The Black majority, in particular, legally
became citizens of particular
"homelands“.
The numbers. . .
Blacks
Population
19 million
Whites
4.5 million
Land allocation
13%
87%
Share of national income
<20%
75%
Minimum taxable income
360 rands
750 rands
Doctors/population
1/44,000
1/400
Infant mortality rate
20%-40%
2.7%
Annual expenditure on education $45
per student
Teacher/student ratio
1/60
$696
1/22
A segregated beach in South Africa, 1982.
Apartheid Laws
• The Prohibition of Mixed Marriages Act, 1949
forbade marriages between white people and
people of other races.
• The Natives Land Act, 1913 limited land
ownership by black people to 7% of the land area
of South Africa.
• The Group Areas Act, 1950 (re-enacted in 1957
and 1966) divided urban areas into "group areas"
in which ownership and residence was restricted
to certain population groups.
Who lives Where??
More Restrictions!!!
• The Bantu Authorities Act of 1951
and the Promotion of Bantu SelfGovernment Act of 1959 furthered
these divisions between the races by
creating ten African "homelands“ to be
self-governed by the various “tribes.”
• The Bantu Homelands Citizenship Act
of 1970 made every black South African
a citizen of one of the homelands which
eliminated black Africans from South
African politics.
Houses in
Soweto, a
black
township in
the
“homelands.”
Homelands
• Homelands were independent states to
which each African was assigned by the
government according to the record of origin
(which was frequently inaccurate).
• All political rights, including voting, held by
an African were restricted to the designated
homeland.
• The idea was that they would be citizens of
the homeland, losing their citizenship in
South Africa and any right of involvement
with the South African Parliament.
• Africans living in the homelands needed
passports to enter South Africa: aliens in
their own country.
SOWETO TOWNSHIP
• 20 km FROM JOHANNESBURG
• LARGEST BLACK URBAN COMMUNITY
COMPRISING THE BLACK COMMUNITIES OF
THE SOUTHWESTERN TOWNSHIPS
SOWETO TOWNWHIP
Young, black South Africans looking in on a game of soccer
at an all-white school in Johannesburg. Government
spending, about 10 times more for white children than for
black, clearly showed the inequality designed to give whites
more economic and political power. Poorly trained teachers,
overcrowded classrooms, and inadequate recreational
facilities were normal for black children, if in fact they had
any schooling available at all.
Segregated public facilities in
Johannesburg, 1985.
The Symbol of Apartheid
The Passbook
A Black South African shows his passbook issued
by the Government. Blacks were required to carry
passes that determined where they could live and
work.
The Passbook
– A pass was issued only to a black person
with approved work. Spouses and children
had to be left behind in non-white areas.
Many white households employed blacks as
domestic workers, who were allowed to live
on the premises— often in small rooms
external to the family home.
– A pass was issued for one magisterial
district (usually one town) confining the
holder to that area only.
The Passbook
• Being without a valid pass made a
person subject to immediate arrest
and summary trial, often followed by
deportation to the person's
homeland. Police vans patrolled the
"white" areas to round up the
"illegal" blacks.
A Struggle Against Apartheid
Important to remember:
Throughout the apartheid, there was a movement
fighting against it…
African National Congress
Nelson Mandela- A key character in the fight for
democracy
-Imprisoned for his political efforts
-President of ANC
-Released from prison in 1990
-First democratic president of
South Africa
May 10, 1994First Democratic Election
A number of black political groups, often supported by
sympathetic whites, opposed apartheid using a variety
of tactics, including violence, strikes, demonstrations,
and sabotage - strategies that often met with severe
consequences from the government.
AFRICAN RESISTANCE TO MINORITY WHITE RULE
• One Man’s Freedom Fighter is Another Man’s Terrorist
• 1912 SOUTH AFRICAN NATIVE NATIONAL
CONGRESS BECOMES THE AFRICAN NATIONAL
CONGRESS—THE ANC
• STRIKES, BOYCOTTS AND SYMBOLIC ACTS OF
DEFIANCE
• 1950s DEFIANCE CAMPAIGN MASS RESISTANCE—
PUBLIC DISOBEDIENCE
• 1955 FREEDOM CHARTER
FREEDOM CHARTER 1955
• We, the People of South Africa, declare for all our country
and the world to know:
• that South Africa belongs to all who live in it, black and
white, and that no government can justly claim authority
unless it is based on the will of all the people;
REACTIONS TO THE TERRORIST STATE
• 1961 SOUTH AFRICA IS
EXPELLED FROM THE
COMMONWEALTH OF
NATIONS
• MANDELA – “SPEAR OF
THE NATION”— 200 ACTS
OF SABOTAGE AGAINST
PASS OFFICES,
GOVERNMENT BUILDINGS,
AND POWER SUPPLIES
NELSON MANDELA SENT TO ROBBEN ISLAND
• 12 km FROM CAPE TOWN
• A PRISON FOR
400 YEARS
TO ISOLATE
OPPONENTS OF
APARTHEID
NELSON MANDELA
IN PRISON
Nelson Mandela jailed for 20 years
in his fight against Apartheid
Reform
• As antiapartheid pressure mounted within and outside
of South Africa, the South African government, led by
President F. W. de Klerk, (white) began to dismantle
the apartheid system in the early 1990s.
• The year 1990 brought a National Party government
dedicated to reform and also saw the legalization of
formerly banned black congresses (including the
ANC—African National Congress) and the release of
imprisoned black leaders.
• In 1994 the country's constitution was rewritten and
free general elections were held for the first time in its
history, and with Nelson Mandela's election as South
Africa's first black president, the last remnants of the
apartheid system were finally outlawed.
Lived to vote in the first
racially democratic election
1994
And Become President of
South Africa
South African President Nelson Mandela, center, flanked by
his two deputy presidents, Thabo Mbeki, left and F.W. de
Klerk, right, celebrate the new constitution, May 8, 1996.
(AP/WWP Photo Leon Muller)
Nobel Peace Prize
• The Nobel Peace Prize 1993 was awarded
jointly to Nelson Mandela and Frederik Willem
de Klerk "for their work for the peaceful
termination of the apartheid regime, and for
laying the foundations for a new democratic
South Africa"