APARTHEID IN SOUTH AFRICA
UNION OF SOUTH AFRICA
• Created in 1910 (power in the 17% white
population)
• 70% African blacks NO VOTE
• Coloreds (mixed race) and Asians could
vote but only for white representatives
• ‘BOER’ or AFRIKANERS formed the
majority. (Netherlands)
AFRIKANER NATIONAL PARTY
1948
• Promise: rescue from the ‘Black menace’
• Dutch Reform Church promote racial inequality
• Some members support Nazi and Fascist views
of race
• Church promotes idea that blacks should be
servants; whites were the master races,
• Whites fear events in India, Pakistan and
promotion of racial equality due to WW II.
• Whites afraid of Communism (ANC—African
National Congress—a black political movement
was viewed as communist)
APARTHEID
• ANP creates system of separate development or
‘SEGREGATION’ in law.
• Population Registration Act- classified all people into
racial groups from birth
• Whites only group regarded as citizens of South Africa
• Group Areas Act- blacks expelled from whites only
areas placed on reserves and their former homes were
demolished
• Bantu Self-Government Act- sets up eight selfgoverning regions called ‘BANTUSTANS’ ‘
HOMELANDS’
• Bantustans 14% of land holds 80% of the population
• Segregation in: transport, schools, churches, beaches,
sports, health facilities and so on
1982
ENFORCEMENT OF APARTHEID
• Pass Laws- all ‘non-whites’ had to carry passes
so police could control them
No marriage or
sex between races.
• Suppression of Communism Act- anyone who
promoted end to apartheid labeled a communist
arrested without charges, rigged trials, torture
and imprisonment
• Black workers forbidden to strike some flogged,
no unions,
• Bantu Education Act- promotes low level of
education 10 cents of every dollar spent on
black child while 90 cents spent on white child.
All blacks were required to carry ``pass books''
containing fingerprints, photo and information on
access to non-black areas.
PROBLEMS OF APARTHEID
• Blacks live in appalling living conditions
• Townships lack basics of sanitation, water
and electricity
• Schools lack books and teachers
• Men are migrant workers live in hostels
away from home (causes family
breakdown)
• Vicious cycle of poverty, crime and
drunkenness
THE SHARPEVILLE MASSACRE,
March 1960
• Blacks assembled in the Sharpeville police
station to protest the pass laws.
• Supposed to be a peaceful demonstration.
Nelson Mandela one of the leaders.
• Police gathered, but soon the crowd pelted the
policemen with stones, and the edgy policemen
retaliated with gunfire.
• In the end, sixty-nine protesters were killed and
one hundred and eighty were wounded (some
shot while trying to flee).
SOWETO MASSACRE
• "They opened fire. They did not give
any warning. They simply opened fire.
Just like that. Just like that. And small
children, small defenseless children,
dropped down to the ground like
swatted flies. This is murder, coldblooded murder."
• A series of youth riots in Soweto, South Africa in
June 1976.
• Issue: government stipulated certain high school
subjects taught in Afrikaans.
• Started off peacefully with 3-10 thousand
students marching
• Route blocked, tear gas used, semi-automatic
weapons, and sniper guns.
• 23 died on the first day, over 575 in total
• Established ANC as primary instrument of
reform. No longer peaceful.
• Youth leader Steven Biko arrested and beat to
death in jail
OUTSIDE PRESSURE
• UN organizes boycotts of white South Africa
• Commonwealth and African states pressure for
change
• International boycotts, economic dealings,
sporting bans, diplomatic pressure to release
Mandela
• International churches attack apartheid
• Dutch Reform Church changes its policy and
ends support to apartheid
DESMOND TUTU
•
•
•
•
Leader of church campaign to end apartheid
Promotes release of Mandela from jail
Wants non-violence between whites and blacks
Leader of the TRUTH AND RECONCILIATION
COMMISSION after Mandela became
President. Force for peaceful change
BOTHA
• President 78-89 abolishes pass laws,
marriage laws and segregation “too little
too late”
• Warns whites to change “adapt or die”
DE KLERK
•
•
•
•
Became president after Botha
Releases Mandela from jail
Mandela calls of armed struggle
Sets up Convention for Democratic South
Africa with De Clerk
• Seventy percent of whites support De
Klerk and his policies
MANDELA
• Leader of the ANC (jailed for 30 years)
• Installed as president in 1994 (one person
one vote)
• Sets up Government of National Unity
PROBLEMS FACING MANDELA
• Poverty, violence, racial tension, tension
between tribes
• Mandela had to win the confidence of white
business community
• Had to win over foreign investors
• Passed new constitution on basis of majority rule
• De Clerk’s National Party leaves government
and becomes ANC’s opposition
Thabo Mbeki
’99 to present