Bp 1: Response to apartheid 1948-59

Question 1

Who becomes prime minister when the National party win the election in 1948?

Answer 1

Malan

Question 2

What did the United Nations do in 1948?

Answer 2

Issued the Universal declaration of human rights

Question 3

What did the ANC do in 1949?

Answer 3

Youth League Programme was adopted

Question 4

When was the prohibition of mixed marriages act passed?

Answer 4

1949

Question 5

Who became minister of native affairs in 1950?

Answer 5

Hendrik Verwoerd

Question 6

When was the Bantu authorities act introduced and what did it do?

Answer 6

1951 - aim was to place responsibility for local government onto a conservative rural african leadership that would cooperate with the government (harness African chieftaincy)

Question 7

When was the mixed marriages act introduced?

Answer 7

1949, prohibited interracial marriage

Question 8

When was the immorality act introduced?

Answer 8

1950

Question 9

When was the population registration act introduced?

Answer 9

1950 - registered everyone in south africa into four racial categories

Question 10

When was the group areas act introduced?

Answer 10

1950 - removed areas close to the city centre where black, coloured and Indians owned shops, houses and businesses (urban dispossession) e.g Sophiatown, Durban and District six

Question 11

Why is Sophiatown so significant?

Answer 11

it was the first area to fall under the group areas act - it housed nearly 60,000 people (e.g Dr Xums of the ANC)
- the area had Drum magazine which recorded the hard-drinking, racy, urban lifestyle for which it became celebrated
- was famous for its shebeens (illegal bars) and tsotsis (youthful street gangs)
Removal began in 1950 and lasted 6 years

Question 12

Why was Durban different from some other areas?

Answer 12

1/3 indians, 1/3 white, 1/3 black - Indians let out land to Africans who built shacks and houses but during the 1940s the Africans who thought they were being exploited attacked the indians (142 people were killed and over 1000 injuries during the riots)

• By 1965, Cato Manor had been largely removed and africans were sent to far-flung townships
• 41,000 indians were moved from the central areas to an area south of the city to create a buffer zone between white suburbs and african township of umlazi
• private property ownership was allowed in the indian suburbs

Question 13

When was the reservation of separate amenities act introduced?

Answer 13

1953 - made it legal to provide separate facilities for black people which were not of equal standard

Question 14

What was influx control?

Answer 14

the focus on reducing african migration to cities

Question 15

When was the Natives abolition of passes act passed?

Answer 15

1952 - required a reference book for every african man which had to be presented on demand - showed the authorities whether they had the right to be in urban areas

Question 16

what did the urban areas act of 1952 do?

Answer 16

Gave some urban rights to a minority of african people who had: been born in the town, worked there for 10 years, lived there for 15 years and their children

Question 17

When were pass laws extended to women?

Answer 17

1956

Question 18

What was the increase in convictions under pass laws 1952-62?

Answer 18

around 164,000 to 384,000

Question 19

What evidence is there to show that pass laws did not keep africans out of the cities?

Answer 19

Urban african population increased from 1.8 mill in 1946 to 3.5 mill in 1960

Question 20

What percentage of africans were recorded as literate in the 1951 census?

Answer 20

24%

Question 21

What did the bantu education act of 1953 do?

Answer 21

passed an order to extend education to african children, but to also segregate the content taught in schools

Question 22

What did the government think they would achieve by introducing the bantu education act?

Answer 22

• they believed it would reduce the numbers of children joining tsotsis as they would have to attend school
• as it extended education to a lot of africans, they aimed to get more african workers in factories and shops

Question 23

When was the extension to university education act introduced?

Answer 23

1959 - segregated content at universities too and aimed to establish new universities for africans and other minorities that would be separate from english-speaking white universities

Question 24

What was the Tomlinson report?

Answer 24

released in 1955 - said that for apartheid to work there had to be an investment of over 100 million pounds into bantustans

• said that a class of farmers should be created and the size of agricultural plots should be increased
• said that private enterprise should be encouraged

Question 25

What was ‘betterment’?

Answer 25

• A plan the National party had to allow africans to intensify farming without creating environmental degradation.
• They believed the main cause of the soil erosion was livestock and so their solution was to create smaller paddocks where the livestock would be moved throughout the year
• This meant meant government officials moved many rural families from scattered settlements to compact villages, some were forced to sell some livestock

Question 26

When was the Defiance campaign?

Answer 26

1952 - the ANC gathered groups of volunteers to break racially based restrictions such as curfews and segregated facilities and to risk arrest (non-violent civil disobedience)

Question 27

How successful was the defiance campaign?

Answer 27

• membership shot up from 4,000 to 100,000
• ANC became deeply involved in resisting the implementation of the groups areas act in sophiatown
• attracted a great deal of moral support

HOWEVER

• defiance was a problematic strategy as the leadership had to lead by example so that they were not accused of leading others
• offering themselves up to arrest could have potentially disabled the movement, as the people would be unorganised without leadership

Example: East London

• Confrontations arose between the police and youths
• two white people were killed by black crowds (most notably, Sister Aidan Quinlan a catholic medical missionary who lived in the location - her death reverberated throughout SA and damaged the image of the movement)
• a policeman present at east london claimed that more than 69 were killed - more than sharpeville in 1960

Question 28

What was the Freedom Charter?

Answer 28

revealed in 1955 in Soweto - the congress alliance wrote a charter stating their core political beliefs (thousands across south africa submitted their suggestions)
- The charter called for a fully democratic South Africa with fairer distribution of land and wealth

Question 29

What was the Treason Trial?

Answer 29

1956 - 156 members of the congress alliance were arrested and accused of high treason

• they were subjected to a trial that last 5 years as the prosecutors tried to prove that the movement aimed to overthrow the government by force and that they help communist ideals
• all accused were acquitted in 1961 as the prosecutors were unable to prove their claims
• the trail provided the group with media attention and gave the leaders a chance to speak out about their ideas

Question 30

What are some examples of political opposition in the 1940s?

Answer 30

• • private squatter leaders occupied private and municipal land and won thousands of followers who would riot if the city officials tried to control them
• • 1946 - african workers went on strike and threatened south africas core industry
• smuts called the army to assist in breaking the strike
• black members of the communist party in SA were a big part of the plans put into actions
• • bus boycotts took place in 1944 and 1949 to bring fares down for africans travelling from townships to cities

Question 31

what did the ANC youth league stand for?

Answer 31

founded in 1944 - galvanised the movement int more radical action as they were inspired by the global anti-colonial rhetoric and the confidence of the west african nationalists

Question 32

Who led the ANC youth league?

Answer 32

Anton Lembede, Oliver Tambo, Walter Sisulu and Nelson Mandela

Question 33

What was the Youth League programme of action?

Answer 33

1949

• boycotts, passive resistance, work stoppages and mass action
• their radical ideas were an attack on the ANC’s old guard as well as white supremacy
• they called for an African consciousness, nationalism and a united African people

Question 34

Who did the youth league oust and who replaced them?

Answer 34

moderate president of the ANC Dr Xuma and in 1952 replaced him with Albert Luthuli a devoutly christian zulu chief

Question 35

What idea did the ANC develop in the 50s?

Answer 35

idea of non-racialism and creating a political space for alliance with others in south africa who supported a fully democratic country, including white, indian and coloured activists