Codifying and Implementing Apartheid (1948-59) Flashcards
What were the main two aims of the new government?
- To impose white supremacy through an all-embracing system of Apartheid.
- To end political ties with Britain and form a republic.
Define Grand Apartheid
The overall strategy of keeping the different races separated as much as possible; for example by ensuring that they lived in different areas.
Define Petty Apartheid
The day to day restrictions, such as separate facilities, for example public amenities and transport waiting rooms. Many Africans found this more wearying than grand apartheid.
How did the Broederbond become more influential?
All National Party members were expected to maintain close ties with it and its policies were becoming effectively government thinking.
How did the National Party create an extension of voters?
Created six new seats in South West Africa (Namibia) where residents were expected to vote for the nationalists.
These new constituencies had between 9,000 and 12,000 voters while the average constituency was 24,000. This meant that the new constituencies had about twice as many voters as they would normally be entitled to.
What was the Separate Representation of Voters Act and when was it signed?
1951
Removed all blacks from the electoral votes.
How was the National Party able to pass the Separate Representation of Voters Act?
Introduced the Act separately into each house which the United Party successfully contested. After the 1953 election, the NP enlarged their senate from 48 to 89 which meant they then had a majority. The measure became law in 1956.
Define Bantusans
African homeland or tribal land
What was the Population Registration Act and when was it passed?
1950
Designated everyone into an ethnic category and issued them with an identity card. Apartheid policy insisted that these ethnic groups remained separate such as by the use of Bantustans.
What were the 4 ethnic categories?
White, Black, Coloured and India
What was Soweto?
An acronym for South WesternTownships (African townships on the edge of Johannesburg)
Define Africanist
Refers to Africanism, the policy of black Africans to fight against apartheid without help from other groups.
What were the Prohibition of Mixed Marriages Act and Immorality Act and when were they passed?
1950
Made marriage between Europeans and non-Europeans illegal as well as sexual relations
What was significant about Sophiatown and what happened in 1955?
The only place in South Africa where blacks were allowed to own property and there were Indians as well as whites who had lived there before it was designated an African area making it multi-ethnic.
After the Group Areas Act, non-Europeans were evicted from the area which the government stated was because different ethnic groups couldn’t live alongside each other even there was no evidence of significant conflict between races in Sophiatown.
What was the Group Areas Act and when was it passed?
1950
Allowed the government to designate certain areas to one particular ethnic group and forcibly evict people who were not part of that group.
How many people were evicted between 1951-86 due to the Group Areas Act?
3.5 million
1 million were forced from urban to bantustans
What was Sophiatown renamed to and why was this significant?
Triumf
Insulting to non-whites as it stated powerful government assertion and oppression.
What was the Bantu Authorities Act Passed and when was it passed?
1951
Re-iterated the assertion that the home areas were for Africans and the only place that they were entitled to live were tribal areas.
When was the Native Representative Council formed?
1936
When was the Native Representative Council abolished and why?
1951
Africans were now viewed as foreigners and were governed by tribal leaders appointed by the government
What was the Natives Abolition of Passes Act and when was it passed?
1952
It standardised the use of passes by Africans through South Africa by abolishing passes and replacing them with reference books.
What were the terms of the Natives Abolition of Passes Act
?
- All Africans had to carry their reference book at all times. Included all men and women who had previously been excluded from pass laws.
- Neither African men nor women could remain in urban areas for more than 70 hours after their pass expired.
- No African could live permanently in an urban area unless they were born there, had lived there for 15 years or had been with the same employer for 10 years.
- National reference books replaced regional ones. The pass contained a photograph, employment record and personal details such as marital status.
- It was illegal not to carry reference book.
How many arrests and convictions were there in the 1950s for not carrying reference books?
968,593 arrests and 861,269 convictions
What were mission schools?
Schools run by various churches to educate African children
What was the Bantu Education Act and when was it passed?
1953
The reform of the education system for Africans led by Verwoerd which focused on black history and limited the curriculum to focus on functional and industrial skills.
What percentage of African children attended schools in 1945?
Less than 33%
When was Verwoerd appointed as Minister of Native Affairs?
1950
When did Verwoerd become prime minister?
1958
What were the main terms of the Bantu Education Act 1953?
- Removal of control of African education from the Ministry of Education to the Ministry of Native Affairs e.g. now had to manage 26,000 more African teachers
- End to subsidies for mission schools which forced many to close.
- Expansion to government-run system and setting a limit to the vocational based curriculum.
What was betterment?
Government driven improvements in agriculture and living conditions such as homelands.
Which university admitted African students?
Fort Hare
What was the Extension of Universities Act and when was it passed?
1959
Banned English-language universities from accepting African students.
Who was Robert Sobukwe?
Africanist who became president of the Pan-African Congress and was employed to teach African studies at the University of Witwatersrand. He spent the last 16 years of his life either imprisoned or under house arrest.
When was the Tomlinson report released?
1956
What points did the Tomlinson Report reassert?
- Homelands could never support more than 2/3 of their population and advised more land to be allocated.
- Policies of betterment be developed to combat problems such as soil erosion. Estimated that this would cost at least £100 million
- The agricultural workforce should be reduced. Industrial concerns could be developed just outside the borders and town within it so that homeland residents could commute for employment.
What was the Cold War?
Hostility between the USA and USSR in the post-Second World War era. Manifested itself in methods such as propaganda and gaining allies through economic ais.
What were banning orders?
Measures restricting one’s movements, limiting one to a certain specifically defined area or house arrest.
What was the Bantu Self-government Act and when was it passed?
1959
Eight self-governing homelands were established in which blacks were forced to be citizens. By making these homelands ‘independent’ then white people could officially become the largest ethnic group according to South African statistics.
What was the Suppression of Communism Act and when was it passed?
1950
The government believed that communist agitators were behind the majority of Apartheid protests. By fighting against communism then South Africa could be seen as by western countries, especially the USA as an ally.
How was communism defined by the South African government?
Any scheme aimed ‘at bringing bout any political, social and economic change within the union by the promotion of disturbance and disorder’.
What was the Public Safety Act and when was it passed?
1953
Allowed the government to call a state of emergency for twelve months initially, with powers to renew it indefinitely.
What was the Criminal Amendment Act and when was it passed?
1953
Stated that anyone accompanying a person found guilty of a crime would automatically be assumed guilty as well and would have to prove their innocence.
What was the Riotous Assembly Act and when was it passed?
1956
Outlawed any meeting which might engender hostility between races, and prevented any ‘banned’ persons from addressing public meetings.
In what years did the Treason Trial take place?
1956-61
What is high treason?
Plotting to overthrow the state.
How many people from the People’s congress meeting were arrested for high treason?
156
What was the People’s congress?
A meeting of all races which was held in Kliptown in Jube 1955 where a Freedom Charter was created and read out which addressed the long term goals of achieving a free and equal country.
When was the People’s Congress?
1955
