Government attempts to reform apartheid (2) Flashcards
How did the apartheid government change its strategy?
After the Soweto uprising, the apartheid government changed its strategy - it began to mix reform with repression.
Under Prime Minister P.W. Botha, who led the National Party from 1978 to 1989, the government developed a policy which it called “_____ _____ - Total Strategy ‘
Total Onslaught
What was total onslaught?
Government propaganda tried to make people believe that communists (including the Soviet Union and Cuba) were plotting to seize power in South Africa through military attacks, protests and international criticism.
Using this rather ____ Cold War propaganda, they adopted a ‘total strategy’ to meet this _____.
outdated
onslaught
What did total strategy involve? (5)
- This involved an increased military build-up
- censorship
- the banning of people, organizations and political rallies
- detentions without trial
- from 1985 a national state of emergency in which the police and army had extra power to take action against protestors.
What dud total strategy accompanied by?
At the same time, this was accompanied by limited reform in an attempt to win support from the growing black middle class.
What was the system of apartheid designed to do to black workers?
The system of apartheid was designed to keep black workers as providers of manual labour in the economy.
What were the features of the government’s attempt to subjugate black workers? (4)
-The policies of Bantu Education
-The colour bar in the industry,
-The pass laws
-The homeland system
were all part of this design
What effect did the growing economy have?
As the economy began to grow, more jobs were available in industry and there was an increasing need for skilled workers. As a result, there was pressure from business leaders and from black workers for the government to reform its policies affecting labour.
What effect did the demand of labour have on migration?
As the demand for labour increased, more people moved from the homelands to the cities in spite of the pass laws. Many women were determined to join their husbands in the cities and the number of self-built informal settlements expanded rapidly.
How did the state try to prevent people from moving from homelands to the city?
The state tried to prevent this, using arrests and forced removals and by destroying the informal settlements, but the move from the homelands to the towns continued.
How did the pass system break down?
As the rate of urbanization increased, the number of people charged with breaking laws increased too - to an average of 540 000 cases each year. The courts, the pass and the prison system were overloaded, and the pass system began to break down. In the early 1980s, there were fewer prosecutions under the pass laws; and finally, the pass system was completely abolished in 1986.
What vision was no longer possible as the pass system broke down?
This meant that the government’s vision of separate development in independent homelands could no longer exist.
