Internal resistance to reforms (5)

Question 1

What was the response to the government’s attempts at reform?

Answer 1

In response to the government’s attempts at ‘reform’, widespread protests were held.

Question 2

What was this resistance? (4)

Answer 2

It involved:

• trade unions
• civic organizations
• communities, students
• church leaders.

By the mid-1980s these had turned into a determined and sustained national uprising.

Question 3

Who played a huge role in protests?

Answer 3

Workers and trade unions played a key role in the protests.

Question 4

When did the growth of trade unions start?

Answer 4

The growth of trade unions had started at the time of the 1973 strikes and continued throughout the 1970s. The trade unions grew even more rapidly in the early 1980s after black trade unions were legally recognized for the first time in 1979.

Question 5

What were the trade unions concerned with? (3)

Answer 5

• workplace issues such as wages working conditions
• worked alongside community organizations to organize boycotts and stay-aways and other forms of resistance
• encouraged community organizations to support workers, for example by boycotting the products of companies with poor labour practices, or by stopping people from the community from doing scab ‘ labour when workers went on strike.

Question 6

After 1983 the trade unions became more actively involved in ____ ____.

Answer 6

wider politics

Question 7

Which organisation did many trade Unions join?

Answer 7

Many of them joined the United Democratic Front.

Question 8

What role did Union members play?

Answer 8

Union members also played an important role in persuading people to boycott the elections for the tricameral parliament.

Question 9

What did COSATU adopt in 1987? And what did they call for? (4)

Answer 9

In 1987 COSATU adopted the Freedom Charter and aligned itself with the non-racial democratic perspective of the UDF. They called for:

• an end to apartheid and racism
• the unbanning of political parties
• the release of political prisoners
• a one person, one vote Constituent Assembly

Question 10

What were trade unions involved in from 1985?

Answer 10

From 1985, trade unions were involved in an increasing number of strikes to put pressure on employers and the government.

Question 11

What did COSATU launch?

Answer 11

COSATU launched a Living Wage campaign, calling for higher wages to meet the increasing costs of living at a time of inflation.

Question 12

What did trade unions do in relation to the first of May?

Answer 12

In the 1980s the first of May was not a public holiday in South Africa as it was in many other parts of the world. The unions called for a stay-away on that day in 1985 to mark the importance of labour.

Question 13

Support for a May Day stay-away increased and by 1987, ___ million people were supporting the action.

Answer 13

2.5

Question 14

What happened when the government introduced legislation to curb this industrial action?

Answer 14

When the government introduced legislation to curb this industrial action, COSATU and other unions launched a massive campaign of stay-aways and boycotts to oppose it.

Question 15

What was the response to Botha’s reforms?

Answer 15

The response to Botha’s reforms was not what the National Party government had expected.

Question 16

Which two reforms had far-reaching political results?

Answer 16

The Black Local Authorities Act (1982) and the tricameral constitution (1983) had far-reaching political results.

Question 17

What effects did the failed reforms?

Answer 17

They were the spark that started off mass protests countrywide. The government failed to win the support of moderate coloured, Indian and black voters, as it had hoped that it would.

Question 18

It was clear to all that the government was merely trying to ____ apartheid rather than to _____ it.

Answer 18

restructure

dismantle

Question 19

How was this shift to restructure apartheid opposed?

Answer 19

A number of democratic organizations joined forces to resist this restructuring by urging voters not to register and vote in the elections. These organizations formed the United Democratic Front

Question 20

Did the government succeed in trying to persuade people to vote in the first elections for the tricameral parliament?

Answer 20

Despite a vigorous campaign by the government to encourage people to register, less than 20% of coloured and Indian voters bothered to vote in the first elections for the tricameral parliament in 1984.

Question 21

What was the reaction to Botha’s reforms in the black townships?

Answer 21

These reforms led to an uprising sometimes called the ‘township revolt’, which lasted from 1984 to 1986.

Question 22

Where did these protests start and what triggered them?

Answer 22

The protests started in the townships of the Vaal triangle, Sharpeville, Sebokeng and Boipatong.

These protests were triggered by a school boycott by students and a rent boycott by township residents in protest against rent increases at a time of economic hardship and high unemployment.

Question 23

What did these smaller protests lead to?

Answer 23

These protests and demonstrations soon became a mass uprising, with workers and students countrywide joining in the stay-away.

Question 24

What did this mass protest mark?

Answer 24

This mass action marked a new kind of resistance. Rather than focusing on specific issues as in the past, such as the pass laws or rent boycotts, trade unions, local civics and new political organizations called for ‘rolling mass action’.

Question 25

What were the aims of these mass protest?

Answer 25

They wanted continuous and sustained resistance until the government agreed to dismantle apartheid and negotiate for a democratic future.