p1.2.1 nature and characteristics of discrimination (SA) Flashcards
rights and protest: case study 2 (apartheid in south africa)
what were the four ethnic groups in south africa pre 1948?
whites: generally only people who could vote. dutch or english descent. there were tensions between afrikaners and english speakers
black africans: government policies kept them separate from whites. they couldn’t vote in the cape (british territory)
indians: descendants of 150,000 people imported by the british. lived in natal as traders
coloured people: lived in the cape. could vote + spoke afrikaans and english. legally defined as a person of mixed european and african/asian ancestry
what was transient migration?
after 1925, every african over 18 had to pay a tax of the equivalent of £1.50 per household. this opened up a system of transient migration whereby they had to borrow this money and then leave to find work, often in the diamond and gold mines in the white areas, to repay the loan.
what were the consequences in work of transient migration?
african workers lived on compounds - huge single sex barracks where families were not allowed. contracts were usually between 9 and 18 months, but often by that time the worker’s health would be broken. usually, they worked eight hour shifts in the mines, in temperatures over 38C for wages that could be as low as 12p a day
what was the impact of WW2 on the availability of work?
during the war, segregation began to break down as there was a shortage of labour to fill the factories. the colour bar was relaxed and black workers took up skilled positions in the work place.
the pass laws were temporarily relaxed and large numbers of people moved from the reserves to the towns, where there was an acute shortage of housing.
how did the post war era suggest possibilities for change?
the stronger position of black labour resulted in increasing demands and strikes by black workers after the war. the 1946 miners strike involved 75,000 workers on the gold mines of witwatersrand. the government took forceful action to crush the strike, and 12 miners were killed and over 1000 injured before it was over.
after the war, the indian community launched a passive resistance campaign in protest against a new law banning indians from living and trading freely
what was apartheid like in practice?
the concept of apartheid was established on four principles:
1. south africa comprised four racial groups, each with its own inherent and separate culture
2. whites were the ‘civilised’ race and were entitled to absolute power
3. the white race was a single entity, despite comprising afrikaners and english speakers
4. black africans were made up of different tribes (important as it implied africans were different from each other and should be separated, meaning that whites could be the majority. it was not necessary to provide equal facilities)
what was the 1911 mines and works act?
excluded africans from most skilled jobs in the mines, which were reserved for whites
what was the 1911 natives’ labour regulation act?
africans were to be recruited in rural areas, fingerprinted and issued with pass books which gave them permission to enter their areas of work. this was one of the acts known as the pass laws
what was the 1913 natives land act?
restricted african ownership of land to 7% of south africa. the government argued that this figure was equivalent to african land holdings before the whites occupied the hinterland
many africans were now forced to work for white farmers - or leave to work in the temporary contracts in the mines and cities. the was necessary because the homelands, such as zululand and transkei, soon became overcrowded
most of the land africans were allowed to keep was of the poorest quality - the land whites had not taken
early activists and some black farmers attempted to buy up as much land as they could before the act was passed, leading to ‘black spots’ across south africa
what was the 1923 native urban areas act?
africans should remain in cities only to administer to the needs of the white inhabitants, for example, as domestic servants
africans employed in industry or mining were expected to live in townships specially built for them on the outskirts of the cities, and to leave when their contract ended
what was the 1924 industrial conciliation act?
restricted the right of africans to organise themselves into trade unions and negotiate their terms of employment. they were given no rights as employees
what was the 1927 native administration act?
set up the department of native affairs (NAD) to control all matters relating to africans. they were thereby separated in law from all other south africans and had no civic rights outside this structure
what was the 1936 native trust and land act?
extended the amount of tribal reserves to 13.6% of the total from the original 7%. africans were not allowed to buy any land outside the tribal reserves
what was the 1936 representation of the natives act?
approximately 10,000 africans had been able to vote in the cape on the same basis as whites. this act removed such rights. africans were effectively disenfranchised and were treated as foreigners with no rights of permanent residence outside the designated tribal reserves
african leaders in the cape were allowed to vote for four white representatives to the senate. a native representation council was created of six white officials, four nominated and twelve elected africans to represent the views of cape africans in parliament
whats the difference between grand and petty apartheid?
apartheid = the strict separation of racial groups
grand apartheid = the overall policy of keeping the different races separated
petty apartheid = the day to day restrictions, such as separate facilities and restrictions
why did the national party win the 1948 election?
- smuts, the leader of the united party, was old and tired
- the united party was poorly organised
- the unfair tactics which lead national party candidates to accuse their opponents of supporting racial integration
what were the national party aims?
- to impose white supremacy through an all-embracing system of apartheid
- to end political ties with britain and form a republic
what were the main responsibilities of the department of native affairs?
- the labour bureau: introduced in 1953, it was designed to allocate african workers to specific jobs in specific locations, thus controlling their mobility
- the segregated ‘locations’: the department made it a priority to address the estimated struggle of 170,000 housing shortages
- the control of the bantustans: the homelands reserved for africans of particular tribes. they were eventually designated as separate nations within south africa and instrumental in the policy of separate development
what was the 1949 prohibition of mixed marriages act?
- first major law passed by the NP government
- made it illegal for white south africans to marry people of other races
- limited impact due to the small number of inter-race marriages
what was the 1950 immortality act?
- banned all sexual relations between whites and non-whites
- failed to ban sexual relations between people of non-white races (only cared about ‘white purity’)
- very intrusive: invading peoples homes in the night
- non-whites were given harsher punishments than white people
what was the 1950 population registration act?
- categorised people on the basis of race
- black african, white, coloured, indian (asian added later)
- all people were issued with an identity card
- children who were lighter or darker than their parents in terms of skin colour could be separated from them, which had a significant social impact on the country
- the racial classification on an identity card determined what opportunities people had in life
- a race classification board was set up to review cases where the race classification was unclear
what was the 1950 group areas act?
- set out specific residential areas for each group
- if you were living in an area that wasn’t for your designated racial group, you would have to move
what was the 1952 abolition of passes act?
- consolidated all existing forms of passes and permits into a single pass book
- aim was to control the movement of africans from the reserves to other parts of the country
- all african men had to have a pass that recorded their names, address, and employer. any changes had to be recorded by officials of the NAD
- passes had to be carried around at all times and you could be arrested if caught without a pass by the police
what was the 1953 separate amenities act?
- extended segregation to every aspect of daily life
- facilities and services were allocated for whites or non-whites, such as buses, trains and parks
- signs everywhere to remind people that virtually everything in south africa was divided by race
what was the 1951 bantu authorities act?
- restated that only place africans could live were ‘tribal reserves’
- abolished the native representative council, since africans were now considered foreigners in south africa
- tribal reserves were to be governed by tribal leaders designated by the government
- made sure that the homelands would never be self-sufficient
- provided a lynchpin for grand apartheid
- claimed the act was a protective measure to avoid white exploitation of africans
what was the 1952 native laws amendment act?
- prevented africans from becoming permanent residents in urban areas
- prohibited staying in towns more than 72 hours, unless they met a criteria
- controlled africans: other groups just had identity cards, but africans had bulky and complex reference books
- the pass system was so complicated that no african could obey it, even if they wanted to
what was the 1950-56 tomlinson commission?
- reviewed policy of homelands & how they could be self-sufficient
- the government broadly accepted the commission’s findings although it had no intention of providing more land, and disliked the recommendations concerning industrial developments because the use of cheap labour would undercut white staffed competitors
what was the 1959 promotion of bantu self government act?
- each of the 8 ‘national’ groups of black people would be allocated their own self-governing homeland (bantustan)
- these would be existing reserves, which would be transformed into small, independent states
- the tribal leaders would be assisted by white commissioners to help the transition to self government
- this would ultimately facilitate south africa to become an exclusively ‘white’ country
what were the outcomes of the bantu self government act on the homelands?
- black people stripped of citizenship + forced to become citizens of homeland even if they had never lived there
- homeland authorities controlled education, agriculture and infrastructure
- means of maintaining white control by creating divisions among black majority, also provided a cheap source of labour for mines, industry and farms
- homelands lacked adequate infrastructure, health and educational facilities, not economically viable
- about 3.5 million people forced to move to homelands. many men forced to become migrant workers so homelands mostly populated by women, children, elderly and sick
what was the 1953 bantu education act?
- reformed the curriculum
- moved control of education to the department for native affairs
- ended funding for church schools, which refused to follow the revised curriculum
what happened to church schools after the bantu education act?
before the act, the majority of education for african children was provided by mission schools, which largely taught a western style curriculum
eiselen report: wanted to offer africans a curriculum based on the limited skills they needed to function as a reservoir of cheap labour
the government couldn’t control what the mission schools taught and it was feared that their education was producing a disaffected african elite who may one day rise up against them
what was the 1959 extension of universities act?
- ended integration of races in university education: each uni must now only admit one race
- fort hare: coloured, indian and african students studied in an integrated environment. the uni relied on government subsidies. the NP government was unhappy that africans were studying to degree level and beyond, so in 1959 all english speaking unis were banned from accepting african students
what was the 1951 separate representation of voters act?
- removed the vote from coloured people, passed against the rules of the court
- caused english speaking white voters to worry if the NP government intended a dictatorship
- coloured voters disenfranchised in feb 1956
what was the 1950 suppression of communism act?
- gave the government the ability to close down an opposition group, not only communists
- government could use ‘restriction orders’ to silence opponents
what was the 1953 native labour act?
- africans not permitted to join trade unions or participate in strikes
- instead, workers undertook ‘stayaways’ where they remained at home, rather than actually striking
what was the 1953 criminal law amendment act?
- gave government extra powers to enforce apartheid and clamp down on opponents
what was sophiatown?
sophiatown was one of three mixed race areas which made up the south western townships. it had been designated as an african area, as more africans migrated there during the first world war. however, sophiatown grew so dramatically during the war years that over 70% of the buildings could be classified as slums
what happened in sophiatown?
the 1950 group areas act gave the government control over relocations and sophiatown was now deemed a ‘white’ area. in 1953, the government began building houses in an area called meadowlands. on 10 feb 1953 (3 days early) the authorities arrived to pre-empt any unrest. the enforcement officers were armed and they brought trucks to carry people’s possessions, but the process of removal was so quick and ruthless that much got left behind
what resistence was there to forced removals?
the ANC and transvaal indian congress had been working together to organise resistance since june 1953. the authorities largely ignored their rallies because they were mainly peaceful.
local gangs were arming themselves but ultimately, the night before the removals the local ANC leader called off resistance. this was because it was known that the security forceswere preparing to cordon off the area and introduced as many as 4000 troops.
the ANC leaders knew that the local people would suffer in any confrontation with the security forces. the amount of force the state was willing to use was simply too great for people to resist
what were the reasons for the forced removals?
the NP government claimed that people of different races weren’t able to live together peacefully: however, there wasn’t any evidence that suggested this. it might be the fact that they lived together harmoniously, that sophiatown became an issue for the authorities. ultimately, the prime reason for its destruction was to keep black and coloured people in certain areas.
what were the impacts of the forced removals?
the townships used to be separated from white suburbs by at least 500 years of non residential areas. they were out of bounds to any non-residents. they lacked basic facilities, such as plumbing or electricity and essentially acted as dormitories where africans slept between work shifts.
after the first removals, sophiatown was gradually emptied as new quarters were made ready in meadowlands. its name was removed from maps and in 1962, it became an all white suburb called triomf
