South Africa and Apartheid Flashcards
1
Q
Definition of apartheid
A
means separateness or apartness. Apartheid came to mean the policy adopted by white South African government after 1948; the policy systemically sought to separate the population on the basis of race.
2
Q
Origins of apartheid
A
- Afrikaner Nationalist School: Belief that Afrikaners were racially superior
- Liberal School: apartheid was racism
- Radical School: developed dye to gold mine’s need for cheap labour
- Social History School: people restricting meant need for laws
3
Q
Background from 1910-1940s
Union of South Africa
A
- Union of South Africa established 21st May 1910
- any party which could gain majority would be able to pass any laws it wished
- Botha was appointed first prime minister and Jan Smuts as deputy
- there was a rise in Afrikaner nationalism after the creation of the union eg. Voortrekkers, formation of Afrikaner National Party
4
Q
Background from 1910-1940s
aims of 1910s segregation policies
A
- Protect white economic interests and make use of cheap African labour
- Maintain white political control of the country
- Maintain white supremacy in all aspects of life
- Sustain Afrikaner nationalism as it continued to grow.
5
Q
Background from 1910-1940s
Workplace laws
A
- Mines and Works Act 1911: Africans excluded from mine work
- Labour Regulation Act 1911: workers were to be recruited from rural areas, issued with passes
6
Q
Background from 1910-1940s
Territorial laws
A
- Native’s Land Act 1913: restricted Africans to 8% of the land, Africans living on white farms had to work for wages or provide 90 days free labour in exchange for land use
7
Q
Background from 1910-1940s
Residential laws
A
- by early 1920s, the white population was concerned about the number of Africans moving into larger towns
- Uban Areas Native Pass Act 1909: passed to restrict African movement into urban areas
- the enforce this, the police carried out frequent pass raids
8
Q
Background from 1910-1940s
Political laws
A
- Natives Representation Act 1936: impleted to remove Africans from the Cape electoral roll
9
Q
Apartheid ideology, policy, and practice
background towards the 1948 election
A
- the government had endeavoured to enforce a series of restrictive segregationist policies which provided the basis of apartheid
- during the 1930s, there was an intensification of the feeling of Afrikaaner nationalism who believed that they were people chosen by God to rule South Africa, notions of white superiority
- this was occuring whilsts black urbanisation was growing and industry was growing, black workers were entering into urban areas
- Smuts was seen as being unable to take decisive action to stem black urbanisation
- the main parties being the Smuts United Party (UP) and Malan’s Herenigde National Party (HNP) accepted that African migration to towns was an issue but disagreed on how to deal with issues
- this was seen in the UP’s Fagan and HRP Sauer’s report
10
Q
Apartheid ideology, policy, and practice
The election of 1948
A
- HRP renamed itself to ‘The National Party’ (NP) which offered extremely represive policies, and they remained in power for 46 years
- the NP was successful as it played on the economic and racial fears of white who feared surge of black workers, endangered civilised town life
- when the NP took over, they faced challenges to implement apartheid being to ensure economic stability, continue white priviliege, ensure suppression of black protests
11
Q
Apartheid ideology, policy, and practice
The legislative bases of apartheid
A
- Passes: Population Registration Act (1950) meant all South Africans classified by race, Abolition of Paces Act (1952) meant that all passes were combined into reference book
- Morality: Probition of Mixed Marriages Act (1949) made it illegal for people of different races to marry
- Location: Group Areas Act (195) meant all residental areas declared to be either for blacks or whites
- Separation: Separate Amenities Act (1953) all public spaces could be used by either blacks or whites
- Education: Bantu Education Act (1953) stipulated all black children were to be taught about culture in separate schools
12
Q
Apartheid ideology, policy, and practice
Changes in National Party
A
- Malan retired in 1954, his successor died, so then Verwoerd took over
- he is regarded as the chief ideologue of apartheid
- As international attacks on apartheid increased especially from the British Commonwealth, Verwoerd offered the white South African people a proposal for the country to be a republic and the majority voted yes
- South African departed from the British Commonwealth
13
Q
Impact of apartheid on rural and urban communities
Impact on urban communities
A
- As the South African economy grew there was a demand for black workers in the mines, so the government had to balance the desire for economic growth with racial separation
- Native Abolition of Pases Act 1952: every African had to carry reference book, frequent and violent pass checks to enforce separation
- Group Areas Act 1950: townships set up away from white areas and blacks forcibly removed eg. Soweto
- Bantu Education Act: African children recieved inferior education
- there was more chance of interaction between blacks and whites in urban communities than in rural areas so the legislation had as greater impact on urban communities
- Prohibition of Mixed Marriages 1949: prevent marital and sexual relationships between different races
- foreign businesses willing to invest in country to take advantage of low African wages, black urban factory workers earning 20% of their white coworker’s
- infant mortality for Africans was 13x that off whites, not a single house in Pretoria 1967-1976 built for African families
14
Q
Impact of apartheid on rural and urban communities
Impact on rural communities
A
- Population Registration Act 1950: parents might be declared African while their children coloured, parents sent off to rural area
- only 13% of country’s land given to Africans and the rural areas they were sent to had inadequate housing, poor employment opportunity, lacked basic facilities
- resulted in poverty, homelessness, poor health, inferior education facilities
- forced removals became more common and carried out in inhumane way. In 1968, 7000 Africans in township near Kimberley were loaded onto trucks, takeen to African reserve and people were close to starvation
- Bantu Resettlement Act (1954): destroyed Johannesburg townships as ‘slum clearances’
- over-crowding was a problem and agricultural cultivation became close to impossible
- population density of Cape Town: 2people/square km, population density of homelands: 193people/square km
15
Q
Nature, growth, and impact of the ANC and PAC
Early resistance
A
- after the creation of the Union of South Africa (1910), some middle-class educated blacks began to roganise for fear that the new parliaments would be white-dominated and opposed to any reform measures
- the South African Native National Congress (ANC) formed in 1921
- their first campaign was against the Native’s Land Act (1913) where a delegation was sent to London to campaign with the British parliament who said that it could do nothing
- black resistance developed in various ways in the 1920s with many blacks leaving white Christian churches and worker strikes
- In 1921 the Communist Party of South Africa formed and became increasingly involved in trade unions
16
Q
Nature, growth, and impact of the ANC and PAC
From the SANNC to the ANC
A
- In 1923, the SANNC changed its name to the African National Congress
- It was still moderate, educated middle-class dominated and remained unwilling to engage in mass demonstrations.
- by the mid-1930s back opposition was struggling so in 1935 all African political organisations met to form the All Africa Convention (ACC) to oppose the laws but stated its loyalty to the South African and British crown
- by the late 1930s, the ANC seemed to be failing with divisions about the type of tactics that should be used
- young members joining the ANC in the 1940s included Lembede (founding president of ANC Youth League), Sisulu (General Secretary from 1949-54), Tambo (help form Youth League), Mandela
- president Xuma was against taking mass actions which caused impatience in young members, lead to the ANC adopting a Programme of Action involving strikes
17
Q
Nature, growth, and impact of the ANC and PAC
Defiance Campaign (1952)
A
- On 26 June 1952, the Afrikaner government was planning to celebrate the 300th anniversary of Riebeeck’s arrival at the Cape. The ANC planned to counter these celebrations with a ‘Defiance Campaign’ involving the counter-demonstrations aimed at bringing the world’s attentions to the evils of apartheid
- The aim of the Defiance Campaign was to invite arrest by visiting locations set aside for Europeans only and using their facilities.
- The government responded by introducing ever stricter laws, terms of imprisonment were greatly increased, government introduced the Suppression of Communism Act, criticism of the system was labelled communist and so justified harsh suppression
18
Q
Nature, growth, and impact of the ANC and PAC
Freedom Charter
A
- the ANC realised that it needed a manifesto outlining its principles.
- This would be the ‘The Freedom Charter’ announced in June 1955
19
Q
Nature, growth, and impact of the ANC and PAC
December 1956 Treason Trial
A
- The regime placed 156 people on trial for treason following the publication of the Freedom Charter, including most of the leadership of the ANC and the Indian community.
- The government accused them of planning violent revolution and tried to argue that the Charter was nothing more than a communist plan of action.
- The government failed in its case and those arrested were eventually released but ANC leadership was ineffective for almost five years as the case dragged on
20
Q
Nature, growth, and impact of the ANC and PAC
Female resistance to apartheid
A
- In 1913, the government had attempted to introduced passes for women but female resistance was so strong that the authorities backed down.
- Women hated the pass laws as it allowed the police to control movement in and out of the towns which could lead to the break-up of families. Major protests ensued.
- Albertina Sisulu was a major anti-apartheid campaigner which lead demonstrations against the pass laws after being arrested on several occasions.
- Winnie Mandela proved popular amongst the youth of Soweto.
- In 1955, the Black Sash Organisation was formed by white women trying to prevent coloured loosing the vote. In their protests, they wore ‘black sashes of mourning’.
- In 1956 the Federation of South African Women (FSAW) was formed.
- Helen Suzman (1917-2009) sat in parliament for 36 years and for much of that time was the only person in parliament who provided consistent opposition to apartheid.
21
Q
Nature, growth, and impact of the ANC and PAC
The creation of the PAC
A
- By the late 1950s, the ANC seemed to be failing as many of its leaders were on trial for treason or in prison.
- Critics argued it made too many compromises and that its effectiveness was blunted because of its willingness to work with non-black groups.
- In 1959, Subkwe broke away from the ANC and formed the Pan-African Congress; the PAC.
- Nelson Mandela would eventually endorse the use of force but this was not his position in 1952 at the time of the Defiance Campaign, his argument was that non-violence was a matter of tactics and not principle.
- Mandela saw the PAC’s programme as unrealistically ambitious and that it was promising quick solutions which could not be fulfilled
22
Q
The Sharpeville Massacre
Where Sharpeville is
A
black township situated just over 50km south west of Johannesburg. It had the usual problems of other black townships including high unemployment, crowded housing conditions, and generally poor living standards.
23
Q
Sharpeville massacre
What happened at Sharpeville
A
- The Pan African Congress (PAC) planned a major demonstration against the hated pass laws at Sharpeville in March 1960 where a large group of Africans marched Sharpeville police station and burned their passes.
- belief that if a large enough group did this, there would be too many arrests and the system would become unworkable
- once the crowd reached the station they were arrested for sedition, there was only a small police group of inexperienced officers at the station
- the police shooted into the crowd, killing 69 and injurying 180
- 70% of those shot were shot in the back
24
Q
Sharpeville massacre
Significance of the Sharpeville Massacre: international
A
- UN passed resolution no.134 regarding Sharpeville that expressed anger at the South African government and called on end to apartheid
- South Africa experienced international isolation, companies became reluctant to invest
- Commonwealth stimulated South Africa’s decisions to leave the Commonwealth
