South Africa Theme 1 - What Was The Respnse To Apartheid

Question 1

What was the great trek

Answer 1

The great trek of 1835-1854 was a movement of boers north in search of land where they could establish their own homeland, independent of British rule.
The trekkers were determined to establish their own land, free of British influence and laws.

Question 2

What was the battle of blood river

Answer 2

16th December 1838 in natal a battle occurs between Zulu people and the boers over the right to settle land. 3 day battle ended with Boer victory.

16 December became known as dingans day and remained a rallying point of Afrikaner nationalism

Question 3

What was the broederbond

Answer 3

Formed in 1918 and was a society dedicated to uniting and supporting afrikaners
Every single national party PM was a member of
• secret handshake
• tried to ensure afrikaners were promoted over British whites
• at meetings SA flag spread over and used to cover a British flag

Question 4

What was santam and Sanlam

Answer 4

In 1918 wealthy afrikaners helped to set up an Afrikaner insurance and saving company called santam and a sanlam. Their aim was to help Afrikaners start up their own business, without having to rely on British-controlled banks.

Question 5

What were the two main political parties and who were their leaders

Answer 5

The united party - Jan smuts

The national party - DF malan

Question 6

What were the means of publishing

Answer 6

Magazine called die huidgenoot intended to reach ordinary Afrikaners

Die burger, largest daily newspaper published in Africans

Die transvaler, also an Afrikaner newspaper

Question 7

What was the ossewabrandwag and the stormjaers

Answer 7

Established in the model of hitlers national socialist movement movement, its members reached 300k by 1939, swore loyalty to the people and the people’s leader.

The stormjaers was the paramilitary wing

Question 8

What was the 1946 mineworkers strike

Answer 8

August 1946, the African mine workers union called a strike of black miners in the countries gold producing region. Nearly 100,000 black workers struck completely or partially shutting down 13 mines.

Question 9

1948 election results

Answer 9

National party 79 seats
United party 71 seats

Question 10

What was the reasons for the united party downfall

Answer 10

• Jan smuts old and tired
• election campaign lack lustre
• weak on race relations
• many white South Africans distrusted race policy

Question 11

What led to the post war unity

Answer 11

• Afrikaners united under national party
• didn’t trust English speaking parties
• Afrikaner finance concerns set up to help start business
• Dutch reform church

Question 12

What is “laager isolationism”

Answer 12

Afrikaner tendency to turn their back on others to protect themselves

Question 13

What were townships

Answer 13

Gov wanted to maintain cities as predominantly white areas but the Africans who worked in the cities needed somewhere to live. So unofficial settlements were created in outskirts of citizens with basic homes. There were townships

Question 14

How did the Second World War impact South Africa

Answer 14

• immediately declared support for Britain
• 300,000 SAs fought in war. 186k white.
• transformed industry. Factored expanded to fill wartime need for goods

Question 15

What were some of the white grievances following the war

Answer 15

• faced serious economic problems
• rising housing costs
• increased racial tensions
• jobs were scarce
• black people had taken jobs and trade unions were larger
• black wages risen from 1/5 of whites to 1/4

Question 16

What was promised in the sauer report

Answer 16

• apartheid of the separate development was the only way forward
• reserves was where the Africans belong
• the flood of Africans into the cities was a dangerous development
• urban Africans must cintimue to be treated as visitors without political rights
• Indians sent back
• white would rule - blacks under control

Question 17

What does swart gevaar mean

Answer 17

black danger

Question 18

What does oorstrooming means

Answer 18

Flooding of black Africans into the cities

Question 19

Arguments for why the nationalists won the 1948 election

Answer 19

• growth of Afrikaner nationalism
• national party knew how to appeal to white voters
• black resistance to white rule had been successful and the NP knew how to pattern it
• WW2

Question 20

What was the suppression of communism act

Answer 20

1950
Outlawed communism and detention of those who objected to or protected parliament
Anyone who opposed government was a commy

Question 21

What was the natives abolition of passes act / native laws amendment act

Answer 21

•1952
• abolished old pass laws and introduced one overall law, including women
•Extended pass laws to women
• example of grand apartheid
• pass laws criminalised people who were not carrying passes

Question 22

What was the group areas act

Answer 22

• 1950
• Legal segregation with distinct
• residential areas for each race
• Authorised gov to legally segregate areas by race
• towns and cities divided into areas

Question 23

What was the Bantu self-government act

Answer 23

1959
8 self-governing homelands where black Africans were citizens

Question 24

What was the Bantu education act

Answer 24

• 1953
• separate educational system for black South Africans with an “appropriate” curriculum
• implemented by Verwoerd
• segregation of races in schools

Question 25

What happened at Sofia town

Answer 25

• 1955
• under group areas act 1950 it was decided to clear the township and replace it with a whites only community
• residents and the ANC protested against the removal 18 month campaign
• 2 days before removal, 2000 soldiers marched in unannounced to get rid of people
• entire relocation took several years but the entire 65k population were removed

Question 26

How did the national party strengthen its grip on South Africa

Answer 26

• increased their majority at the 1958 election and won over half of all the votes. 103 seats
• carried out a policy of promoting afrikaners to key jobs. By 1958, they essentially controlled civil service, the army, the police, newspapers, radio
• members of the broederbond were further promoted into leading positions in the civil service
• the government became more willing to comsjder force to crush resistance
• the police force increased in size by 25% between 1946-55

Question 27

Results of the Bantu education act

Answer 27

Bantu education backfired badly with a new generation that saw the naked truth. Apartheid held no benefits for them and tenth were being ‘tricked’ into thinking they were inferior

Biko would articulate black consciousness

Formation of South African students organisation (SASO) 1968

Question 28

What did the Tomlinson report 1955 propose

Answer 28

Tomlinson presented the results of his enquiry into how to make ‘idealist apartheid’ work

The black reserves should be increased in size and become black ‘homelands.’ The governments should spend over 100m to improve farming and establish industries in these homelands

Proposed to round up all bantustans

Question 29

What was the bath self-government act 1959

Answer 29

• eight self governing homelands created
• each homeland for an ethnic group
• the government invested far less in the homelands than recommended by Tomlinson
Instead, the government focused on ‘betterment’ as a policy

Question 30

Why was verwoerd known as the architect of apartheid

Answer 30

Verwoerd was absolutely certain his policies weee right
As the rest of the world condemned them, he stood up for them
The afrikaners appreciated him for that and for keeping white supremacy and prosperity intact

Question 31

When was ANC founded and what work did it do. Pre-1948

Answer 31

• founded 1912
• women’s pass boycotts 1913-1918
• Indian resistance centered on the work of ghandi
• 1946 black mine workers strike

Question 32

When was the ANCYL founded and by who

Answer 32

Formed in 1943 by Walter sisulu

Question 33

How many future ANC leaders came through the ANCYL

Answer 33

• anton lembede
• Nelson Mandela
• Oliver tambo
• Robert sobukwe
• Thabo mbeki

Question 34

Why was the ANCYL founded

Answer 34

The youth league was formed as they felt the ANC was dominated by conservative and older generation who could not relate to the youth

By late 1950’s they had taken control of the ANC

Question 35

What was the basic policy of the ANCYL

Answer 35

Created in 1948 following the victory of the national party
• Africans should unite as one group rather than members of different tribes
• Africans had the right to the wealth and prosperity of Africa
• Africans should accept the help of other sympathetic groups

Question 36

What was the ANCYL programme of action

Answer 36

1949
• absolute rejection of white domination in SA
• a pro-African policy
• assertion of pride in being African in the face of white assertions of white superiority and African inferiority
• a demand for mass and direct action to oppose apartheid

Question 37

What other groups existed

Answer 37

South African communist party
South African Indian national congress
South African coloured peoples congress
The liberal party (trying to make change from within)

Question 38

What was Durban, Cato manor

Answer 38

• mid 1950’s Cato manor became a centre of politic militancy. Chief Luthuli visited Cato manor and mobilised support for the ANC and the area became a seat of the ANC underground
• 1959, attempts to forcibly remove people to African and Indian townships miles away met with stiff resistance
• 9 policemen killed by a group in the emergency camp, tipping the scales against Cato manor. Rapid clearance of the area began
• 1964, Cato manor ceased to exist
• 1968, Cato manor was largely vacant, with only a few solitary homes, shops, the beerhall and a few Hindu temples remained

Question 39

What was the defiance campaign

Answer 39

The defiance campaign in 1952 was the first large-scale, multi racial mobilisation against apartheid laws led by the ANC, SAIC, and the coloured peoples congress.

They rallied and defied the pass laws, curfew and the railway apartheid regulations

More than 8k trained volunteers went to jail for ‘defying unjust laws’

Volunteers jailed for failing to carry passes, violating curfew, entering locations and public facilities designated for one race only

Non violent protest influenced by ghandi

Question 40

What happened to those that defied

Answer 40

The criminal laws amendment act was passed giving heavy penalties to those that defied

The government made heavy use of the suppression of communism act

Question 41

What was FEDSAW

Answer 41

The federation of South African women was launched on 17 April 1954 in Johannesburg.
146 delegates, representing 230k women from all parts of SA, attending the founding conference.

The demands laid out in the women’s charter were ultimately incorporated into the freedom charter

Question 42

What was the women’s march

Answer 42

August 9th 1956, FEDSAW organised a match on the union buildings. 20k women from across SA attended. PM strijdom did not meet them, so they left bundles of signed petitions
However, security police removed them before he looked at them.

Question 43

Who was Lilian ngoyi

Answer 43

First woman elected to executive committee of the ANC

Arrested in 56 for her campaigns for women’s rights, 71 days solitary

Banned and restricted for 15 years and confined to her home in Soweto

Question 44

Whi was Helen Joseph

Answer 44

•British
•social care worker in Cape Town
• tried and acquitted in treason trial
• 1962 first person under house arrest under the sabotage act
• last banning order lifted when she was 80

Question 45

What was the Alexandra bus boycotts 1957

Answer 45

One result of group areas act and native resettlement act was that they lived away from city but still worked there.
They depended on busses as could not afford cars

Gov paid bus companies to keep fares low but some did not comply. Caused great unrest and hardship. 1957 township of Alexandra boycotted the bus service. They walked 32km round trip

In the end fare increase was removed

Question 46

What was the congress alliance

Answer 46

The next move after the defiance campaign was to call a congress together.
A nation-wide meeting, an alliance of everyone who was working toward the ending of apartheid.

Question 47

What was the freedom charter

Answer 47

•1955
•ANC sent out 50k volunteers into townships and countryside to ask people what their ‘freedom demands’ were.
• these demands were put together in the freedom charter

Question 48

What was the congress of the people

Answer 48

• Held at kliptown, Soweto just outside Johannesburg
• 26th June 1955 the charter was officially adopted.
• Most leader under arrest or banned from attending political meetings.
• The crowd suffounded by police
• Sisulu and Mandela both banned but watched in secret
• despite difficulties, nearly 3k delegates managed to get into the meeting

Question 49

What was the suppression of communism act

Answer 49

1950 meant that the South African communist left was banned and its members began to work with other organisations, including the ANC. But the act also was used to deal with anyone who opposed the regime

Question 50

Mass arrests and the treason trial

Answer 50

•Gov did not hesitate to arrest large numbers of people
• they did so after the defiance campaign, and in December 1956, they arrested 156 people connected with the freedom charter
• accused of high treason, supporting communism and belonging to a communist organisation.

Question 51

What was The treason trial itself

Answer 51

156 arrested with high treason including entire leadership of ANC

From 1957, charges were dropped against 73 of defendants for lack of evidence

Remaining 30 say trial in August 1960

March 1961 all acquitted

Question 52

What was the PAC

Answer 52

• Pan African congress
• 1959, sobukwe
• believed in an Africanist future for SA and opposed political collab with anyone other than Africans.
• mainly sobukwe angry at collaboration with others within the ANC
• split in the movement