The Response to Apartheid - Topic 1.3 Flashcards
The codification and implementation apartheid
How did the National Party strengthen their base after 1948?
- In 1949, six members of Parliament were added for whites in Namibia where the Nationalists had supported
- The Coloured vote in the Cape was removed by a simple majority vote on the Separate Representation of Voters Act of 1951, instead of the required two-thirds majority; political constraint is abandoned
- Judges in the courts were stacked with sympathetic, Afrikaner nationalists to invalid the two-thirds majority in the Cape and to put down any legal action against the National Party in the judiciary
- Afrikaners moved quickly to capture the state including senior positions in the military, police and bureaucracy, with state employment in the 1950s increasing from 480k to 800k
What was the mantra that the Nationalists followed for apartheid?
Rights for Africans in white-controlled areas were diminished but they would be beneficiaries of increasingly fuller rights in self-governing territories. The emphasis would be on ‘separate development’.
What did Hendrik Verwoerd implement for the apartheid regime?
Native Affairs Minister (1950-58), PM (1958-66)
- Group Areas Act of 1950 - The government was able to decide what land is given to what group of people
- Bantu Authorities Act of 1951 - Introduced the support of government’s policy to separate development. It gave authority to tribal leaders to govern their local areas
- Native Laws Amendment Act of 1952 - Limited the category of blacks who had the right to permanent residence in urban areas. All of the previous apartheid and segregation laws applied to women too
- Bantu Education Act of 1953 - Extended state education to African children but segregated the content taught. The fear of tsotsis drove this Act to be introduced to reduce street gang sizes
- Promotion of Bantu Self-Government Act - Envisaged self-governing African units based around traditional authorities
How did the Group Areas Act impact black communities?
The Act provided the powers to municipalities to eradicate townships so that the central parts of the cities and the colser suburbs would be very largely in white hands. Three areas where this Act had drastic effect were Cato Manor, Sophiatown and District Six.
How did the Group Areas Act impact each of these townships?
Cato Manor, Sophiatown and District Six
Sophiatown was a racially mixed, predominantly African development of Johannesburg with roughly 60,000 inhabitants and wealthier professionals but with high levels of crime. It’s reputation made it an easy target for Nationalists. Planning for its removal began in 1950 and within six years, it was gone.
Durban was South Africa’s third largest city with 450,000 people in 1951. Roughly a third were Indian, a third white and a third African. With the government imposed Group Areas Act of 1950, the shacks in Durban that had previously been built, mainly in Cato Manor, were demolished and thousands of African people were flung into townships. Indians were removed too and there was an exclusively Indian zone in the south of the city.
District Six was a multi-racial, largely Coloured suburb near the heart of Cape Town. Group Areas were enforced from 1966 and about 60,000 people were forcibly removed and resettled in Cape flats. District Six was bulldozed.
How did the pass laws impact African lives in South Africa?
The Native Abolition of Passes Act (1952) required a reference book for each African adult, raising questions as to whether they had the right to be in urban areas. African families were not able to buy houses or land in the cities or townships, undermining their wealth and security.
About 3 million people turned into criminals trying to exercise their right to move in ten years. By 1960, some white employers colluded with workers to bypass influx control so they would get work (for mainly domestic servants).
How did education change after the Nationalists election?
The Bantu Education Act of 1953 was passed to extend education to African children and segregate the content taught. Schools now became under complete state control. In addition, the fear of tsotsis (street youths) was a major driver.
Some degree of literacy, numeracy and linguistic ability in English and Afrikaans was seen as valuable to build an effective black workforce. The state should provide bsaic education but only to prepare Africans for limited roles and opportunities.
What was the Tomlinson Report?
The report believed that the economic development of the Bantustans should be at the heart of apartheid and could be transformed by massive state investment valued at over £100 million.
- Agricultural plots had become too small and that migrant labour undermined agriculture. He recommended a class of full-time farmers by increasing plot size and turning communal into private tenure
- Advocated major funding for rural industries
- Private enterprise, internal and external, should be encouraged to invest in these areas
Verwoerd rejected the report, saying the Bantu should develop ‘at their own pace’.
What was ‘betterment’ and how did it impact the African communities?
A strategy that would stop environmental degradation and enable African to intensify their farming without destroying the soil and vegetation. They saw animals as being the issue. Animals would be moved from paddock to paddock throughout the year to avoid over-grazing.
To create space for this, the government moved rural families from scattered settlements into compact villages. Over a million people were forced into villages over two decades. This impeded tradtional ways of living for these Africans.
What was the Treason Trial?
1956-1961
In 1956, 156 members of the Congress Alliance, including most of the ANC leadership, were arrested in dawn raids, were accussed of high treason and subjected to a trial. The prosecutors would try and prove they planned to overthrow the government by force and implement communist ideals.
How did the Treason Trial impact the ANC and the Nationalists?
The Trial demonstrated the multi-racial nature of the anti-apartheid cause and with wide media coverage, the Congress Alliance were able to use the trials as a chance to speak from the dock about their ideas.
However, the ANC leaders were tied up in legal proceeding for 5 years and so could not effectively lead the ANC. The prosecutors could never prove their case, and all were acquitted.
