Topic 2: Radicalisation of resistance and the consolidation of National Party power 1960-68

Question 1

Apartheid legislation: Separate Representation of Voters (amendments) Act 1968

Answer 1

Separate Representation of Voters amendments act 1968, which removed 4 members of the assembly who had been elected in by coloured votes in the Cape Province (who lost the vote in 1951)

Question 2

Sharpeville Massacre 1960:

Answer 2

In 1958, the population in the Vaal Triangle (where Sharpeville was located, grew by 100,000 due to the group area acts)

In Sharpeville- the population of Africans was 37,000 and 40% of them were under 18

5,000 PAC members involved in Sharpeville and 400 police- 69 killed and around 200 injured

Question 3

State of Emergency 1960:

Answer 3

State of emergency declared 30th March 1960, thousands of political leaders were arrested under the 1953 Public Safety Act - the government detained around 2,000 people

key African leaders were imprisoned in a series of mass arrests, including Robert Mangaliso Sobukwe, leader of the Pan Africanist Congress, and Chief Albert Luthuli.

Question 4

Verwoerd: came into power in 1958

Answer 4

Verwoerd secured a parliamentary majority in 1958 with 58% of the seat share

No TV in South Africa (curtailing international influence) until 1976

He bolstered his support in the Broederbond by replacing Hendrick Thom with Transvaal radical Dr Meyer

Question 5

Republic stuff:

Answer 5

MacMillan’s wind of change speech- praised British investment in South Africa (context in 1956 the trading relationship was 2/3 investment, 1/5 trade) - feb 1960 speech done

Oct 1960, republic referendum (white only), majority of 52% voted YES

In 1952 13 African and Asian countries sponsored a U.N. General Assembly resolution condemning apartheid as a violation of the Charter of the United Nations

Question 6

ANC and Mk:

Answer 6

1961- 5 Mk members sent to China for training in guerilla tactics
Mk 16th December 1961- first act of sabotage
1963 Mk committed 200 acts of sabotage- July 1963 Mk base in Rivonia discovered
MK committed over 100 acts of sabotage in 1964, and Tambo secured funding from sweden and the soviet union, Meanwhile, MK cadres had access to a growing range of military training opportunities in Algeria, Egypt and the Soviet Union and other communist-bloc countries.

Question 7

PAC and Poqo:

Answer 7

Formed by Kgosana and Leballo
Of the political trials in the 1960s, 62 were Poqo members
organisation targeted Paarl on 22 November 1962. The crowd of 250 men, who were armed with axes, pangas and other home-made weapons, marched from Mbekweni location to the town and attacked the police station, homes and shops. They also killed two Whites

Question 8

Security Laws:

Answer 8

Already strict security laws were strengthened when the Minister of Justice, B. J. Vorster, enforced the 1964 General Laws Amendment Act, otherwise known as the Sabotage Act and the 90-day law. This law made sabotage a capital offence and gave the Minister house arrest and detention without trial powers.

Question 9

Economy:

Answer 9

Economic growth in the 1960s was 5%
The white population grew by 3.09 mill to 3.77 mill during the 1960s

trading relations maintained 62% of south african imports in the 1960s were from Britain, United States, West Germany and Japan (maintaining foreign position, lack of opposition legitimised and consequently strengthened their domestic control)

Question 10

Employment statistics:

Answer 10

Employment in manufacturing (mainly from Africans) 1950= 855,000 -> 1975= 1.6 mill

Africans doing white collar jobs (75,000 -> 420,000)

Afrikaners in management and technical positions was 45% in 1948 -> 68% in 1960

Question 11

Trade relations:

Answer 11

Growth in US trade during the period grew by 79%

British banks controlled 60% of South African bank deposits

The US impressed a severe armament embargo on South Africa from 1964, and, from 1967, the United States Navy avoided South African harbors. Unlike Britain, the USA did not see much importance in the Cape route, but they did see the economic opportunities for South African investment. Imports and exports between the two states came to many millions of dollars

Question 12

Disinvestment:

Answer 12

On 6 November 1962, the United Nations General Assembly passed Resolution 1761, condemning South African apartheid policies. On 7 August 1963 the United Nations Security Council passed Resolution 181 calling for a voluntary arms embargo against South Africa, and that very year, a Special Committee Against Apartheid was established to encourage and oversee plans of action against the regime

In 1977, the voluntary UN arms embargo became mandatory with the passing of United Nations Security Council Resolution 418.
An oil embargo was introduced on 20 November 1987 when the United Nations General Assembly adopted a voluntary international oil embargo

Question 13

Defence:

Answer 13

In 1961, the defence budget was R44 mill -> 1966= R255 mill

Question 14

PAC:

Answer 14

Throughout the 1960s, the PAC (who advocated a South Africa based on African Nationalism), orchestrated intense opposition to apartheid, including resistance and protest rallies agains passes in Langa in the Cape where 6,000 people assembled and protested

Question 15

1967 Terrorism Act:

Answer 15

This forbade any act of terrorism as well as any recruitment for military training and it made participation in terrorist activities a capital crime

Section 6( 1) of the Act provided that if an officer, of or above the rank of lieutenant-colonel, had ‘reason to believe’ that someone was a ‘terrorist’, ‘terrorism’ being defined widely, or was withholding from the police information about such terrorists or offences under the Act, he

Question 16

Unlawful Organisations Act: 1960

Answer 16

This legislation was enacted within a few weeks of 1960’s Sharpeville Massacre. The African National Congress (ANC) and Pan Africanist Congress (PAC) were immediately declared unlawful, and the Indemnity Act that followed legislatively indemnified supporters of the apartheid regime from any wrongdoing connected to the massacre.

Question 17

Rivonia Trial: 1963-64

Answer 17

Leadership crippled as a consequence
October 1963, ten leading opponents of apartheid went on trial for their lives on charges of sabotage. In what was arguably the most profound moment in the trial, Nelson Mandela made a speech in the dock in which he condemned the very court in which he was appearing as ‘illegitimate

The defence team comprised of Joel Joffe, who was the instructing attorney, Bram Fischer, Vernon Berrange, Arthur Chaskalson and George Bizos. The trial judge was Justice Quartus de Wet, with the Prosecution led by Dr Percy Yutar. The Verwoerd government was hoping for the maximum sentence for the accused i.e. the death penalty. From the outset, the defence team informed their clients that they should expect the worst. All ten accused pleaded not guilty to all charges.

Eight of the accused were incarcerated on Robben Island Prison, with the exception of Goldberg, who was sent to Pretoria Central Prison where he served 22 years

Soon after the trial defence lawyer Bram Fischer was arrested and put on trial for ‘supporting communism’. Many believe the state went after Fischer because the Rivonia trialists had not received the death penalty