What is Apartheid?                

1.     The term apartheid (Afrikaans for "apartness") was coined in the 1930s and used as a political slogan of the National Party in the early 1940s, but the practice of segregation in South Africa extends to the beginning of white settlement in South Africa in 1652.

2.     There are still Afrikaner-dominated Scholars who disagree over why apartheid was adopted in South Africa. Some argue that apartheid was at its root a policy that served businesses by creating a large pool of low-cost labour. Other scholars dispute this, claiming that apartheid was adopted because of deep racism among most white South Africans, and that the policy actually damaged the economy.

3.     Human rights in South Africa were violated through the policy of apartheid. Apartheid means secret development according to races.  It is a belief in total white supremacy.  It is the worst form of racism in history.  Apartheid became constitutional policy in 1948 when Malan's National Party (NP) came into existence.

4.     The implementation of the apartheid policy was made possible by the Population Registration Act of 1950, which put all South Africans into three racial categories: Bantu (black African), whites and the Coloured (of mixed race). A fourth category, Asian (including Indians, Pakistanis, and Chinese), was added later.

5.     Apartheid was a colonial policy in South Africa adopted by white minority groups who were in power with an aim of ensuring economic, political and social discrimination against non-whites.

6.     Apartheid stipulated the geographical separation of the main races with 90% of Africans being confined in 14% of the total land area of the country.

7.     Apartheid was a policy set to preserve the purity of the white race hence the confinement of Africans in native villages known as Bantustans.  They acted basing on the Dutch Reformed Church, which preached that God had created the African race to act as servants of God's chosen people the whites (Afrikaners). Human rights were violated in the following ways: -

8.     Preservation of towns for the whites and preventing Africans in acquiring permanent residence there was violation of human rights.

9.     The right to own property was violated because the Africans had their land taken away. Everything was under the control of the minority whites.

10.  No freedom of movement as Africans were given permits to travel to towns and had to register with the authorities. Africans were not supposed to bring their families to towns.

11.  Employment rights were abused by laws, which gave chances to whites at the expense of Africans who were supposed to provide manual labour.

12.  Africans' salaries and wages were supposed to be lower even if they performed the same kind of work with whites, for example on average an African used to earn 4 rands a week while a white would earn 100 rands a week.

13.  Apartheid promoted discrimination and eroded the equality before the law. It was illegal for the whites to marry the non-whites or to have sexual intercourse with them hence violation of a right to socialise and form a family.

14.  Freedom of worship was restricted and Africans were banned from attending church services with whites in the same churches.

15.  In public places, there were separate social amenities that were being provided for the whites and non-whites, this included markets, shops, toilets, roads, cinema halls, railway stations, buses, whites were always in better places and non whites in the worst.  Africans received very poor services for example one doctor to 44,000 people while whites had 1 doctor to 400.

16.  Non-whites were denied admission to the Universities of Cape Town, Witwatersrand and Natal.  They were for whites only. Africans and coloured doctors and nurses were not allowed to attend to white patients.

17.  There were separate systems of education where the Bantu education policy was designed to ensure that Africans received poor quality education.  This policy aimed at making sure that Africans can play an inferior role in society.

18.  Blacks were not represented in parliament hence they took no part in the government of their country. There was no freedom of association and assembly.  ANC, Pan Africanist Congress, trade unions were outlived in 1960.

19.  Publications were prohibited on moral and political grounds.  Many newspapers were banned.

20.  There was no personal privacy because the policemen were allowed to search homes without warrant.

21.  Many people were killed for resisting minority white rule for example the Sharpeville massacres of 1960 where over sixty people were shot dead by police for organizing a peaceful demonstration. They were organised by Robert Sobukwe, leader of Pan African Movement.

22.  Apartheid policy violated all the human rights of Africans.  It dehumanized dispossessed and humiliated Africans and left them destitute in their own country.

23.  As anti-apartheid pressure mounted within and outside South Africa, the South African government, led by President F. W. de Klerk, began to dismantle the apartheid system in the early 1990s. It legalized black opposition groups such as the ANC and the PAC, and ordered the release of some political prisoners, such as ANC leader Nelson Mandela.

24.  In 1994 a new interim constitution was adopted and free general elections were held for the first time in South Africa's history. The constitution prohibited racial and other forms of discrimination, and established limits on government power to prevent abuses such as those that occurred under apartheid. With Mandela's election as South Africa's first black president, the last vestiges of the apartheid system were finally eliminated. Mandela ruled well until he retired. Thambo Mbeki replaced him in 1999.

 

(b) What were the aims of apartheid or why was apartheid applied?

1.     The whites feared being overwhelmed by the majority i.e. The Africans.

2.     The whites desired to maintain their culture and superiority.

3.     The whites wanted Africans to leave alone in the Bantustans and reserves.

4.     It aimed at prohibiting inter-racial mixture of any type.

5.     5.   It aimed 'at consolidating whites supremacy over Africa through the use of force.

6.     whites wanted to kill off African nationalism by sending Africans       to Bantustans.

7.     The whites aimed at keeping a constant supply .pf. labour from African reserves.

8.     The whites wanted their policy of divide and rule policy to succeed especially over the Bantustan policy.

9.     The whites wanted  to lock the majority of Africans   from taking larger part in the politics of their country.   

10.  It aimed at avoiding competition for work between, poor whites and Africans.

11.  To ensure Africans are backward and under developed.

12.  To provide a foundation for firmly controlling           Africans front    disrupting the peace of whites.

13.  To serve as the basis of all activities in South Africa.

 

(c) What were the reactions of Africans towards apartheid?

 

 

APPLICATION OF APARTHEID.      

Ref. Qn. How did the whites apply apartheid by 1970?

 

1.      The apartheid machinery was built over at period 30           years.

 2.   By 1948, all laws had been revised to reflect this c   change .

 

How did the South African government apply the policy in the

following areas between 1910 - 1970?

(a)   Education.

(b)   Employment

(c)   Land owner.

1.     The kind of education given to blacks was to prepare them for inferior positions since it encouraged them     to exercise their talents in agriculture.

2.     The education act of 1953, dictated that blacks education had to be in their local language.     

3.     The whites ensured that academic and professional training weren't given to Africans.

4.     Africans received mainly Agriculture lessons to equip them for future life.   

5.     The 1949 commission on African education dictated that African education was to be conducted in their mother tongue.

6.     The Bantu education was also removed from missionary control and high education for Africans in towns banned or discouraged.

7.     In 1959, the Universities act expelled Africans from   white Universities leading to tribal Universities e.g. Xhosa in fort Hare,          Zulu to Ngoye and coloureds to Belleville.

8.     Education system promoted ethnic studies rather than the study of South Africa as a whole.

 

(b)     Employment:-

1.     Skilled and semi-skilled employment was reserved for whites alone and Africans got only unskilled jobs.

2.     The 1911 mines and work act forbade employment of     Africans as professionals.

3.     In 1937,  the government industrial act denied Africans    membership in any registered trade union.

4.     In  1951, the native builders' workers' act prohibited the   employment of Africans as skilled workers in towns.

 

 (c)     Land Ownership:-

1.     The land act of 1913 restricted Africans from residing           outside their districts.

2.     By 1913, land was divided into two i.e. for whites    and for   Africans.

3.     In 1950, the group areas act created homes for all races       and       those for Africans called Bantustans.

4.     Africans had to get permission (passes) to move outside their villages and weren't to stay out for more than three days.

5.     Also Africans had to obtain permits to enter towns and weren't to stay for more than 72 hours.

6.     The land act gave the whites 87% of the land. 

7.     The 1937 urban areas act made it illegal for Africans to live   in towns of whites.

8.     After 1950, the whites as a result took Johanesberg and       Soppla towns and Africans within 19km of those towns were       sent away.

9.     Even the Asians and coloureds who had shops and property in European areas were prohibited from using   them.

 

In Other Areas Apartheid Was Applied As Follows:-

1.     In 1949, the marriage act prohibited inter-racial marriage  between whites and Africans.

2.     In 1950; all people in South Africa had to be registered as     whites including Boers, British and other Europeans and       Native e.g. Africans, coloured and Asians.

3.     In 1950, sexual intercourse between Africans and Whites was banned.

4.     In 1936, the native representation act dictated that Africans had to vote separately only in their           Bantustans.

5.     In, 1960s'the Xhosa in Transkei were given independence with a government of 63 appointed chiefs and 45 elected members.

 

Effects of Apartheid On Africans:-

1.     It denied Africans self-determination of their destiny             which was controlled by the whites.

2.     Africans didn't exploit their potential fully since such             chances            were not there.

3.     Africans became second class citizens with very poor   

4.     social  facilities,    

5.     It led to violent protests e.g.  the   1960  Sharpeville pass demonstration.

6.     It led to great deaths of Africans e.g. at Sharpville 62 died and over 220 died during Kadalie's strikes.

7.     African were denied economic opportunities which could make them rich.

8.     Africans lived in slums and reserves e.g. Soweto,     Gazankulu.

9.     Africans lived in great poverty and misery. 

10.  Africans got only manual or unskilled jobs.

11.  It led to growth of African nationalism e.g. A.N.C was born   soon     after the passing of the land act.

12.   It created enemity against the whites and Africans    usually dreamt of killing as many whites as possible.

13.  Africans were segregated against by the whites.

14.  Pass laws restricted African movement making them prisoners in their country.

15.  Africans migrated to urban areas creating a migrant labour   economy.

16.  Africans lost land and adopted a cash economy.

17.  There was break down in African cultural norms and a new    group Of the elites came up.

18.  It led to creation of Bantustans.

 

How Whites Were Affected -   

1.         Whites got most of the land and became wealthy.

2.         Whites exploited African wealth.  

3.         Many whites became the first class citizens with first       class.

4.         The whites received cheap labour.

5.         The whites got skilled and semi-skilled jobs.   

6.      The whites dominated the politics of South Africa.

7.      It led to rise of Boer domination of South Africa.

 

The Bantustans

1.     The Bantustans were homes for Africans or black homelands.

2.     They aimed at separating the two races and Africans            and whites had to live in separate areas.

3.     In the Bantustans Africans were responsible to their leaders not        to whites.

4.     Bantustans included Transkei and Ciskei for the Xhosa,        Gazankulu for Tsonga and Shangane;    Venda for the       Veftda, Swazi for the Swazi and Ndebele and Kwazulu Natal for the Zulu.

5.     They were set up to promote separate development of         Bantu  and Whites.

6.     To prevent growth of African nationalism by dividing            African.

7.     They were to ensure white domination in South African over the Africans.

8.     They were to ensure that Africans don't own good land or other important resources.

9.     They were to weaken criticism against Afrikaners since Bantu could be seen as free in their homelands.

10.  They were to, make it impossible for Africans to meet one another

11.  They were to make it impossible for Africans to communicate with one another freely.

12.  They were to ensure African enslavement continues through the supply of cheap labour to the whites.

13.  They were to create security to the whites by isolating Africans who were their enemies.   

14.  They were to divert African attention away from Pretoria to their home affairs.

15.  They were to ensure that South Africa and all her resources   were     firmly controlled by the whites.  

Ref. Qn

 (i)      Why were the Bantustans established in South Africa?

 (ii)    What were the aims of setting up the Bantustans in South Africa?

 

Effects Of Bantustans On The Africans.

1.     Africans were enslaved and continued being in a sorry state till 1994.     

2.     They were military weakened and couldn't easily fight the      whites.

3.     Africans became poor since the Bantustans since       the      Bantustans were under developed.

4.     They suffered disunity and killed each other e.g. Inkhatha Freedom Party against ANC.        

5.     Africans political power reduced since it was limited to the    Bantustans. ,

6.     Africans lost their land to the whites.  

7.     Africans suffered from the bad conditions in the                   homelands leading to low standards of living.

8.     Africans were discriminated against socially, politically and economically Segregation and     apartheid increased.

9.     Africans were killed during resistance towards the     policy.

10.  Other Africans were imprisoned or sent into exile.

 

Whites :-

1.     These ones dominated the political rights of             Africans.

2.     They became wealthy even beating many of their brothers in Europe.

3.     The whites became the most dominant force in         politics.

4.     The whites got the most fertile land in Africa. _;

5.     The whites became hated because of their    persecuting the             Africans.

6.     The whites controlled major political aspects in the   Bantustans        e.g. military, external affairs etc.

7.     Whites' nationalism was boosted.

           

How Successful Was The Bantustan Policy By 1970.

1.     The whites continued dominating South Africa politics up to 1990   

2.     Africans freely offered their labour to whites,            maintaining       their labour migration system.

3.     Many of the African leaders i.e. Luthuli, Mandela,      Sisulu were imprisoned reducing their hostility towards    the system.

4.     Many Africans of working age moved with pass books.

5.     Africans were divided and they killed each other.

6.     The Whites took over the fertile land.

7.     By 1960, Transkei, Kwazulu etc had been set up and the Zulu as well as Xhosa lived there.

8.     Homeland governments didn't control their own foreign affairs, defence and Pretoria had to approve all matters discussed in the Bantu        parliament.

9.     Africans remained poor and their economic growth was        frustrated.

10.  Some Africans even supported the white government e.g. Mangusuthu Buthelezi the Zulu Prime Minister         then.

11.  Africans' academic and social achievement remained poor    and backward.

 

N.B  The above shows the success of Bantustan policy.

 

Failures

African nationalism grew later e.g. chief Mtanzima of Transkei         attacked the system.

Africans started escaping from the social economic       conditions         which were very poor.

Some whites were killed by armed Africans.

Some whites remained poor

Africans finally got independence in 1994.

There was growth of African nationalism e.g. A.N.C became stronger      in 1970s.