Paper 1: Apartheid

Nature & characteristics of discrimination, protests & action, and the role & significance of key actors/groups

Petty Apartheid & Grand Apartheid Legislation

Petty Apartheid & Grand Apartheid Legislation

grand apartheid: determined people’s races

• land & political laws

• uprooting & relocation

• ex: 1950: Population Registration Act (created four race groups & ID/passes made)

petty apartheid: affects one’s daily routine

• hospitals, work, beach, college, etc etc

• ex: 1950: Immorality Act (sexual relations between whites & other races prohibited)

Division & Classification

• 1950: Population Registration Act (created four race groups & ID/passes made)

• 1950: Group Areas Act (separate residential areas for each race group)

• 1951: Bantu Authorities Act (power to traditional chiefs; no Natives’ Rep Council)

• 1952: Abolition of Passes Act

• 1956: Separate Representation of Voters Act

herronvolk democracy: only a specific ethnic group participates in government & all other disenfranchised

Segregation of Populations & Amenities

• 1949: Prohibition of Mixed Marriages Act

• 1950: Immorality Act (sexual relations between whites & other races prohibited)

• 1952: Separate Amenities Act

• 1952: Native Laws Amendment Act

• 1954: Natives Resettlement Act

Creation of townships/forced removals

1950: Group Areas Act (demarcated separate residential areas for each race group - zones)

• Sophiatown, Joburg (1955) - multiracial

• Cato Manor, Durban (1960) - Indians

• District 6 in Cape Town (1968) - coloured (moved to Cape Flats)

1951: Bantu Authorities Act [creation of 10 Bantustan territories (homelands based on ethnicity)]

• 13% of land for 68% of population (Africans)

• most unproductive land

1970: Bantu Homelands Citizens Act (independence of homelands - no political/economic responsibility)

Segregation of education

1953: Bantu Education Act

• end of mission schools for non-whites

• central government had control over education in Bantustans

  • controlled by Department of Native Affairs

• vernacular language & vocational skills

  • teachers lacked proper education (horrible conditions)

• sustained apartheid hierarchy

1959: Separate Universities Act (forced students to study at separate universities)

Bantustan system

Spearheaded largely by Verwoerd (1958-1966) - PM of NP

1951: Bantu Authorities Act [creation of 10 Bantustan territories (homelands based on ethnicity)]

• 13% of land for 68% of population (Africans)

• most unproductive land

1970: Bantu Homelands Citizens Act (independence of homelands - no political/economic responsibility)

Non-violent protests: Bus Boycotts

1943: Joburg Bus Boycott

• by Mandela

• 9 days - walked to work before original fare restored

1957: Alexandra Bus Boycott

• rose fare price by one penny for a single bus ride

• 3 months - 70k participants

• white motorists helped boycotters

Non-violent protests: Defiance Campaign

1952: ANC & SAIC demand repeal of apartheid laws - non-violent civil disobedience - mass actions

Positives:

• ANC on the map

• increased ANC membership

• mobilization of thousands

• establishment of Congress Alliance

Negatives:

• Public Safety Act (1953): allowed government to declare a state of emergency whenever

• Criminal Law Amendment Act (1953): prohibition of protests - Suppression of Communism

Non-violent protests: Freedom Charter

• framework for anti-apartheid struggle

• core principles & demands

• included nearly all major organizations, such as ANC, SAIC, etc

1955: Congress Alliance established

• unified under Freedom Charter

• minus commies since they legally cannot exist

Increasing violence: Sharpeville Massacre

1960

• PAC (led by Sobukwe) called for nationwide campaign against pass laws

• march to police stations across country without passes & demand to be arrested

• 69 killed & thousands wounded - public outcry

Reactions:

• South Africa becomes a republic

• stock market decreases

• large immigration of whites

• Cape Town march

• UN Condemns Sharpeville

***SHARPEVILLE WAS A CATALYST FOR ARMED STRUGGLE***

Increasing violence: adoption of armed struggle

***SHARPEVILLE WAS A CATALYST FOR ARMED STRUGGLE***

—> ANC & PAC (Sobukwe) must go underground

1961: creation of Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK) - “spear of nation” - leader: Mandela

<POQO: PAC branch, “pure”>

• exhausted potential for non-violent protest

  • received help from SACP

• strategic government places - NOT human life

• terror targeting of collaborations with government

1962: Mandela leaves South Africa for military training

Rivonia Trial

1964

• incriminating evidence at Lilisleaf farm

• charged under Suppression of Communism Act (1950), Sabotage Act (1962 - denied rights), General Law Amendment Act (1963 - 90-day detention)

• decapitated leadership of anti-apartheid organizations

  • life imprisonments

  • ANC ceases to exist - MK

Imprisonment of ANC leadership

1956: Treason Trial

• 156 arrested & tried with high treason under Suppression of Communism Act (1950)

• targeted key members of Congress Alliance, SACP, SAIC, COD

• dismissed due to lack of evidence after 5 years

1964: Rivonia Trial (see card)

Nelson Mandela

• 1st president post-apartheid South Africa

• head of MK

Albert Luthuli

• Zulu chief - Christian

• joined ANC (1945)

• inspired by Gandhi

• president of ANC until death (1952-1967)

• Defiance Campaign

1961: Nobel Peace Prize

African National Congress (ANC)

established to protest racial discrimination and appeal to equal treatment before the law

1960: declared unlawful

1990: unbanned - secured majority of votes in 1994 national election

• Mandela, Luthuli, Tambo, Sisulu

• Defiance Campaign

• Freedom Charter

• Treason Trial

• Bus Boycotts

South African Communist Party (SACP)

1921: SACP formed

• mainly radical whites which will change to be predominantly blacks

1948: NP wins election & targest SACP

1950: Suppression of Communism Act

• follows May Day Protest

Kotane - General Secretary of SACP from 1939-1978