Grade 9 History – Term 4: Resistance and the End of Apartheid

Vocabulary flashcards covering key events, figures, organisations, and dates from Grade 9 History Term 4: the Defiance Campaign, the Freedom Charter, the Soweto Uprising, and 1980s resistance.

The Defiance Campaign

A peaceful resistance campaign launched on 26 June 1952 by the ANC and SAIC, where volunteers deliberately broke discriminatory apartheid laws and segregation rules.

Volunteer-in-Chief

The official leadership role held by Nelson Mandela during the 1952 Defiance Campaign.

Walter Sisulu

One of the key leaders who helped organise the 1952 Defiance Campaign alongside Nelson Mandela.

The Freedom Charter

A historic document adopted on 26 June 1955 declaring that South Africa belongs to all who live in it, demanding equal rights, democratic government, and an end to racial discrimination.

Congress of the People

The gathering held on 26 June 1955 in Kliptown, near Johannesburg, where the Congress Alliance adopted the Freedom Charter.

Congress Alliance

The coalition that created the Freedom Charter in 1955 after collecting the demands of ordinary South Africans.

Bantu Education

An unequal apartheid education system that provided Black learners with inferior, underfunded, and overcrowded schooling lacking resources compared to white learners.

Soweto Uprising

A turning point protest that began on 16 June 1976 when thousands of Black schoolchildren protested against unequal education and the enforced use of Afrikaans as a medium of instruction.

Tsietsi Mashinini

A prominent student leader who helped organise the peaceful learner protest in Soweto on 16 June 1976.

Orlando Stadium

The planned gathering destination for thousands of marching learners during the Soweto protest on 16 June 1976.

Hector Pieterson

A 12-year-old learner who became one of the most recognised victims of the Soweto Uprising after being shot and killed by police.

United Democratic Front (UDF)

An organisation formed in 1983 to unite trade unions, students, and community organisations in opposing apartheid.

Tricameral Parliament

A parliamentary system that provoked widespread township protests in 1984 because it completely excluded Black South Africans from national parliamentary representation.

States of Emergency (1985 and 1986)

Government measures declared in 1985 and 1986 granting state security forces expanded powers to arrest activists, ban organisations, and suppress anti-apartheid resistance.

F. W. de Klerk

The South African president who assumed office in 1989, introduced political reforms, and unbanned anti-apartheid organisations on 2 February 1990.

11 February 1990

The date on which Nelson Mandela was released from prison, setting the stage for negotiations toward democracy.

April 1994

The date of South Africa's first democratic national elections, marking the transition to democracy and the end of apartheid.