Repression and control by South African governments

The ANC ‘Programme of Action’ involved a range of strategies including strikes, black boycotts, civil disobedience and a national work stoppage day led to harsh consequences such as

• police made workers sleep in their workplaces, and other workers were forcibly marched to work

  • Although there was no loss of life in Pretoria, Alexandra (Johannesburg) saw police open fire and kill strikers

These repression tactics in 1948 continued with the Suppression of Communism Act 1950

What did this allow the government to do

• Communism meant anything that authorities believed criticised the government, or caused hostility between Europeans and non-Europeans

• The Minister of Justice could ban people from public office, attending meetings and be excluded from particular areas

  • Bans could last for 5 years, and the Minister could seize banned organisational assets

During the 1950s, the government continued its policy of repression through legislation

• After the Defiance Campaign of 1952, over 8000 blacks were arrested, and the government took the right to suspend all laws

  • The Criminal Law Amendment Act 1953 allowed the government to arrest anyone they wanted, as the accused person had to prove their innocence

• After the Freedom Charter was announced, the government arrested 156 ANC leaders including Mandela, Tambo and Sisulu

  • The Treason Trial occupied them for five years

• The Customs and Excise Act 1955 and The Official Secrets Act 1956 established a Board of Censors who monitored books, films, etc

  • Similar measures were imposed on radio and television in 1976

• Due to this legislation, up to 500,000 pass law arrests were made annually, 600 people were listed as communists, over 350 people were banned and 150 people were banished

The 1960s and early 1970s saw a resurgence in black resistance after the Sharpeville Massacre and government counteraction such as

• The Unlawful Organisations Act 1960 outlawed the ANC and PAC, and the Rivonia Trial of 1963-1964 saw their leading figures placed on Robben Island or flee in exile

  • The government had succeeded in crushing effective resistance, headed by the Minister of Justice, John Vorster and General Hendrik J van den Bergh, who would later become the Bureau of State Security

• The General Laws Amendment Act 1963 gave police the powers to hold a person for 90 days without charge or access to a lawyer

  • This process could continually be repeated after the 90 days, and only the Minister of Justice could order a release, not a court

• The Terrorism Act 1967 widened the scope of activities considered dangerous for public safety and had provisions for the Death Penalty

• The government set up secret security bodies to deal with black resistance

  • The State Security Committee 1963

  • The Bureau of State Security 1969 (BOSS)

    • Coordinated police and military intelligence divisions

  • The State Security Council 1972 (SSC)

    • SSC advised the Prime Minister on security issues

• Soweto is a collection of townships near Johannesburg, and in 1976, there was large-scale rioting by school children after the government announced lessons would only be given in Afrikaners

Why was this significant and what did the Soweto Rising of 1976 lead to

• Afrikaans is only spoken in South Africa, and destined them to a life of impoverishment at the hands of Afrikaner bosses

• Police used tear gas and opened fire on school children, causing widespread rioting across the country for months

  • Between June 1976 and February 1977, 14,000 students fled the country, many joined the ANC, and hundreds were beaten and killed

• After the Sharpeville Massacre, the government was fully in control, but after Soweto, it could never be sure

  • Black resistance grew, white businesses pressured government for reform and televisions across the world increased international campaigns

• Despite this, white South Africans wanted stronger action against protestors, as the Vorster government returned to power with an increased majority

In the late 1970s, the government instituted its total national strategy in response to a coordinated attack on apartheid both within and without

• The SADF was given the power to operate in neighbouring countries to attack ANC camps and offices

  • The government was responsible for up to 40 assassinations in neighbouring countries and thousands of deaths and abductions

  • Assisted anti-communist groups in Angola (UNITA) and Mozambique (RENAMO)

• Attempts at internal reforms were made to win over middle-class blacks

  • The Rickert Commission proposed allowing them to buy their own home and move freely for work

  • The Wiehahn Commission proposed giving trade unions more freedom

  • The De Lange Commission proposed greater education, and although not accepted, spending on black education increased

• Attempts at improving South Africa’s international image were made by easing colour bar regulations and pass laws

  • The Mixed Marriages Act was abolished

• Attempt at constitutional reform to introduce three chambers, one for whites, one for coloureds and one for Indians

  • A multiracial electoral college elected the state president

  • Despite this, power remained in white minority

Despite these attempts at reform, the prime goal remained security and the use of force through

• A group called Koevoet (Crowbar) comprised of 250 white officers had a reputation for brutality and torture

  • Received bounty payments for killing suspected guerillas

  • Vlakplaas, a farm outside of Pretoria, became a base for assassination and torture, turning ANC and PAC members into government spies

• The government also used vigilantes, kitskonstabels (instant constables)

  • In 1986, a group of kitskonstabels destroyed the Crossroads squatter camp, killing hundreds and leaving 70,000 homeless, while police watched

During the 1980s, more oppressive legislation was introduced such as

• The Inquest Act stated the press was not allowed to report on deaths in custody

• The Police Act made it illegal to make allegations of police brutality

• The Protection of Information Act prevented press from reporting an arrest unless it could be proven that it would not endanger state security

South Africa’s Prime Minister (1958-66) Hendrik Verword refused to accept African nationalism and instead presented a solution to this issue

Although a white supremacist, Verwoerd also had political and economic motives by proposing the Bantustans

• Attempted to divide the black people based on ethnic differences, so Zulu land would be separate from Xhosa and so on

  • While the government claimed it did so to preserve cultural and ethnic differences, it aimed to hinder blacks maintaining a united front

• If the homelands policy was successful, it had economic benefits

  • Government would have to spend less money on services for the black population with fewer schools, hospitals and houses 

Why was Verwoerd’s vision a fantasy

• As the economy, technology and industrial processes developed, a skilled and educated black workforce was essential

• Despite false census records, the black population was increasing

  • In 1961 it was 11 million, but by 1980 it was 21 million

The homelands had been defined by the British government before the Union was created

• The Natives Land Act established reserves in the homelands comprising 13% of South African territory, and increased to 18.5% in 1936

  • Following the Nationalist government assumption of power in 1948, they argued that these reserves corresponded with traditional African kingdoms

• The Bantu Authorities Act of 1951 established ten homelands, comprising 13% of South African territory

  • Transkei, Bophuthatswana, Venda, Ciskei, Kwazulu, Lebowa, Gazakulu, Qwaqwa, KaNgwane, KwaNelebele

• The 1959 Bantu Self-Government Act set out plans for their separate development

  • Each homeland was based on ethnic/tribal lines, and chiefs were encouraged to become politically active, but were removed if not supportive

  • The ultimate goal was independence, which Transkei achieved in 1963

• The Black Homeland Citizenship Act 1970 sought to provide a legal framework for the homelands

  • Black South Africans were deemed citizens of their homelands and had to identify with a homeland even if they had never lived there

  • They would lose their South African citizenship, even if they lived there

• Strong measures were enforced to implement the homelands policy

  • In 1978, the 25,000 strong Unibel Squatter Camp was destroyed, and ordered to leave for the Ciskei Bantustan

Why was the Bantustan policy a failure

• The homelands were too small, overcrowded and not economically sustainable

• The most fertile and productive regions were reserved for the small white population

• Of the ten homelands, only the Qwaqwa had contiguous borders, and the others were made up of scattered pieces of unwanted territory

• Government attempts to create independent states failed, as only one country recognised the legitimacy of independent homelands, South Africa

• Homelands never developed the support of the local population, and black leaders were seen as puppets of the apartheid regime

• The Chief Minister of the Kwazulu homeland rejected the homeland system and built a mass cultural movement called the Inkatha, challenging government authority

In 1950, almost every country in Africa was under white European colonial rule

• Bechuanaland, Nyasaland, Northern and Southern Rhodesia were under the British and Swaziland and Basutoland were British Protectorates

• Angola and Mozambique were Portuguese

• Madagascar was French

British PM Harold Macmillian’s warning of ‘the wind of change’ in Africa came to fruition when South Africa’s neighbours began gaining independence

Colony/Nation:	Former Imperial Power:	Date of Independence:
Nigeria	Britain	1960
Congo/Zaire	Belgium	1960
Ghana	Britain	1957
Algeria	France	1962
Morocco	France	1956

At the time of the National Party’s election success in 1948, South Africa’s neighbours accepted the validity of white European rule

Why was this?

• Although none of these nations emulated apartheid, relations were cordial

• In the 1960s, the South African Prime Minister would be well received in London

However, by the late 1960s, things changed drastically as

South Africa beame one of five African countries ruled by whites, Rhodesia, Angola, Mozambique and South West Africa

• From the mid-1960s to the end of apartheid, South Africa’s relationships were dominated by the situation in these countries

How did the British colony of Southern Rhodesia gain independence

Northern Rhodesia gained independence in 1964, black nationalists assumed theirs would be soon

• By the mid-1960s, the 250,000 whites were concerned with the 4 million blacks, the threat of civil war real after the Congo

• The British government would not allow its independence unless the whites shared power with the black majority

  • Prime Minister of Rhodesia, Ian Smith, refused to share power, and in 1965 announced Rhodesia was an independent state without British permission

    • The Unilateral Declaration of Independence was met with sanctions from Britain and the UN, only South Africa supported the regime

      • Many white South Africans had connections in Rhodesia who wanted to support them

      • South Africa was also becoming isolated, and needed to maintain trade, oil supplies and movement with another friend

      • Supporting Smith against black nationalist guerillas prevented South Africa from becoming the next target

• White rule in Rhodesia would end in April 1980 following a long guerilla war between the white regime and black nationalists

  • South Africa supported Rhodesia economically and militarily, through the police and SADF

• Following independence, Rhodesia became the nation Zimbabwe, and its leader, Robert Mugabe, allowed the ANC to operate from Zimbabwe

  • The SADF continued its attacks on the ANC throughout the 1980s

South Africa’s cordial relations with Angola and Mozambique ended in the 1970s, as the 1974 revolution in Portugal ended Caetano’s dictatorship and control over African colonies

How was this significant for black resistance in South Africa?

• When Angola gained independence in 1975, black nationalist guerilla groups sought to use the country for training and establishing bases

  • The central headquarters of the MK was set up there for thirteen years

• However, Angola continued to have its own internal conflict between the Marxist MPLA government under President Neto and UNITA forces under Jonas Savimbi

  • This civil war would continue intermittently until 2002

    • The SADF frequently invaded Angola, seeking to support UNITA forces and weaken guerilla groups

    • A major UNITA attack in 1987-1988 ended in humiliating defeat fr SADF forces, as South African troops were withdrawn in 1989

• MK soldiers also trained in other neighbouring  countries such as Tanzania and Zambia, who were anti-apartheid

  • The South African government sought to counter this by convincing its neighbours of the dangers of Marxism and attempting to strike security deals

    • In 1981 government forces crossed borders to attack MK and ANC bases (Matola and Maputo) in Mozambique

    • In 1985, an attack was launched on Maseru from Lesotho, where the Vlakplaas was used

• In 1984, the Machel government in Mozambique signed the Nkomati Accord with South Africa due to economic and military pressure

  • Mozambique was suffering an internal conflict between Marxist FRELIMO and anti-communist RENAMO

    • Civil war would continue until 1992, with Ian Smith’s Rhodesian regime and South Africa giving support to RENAMO

  • Both powers agreed to not provide sanctuary to guerilla fighters

The South African government was successful in containing the ANC in the 1980s as a result of intervening in neighbouring countries

However, as a negotiated end to apartheid came closer in the 1980s…

• SADF actions outside its borders ceased and the MK ended the armed struggle

South West Africa had been a German colony since 1914, but after the 1919 Paris Peace Conference, it was handed to South Africa as a mandate

• Although South Africa was supposed to assist it to become a nation, it treated South West Africa as its own colony, causing the UN to put pressure
  
  Why was this significant in ending apartheid?

• The apartheid government did not want a black majority ruling on its borders

• From 1949, they were able to elect MPs who sat in South African parliament

• In 1968, the UN General Assembly resolved that South West Africa would become Namibia, and in 1971, the International Court backed the UN to end South Africa’s mandate

  • In 1960, nationalists in South West Africa formed the South West African People’s Organisation (SWAPO)

    • Similarly to the ANC, its government banned, arrested and exiled its leaders, and surrounded by white nations, SWAPO was weakened

  • Following Angolan independence in 1975, SWAPO established bases in the south of the country and SADF forces often fought with them

  • UN attempted to introduce open elections in Namibia, but these were ignored and eventually, a white administrator was appointed

  • In the early 1980s, SADF troops established themselves in southern Angola and regularly launched attacks on SWAPO bases

  • Defeat in Angola and the crippling economic cost finally convinced the government to withdraw from Namibia and Angola, and in 1988, SWAPO was formally recognised as the rightful rulers of Namibia under SAm Nujoma

The racist thinking of white South Africans and its government was widespread in the international community in the late 1940s and 1950s

• British people opposed immigration from the West Indies and Australia had a ‘White Australia Policy’

  • Thus, in the late 1940s, South Africa was accepted internationally, as George VI paid a visit in 1947, sporting teams and entertainers toured the country and South Africa was a member of the Commonwealth

However, after World War II, the process of decolonisation took place as nationalist movements spread across the globe

• As a result, systems built on racial segregation and inequality were no longer tolerated, and opposition to apartheid increased every year

Aspects of the international response to South African policies

• The actions of the UN

• The actions of the Organisation of African Unity

• The actions of the British Commonwealth

• Economic sanctions and boycotts

• Sporting/entertainment boycotts of South Africa

• The Cold War: the US response to South African policies

• The Cold War: the Soviet Union’s response to South African policies

• The Lusaka Manifesto of 1969

How did the actions of the United Nations lead to the end of apartheid

• As new independent African and Asian nations joined the UN, it became a forum for protests against the apartheid regime

  • In 1952, a group of thirteen nations spoke in the General Assembly about South Africa’s violation of the UN Charter

  • In 1966, the UN General Assembly stated that apartheid policies were a crime against humanity

  • In 1977, after the crushing of the Soweto Rising, the UN voted unanimously for an arms embargo against South Africa

  • In 1980, the UN compiled a register of athletes who had competed in South Africa, to pressure them to boycott the nation

  • In 1985, the UN adopted the International Convention against Apartheid in sport

How did the actions of the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) lead to the end of apartheid

• In 1963, a group of black African nations came together to form the OAU, and one of its first declarations was to condemn apartheid in South Africa

  • Exiled ANC leaders, such as Oliver Tambo, convinced OAU that the ANC should be viewed as the official representative of the South African people

How did the actions of the British Commonwealth lead to the end of apartheid

• As the proportion of black states within the Commonwealth increased, condemnation of apartheid also increased

• In 1960, Prime Minister Verwoerd offered the white South African people the opportunity to become a republic

  • Although the 1960 referendum yielded a small majority in favour of a republic, in came into being in 1961

  • Verwoerd intended to remain in the Commonwealth, but constant criticism led South Africa leaving

How did economic boycotts and sanctions lead to the end of apartheid

• While economic boycotts and sanctions would have a major impact on the regime eventually, in the short-term such efforts were not successful

  • During the 1960s, the economy was growing as western companies were profiting from low wages

  • Some African countries had no choice but to use South Africa to export and import products

  • South African mines provided work for migrants from Botswana and Lesotho

  • South Africa was a key producer in rare metals, ores and diamonds

• However, by the late 1970s and 1980s, the situation was changing, as international criticism caused western firms to leave the country

  • Britain’s Barclays Bank left among others, embarrassed as their profiteering of exploitation was exposed

  • In 1986, the European Common Market stopped buying South African iron and steel

  • A financial crisis in 1985 led to the temporary closure of the Johannesburg Stock Exchange and the depreciation of the Rand 35%

• However, greater economic sanctions caused disagreements, those in favour as a means of ending apartheid, those against, such as Reagan and Thatcher, believing it would only make the black population suffer more

How did sporting/entertainment boycotts of South Africa lead to the end of apartheid

• Although many South Africans did not care about its criticism from the UN, OAU and the Commonwealth, international sporting boycotts was severe

  • South Africa has a justifiable reputation in rugby and cricket, dominated by white South Africans

    • South Africa was excluded from all international cricket from 1971 and would be readmitted in 1991, after apartheid ended

    • Verwoerd refused Maori players entry from the New Zealand team, and international tours led to mass anti-apartheid protests that made it impossible to participate in competitions

      • South Africa was excluded from the first two Rugby World Cup tournaments in 1987 and 1991

  • In 1977, Commonwealth leaders signed the Gleneagles Agreement, discouraging sporting contacts with South Africa as part of international pressure against apartheid

  • In 1970, South Africa was expelled from the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and in 1963, the country’s football team was expelled from FIFA

• South Africa also experienced boycotts in entertainment

  • In 1964, British singer Dusty Springfield refused to tour the country unless the audience was non-segregated, which was refused

  • Although many others followed suit, the South African government established the Sun City Casino complex in the ‘homeland’ of Bophuthatswana

    • Although it was controlled by the South African government, strict apartheid rules on separation did not apply

    • Performers were paid enormous sums to perform there, Frank Sinatra was paid $2 million for a week

How did the Cold War lead to the end of apartheid

• The Cold War: the US response to South African policies

  • Thatcher and Reagan believed South Africa to be a useful ally in the Cold War, seen in the Angolan Civil War in 1975

    • The United States initially backed non-Communist FNLA with a $300,000 grant but by August backed UNITA

    • The American Congress eventually called for an end to involvement in UNITA, although Reagan continued to aid UNITA as they were democrats

      • In reality, Reagan wanted to limit Soviet presence in Southern Africa with the MPLA

  • South African forces also intervened against MPLA to weaken SWAPO, which was using bases in the country

    • South African intervention had the support of Reagan, despite international condemnation, as an ally against communism

  • By the late 1980s, apartheid was almost at the end as negotiations between the government and ANC began

    • The collapse of communism in Eastern Europe brought the end of the Cold War, and peace talks came between Cubans, Angolans and South Africans

      • South African troops left Angola in 1989, Cuban troops 1991

      • UN-sponsored elections occurred after the Bicesse Accords of 1991, and although the MPLA won, UNITA resumed fighting, and conflict continued a few more years without foreign intervention

• The Cold War: the Soviet Union’s response to South African policies

  • As the US backed the FNLA and UNITA, the Soviet Union supported the MPLA with arms and economic assistance, alongside Cuba

    • By the early 1980s, there was 12,000 Cuban troops in Angola and East German advisors

    • A 1976 treaty between Angola and the Soviet Union allowed the latter to use Luanda harbour on the Atlantic and Angolan airports

How did the Lusaka Manifesto (1969) lead to the end of apartheid

• In 1969, fourteen countries from central and eastern Africa met in the Zambian capital Lusaka to discuss apartheid

  • The Lusaka Manifesto contained a series of resolutions condemning apartheid, supporting the principle of human equality and rejecting racial domination

  • It emphasised the preferred strategy was peaceful, but as peaceful change was blocked in South Africa, military force must be used

    • This led to a long-running military conflict between the SADF and the nations who supported the ANC and MK