Apartheid in South Africa: Rights and Protest

IB HISTORY: RIGHTS AND PROTEST, APARTHEID IN SOUTH AFRICA

Background: South Africa

• South Africa's history involved competition between foreign powers and indigenous African groups.

• Dutch settlers established a colony in the 1600s, followed by British takeover and the establishment of the Cape Colony in the 1800s.

• Dutch settlers migrated east and created two white-led republics: Transvaal and the Orange Free State.

• White settlers and later the British used force to displace African ethnic groups like the Xhosa and Zulu.

• The British fought wars to control all of South Africa before World War 1.

• Was a British colony until 1931; British rule had introduced racial segregation, disenfranchisement, and white control over land.

• There was a significant non-Dutch white population called Uitlander (foreigners).

• The 1948 elections saw the National Party win on a racist, anti-integration platform, playing into the racial resentment of the Afrikaner population.

Before Apartheid

• The small South African electorate was purged of black voters.

• Cities were somewhat purged of black ethnic groups, who could only live in specific reserves and needed a pass to travel outside.

• World War 2 revealed support for the Nazis among Afrikaners, increasing the divide between Uitlanders and Afrikaners.

• Jan Smuts of the United Party (UP) favored support for the British in WW2.

• Daniel François Malan and JBM Hertzog of the National Party (NP) gained support based on the unpopularity of the Smuts government among Afrikaners.

• Economic pressures of WW2 increased the role of black workers in cities and the mining industry.

• The South African Communist Party had a presence; miners went on strike in 1946, which was ended through police violence.

• The African National Congress (ANC) existed since 1912, pushing for equal rights for black South Africans.

• The ANC organized with groups like the Indian Congress (Gandhi had been a member).

The White Response

• Each white political party developed strategies for the economic and political situation.

• The UP set up the Fagan Commission, recommending relaxation of pass laws and recognizing that cities needed a black working class.

• The NP set up the Sauer Commission, laying the basis for apartheid and recommending a more stringent discriminatory system.

• The Cold War context allowed the NP to win over the Afrikaner population in 1948 over fears of a Red Scare and a Black Scare, with DF Malan becoming Prime Minister.

"Petty" and "Grand" Apartheid

• Apartheid reflected segregationist ideology.

• Baasskap: White supremacy; systematic discrimination against black rights, but with a black underclass to keep capitalism going.

• South Africa was considered a collection of separate ethnic nations: white, black, colored.

• The early years of apartheid were marked by "petty apartheid" – laws that translated baasskap into public life.

• Examples:

  • Suppression of Communism Act (1950)

  • Prohibition of Mixed Marriages Act (1949)

  • Immorality Act (1950)

  • Group Areas Act (1950)

  • Population Registration Act (1950)

  • Native Labour Act (1953)

• After 1954, Prime Minister HF Verwoerd introduced "grand apartheid," which aimed to separate races completely.

• Grand apartheid included removal of black South Africans to separate, unequal territorial units and townships, with no citizenship or political representation.

Racial Classification

• The NP pursued strict legal definitions of race to carry out white supremacy.

• The Population Registration Act created racial categories based on "biology," included in identity documents, and determined job opportunities and where you could live.

• A Race Classification Board determined racial identities; classifications were imprecise and inconsistent.

• The "pencil test" was used to classify racial identity based on hair texture.

Reservation of Separate Amenities Act

• Strict segregation was applied to public facilities, creating separate physical spaces.

• This was an extension of existing segregation practices.

• Separate facilities did not have to be equal according to the law, unlike segregation allowed under Plessy v. Ferguson in the U.S.

Pass Laws Act (1952)

• Africans had to carry an identity document containing information on their legal history.

• "Reference books" had to be stamped for movements outside the person’s "native area."

• Failure to get proper stamps or present the reference book could result in fines or imprisonment.

• This was a major grievance among black South Africans and a focus of the ANC in their Defiance Campaign.

Eviction and Dislocation of Non-Whites

• The Group Areas Act of 1950 started laws excluding non-whites from a permanent role in major cities.

• The goal was to resettle black and "colored" South Africans to separate townships outside cities.

• During the 1950s, this relocation resulted in the closing of businesses and destruction of neighborhoods like Sophiatown (Johannesburg).

• Millions of black South Africans were forced to move.

Education

• The Bantu Education Act (1953) created a separate and inferior educational system for Africans.

• School instruction was mandated in "tribal" languages to prevent unity among Africans and reinforce tribal divisions.

• This was later reversed because white business owners could not communicate with black employees; apartheid relied on the exploitation of the African working classes.

• ANC activists boycotted government schools in 1955 but were not very successful.

• The Extension of University Education Act (1959) created a racially separate university system and excluded Africans and colored people from "white" universities.

Bantustan/“Homelands” System

• The largest "grand apartheid" policy sought to restrict black Africans to separate ethnic territories as a form of ethnic cleansing.

• Bantustans were established by laws including the Bantu Authorities Act and the Promotion of Bantu Self-government Act.

• Very similar to U.S. policy on Native Americans and Canada’s Indian Act; residents of the bantustans were not South African citizens, and their officials were dependent puppets of the apartheid government.

Protests Against Apartheid

• Since the Communist Party had been outlawed and the two main political parties reflected all-white apartheid electorates, the ANC was the main opposition.

• 1949: The Youth League of the ANC drafted the Program of Action calling for a more confrontational style of non-violent activism.

• 1950: National Day of Protest against the Group Areas Act.

• 1952: Defiance Campaign: A mass campaign violating Pass Laws, with activists providing the focal point for mass mobilization; protest would be non-violent but confrontational enough to reveal the violent nature of the NP government.

Defiance Campaign (1952-1953)

• The Defiance Campaign developed from previous campaigns and talks with other groups.

• The Separate Representation of Voters Act removed Colored voters from the rolls.

• Demands focused on the repeal of recent apartheid laws.

• Targeted violations of apartheid law met with mass arrests.

• Examples:

  • Burning passbooks

  • Violating segregation of public facilities

  • Violating racial curfews and entering white neighborhoods

• Rioting in Port Elisabeth in 1952 invited violent retaliation from police which held back the campaign from achieving its immediate goals.

Women Against Apartheid

• African and Colored women were frequently discriminated against in terms of jobs and living opportunities.

• Women were very active in local townships in anti-apartheid activism such as boycotts of shopkeepers.

• Passbook requirements presented special challenges to women; for example, a woman traveling with her child might be separated because of an arrest.

Congress of the People (1955)

• A massive convention of anti-apartheid forces was planned after the end of the Defiance Campaign beginning in 1953.

• The Congress gave people an alternative structure of representation because they had none in the official government.

• Based on interactions, the Congress would produce a Freedom Charter with clear demands and principles to be an alternative to the apartheid government.

• Suggestions from local meetings influenced the Freedom Charter.

• Participants represented the ANC, labor, and left groups such as the Communist Party and the Indian Congress.

Bus Boycotts

• A common cause of spontaneous protest was private bus companies servicing segregated townships raising fares.

• Committees in different townships coordinated the boycotts and attempted to act as bargaining representatives with authorities, similar to Montgomery in 1955-56.

• Alexandra Bus Boycott (January-June 1957): Residents launched a major boycott with tens of thousands of participants who walked and hitchhiked rather than take the buses after bus fares were raised by 20%.

• Boycotts were a reactive tactic, but were popular and also put pressure on businesses in Johannesburg who relied on black labor and suffered financial losses.

• The boycott proved to be a success and the original fare was restored via a government subsidy.

The Treason Trial (1956-1961)

• In late 1956, more than 100 activists were arrested in pre-dawn raids and put on trial in Johannesburg.

• The Freedom Charter was declared illegal, and there was evidence of a conspiracy to overthrow the government by replacing South Africa’s existing constitution.

• The case ended in 1961 after many breaks, restarts, and charges being dropped against some defendants.

Sharpeville Massacre (1960)

• Sharpeville is a township about 40 miles south of Johannesburg.

• The Pan Africanist Congress (PAC), a faction of the ANC that broke off to form a separate organization in 1959, held a demonstration in Sharpeville against the pass system on March 21st, 1960.

• The PAC had an ideology vaguely based on African nationalism and militant protest tactics but was anti-communist.

• Demonstrators in Sharpeville crowded around a police station, swelling to as many as 20,000.

• According to official accounts, an untrained officer opened fire in response to a "perceived threat" from the crowd, resulting in other officers opening fire, with 80 people killed and 180 injured, many having been shot in the back.

Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK)

• Government responses to Sharpeville included claims of being under attack and racist arguments equating blackness with violence.

• Prime Minister Verwoerd faced international condemnation but did not concede; he declared a State of Emergency, and the government passed the Unlawful Organizations Act banning both the PAC and the ANC.

• Nelson Mandela pushed for a militant change in tactics from previous nonviolence in response to the circumstances; activists formed an armed wing in 1961 called Umkhonto we Sizwe (Spear of the Nation), which gained ANC endorsement.

• Many nationalist and liberation struggles around the world adopted armed violence as a tactic.

• The first attack took place in Dec. 1961; hundreds of sabotage operations avoided civilian deaths.

• Mandela left South Africa for training and outreach to other governments and African liberation movements.

International Reaction to Sharpeville

• International condemnations were followed by the passage of a resolution by the UN General Assembly advocating for international sanctions on South Africa.

• There was an international movement for economic sanctions in various countries, but few western governments took up the idea.

• Larger and larger protests occurred internationally through the 80s.

• South Africa was removed from the British commonwealth and became a republic.

The Rivonia Trial (1963-1964)

• Nelson Mandela reentered the country and was arrested in 1962, though MK continued to operate clandestinely in concert with other radical groups such as the Communists.

• MK headquarters was raided in 1963, and members of MK leadership were arrested; a plan for guerrilla warfare operations was uncovered (the Mayibuye Plan).

• The trial held the possibility of the death penalty, and the UN Security Council passed a resolution calling for amnesty.

• International attention on the trial was also used as a platform by the defendants.

• Mandela and the others were sentenced to life imprisonment, and Mandela was detained at Robben Island prison until 1990.

After Rivonia (1960s-1970s)

• ANC/MK was still operational, but not in South Africa; members established cells in Zambia and fought against the white-dominated government of “Rhodesia” (Zimbabwe).

• The ANC had training camps in a number of African nations and had some outside support such as Soviet military advisors.

• The next generation organized through the student movement (SASO); the Black Consciousness Movement of the 1970s was a South African response to black power ideas in the US and liberation theology in Latin America.

• The boycott movement continued to gather support outside of South Africa; The UN had endorsed sanctions against South African, but western countries such as the US and UK did not commit.

African National Congress

• Came to prominence as South Africa (”Union of South Africa”) gained more autonomy under British rule; unsuccessfully tried to appeal to the British government to reverse segregationist measures like the Natives Land Act.

• 1920s and 1930s: Lost membership and influence to bolder organizations.

• 1940s: Prominence of ANC Youth League, more radical direction in favor of working-class issues.

• 1950s: Important campaigns:

  • National Day of Protest

  • Defiance Campaign

  • Bantu Education Boycott

  • Bus Boycotts

  • Eviction Resistance

  • Congress of the People/Freedom Charter

  • Treason Trial

  • Sharpeville

• Various leaders were banned or imprisoned, including Albert Luthuli and Nelson Mandela.

• 1960s: Formation of MK, Rivonia Trial.

South African Communist Party

• Founded in Cape Town in 1921; initially directed its efforts towards the grievances of white miners leading up to the Rand Rebellion against gold mining companies (that was also opposed to advancement for black workers).

• 1920s: Africanization of the Party as mandated by the COMINTERN (the international coordinating bodies of communist parties controlled by the Soviet Union) – Native Republic Thesis.

• Attempts to control a multiracial labor movement, with the ANC becoming an ally in the 1940s; banned under Suppression of Communism Act but most influential movement activists were members including Nelson Mandela and Yusuf Dadoo.

• Moderated its stances, prioritized a progressive and democratic revolution based on the Freedom Charter.

• Like Marxists in other underdeveloped countries, believed that progressive and democratic modernization had to come before socialism was possible.

• Crucial in the major ANC-led protest campaigns and in MK military operations during the 1960s.

• Survived repression resulting from the Rivonia trial and remained crucial among the exile forces.

• After apartheid ended in 1994, became part of an ongoing political alliance between the ANC, main trade union group (COSATU), and the SACP.

• Provided ideological leadership and overall exercised significant influence over key ANC figures, even though ANC itself never advocated a communist program.

Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK)

• Formed in response to violent repression of the Sharpeville Massacre and its aftermath.

• SACP always played a key logistical and theoretical role.

• Ran hundreds of small sabotage operations in South Africa, including the use of land mines.

• After the Rivonia Trial, went into exile and established training camps in many other African countries, including Zambia, Rhodesia (Zimbabwe), and Angola.

• Fought the South African military with Angolan and Cuban allies.

• Set up training camps with assistance from Cuban and Soviet military advisors and ran them ruthlessly.

• Conducted bombing campaigns in the 1980s, including non-military targets such as pro-apartheid businesses.

Key Individuals

• Albert Luthuli:

  • Held a Zulu leadership position under the Representation of Natives Act.

  • Leading figure in the ANC throughout the 1950s; continued bans on his freedom of speech by the government allowed younger leaders to play a larger role and push confrontational methods; died in 1967.

  • A moderate figure and advocate of non-violence until the formation of MK.

• Nelson Mandela:

  • Was both a respected non-violent leader and a later advocate of fierce armed struggle and an MK commander until his imprisonment.

  • During his life, many different stages of ideological evolution; after becoming President in 1994, he took a cautious approach to implementing the Freedom Charter for the sake of maintaining peace with the white minority after the end of apartheid.