Apartheid History Notes

In 1906, a struggle against white domination ended with an uprising against a tax imposed to force people to work for whites; it was suppressed, resulting in 4,000 African deaths.
At the end of the 19th century, South Africa was divided into white groups that fought wars over gold mine territory.
In 1910, the British were victorious and formed the Union of South Africa, uniting whites to control the country and economy, denying votes to Africans.
The Union of South Africa allowed settlers to dominate and exploit the Black majority.

In 1912, the African National Congress was formed to unite Africans and seek rights from the government.
In the 19th century, African farming areas were self-sufficient, but settlers wanted to control African labor by taking their land.
The government continued to remove rights from the majority.

In 1913, the government began dividing land between Whites and Blacks, favoring whites.
Whites: 15% of population, 87% of land.
Africans: 73% of population, 13% of land (Bantustans).
Coloureds & Indians: 12% of population.
The government's land policy broke economic independence, created poverty, and forced many to work for white farmers with low wages.
Today, 1.5 million Africans work on White farms, and two-thirds in Bantustans are landless.
The government uprooted communities and moved them to Bantustans.

South Africa has high profit rates due to the migrant labor system, initially in mines and later in all sectors employing Africans.
Over a quarter of employed Africans are migrant workers.

After 1920, more Africans moved to cities, leading to labor shortages in rural areas.
Trade unionism grew, and in 1946, 100,000 miners striked for higher wages.
The strike was suppressed by police, who killed miners.

In 1948, a new white government was elected to control the black majority through Apartheid, extending segregation.
The plan was to send them to the Bantustans, while bringing them to the cities for business needs.

In 1951, the government initiated the bantustan program, dividing the population.
The government divided the Bantu into groups based on language and assigned each group its own Bantustan.

Economic: wealth and resources outside Bantustans, used for dumping unemployed.
Political: all Bantu are citizens of a Bantustan and must exercise their rights there.
Africans reject Bantustans and want real rights in South Africa.
International community views Bantustans as a fraud and demands full rights for Africans in South Africa.