Apartheid - Paper 1

1948–1964

Petty Apartheid

Baaskap (“boss rule”)

• Economic and political domination

• Focused on specific issues and “overly fussy” about details

Prohibition of Mixed Marriages Act (1949)

• 1st major NP passed apartheid law

• Supplemented by Immorality Act (1950)

  • Extramarital sex between Whites and Non-whites prohibited

  • Enforced through police raiding homes at night

  • Africans faced heavier punishments than Whites

Population Registration Act (1950)

• Race Classification Board oversaw classification and disputes

• White, Coloured, and Bantu (“Black African”) on IDs

• Indians later distinguished within Coloured group in 1959

• Divisions unclear – Some reclassified multiple times through tests

  • Linguistics, skull measurements, and “pencil test” in hair

  • “Passing” and recessive genetics tests separated families

Suppression of Communism Act (1950)

• CPSA illegal

• Anything against apartheid gov’t essentially illegal

• Labeled Chief Luthuli as a communist

The Group Areas Act (1950)

• PM Malan argued it was the “essence of apartheid”

• Origin in 1947 Sauer Report

  • Africans were rural people & should only be in cities if economically useful to Whites

  • Also used against Coloured shopkeepers

  • ¼ Coloureds and 1/6 of Indians shopkeepers pushed to outer suburbs

ANC Program of Action

• Called for May Day stay-at-home strikes in 1950

• Coordinated with SACP

  • ½ of Johannesburg Blacks refused to work – 18 killed in police breakup

Native Laws Amendment Act (1952)

• Only Blacks who lived & worked in cities for at least 15 years allowed to stay

Bantu Authorities Act (1951)

• Created Natives Representative Council

  • Elected national body that “represented” all Africans

  • Government hand-selected those up for election

Pass Laws Act (1952)

• AKA The Natives Abolition of Passes and Coordination of Documents Act of 1952

• Comprehensive 96-page reference books

  • Employment, taxes, police interactions, racial group, etc.

• Required for city travel and work residency

• State surveillance of Black population

• Any White person could ask for documents

Reservation of Separate Amenities Act (1953)

• City centers now White-only

• Created separate entrances, waiting rooms, service counters

• Separate parks, pools, train platforms

• City center hotels, restaurants, museums, theaters, libraries: White-only

ANC’s Program of Economic Advancement (1953)

• Push to gain legitimacy with poorer Blacks

• Make ANC less elitist

Defiance Campaign 1952

Response to Pass Laws Act & Dutch arrival (1652) anniversary

• More radical phase based on Youth League’s Program of Action (1949)

• Past methods unsuccessful

• Meant to force repeal of apartheid by:

  • Harnessing political potential of masses via civil disobedience

  • Burned pass books, used segregated facilities, entered White-only areas

  • Highlighted brutality of system to the world

  • Stretched legal system’s limits via jail packing

• Over 8,300 arrests & fines in July/August in Johannesburg, Port Elizabeth, East London

• National Action Committee (NAC) created to coordinate with SAIC & Franchise Action Council (FRAC)

• Mandela was volunteer-in-chief

26 June protests

• 2nd anniversary of Day of Protest deaths of 19 activists

• Pushed for repeal of six unjust laws via planned general strikes:

  • Pass Laws Act, Group Areas Act, Suppression of Communism Act, Bantu Authorities Act, Separate Representation of Voters Act, Stock Limitations Act

• Small defiance groups organized by Mandela, Walter Sisulu, Moses Kotane, JB Marks

• Women’s League and Black Sash (White women’s org) key to movement

• State response:

  • Criminal Law Amendment Act (1953): Whipping, longer sentences

  • Banned individuals via Suppression of Communism Act

    • Included Mandela, Sisulu, Luthuli, others

Successes

• 1st large coordination with other groups

• Set stage for mass movement: ANC grew to 100,000

• International legitimacy: UN Commission on the Racial Situation in the Union of South Africa

Failures

• No repeal of laws

• Gov’t more repressive (esp. post-1953 election)

• Strikes didn’t occur, violence grew beyond ANC control

• Low participation by rural, poor Blacks or Coloreds

• Liberal Whites viewed negatively

Petty/Grand Apartheid

Bantu Education Act (1953)

• Different school boards & curricula per race

• Black education under H.F. Verwoerd

  • Basic literacy/numeracy + technical skills (domestic, mining, manufacturing)

  • Mother-tongue in elementary; English & Afrikaans after

  • Only 3-hour classes, limited materials

  • 85% Black teachers unqualified

• Purpose:

  • Create subservience

  • Separate evolution of Africans

  • Implied African culture value but viewed Africans as backward

  • (Christian nationalism)

• ANC boycott in April 1955 largely ineffective

• Steve Biko’s Black Consciousness Movement: “Black is beautiful”

  • Called for self-reliance and pride

  • Biko beaten to death in police custody, 1977

Grand Apartheid

Grand apartheid initiated by HF Verwoerd

• More sophisticated

• Territorial segregation & African “independence” from SA

• Moral legitimacy amid domestic/international pressure

Natives Resettlement Act (1954) & Group Areas Development Act (1955)

• Forced removal from Sophiatown (near Johannesburg)

  • Blacks owned property

  • Cultural/political hub via bars/music halls

• Soweto grew to over 2 million people

  • “Matchbox” homes, no toilets/running water

  • 7–14 per home; low infrastructure, education; high commute cost

• Area replaced by Afrikaner suburb: Triomf

ANC Resist Apartheid Campaign (July 1954)

• Response to Western Areas Removal Scheme & Sophiatown evictions

• Luthuli under house arrest, 2-year ban

  • Unable to give address

• “We shall not move”

• Failed: Poor Blacks already unable to pay rent to Black landlords

Promotion of Bantu Self-Government Act (1959)

• Gov’t negated political responsibility for Africans

• Blacks not South African citizens

• Divided into 8 ethnic groups under White commissioner-generals

• Transkei Constitution Act (1963): Kaiser Matanzima (Xhosa Chief) as leader

• Elections maintained Pretoria control (security, foreign relations, banking)

• Transkei “independent” in 1976

  • Only Israel & Taiwan recognized

• Bantustans:

  • 13% land

  • 55% population

  • Poor, overcrowded, economically weak

Congress of the People (1955)

• Created to:

  • Form single popular front across races

  • Expand ANC with the poor

  • Draft Freedom Charter (constitution for democratic SA)

• Proposed by ZK Matthews & Chief Luthuli (1953)

• Joined: SAIC, Colored People’s Congress, SACP, Congress of Democrats (left-wing Whites), ANC

• Later joined by South African Congress of Trade Unions (SACTU)

• Held listening meetings nationwide

• Grievances & signatures for Million Signatures Campaign

The Freedom Charter (June 25/26 1955)

• Read at Kliptown

  • Luthuli & Matthews under house arrest; Mandela, Sisulu banned

• Called for:

  • End of apartheid

  • Non-racial, democratic gov’t

  • Equitable wealth/resource distribution

• Armed police raided, arrested delegates, seized documents

Treason Trial (1956–1961)

• Removed ANC leaders (Luthuli, Mandela)

• PAC formed under Sobukwe (1959)

• All acquitted through lawyer Bram Fischer (SACP)

Alexandra Bus Boycott (Jan 1957)

• Causes:

  • New compulsory passes for women

  • Sophiatown evictions

  • Pre-1948 boycott success

  • PUTCO fare raised by a penny (1 month salary/yr)

• Protest: “Azikhwelwa!” (“We will not ride”)

• Led by Oliver Tambo’s Alexandra People’s Transport Action Committee

• Spread to East Rand, Pretoria townships, Soweto

• 70,000 marched for 12 weeks

• Johannesburg Chamber of Commerce subsidized PUTCO

• White sympathy & media coverage

Sharpeville Massacre (March 21 1960)

• Origins:

  • 1959 ANC/PAC split

  • Sobukwe: Self-reliance, African beliefs

  • PAC hijacked ANC campaigns

• 5,000 demonstrators demanded arrest outside police station

• Chain reaction: officers fired into crowd for 2 minutes

• 69 killed (10 children), 186 injured

  • Dead were running away

Government response

• Verwoerd claimed majority supported apartheid

• Protestors coerced by ANC/PAC

• Declared state of emergency (30 March)

  • More protests & deaths

  • Thousands of ANC & PAC leaders arrested

  • Political meetings banned

• First international sanctions despite U.S./UK objections

• South Africa exited British Commonwealth (1961)

• ANC & PAC outlawed (Unlawful Organizations Act)

• Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK) formed in 1961 (Mandela, Sisulu, Tambo, others)

MK (Umkhonto we Sizwe)

• National High Command: Mandela, Sisulu, Joe Slovo, others

• Regional commands → cell cadres

• Included SACP members

• Sabotage: power stations, pylons, post offices, police stations, tax offices

• Rural guerrilla campaigns

• Planned agitation & strikes failed

• Sabotage slowed post-Sabotage Act (1962)

  • Punishment: 5 yrs to death penalty

Rivonia Trial (1963–1964)

• Liliesleaf Farm safehouse (Rivonia, Johannesburg)

• Mandela (“The Black Pimpernel”) arrested Aug 1962

• Raid found Sisulu & “Operation Mayibuye” plans

  • Called for countryside guerrilla war

• Mandela + 10 charged with treason under 1962 Sabotage Act

• Pleaded guilty to sabotage to show democratic struggle

• UN Security Council condemned trial

  • U.S., France, UK, Brazil abstained

• All sentenced to life at Robben Island

• Oliver Tambo became ANC/MK leader in exile (Zambia)

• Biko’s SASO & Black Consciousness Movement continued to 1976 Soweto Uprising