Transcript South Africa Apartheid - Dr. Charles Best Secondary School

South Africa
Apartheid
History 12
Ms Leslie
*** Disclaimer***
Some of the language in this lecture could be
thought of as racist. It is no longer acceptable
to use the term ‘coloured’ to describe some
ones ethnicity. The term will be used in this
lecture as it was the official legal term used in
the apartheid to describe some one of mixedheritage and ethnic Asians. The term will be
in quotations to illustrate that it refers to the
laws placed on the people defined by the
term. Students should also put the term in
quotations in their notes, essays and tests to
show that they know this is a historical term
to describe the apartheid laws and not
something acceptable by today’s standards.
Definitions
Apartheid – the institutionalized
racism practiced by the government of
South Africa after 1948.
Boer is the Dutch word for farmer.
Were Dutch Calvinist settlers who
came to be known as Afrikaaners
Nationalists - Party of the Whites
African National Congress (ANC)- Party of
the Blacks
Afrikaans - language spoken by the boers
 The Union of South Africa was created in
1910 when the Boer, Dutch and British
colonies merged.
 Whites held power in the new Dominion,
despite only being 15% of the population.
 The white minority themselves was racially
divided between British settlers and Boers.
 Boers comprised of 2/3 of the Whites and
would determine the development of South
Africa.
 Most whites did not approve of racial
equality, by the Afrikaaner Nationalists,
led by Dr. Malan were of the opinion that the
whites were a master race intended by God
to rule over inferior non-whites.
 This view was upheld by the official state
church, the Dutch Reformed Church.
 When Malan contests the 1948 election, he
promised to save whites from the ‘black
menace’.
 Malan won the election and
began to put in place a system
to formally segregate South
African society.
 The work was continued by
Prime ministers Stijon (195458),
 Verwoerd (1958-66)
 and Vorster (1966-78)
Verwoerd
Apartheid existed in 2 forms; ‘petty’
and grand’.
 Petty apartheid is a series of small
laws that affect everyday life.
Grand apartheid is the official policy to
separate blacks in to ‘Bantustans’ or
homelands.
Blacks were forced to live in separate
areas - Bantustans– reserves in the
rural areas and separate townships in
urban locations.
Blacks were also forbidden to use
white services. Separate schools,
buses, trains, benches, cafes, shops,
hospitals, beaches, sports and
churches were mandated
 Pass Laws demanded that everyone carry
an identity card which specified their racial
classification – white, ‘coloureds’ or black.
 Non-whites were restricted to their own
areas except when going to work.
 The police enforced this rigorously.
‘coloureds’ were classified as mixed-race
people and ethnic Asians (Indians, Malays,
Filipinos, and Chinese)
Inter-racial marriage was forbidden –
to preserve the ‘purity’ of the white
race.
Again, the police strictly enforced the
law.
Only in the mid 1980’s was this law
repealed.
Bantu Self-Government Act
established seven African reserve
areas, called Bantustans
(homelands), which were to be
granted independence.
Least desirable areas - 13% of South
Africa
Homelands were slums
Used to strip citizenship rights from
blacks
 In 1976, the first homeland
was given independence,
Transkei, followed by
Bophuthatswana and
Venda in 1980.
 The rest of the world did
not recognize these
‘states.’
 Their independence was
meaningless given their
100% dependence on
South Africa economically
Opposition of Apartheid
The shocking fact about Apartheid was
that is happened in a democratic
country. It was also fully entrenched
into the laws of the country.
Most whites accepted the
government’s condemnation of all
opponents as ‘Communist subversives’
who would be punished under the
Suppression of Communism Act.
UN’s Position
1952 condemned the Apartheid system
1980’s declared the system a crime against
Humanity
African National Congress
 Lead by Chief Albert
Luthuli
 organize illegal strikes
followed by Civil
disobedience like
having blacks enter
non-white shops and
public facilities.
 The government
responded with arrests
and beatings.
1957 bus boycott
thousands of blacks walked the ten
miles to and from work from their
townships for three months until a fare
increase was dropped.
Sharpeville - 1960
Black homeland near Johannesburg
A Pass Law protest was broken up by
police firing on the crowd. Killing 67
15,000 arrests were made.
The African National Congress (ANC)
was banned
Police able to arrest with out warrent
Luthuli was awarded for his peaceful
protests with the Nobel Peace Prize in
1961.
 Few believe the official account of
this death, that he deliberately
stepped in front of a moving train,
given the number of ‘accidents’ that
happened to black South African
leaders since that time.
International
Opposition
 In 1960, on a state visit to South Africa,
British Prime Minister MacMillan spoke
out against Apartheid, saying ‘the wind of
change is blowing across the continent.’
 In 1961, at the Commonwealth Conference,
South Africa faced intense criticism.
 Verwoerd (South African Prime minister)
pulled out of the Commonwealth rather that
face probable expulsion.
UN Opposition
 repeatedly called for South Africa to give up
the mandate of Namibia, but South Africa
ignored the demands white extending its
policy of Apartheid to it as well.
 In the General Assembly a vote called for
sanctions against South Africa in 1962, but
many countries were reluctant to follow
through as they felt business was more
important
Britain, the USA and France were vocal
in condemning South African actions,
but felt that South Africa was too
strategically important to allow it to
fall into instability.
 South Africa was also a key customer
in the international arms market.
 Nelson Mandela, an
ANC member, was
jailed in 1962 for
civil disobedience.
 He would remain in
jail until 1990,
becoming a symbol
for the oppression.
Soweto - 1976
 Transvaal (a province)
educational authorities decided
to make Afrikaans the official
language of instruction, rather
than English angered blacks,
who regarded Afrikaans as the
language of oppression.
 School children demonstrated
and at Soweto township, near
Johannesburg, 200 blacks,
mostly children were killed
when police fired on the crowd.
 Another 375 were killed at
other protests
 You can tell they’re
school children from
their uniforms
 Black activist Steve Biko,
‘accidentally’ died while in
police custody in 1977.
 How he accidentally beat
himself to death remains a
mystery.
 He had participated in the
Soweto protests
Soweto results
Youth became involved with the liberation
process
ANC adopted ‘Total Strategy’ where they
sabotaged SA cities
More civil disobedience, strikes, boycotts
and violence
Matters grew worse because of the
Portuguese pull-out from Mozambique
and Angola, allowing guerilla groups
the opportunity to launch cross border
raids into Namibia and South Africa
from these territories.
Zimbabwe’s independence left all of
South African’s northern border areas
at risk.
To combat this, South Africa supported
anti-government forces in Angola,
Zimbabwe and Mozambique, causing
civil war in all of them.
 launched commando raids against
black African groups as far away as
Zambia.
 South African Army units were known
to be operating in Angola regularly.
 Nationalist Prime Minister
P.W. Botha stated ‘a
revolution is South Africa
is No longer just a remote
possibility, either we
adapt or we parish.
White domination and
legally enforced apartheid
are a recipe for
permanent conflict.’
 followed his 1979 speech
with legislation that
removed some hated
aspects of apartheid.
Non-whites now allowed to join unions,
marry whom ever, take certain skilled jobs
Some felt this was too little a move
the pass laws and policy of
establishing homelands continued.
Most Africans regarded Botha’s
liberalization as a little more than
window dressing.
1980’s
 The security forces clamped down
increasingly – perfecting their
techniques and gaining increasing
state acceptance of their brutal and
even illegal tactics.
Things get worse…
The 1984 constitution accorded limited
political power to ‘coloured’ people but
continued to completely exclude
blacks from legal political activity.
Funerals for those who have met a
violent death came to be the venue for
massive political demonstrations, and
frequently the security forces broke
them up with massive use of force.
Media coverage of such events lead to
such a public out cry against such
events that in the late 1980’s that
South African government finally
decided to go beyond the limitations
on freedom of speech granted by the
banning laws to forbid any reporting of
political dissent whatsoever.
 Black protest from outlawed ANC
speaker Oliver Tambo, Churchman
Bishop Desmond Tutu or the
leaders of the so-called front line
states increased the international
pressure on South Africa.
 American and British firms now
found that their stockholders
demanded that they pull out of South
Africa, reducing the economic
stability.
1985
Canadian PM Mulroney used USA president
Reagan to put limited sanction son SA
Botha responded by restricting freedom of
foreign press
1986
The entire British Commonwealth wanted
to impose strong sanctions, Thatcher
refused
Change at last!!!
 new President, an Afrikaaner –
F.W. de Klerk.
 met with imprisoned ANC leader,
Nelson Mandela in 1989.
 How ever, the big breakthrough
occurred in 1990 with the lifting
of the 30 year ban on the ANC
and then the release of Mandela.
The world was shocked by the actions
of de Klerk.
 He quickly moved to reduce
apartheid, freeing ANC prisoners,
desegregating beaches and opening
up Free Settlement Areas, open to all
races.
What brought
change?
Sanctions were taking their toll on the
economy.
By 1985 Foreign investments had
dried up. Paying off the national debt
was an increasing burden Particularly
with the economy growing at only
0.8% in the mid 1980’s
brain drain as White South Africans
left in increasing numbers.
Apartheid resulted in huge
discrepancies in educational spending,
with 6 times as much, per capita,
going to White students as Black.
Blacks were not educated enough to
replace white workers
policing the system was extremely
costly and the price of apartheid was
rising
The Dutch Reform Church started
condemning Apartheid
Change not with out
danger
 risk of civil war.
The state security apparatus would
never approve of the total dismantling
of apartheid if it was to result in a
black majority rule.
The ANC and other Black organizations
feared that Whites have no intention
of granting majority rule.
As the 80’s wore on, the South African
economy floundered as it sought to
get around international trade
sanctions, enforce apartheid and pay
for its military intervention in Angola
The final catalyst for change came,
oddly enough, with the collapse of the
Soviet Union.
Apartheid supported had long claimed
that the ANC and other Black
organizations were communist fronts
and that South Africa and the West
could not risk the loss of the country
to the Soviet sphere.
In February, 1990, in a speech before
the parliament in Cape town, de Klerk
set in motion the end of apartheid.
 He noted that sanctions had made
‘people realize that they were in a
dead end street.’
 He announced a radical reform
programme.
Nelson Mandela was released from prison
and the apartheid laws repealed, one after
another – The Group Areas Act, the
Population Registration Act, and the Lands
Act.
 the state of emergency was lifted.
More political prisoners were released from
prisons and exiles returned from abroad.
 in 1990, Nelson Mandela replaced an ailing
Oliver Tambo as President of the ANC and he
agreed to sit down with de Klerk to plan the
future of their nation jointly.
 A majority of whites assented to these
negotiations in a 1992 referendum – but
extremists from both the White and the
Black communities tried unsuccessfully to
derail the process.
In 1993 a new, interim, constitution
was approved and in 1994 the
historical first universal suffrage
election was held.
Every adult, over the age of 18 could
vote.
The homelands were also abolished
and 9 new provinces established.
Human rights were guaranteed.
 The new parliament drafted a new
constitution.
 Mandela and de Klerk were
recognized for their efforts when they
were awarded the 1993 Nobel Peace
Prize.
1994 election
ANC took 63% of the vote, winning
majorities in 7 of 9 provinces and
gaining 20 cabinet seats.
The National Party won 20% of the
vote, took 7 cabinet positions and had
a majority in Western cape Province.
 The Zulu Ikatha Party took 10% of
the vote, 3 cabinet seats, and had a
majority in Kwazulu/Natal Province
Mandela became President in an
atmosphere of euphoria.
45 heads of state attended his
swearing in, along with
representatives of many other nations.
Hopes were high for a renewed South
Africa, where whites, ‘coloureds’ and
blacks could live and work side by side
in harmony.
 Black expectations of an immediate
increase in their standard of living was
impractical - even impossible to
achieve.
 The expected flood of foreign
investment did not happen.
Whites were suspicious of the new,
black administration and they feared
for their property and businesses and
understood that the prospects for their
children were poor in the new world of
affirmative action hiring
 Though most trusted Mandela, they
were wary of his successors.
Truth and Reconciliation
Commission
Led by Desmond Tutu
set up to be a venue where people
could arrive at the truth of what had
happened in the bad old days
former security chief Pik Botha and
Mandela’s former wife Winnie, both
have been accused of terrible crimes
and both are completely unrepentant
Commission hears complaints and decided
whether or not to pursue charges or grant
amnesty to foster healing and prevention of
repeating the past
The loss of skilled whites continues to
hurt the struggling South African
economy and though life improves for
most blacks, the improvements are
small and far less than was promised
in the heady days of the early to mid
1990’s.
Conclusion
Few expected the transition to black
rule to be as peaceful as it was.
Sanctions are more a dim memory and
the country is rich in strategic
resources.
Standards of living are the highest in
Africa – for blacks too, though there is
still a huge chasm separating blacks
and whites economically.