On your Left Side:

• Write down what you already know about South Africa and/or apartheid.

• Where do you know this information from?– Book you read– Movie you saw– TV program you saw

2014 Apartheid and South Africa

Early History of South Africa

On your Left Side:

• Diagram or draw out a timeline and write down the main events from the next couple of slides.

South Africa• In the 18th century

Dutch settlers, who called themselves Boers, began expanding toward the north and east.

• Believed they were predestined by God to claim this land.

• Gradually began pushing onto the interior.

Early HistoryA Time Line

• 1806 – British seize Cape of Good Hope• 1867 – Discovery of Gold• 1886 – Discovery of Diamonds• 1889 – 1902 – The Boer War (British and

Dutch settlers)• 1902 – The beginning of apartheid• 1990’s – The end of apartheid

South Africa• British gained possession of Cape

Colony in 1815; abolished slavery in 1833.

• Boers felt British policy destroyed their traditional social order, based on racial separation,

• Also believed it would undermine white predominance, which they saw as God's own will.

• British intrusion precipitated the “ Great Trek.”

• Starting in 1835 10,000 Boers (voortrekkers) moved northeast into interior and ultimately established Orange Free State and Transvaal.

1835: The “Great Trek”Feeling the British policy

destroyed their political and social order, based on racial separation and that white dominance was “God’s own will,”10,000 Boers, or Voortrekkers, left Cape Town to escape British rule on a 1,000 mile migration inland, known as the“Great Trek.”

South Africa• At time of white settlement of the Cape, Xhosa groups

were living far inland.• Since around 1770, they had been confronted with the

Trek Boers or Voortrekkers who approached from the west.

• Both Boers and Xhosa were stock-farmers. The competition for grazing land led first to quarrels between the two groups, and eventually it came to a number of wars.

• In the middle of the 19th century, all land formerly inhabited by Xhosa was in the hands of white settlers.

South Africa• Towards the end of 18th century, all over southern

Africa small tribal groups were amalgamating into larger communities.

• Not a peaceful process, but result of protracted wars. • Rise of Zulu Kingdom falls into this period. • Through incredible atrocities and cruelties Zulu

warrior Shaka gained control over a number of Zulu clans.

• Expanded his territory systematically as his warriors raided Zulu villages and burnt them down.

• Women and children gored to death; young men called up and chiefs tortured and forced into allegiance.

South Africa

• Voortrekkers failed to negotiate with Zulus secession of land for settling and grazing.

• They had endured a number of catastrophic assaults.

• Assembled at the Ncome River for a decisive battle on December 16, 1838.

• 464 Boers under command of Andries Pretorius defeated 10,000 Zulu warriors.

• Became known as the Battle of Blood River.

South Africa

• Boers did not ascribe military victory to technically superior armaments; interpreted it instead as a sign from God.

• Before battle, they prayed and made a vow that if God would grant them victory over Zulus, they would commemorate the event annually.

• Afterward they believed even more strongly that white predominance over blacks is God's own will.

Voortrekker Monument, outside Pretoria

South Africa• Port Natal (later re-named Durban) was a frequent port-

of-call for sailors and merchants and in 1823 a settlement started to develop.

• Zulus regarded Natal as their territory; tolerated white settlers, because port was useful as a trading post.

• When Voortrekkers came to Natal in 1836 fierce battles with Zulus occurred.

• Short-lived peace after Zulu defeat at Battle of Blood River in 1838.

• Soon British and Voortrekkers battled for Natal. • Ultimately, the British prevailed and in 1844, Natal

became a Crown Colony; the Voortrekkers retreated.

A Series of Boer Struggles

1838: Boers defeat the Zulu nation in the Battle of Blood River in their fight to obtain land the Zulu tribe was occupying.

1843: British take over Natal.

1852-1854: Boers travel further north and establish the Orange Free State and Transvaal as independent republics.

1870-1886: Diamonds deposits are discovered in Kimberley and gold deposits are discovered in Transvaal causing an influx of British immigrants and black Africans searching for work and fortune.

1880-1881: Anglo-Boer Wars

More struggles1899: Boer War erupted as a result of Afrikaaners upset

over Continual British migration inland to the mining regions.

1899-1902: British established Afrikaner civilian camps where epidemics broke out and killed 26,000 prisoners.

1902: Boers surrendered to British rule

1910: British award independence to South Africa. They believed only white to be capable of self-government. Blacks were barred from voting and Afrikaans was made the official language.

Road to Apartheid

A Country Divided

• White South Africans made up only 21.5% of the total population and of these, an English-speaking minority dominated government and business in the cities.

• Most whites were Afrikaans-speaking Boers, mostly farmers and still bitter about the war

• The majority black population, 67%, included many different groups of people including Zulu and Xhosa of the Transkei region. Other groups were much smaller.

• By 1910, black Africans owned less than 10% of a country their ancestors completely controlled.

• 1913, the South African Parliament passed a Native Land Act that limited the blacks’ ownership of land even more.– Apartheid placed restrictions on how people

could live. For example, black South Africans were made to live in tiny clusters of homes called townships.

Other Ethnic Groups

oColoureds: 9% of the population.

o Indian immigrants: 2.5% of the population.

Both groups had varying rights in the Cape, but were not treated as equals by most whites

The Native Homeland Actseparated different Africantribes into segregated areas. This act set aside7.3% of the country’s landAside as reservations andbanded black Africans from buying land outsidethese areas.

Road to Apartheid

In 1912, the South African Native NationalCongress (later known as the ANC – 1923)was founded to unite black Africans anddefend their interests.

In 1913, the Afrikaaner Nationalist Party was established.

ANC

• African National Congress (ANC) was created to aide in the civil rights movement.

Peaceful Protest

• 1912, a young Indian Lawyer living in Cape Town named Mohandas K. Gandhi became outraged after being thrown off the train for sitting in a “white’s only” seat.

• He organized a peaceful protest march, inspiring some black South Africans to form a civil rights organization.

Whites Asserting Control

• In 1924, the Labour Party defeats the South African Party.

• Led by James Hertzog, South Africa became more independent of British control and favored the interests of whites, especially Afrikaners.

• Afrikaans is confirmed as an official language along with English.

South Africa: Divided by Race

• Decolonization in South Africa was tainted by the clash between white and black citizens of the newly free country.

• The government that declared freedom from Britain was controlled by the white minority, largely descended from the Dutch Boers.

• These Afrikaners practiced the policy of apartheid (extreme racial segregation).

• South Africa is one of the world’s richest sources of gold and diamonds.

• Between the 60’s and 90’s, the white government of South Africa turned the country into the wealthiest, most modern, and most industrialized on the continent.

What is Apartheid?

Apartheid laws banned interracial marriages, and placed further restrictions on African ownership of land and businesses.

In the early 1900s South Africa was run by white Afrikaners—descendants of the original Dutch settlers. Even though South Africa had received independence from Great Britain in 1910, nonwhites in South Africa were not free under the Afrikaner government.

• 1948, racial discrimination heightened when Afrikaner-dominated National Party began to run South African government

• Instituted policy of apartheid, “apartness” in Afrikaner language

Apartheid

South Africa

• Apartheid policy divided into four racial groups: White, Black, Colored (mixed ancestry), Asian

• Attempted to create greater separation between whites, nonwhites, impose harsh controls

Racial Separation

Apartheid

• a method of “divide and rule” to counteract the so-called "black danger" Afrikaner rulers saw Africans as threatening to overrun or engulf them by their sheer numbers.

• Brutal racism: imprisonment, police killings and murder

Apartheid• “Apartheid” is a word meaning “Separateness”• Black South Africans, who made up 75% of the population, and other non-whitePeople lived under governmentinstitutionalized racial segregation from1948 to 1994.• Non-whites were stripped of citizenshipand necessities such as medical care andeducation.

What is Apartheid?

• Apartheid= separateness

• A policy of racial discrimination • Began in 1948 by South Africa’s

government• Black South Africans (more than

75% of pop.) were forced to live under strict segregation

HendrikVerwoerd

•Prime Minister of South Africa from 1958 until his assassination in 1966•“Architect of Apartheid”

Practice of Apartheid• 1. Legislation was passed prohibiting miscegenation (mixed-

race marriage)

• 2. Individuals were classified by race, and a classification board was created to rule in questionable cases. Different members of the same family found themselves in different race groups.

People were classified into 4 main groups:1. White2. Black3. Indian4. Coloured (mixed race)

3. The Groups Area Act of 1950 became the heart of the apartheid system designed to geographically separate the racial groups.

On your Left Side:

• Imagine you are one of the black non-citizens of South Africa.

• How would you feel about what is happening in your country? Why?

• What would you do about it? Why?

Apartheid Laws

• Under apartheid, only white South Africans could vote, hold political office

• Blacks made up nearly 75 percent of population, were denied South African citizenship

• Restricted to certain occupations, very little pay

Citizenship Denied

• Apartheid laws especially harsh on blacks in South Africa

• Required to carry passes, identity books

• Also faced imprisonment if police found them in an area for more than 72 hours without pass

Laws Harsh on Blacks

Apartheid Laws

Looking into Apartheid…

1948-Racism institutionalized

-Marriage between blacks and whites prohibited

-”white-only” jobs sanctioned

1950-Population Registration Act-Divided South Africans into white, black (Africans), and colored (mixed descent)

-Based on appearance, social acceptance, and descent

-Blacks-forced to carry “pass books” holding fingerprints, photograph, and information on access to non-black areas

The History of Apartheid in South Africa

• Prohibition of Mixed Marriages Act 55 of 1949, prohibiting marriages between white people and people of other races

• Blacks were not allowed to run a business in the areas that were meant for white South Africans.

Apartheid- Marriages and business

Some Rules of Apartheid

• Africans had to be legally classified (Black, White, Colored, Indian)

• Africans were not allowed to have interracial marriages

• Africans had to carry registration cards with their race indicated

• Africans had to be separated publicly (restaurants, hospitals, beaches, theaters, pools, restrooms, etc)

• Africans also had separate educational systems (lower standards for blacks)

Images of Apartheid

Apartheid No Rights for Non-whites

• No right to vote• No ownership of land• No right to move freely• No right to free speech• No right to protest the

government

1. THE POPULATION REGISTRATION ACT—grouped every South African into a particular “race” (white, Indian, Coloured, and Black). Only whites could vote. Those lower down on the list had fewer rights.

2. THE MIXED MARRIAGES ACT—made it a crime for any marriage to take place between whites and any other “racial” group. Only 75 marriages between blacks and whites had been recorded before Apartheid began.

3. THE IMMORALITY ACT—made it a crime for any sexual act to be committed between a white person and any other “racial” group. Between 1950-1985, 24,000 people were prosecuted for this crime.

4. THE GROUP AREAS ACT—divided South Africa into different areas where the different “race” groups could live. Of the 3.5 million people who had to leave their homes because of this act, only 2% were white.

5. THE PASS LAWS—made it mandatory for blacks to carry pass books at all times, which allowed them to have permission to be in a white area for a limited amount of time. Without their pass, they were arrested.

Apartheid Laws

Apartheid Laws• Trains and buses were segregated. Black buses,

known as "green buses”because they had a green marker on the front windscreen, stopped at black bus stops and white buses at white ones.

• 1st and 2nd class train carriages were for whites only. 3rd class carriages were for blacks only.

• Public beaches were racially segregated, with the best ones reserved for whites.

• Public swimming pools and libraries were also segregated.

• There were practically no pools nor libraries for blacks.

Apartheid Laws

• Black people were not allowed to employ white people.

• Black police were not allowed to arrest whites.

• Cinemas and theatres in "white areas“ were not allowed to admit blacks.

• Blacks were not allowed to buy hard liquor

Apartheid Laws

• Black Africans were prohibited from attending "white" churches

• Most blacks were stripped of their South African citizenship when the "homelands" were declared "independent".

• They thus were no longer able to apply for South African passports.

• Pedestrian bridges, drive-in cinema parking spaces, graveyards, parks, pedestrian crossings, public toilets and taxis were also segregated.

Apartheid separated

the whites from

the non-whites

What does Kaffir mean?

• The word Kaffir is an ethnic slur that is mostly used in Jamaica and South Africa.

• Referring to someone from Jamaica or South Africa as Kaffir would be the same as referring to an African-American person as the “N-word.”

• This usage and “strength” of Kaffir is fading away.

A Journey of Inequality1939-Representation of Voters Act weakened the political rights for Africans and allows them to vote only for white representatives.

1946-African mine workers are paid twelve times less than their white counterparts. Over 75,000 Africans go on strike in support of higher wages. Over 1000 workers are injured or killed before police violence forces them to end the strike

1948-The Afrikaner Nationalist Party gains control of the government and passed the first of 317 Apartheid laws, separating whites from blacks. 1951-The African National Congress (ANC), a political organization for Africans, encourages peaceful resistance to Apartheid Laws. The government reacts by arresting more people.

1950-1953-Multiple Apartheid laws are passed restricting the movement and rights of blacks and requiring pass books. From 1948-1973, over ten million Africans were arrested because their passes were not in order

APARTHEID:

A POLICY OF SEPARATENESS

AFRIKANER:A EUROPEAN DESCENDANT OF THE DUTCH

IN SOUTH AFRICA

COUNTERPARTS:PEOPLE ON THE SAME LEVEL, DOING THE

SAME WORK

Mine Workers in South Africa

Working conditions were terrible in the mines, with miners earning only a few dollars a day and being forced to be separate from their families

for months or years at a time.

Medical care and other public services and provided black people with service inferior to those of Whites

Practical separation of residential areasSeparation of public institutions e.g. schools and

hospitals.Separation of jobs, ”jobs for whites only”Separate use of facilities like toilets, chairs, bus stops,

stair-cases etc.Black buses stopped at black bus stops and white

buses at white ones. Trains, hospitals and ambulances were segregated

Apartheid-Public facilities and jobs

On your Left Side:

•Which of these laws makes you most angry? Why?

• On your Left Side:• What is the main

point the cartoonist is making about apartheid?

• How can you tell?

Homelands and Townships

By Mzoli Mncanca

1951 Bantu Authorities Act• Created basis for

ethnic government in African reserves or “homelands”

• Blacks had no rights in South Africa. Their rights were restricted to the so called “homelands”.

• The White Government had complete control over the homelands.

Homelands

• The Black majority were forced to live in “Homelands” that were similar to our Aboriginal Reservations.

• Black areas rarely had plumbing or electricity.

• In reality however, a majority of Black South Africans never resided in these "homelands."

Townships

• Apartheid placed limits on where blacks could live

• Required to live in impoverished areas of cities called townships

Citizenship

• Did not include good farmland, resources

• Used homelands as excuse for depriving blacks of citizenship

Further Segregation

• Restricted businesses allowed in townships, kept people poor

• 1950s, created rural “homelands” for tribes, groups

Aliens

• Men forced to migrate without families to work in mines, factories, farms

• Homeland policy made millions resident aliens in own country

Homelands

Bantustans or Homelands H. F. Verword, Minister of Native Affairs, later

Prime Minister, and Secretary for Native Affairs, architects of the policy.

• - transformed African reserves into “self-governing states,” “bantustans”, homelands.

- 1951 ruled out possibility of full independence for these states

- in 1959 that policy would change

The homeland policy was designed to maintain and strengthen white supremacy.

Homelands• “Reservations” or

“Bantustans”• Verwoerd established 9

African groups• Each was to become a

nation within its own homeland

• Africans had rights and freedoms

• Outside the homelands, treated as aliens

• Poor quality land with erosion

• Completely incapable of supporting large populations

Homelands

• Blacks would no longer be citizens of South Africa;

• rather, they would become citizens of the independent "homelands".

• In terms of this model, blacks became (foreign) "guest labourers" who merely worked in South Africa as the holders of temporary work permits.

Typical Homestead

Homelands

• Covered 13% of South Africa’s land area for 75% of its population.

• Economic development was outlawed.• The only work was in the white areas• Blacks were forced to live apart from

their families to work in the white areas where they had to carry Passes at all times.

Homelands

• Some eighty-seven percent of the land was reserved for whites, coloureds and Indians (20% of the population)

• About thirteen percent of the land was divided into ten 'homelands' for blacks (80% of the population)

Homelands

• In practice, this prevented non-white people — even if actually a resident in white South Africa — from having a vote, restricting their rights to faraway homelands that they may never have visited.

• Education, medical care, and other public services were sometimes claimed to be separate but equal, but those available to non-white people were generally inferior.

Homelands• Blacks could not live or work in white areas unless they

had a pass - nicknamed the 'dompas' ('dumb pass' in Afrikaans).

• Only blacks with "Section 10" rights (those who had migrated to the cities before World War II) were excluded from this provision. Whites also required passes in black areas.

• A pass was issued only to a black person with approved work. Spouses and children had to be left behind in non-white areas.

• Many white households employed blacks as domestic workers, who were allowed to live on the premises— often in small rooms external to the family home.

The township of Langa in Cape Town, showing the dormitory blocks built for

male workers

Rural vs. Urban

• Group Acts of 1950 & 1986

• 1.5 Million Africans were forced from urban areas to rural reservations

• 1961 – Pressure from UN caused South Africa to withdraw from the Commonwealth of Nations

Houses in Soweto, a black township.

Typical Squatter’s Camp

Umbulwana, Natal in 1982.

Called "a black spot" because it is in a "white" area.

Eventually demolished and the inhabitants forced to move to identically numbered houses in "resettlement" villages in their designated "homelands.“

Millions of black South Africans were forcibly "resettled" in this way.

On your Left Side:

• Using the previous pictures, imagine what a day living in the homelands would be like from getting up to going to bed.

• Explain.

Pass Books and Pass Checks

Pass Checks• Checks were performed

at random of any/all black Africans.

• Those without Pass were arrested and fined. If they couldn’t pay the fine, they were sent to work camps.

Courtesy of www.unitedstreaming.com

Checking Passbook

The Pass Book

• Needed special permits to live outside of reservations, but not with family

• Lived in Townships (the city’s perimeter)• Curfew regulations• Passbook raids• Failure to meet curfew or have passbook

= subject to arrest

Apartheid

• Blacks and coloureds had to carry identity documents (passbooks), which prevented them from migrating to white South Africa.

• Blacks were prohibited from living in (or even visiting) 'white' towns without specific permission.

• For Blacks, living in the cities was normally restricted to those who were employed in the cities.

• Direct family relatives were excluded, thus separating wives from husbands and parents from children.

Government Repression of the Blacks Becomes More Violent

The penalties imposed on political protest, even non-violent protest, were severe.

During states of emergency, anyone could be detained without a hearing by a low-level police official for up to six months.

Thousands of individuals died in custody, frequently after gruesome acts of torture.

Those who were tried were sentenced to death, banished, or imprisoned for life, like Nelson Mandela.

Severe Penalties for Protesters

1953- Public Safety Act and Criminal Law Amendment Act

• Gave government power to declare states of emergency, increasing punishments for protesting against or supporting repeal of a law: fines, imprisonment, whippings

• 1960-Government declared state of emergency when large group of blacks in Sharpeville refused to carry their passes– Emergency lasted for 156

days, 69 people dead and 187 people wounded

Photo and History: The History of Apartheid in South Africa

Repression (a general intro):• 1950s- more than 500,000 pass-law arrests

annually• 1950s- more than 600 inhabitants jailed as

communists; nearly 350 people “banned”• Increasingly ruthless methods used

starting in 1960s including routine torture, political assassination, house arrests, etc.

• Around 10,000 people arrested in early 1960s for political offenses, etc.

On your Left Side:

• Are there any rules we have today that you can relate to apartheid? What are they?

• Why do you think these types of rules keep on being created in various countries?

Education under Apartheid

Bantu Education Act• The 1953 Bantu Education Act was one of apartheid's

most offensively racist laws. • It brought African education under control of the

government and extended apartheid to black schools. 

• Previously, most African schools were run by missionaries with some state aid.

• South Africans were to receive an education designed to provide them with skills to serve their own people in the homelands, to work as maids, or to work in labouring jobs under whites.

Separate Unequal Education

Bantu Education Act of 1953• HF Verwoerd : “Natives (blacks) must be taught from an

early age that equality with Europeans (whites) is not for them.”• Student/teacher ratio

46:1-1955, 58:1 -1967• Overcrowded classrooms,

poor facilities, under-qualified teachers

By Mzoli Mncanca

Apartheid EducationBantu Education Act (1953) gave the central

government control over African education

"Native education should be controlled . . . in accord with the policy of the state . . . If the native in South Africa today in any kind of school in existence is being taught to expect that he will live his adult life under a policy of equal rights, he is making a big mistake . . . There is no place for him in the European community above the level of certain forms of labor." -Hendrik Verwoerd, Prime Minister

Education Under Apartheid

• Black people were not to receive an education that would lead them to aspire to positions they wouldn't be allowed to hold in society.

• Instead they were to receive education designed to provide them with skills to serve their own people in the homelands or to work in labouring jobs under whites.

Education Under Apartheid

• Bantu Education did enable more children in Soweto to attend school than the old missionary system of education, but there was a severe lack of facilities.

• Nationally public to teacher ratios went up from 46:1 in 1955 to 58:1 in 1967.

• Overcrowded classrooms were used on a rote basis. • There was also a lack of teachers, and many of those

who did teach were under-qualified. • In 1961, only 10 percent of black teachers held a

matriculation certificate [last year of high school].

Effects from Bantu Education Act

• The government controlled the non-whites' lives.• Blacks could not choose where to go to school,

where to live, what job to have, and they couldn't get medical care (or if they did, it wasn't good health care).

• When walking around town, blacks had to have passes to prove that they lived there and had a job.

With your partner on your Left Side:

• Compare and contrast the treatment of blacks in American before the abolishment of Jim Crow Laws to that of blacks in South Africa under Apartheid.

Education and Soweto• Because of the government's homelands policy, no

new high schools were built in Soweto between 1962 and 1971 -- students were meant to move to their relevant homeland to attend the newly built schools there.

• Then in 1972 the government gave in to pressure from business to improve the Bantu Education system to meet business's need for a better trained black workforce.

• 40 new schools were built in Soweto.• Between 1972 and 1976 the number of pupils at

secondary schools increased from 12,656 to 34,656.• One in five Soweto children were attending secondary

school.

Young school children in a classroom in the squatter camp of Cross Roads, South Africa, in 1979. (UN Photo# 143373 by Peter Magubane)

Conclusion: Key Facts

• The Bantu Education Act was one of apartheid's most offensively racist laws. 

• During this time the government controlled the non-whites' lives.

• In high school, blacks had to learn a language.• The riot in Soweto started off as a peaceful

march, but then changed into a violent riot.• Students in the 1970's and 80's were referred

to as the lost generation of South Africa because many blacks lost their education.

Education and Soweto• So when the Department of Education issued its decree that Afrikaans

was to become a language of instruction at school, it was into an already volatile situation.

• Students objected to being taught in the language of the oppressor.• Many teachers themselves could not speak Afrikaans, but were now

required to teach their subjects in it.• When the 1976 school year started, many teachers refused to teach in

Afrikaans. • But generally students were disparaging of the attitude of their teachers

and parents.• One student wrote to The World newspaper: "Our parents are prepared

to suffer under the white man's rule. They have been living for years under these laws and they have become immune to them. But we strongly refuse to swallow an education that is designed to make us slaves in the country of our birth."

Lost Generation of South Africa• Students of the 1970's and 80's are referred

to as the lost generation of South Africa. • They are often called this because the 1970s

and 80s was the time period that a lot of black South Africans lost their education. 

 

On your Left Side:

• With your partner, compare and contrast issues and problems with the American education system to that of education under apartheid.

Economics Effects of Apartheid

Most black men had to leave their homeland to find work in mines or factories.

Women raised whatever crops they could.

Economics of Apartheid

• Cheap (black) African labor force for work in mines

• Protection of skilled jobs for whites

• Enormous income discrepancies

http://www-users.york.ac.uk/%7Ead15/SApolitics.htm