History of Aparteid

Apartheid is defined as a system of racial segregatin. Apartheid in South Africa were enforced by legislation by the national party governmetnts, who were the ruling party in South Africa from 1948-1994. The ideas of apartheid reflect the thought of white supremecy. Non white political representation was completely abolished in 1970, and soon the natives lost their citizenship and were forced to become new citizens of  one of ten self-governed homelands called “bantustans”. The govermnets soon began to segregate almost everything.

 Women and sports under apartheid

                Women faced even more struggle when they were faced with apartheid. Women were not allowed to have legal rights, they were given no access to education, and were not allowed to even own property. Marriage ad birth laws were also heavily controlled; in an attempt to restrict the African birth rates, the government and the pro-apartheid  Dutch Reformed Church monitored the rates. Sports were also effected by apartheid, the football association o f South Africa was split up into the (white) south African football association, the south African indian football association, the south African African football association, the south african coloured football association  and the south African bantu football association. The lack of unity in the nation and made the national morale go down severly. Soon internartional teams began to boycott the South African games which had a huge effect on the population of white South Africans.

Registration Act and Racial Laws

The apartheid acts of 1948 made discrimination a day to day activity. Race laws were everywhere, from the Prohibition of Mixed Marriages Act of 1950 and allowing “white only” jobs. The populations Registration Act of 1950 required all South African citizens to be classified as either black(African), white, or colored(mixed descent). The way that each category was determined was by the apperance, social acceptance, and descent. All blacks were required to have “pass books” that contained their fingerprints, photo ID’s and information on access to non-black areas on hand at all times, or they were punished harshly. 

The Homeland System

Non white political representation was completely abolished in 1970, and soon the natives lost their citizenship and were forced to become new citizens of  one of ten self-governed homelands called “bantustans”. The govermnets soon began to segregate almost everything.

In 1958, the govermnent of South Africa attempted to make South Africa into a number of different states, in an attempt to create different nations for different ethniciteies. Under this new system, blacks were no longer considered to be south african citizens and were forced to become part of the newly formed homelands. During the 1960’s-1980’s the government of South Africa created a new policy called, “resettlement” which was used to force citizens to move to their newly designated area. The removals included people being relocated because of slum clearance, living in”black spots” or areas of black owned land surrounded by white owned farms, and the “surplus”  people from urban areas. The Group Areas Acts of 1950 forced 55,00 coloured and indian people to move to new areas of South Africa. In total, narly 600,000 coloured, indian, and chinese people were forced out of their homes. 

Nelson Mandela's Imprisonment 1956-90

Nelson Mandela is viewed as the figurehead of South African forces behind the end to apartheid.  He joined the African National Congress in 1943 where he stressed the importance of equality for all races, not just the wealthy blacks if South America. Dedicated to non-violent protest, Mandela traveled around Africa and taught volunteers about peaceful response to police. Soon, police started to raid the homes of people who were involved in these non-governmental organizations. Mandela was arrested for treason in 1956. Mandela fled the law and disguised himself as many people, yet spoke in secret about the unity of all South Africans, or Pan- Africanism. When the Government finally caught Mandela, he was sentenced to 5 years of prison time. He was sent to Robben Island, which was known for its torturous tactics.

            The Government soon found out about all the work that Mandela had done during his time as a refuge.  His sentence was changed from 5 years to a lifetime. “Mandela considered the struggle in prison a microcosm of the struggle in the country”. Mandela became a martyr of sorts while he was in prison. Many uprisings supported the Free Nelson Mandela campaign. Pressure mounted on the government and finally, in February of 1990, President Frederik Willem de Klerk announced the Nelson Mandela would be released. 

Social Structure in South Africa

In South Africa under the apartheid rule, Caucasian-South Africans were a majority even though South Africa’s population was mostly black South Africans. South Africa is not only consisted of whites and blacks but minorities also include Inkatha, Zulus, Indians, and blacks from two independent homelands. In addition, there are nine more tribal groups that speak dialects of the main languages. The population of South Africa is about 35 million, out of the population 28 million are black.

Present day South Africa has a population with more than 50 million people and a wide variety of cultures, languages, and religious beliefs. In present day South Africa Africans are the majority, making up 79.5% of the population. White and coloured people make up 9% and the remaining 2.5% are the Indian and Asian population.The African population is made up of four broad groupings which include The Nguni, The Sotho-Tswana, The Tsonga, and The Venda. South Africa is a
multilingual country with over 11 languages spoken throughout the
country. The majority of South African’s are Christian followed by a
small percent of Islamic, Hinduism, African tradition belief, and
Judaism beliefs.

Sharpeville Massacre of 1960

The movements of black South Africans have been restricted by pass laws since as early as the 1920s. The apartheid- supporting National Party government used these laws to impose greater segregation. The African National Congress (ANC) decided to construct protests going against the pass laws. On March 21, between 5,000 and 7,000 protestors marched towards the local police station in Sharpeville. The protestors offered their lives up for arrest in exchange for not carrying their pass books. Later the crowd grew to about 19,000 people throwing policemen off guard. Sabre jets and Harvard Trainers drew near the protest flying low over the crowd, protestors responded by throwing stones hitting three people. Police tried to arrest a suspected ringleader and warmed their men to lad firearms in case of an emergency. The warning threatened protestors, which led them to scatter everywhere. The shooting began shortly after a police commander was trampled on the ground. In total there were 69 fatalities. 

Steve Biko 1960's/70's

In 1973, angered by low wages, inflation, and unrest from black workers, there were a series of illegal strikes. During the first few months of 1973, there were more than six hundred illegal strikes held in Duban, a city in South Africa. Soon, work stopages and unrest eventually spread all over the country. The govermnent eventually responded after four years  establishing the Wiehahn Commision of Inquiry to investigate the horrors of black labour. In 1979, the state took action and offered legal recgnition to black labor workers.

            In the late 1960's the founding of the Black Consciousness movement helped to fuel the rebellion of the black citizens of South Africa.

Steve Biko followed Nelson Mendela in his courageous fight of Africans against apartheid in South Africa. While studying at the University of Natal, Biko helped found the South African Students Organization (SASO). In the early 1960s the National Union of South African Students (NUSAS) was based around white campuses. The Organization included the unification of university students in a “black consciousness,” awareness of one’s identity as a black person. Biko was elected the first president in 1968, and the SASO slowly evolved into the Black Consciousness Movement. The BCM was an active anti-Apartheid movement emerged out of the political turmoil created by the jailing and banning of the African National Congress. The BCM represented a social movement for a political consciousness. The BCM attacked traditional white values and refused to engage in white liberal opinion.

Mandela's Release 1990

After 27 years in prison, Mandela was finally released from prison on February 11^th, 1990. He was 71 years old and was finally a free man. Black people in South Africa still could not vote but it would not be long before Mandela would change that. On that day, he made a large speech to the nation. His mission had not changed since his imprisonment. He addressed the fact that he was dedicated to a peaceful way of living among the countries white minority. His overall goal was declared when he said that he wanted the black population to have equal rights amounts in all levels of governmential elections.

For the  4 years after his release, Mandela had several conferences with the ANC. These negotiations had started the end of apartheid in South Africa. Mandela and President de Clerk signed an agreement that generally stated that there would be a new constitution drafted. They were both honored for this effort when the were presented with a Nobel Peace Prize.

He was elected president in 1994. The elections were the first that had a black candidate. His presidency was one that brought about many changes in South Africa.

South African Economic History

Currently, South Africa's economy ranks 29th in the world, its economy is also the largest in all of Africa. Around 25% of the population is unemployed, and about the same amount lives on less than $1.25 a day. The key economic sectors of South Africa include mining, agriculture, fishing, vehicle manufacturing, food processing, and textiles. Because of apartheid, the national party divided the economy into a priveleged, well treared white one, and an impoverished black one.  In 1994 South Africa held its first multi-racial election, with the African National Congress winning the vote. Evenually, inflation was brought down and public finances were stabalised, but growth was near nonexistent. The current president in 2000, Thabo Mbeki, attempted to promote economical growth and forgein investment, and reaxing restrictive labour laws. Mbeki's ideas faced strong opposition from organzed labour groups. After 204, economic growth picked up rapidly.

            South African unemployment dates back to the 1970's, with a gradual rise throughout the 1980's and 1990's. The high unemployment raes coincide with the with inadequete education, poor health, and crime. As of 2010, 29.8% of blacks were unemployed, 22.3% of coloured people were unemployed, 8.6% of asians were unemployed, and 5.1% of whites were unemployed. Ever sine 1994, for everyb one emigrant that comes to south africa, 10 unskilled people lose their jobs.

            There is also a large amount of tension between South African natives and immigrants. The thought is, is that the new immigrants wil steal the natives jobs and increase the ever large unemployment rate. The South African Immigration policy has become increasingly restrictive since 1994.