Backgrounders
 Elections
 It'l Sanctions
 Why You
Apartheid

Introduction
"Non-white"
 ANC
Mandela
Education
 Uprising

South Africa Today
Life Under Apartheid

Introduction

The election of Nelson Mandela in 1994 marked the first time all race elections were held in South Africa and the end of all white rule in South Africa. Prior to 1994 only White people held political control with the majority of people living in South Africa having little to no real representation in government. One word described the racist system that kept non-whites from political and social equality and became infamously know around the world: Apartheid.

 

The History of Apartheid

In 1910 the British parliament passed the Act of Union that brought British and Afrikaans colonies together to create a united and independent South Africa. Unfortunately the newly created country did not break from a tradition of discrimination and segregation. Instead these practices became even further entrenched as bills were passed to ensure white domination.

However, it wasn't until 1948 and the election of Dr. D.F. Malan's Nationalist Party that the concepts of apartheid became officially government policy.

Malan was victorious in the election, beating the United Party and its leader Jan Smuts, by portraying Smuts and the his party as too liberal, and not capable of dealing with the "swart gevar" (Afrikaans for "black peril"). In a country controlled by a white minority, fear tactic worked for the Nationalist and they managed a slender parliamentary majority.

From 1948 on, official apartheid principles were put into practical effect and Malan's government passed bills designed to maintain political, economic and social control by whites over non-white.

...apartheid was not a case of just 'I am white and I don't like blacks.' It was a complex system of social separation - called segregation under British rule. It was a system of cheap labour enforced by laws, social and industrial practices. There was also an ideology which justified it; whatever you did to question it, there was the pre-existing attitude, 'we are civilized and they are not'."

Denis Goldberg,
ANC Activist

External Website: Denis Goldberg:The struggle against Apartheid in South Africa" (external website)


The following is a sampling of bills passed by the Nationalist governernment meant to institutionalize apartheid in the South African political system:

Acts passed by the Government of South Africa between 1948 and 1991

1949: Prohibition of Mixed Marriages Act outlaws marriages of between members of different classified race
1950: Immorality Act prohibits sexual relations between whites and non-whites
1950: Population Registration Act; Group Areas Act; Suppression of Communism Act and Bantu Authorities Act
1951: Prevention of Illegal Squatting Act gave the "Minister of Native Affairs, Hendrik Verwoerd, powers to send "illegal" African tenants to resettlement camps.
1952: Abolition of Passes and Coordination of Documents Act: forces all Africans to carry a single pass book; ANC launches "Defense campaign"
1953: Separate Amenities Act: punishable offense for blacks to mix with whites on public property; Bantu Education Act; Criminal Law Amendment Act
1953: Promotion of Bantu self- Governing Act sets up ethnic "homelands"; cato manor (Durban) beerhall protests
1954: Resettlement of Natives Act allowed the government to move entire long established communities
Bantu Education Act forces Black students to follow an education system designed to teach only basic skill necessary for menial labour
1955: Native (Urban Areas) Amendment Act: extends control of the government on who can live in cities amd where they can live
1963: General laws Amendments Act permits detention without trial
1964: Black Labour Act tightens influx control

For a more personal point of view check out our interviews: