During Apartheid
DEFINITION
Apartheid (literally "separation") is the term that defines the racial segregation policy established by the South African government in the post-war period, until 1993. It was declared an international crime by the United Nations General Assembly in 1973.
THE POLITICAL SITUATION DURING APARTHEID
“Apartheid” took a political meaning during the Second Boer War thanks to Jan Smuts (Prime Minister of South Africa from 1919 to 1924 and from 1939 to 1948). In 1917, convinced of the racial superiority of settlers from Holland (called Afrikaner) he coined the term apartheid which became a system of government after the victory of the National Party in 1948.
The fight against this regime was led by the African National Congress (ANC), a party born in 1912 to defend the rights of the black majority. From 1947 this party began a collaboration with the Indian party founded by Gandhi. From 1952 to 1967 the ANC was chaired by Albert John Lutuli. Since the 1960s, the ANC has focused mainly on special passports for blacks, with numerous sabotage actions. Lutuli was succeeded by Oliver Tambo who, in 1944 together with Mandela and Walter Sisulu, was one of the founders of the ANC Youth League. In 1952 he founded the law firm "Tambo and Mandela" with Mandela, offering legal assistance to many Africans.
In 1956 Mandela was arrested on charges of high treason along with 150 other people. At the end of the trial, which lasted almost 5 years, all the defendants were acquitted. On 21 March 1960 Afrikaner policemen shot at a group of unarmed African demonstrators in Sharpeville, killing 69 people and injuring 180. This massacre raised a wave of protests in Cape Town, and before the order was restored there were more than 10,000 arrests. Mandela went to violence with the armed wing Umkhonto we Sizwe ("sword of the nation").
In 1962 Mandela was arrested again on charges of high treason along with other ANC leaders, and in 1964 he was sentenced to life imprisonment. Meanwhile, the South African authorities resorted to increasingly stringent measures against protesters and the outcome of this policy was the international isolation of South Africa.
The situation was addressed by President Frederik Willem De Klerk, Afrikan leader of the National Party, who on 2 February 1990 rehabilitated all political groups opposing the regime, including the ANC. Nelson Mandela was released on February 11, 1990.
In 1991 the path of dialogue began. The elections of 27 April 1994 saw the victory of the ANC with 62.65% of the votes, however, below the two-thirds threshold necessary to amend the Constitution. Since then, the ANC has governed the country continuously, first with Nelson, then with the presidents Thabo Mbeki, Kgalema Motlanthe and Jacob Zuma.
LAWS AND ACTS
MINES AND WORK ACT (1911)
This act included various regulations which gave "white workers a monopoly of skilled operations".
NATIVES LAND ACT (1913)
The act decreed that whites were not allowed to buy land from natives and vice versa. That stopped white farmers from buying more native land. The native areas left initially totaled less than 10% of the entire land mass of the Union.
NATIVES URBAN AREA ACT (1923)
It segregated urban residential space and created “influx controls” to reduce access to cities by blacks.
PROHIBITION OF MIXED MARRIAGE (1949)
It prohibited marriages between "Europeans" and "non-Europeans". Enforcement of the act was left to the police, who often followed people to their homes to ensure they were not in violation and raided the homes of those believed to be in a mixed marriage.
IMMORALITY ACT (1950)
It prohibited extramarital sex between white people and people of other races. In its original form it only prohibited sex between a white person and a black person, but then it was amended to apply to sex between a white person and any non-white person. To enforce the law, the police raided private homes.
POPULATION REGISTRATION ACT (1950)
It required that each inhabitant of South Africa be classified and registered in accordance with his or her racial characteristics as part of the system of apartheid. Here were four racial classifications under the law: Black, White, Coloured (mixed) and Indians
BANTU EDUCATION ACT (1953)
Permanently separate school systems for black and white. Even universities were made "tribal", and all but three missionary schools chose to close down when the government would no longer help support their schools.
