A Brief History of Apartheid

As we began working on this project, it occured to me that there may be U.S. citizens who visit this site but are uncertain about some of the history of apartheid in South Africa. This worry was confirmed when I got home and sat down to dinner with a friend to talk about my trip. I asked, "How much do you know about apartheid?" And the answer was, "Well, it happened...and people weren't treated equally?" Honestly, most of us who took WGST 591 probably didn't know a great deal about apartheid before the class either. Therefore, this post is intended to help fill in many of the historical details that the average reader may not know. The words below are from the apartheid exhibit in the Mayibuye Archives at the University of the Western Cape. They are not the full story (nor are they even the full text of the exhibit) but they give a brief explanation of this horrific period in South Africa's history.

Colonial Conquest

The modern apartheid system emerged from a long history of colonial conquest, dispossession and economic exploitation. When European settlers arrived at the southern tip of Africa in the mid-seventeenth century, established black communities were living there. The settlers soon expanded and spread, dispossessing the indigenous inhabitants of their livelihood. Their aggressive policies were met by successive wars of resistance. These inhabitants were eventually overcome by the superior armed forces of the settlers. It was not until the beginning of this century that armed opposition to colonial expansion was finally ended.

Cheap Migrant Labour

The discovery of gold-bearing reefs in the Transvaal in the 1880s led to rapid industrialisation, shaped largely by the requirements of white mine owners and farmers. A vast labour force was needed and so a system of migrant labour was created. The colonial governments imposed heavy taxes on the African population, forcing them to work on the mines to earn cash money.

People Dispossessed

By that time most of the land had been taken by the white settlers and those who had formerly occupied it were reduced to tenants or forced to work as wage labourers in the mines and towns. They often lived and worked under harsh and brutal conditions.

ANC Formed

The African National Congress (ANC) was formed on 8 January 1912 as a "parliament" for the excluded black South Africans. It was dedicated to forging national unity between Africans across tribal divisions and defending African rights. The ANC led protests against the increasing restrictions imposed on Africans by the white minority government in the form of letters of appeal, deputations and petitions were ignored.

Union of South Africa

In 1910 Britain handed the administration of the country over to the local white population. The "whites-only" constitution of the Union of South Africa entrenched the privileges of the white population and paved the way for the removal of constitutional and other rights of black people. The new government used the 1913 and 1936 Land Acts as a basis for its 'bantustan' or 'homeland' policy. The Land Acts set up 'reserves' (later called bantustans or homelands). Africans were zoned to 13% of the land area of South Africa. They were not allowed to buy land outside these areas. The system for regulation and controlling black labour to keep down labour costs was extended by moving Africans to the 'bantustans' and calling on them as migrant workers when needed. These workers were controlled by pass laws and labour bureaux. Unlike white workers, they were not free to seek work where and when they liked.

Nationalist Party Comes to Power

By the 1940s, the effects of minority rule and segregation were being felt throughout the country. Whites dominated every sphere of social life. The National Party came to power in 1948 and introduced its policies of apartheid. They passed a host of new laws which enforced segregation more strongly than ever before. Eventually more than 300 apartheid laws controlled every aspect of black people's lives, from where they could be born to which cemetary they had to be buried in.

Group Areas and Forced Removals

In the case of Coloured and Indian South Africans, the Nationalist government's main instrument was the famous "Group Areas Act", which enforced the separation of groups. Whole communities were destroyed when people were evicted from their homes. Most of them had no choice but to settle in poorly-constructed, overcrowded substitute townships far from the city centres. District Six, the heart of the Coloured community in Cape Town was demarcated for removal under the Group Areas Act. Between 1966 and 1976 Coloured and Indian families were removed. But until the houses of District Six were actually bulldozed, or bought up by white property developers many evicted families clung tenaciously to the shreds of their past amongst the ruins of their community.

Sophiatown about four miles from Johannesburg, was a community where people regardless of colour lived together harmoniously. This community produced leading journalists, writers, musicians and politicians. Black people could buy and own properties here. They did not need official permission to live there, and there was no fence or Bantu superintendent. However, the very existence of Sophiatown as a 'mixed' suburb was in contradiction to apartheid policy. In 1953 the suburb was scheduled for removal, and all black residents had to move to the new location of meadowlands, to rows of tiny barrack-like houses. Protest against the Sophiatown removals were vigorous. The ANC mobilised people around the popular slogan 'Asihambi - we won't go'. On 10 February 1955, 2000 armed police entered Sophiatown before dawn. Faced with the military power of the apartheid government, resistance to the removals crumbled and the once vibrant community was torn apart.

Defiance

Parliamentary avenues for protest were closed as first Africans in the Cape, then Coloureds and Indians had been stripped of the vote. This forced people to resort to more organised forms of resistance. Protests and campaigns against apartheid legislation led by the ANC developed, involving ever-increasing numbers of people.

The first national strike and mass stayaway in response to the massacre of 18 people on May Day took place on 26 June 1960. Two years later the Defiance Campaign was launched. Thousands of 'volunteers' from all communities deliberately offered themselves for arrest by breaking petty apartheid laws. Blacks entered through 'Whites-only' entrances and rode in 'Whites only' carriages; Indians, Coloureds and Whites entered the black townships.

Freedom Charter

This was the antithesis of Apartheid: a programme for a non-racial democratic state, adoped at the Congress of the people on 26 June 1955, a gathering at Kliptown near Johannesburg of nearly 3000 delegates drawn from all over the country.

Treason Trial

The National government regarded the Freedom Charter as a treasonable document, and 156 people, all leaders of the Congress Alliance, were charged with treason in a trial which lasted from 1956 to 1961. All the accused were acquitted as a result of effective legal defence.

Sharpeville Massacre

On 21 March 1960, in Sharpeville near Johannesburg, 69 were killed and 178 were wounded while demonstrating against the pass laws. The massacre sparked off countrywide, as well as international  outrage.

State of Emergency

The government declared a State of Emergency and arrested more than 20 000 people. In the face of relentless repression of peaceful opposition, the liberation movement realised that armed struggle against apartheid was unavoidable. The ANC military wing, Umkhonto we Sizwe (the Spear of the Nation), was formed. The Pan-Africanist Congress (PAC) formed Poqo.

ANC Forced Underground

The liberation movement was banned and driven underground and Mandela, Sisulu and other leaders were imprisoned. Other activists left the country. Those in exile started building the liberation movement abroad. This included rallying international support against apartheid, as well as training soldiers for armed struggle. Open and organised opposition internally had been effectively stopped by the army and police.

Black Labour Movement Grows

For a while it seemed as if apartheid repression had succeeded in subduing dissenters. During the 1960s the economy had boomed. The Whites grew richer and new industries were set up. But during the 1970s South Africa entered a recession. Many workers were laid off and poverty increased. The black labour movement took shape. In 1973 dockworkers in Natal went on strike despite the anti-strike laws, and a nation-wide wave of strikes followed.

Black Consciousness Movement

In this period the black consciousness movement emerged. Its driving force was the South African Students Organization (SASO). One of its early leaders of Steve Biko, who died in September 1977 while detained by security police. SASO stressed ideas of black self-determination and pride in black historical and cultural identity. It mobilised black students and intellectuals against the apartheid education system.

1976 Uprising

Protests about education developed into a sustained uprising during 1976 and 1977. The protests were sparked off by the enforced use of Afrikaans as a medium of instruction in African schools, but soon developed into a country-wide protest against apartheid in general. In spite of brutal police action, in which hundreds of black school children were killed the protests were sustained for more than a year, and broadened beyond education, drawing in wider sections of the black community.

MK Grows

In October 1977 all black consciousness organisations were banned. During this period thousands of young people left the country to join the ANC's military wing, Umkhonto we Sizwe. Armed actions against the police and army increased and encouraged opposition to white minority rule.

1984 Uprising

In 1984 a national uprising once more swept the country deepening the political and economic crisis of the nationalist government. The government detained leaders of many mass-based organisations (eg. UDF, Trade unions, Civics etc.). Thousands of soldiers and police were deployed in the townships, especially in the Vaal triangle. Over 150 people were killed, mostly as a result of police action. In Sebokeng more than 7000 police and troops were involved in military-style operations against the residents of the township. In protest, a mass stayaway from work and school was organised, backed by organised labour. The stayaway was supported by half a million workers. The stayaway tactic became a major form of resistance, with at least 16 such actions in 1985. Unrest swept the country as people responded to police and army killings with mass funerals and demonstrations, which in turn were attacked by the police or army and so fuelled further resistance.

Another State of Emergency

In July 1986 the government declared a State of Emergency and by the end of that year thousands of people were detained and arrested. During 1986 the government intensified its attack on anti-apartheid organisations, using emergency powers to detain, harass, arrest and restrict leaders and activists. The smallest form of protest was ruthlessly broken up by force and hundreds were shot dead. Over 40 000 people were estimated to have been detained or arrested, while restrictions on meetings and other activities were imposed on over 200 organisations. Anti-apartheid activists became victims of assassination squads. Despite state violence, however, resistance continued. Armed ANC actions were increasingly linked to community struggles, and increasingly organisations demanded the ANC's unbanning.

1989 Defiance Campaign

The 1989 defiance campaign started with a hunger strike by detainees, which forced the release of most of them. Hundreds of thousands of people took to the streets in defiance of bans, went for treatment at segregated hospitals, poured onto 'whites only' beaches, marched in the streets in carefully organised protests. Organisations and individuals defied restrictions, declaring themselves 'unbanned'. After the release of some ANCE leaders in October, mass rallies were addressed in the name of the ANC, the ANCE had effectively unbanned itself.

Mandela Released

In 1987 the ANC had declared its willingness to negotiate with the government if conditions permitted. In February 1990 in the face of ever increasing resistance and sanctions and pressure from the international community to create a climate for negotiations the government was compelled to legalise the ANC, PAC, the South African Communist Party and other restricted and banned organisations. Nelson Mandela was released shortly afterwards and he addressed the massive ANC rallies around the country.

A Crime Against Humanity

The United Nations General Assembly began to consider the question of apartheid as early as 1952, and in 1966 it condemned apartheid as 'a crime against humanity'. It also condemned South Africa's main trading partners, including Britain, France, Germany and the United States for collaborating with the apartheid government by consistently blocking a range of sanctions against South Africa, including the oil embargo. The governments of Israel and other countries such as Taiwan and Chile had close links with South Africa and supplied and exchanged military expertise and equipment with the apartheid government despite an international arms embargo.

The developments which took place at the UN were reflected in almost every field of international relations. Solidarity groups and anti-apartheid movements were established in most countries, involving thousands in international campaigns for the release of Mandela and other political prisoners; the strengthening of the international isolation of South Africa and general support for the ANC as the alternative to apartheid.

1994 Elections

Apartheid, with its policy of 'separate development' and white domination, has long perpetuated the myth that people in South Africa are different, with different lives, different futures, different destinies. But apartheid has affected every aspect of the lives of the people of South Africa, black and white. We share the same history, and the same future.

Democratic elections mark the end of centuries of colonial domination and apartheid rule. But the vote alone is not enough. The new constitution, underpinned by non-racism and the Bill of Rights, simply provides a foundation for change. Although apartheid laws might be abolished, the legacy of racism and prejudice will need to be combatted for many years to come.

Real change will only come about as a result of a determined national effort by all South Africans to improve the quality of life of all those disadvantaged by apartheid, and to build a just society free from violence and racism, based on equality, tolerance and understanding.