South Africa & Apartheid

Unusual Colonial History

Colonialism usually represents a struggle between a

group of colonized resisters and a single group of

colonizers.• South African colonialism represents a

struggle between two sets of colonizers: • The Dutch (strictly exclusionary)• The British (relatively accommodating)• The Dutch and British are struggling with

each other, but also struggle with the resisters: the Natives

Arrival of the Dutch

• The Dutch colonized the Cape of Good Hope in 1652 (the southernmost part of South Africa).• The bulk of black people were located

further inland and were quickly conquered.• The Dutch colonizers saw South Africa

as an African “New World” and saw themselves as white pioneer settlers and proclaimed themselves “Afrikaaners”

Arrival of the British

• The British seized the Cape colony in 1806.• A century of struggle• Tensions escalated when British started sending

settlers in 1820• British settlers also saw the country as

permanent home

The Great Trek

• Finally, in 1835 most of the Afrikaners headed northeast to re-establish communities on their own terms• They began battling with the black population• Afrikaners were well established by 1841, but

still had tension with British

Comparison between British & Dutch Colonialism

Dutch (Afrikaner):• Concerned with establishing an

egalitarian democracy amongst themselves

• Thought they could retain control over their policies only if they could exclude non-Afrikaners (esp. blacks) from citizenship

• Established states in the interior through conquest, and rejected any possibility of black inclusion – their principle was “no equality in the church or state”

British:• Not racially inclusive• BUT open to “extending”

the rights of citizenship (right to vote) to blacks that were able to acquire property and a British education.

• For vast majority of the black people, British were no different from Afrikaners, BUT for the tiny black elite, it made a world of difference.

• Anglican church wanted to recruit the colonized

Union of South Africa

• Boer War: British defeated the Afrikaners in a 1899-1902 war & incorporated them into a policy that became the Union of South Africa in 1910.• Significant autonomy and representative

institutions granted for whites and qualified blacks• Racial discrimination fact of life from day one!• Land Act of 1913

The Black Elite

• The leaders dressed, talked and acted like British gentlemen• The African National

Congress (ANC) was formed in 1912 by this black elite• This resistance placed

stress on the conscience of the British colonizer

African National Congress

• ANC prepared to oppose the Land Act and turned to the Crown for help• For 30 years, the Crown did nothing to help

them.

Afrikaner Resentment of the British

• Resented the economic and cultural domination of the British• More Afrikaners in the country but the British

were better off• Afrikaners largely farmers• South Africa was now British dominion &

Afrikaners did not want to fight for Britain

Afrikaner Resentment of the British

• British mine owners decided to replace largely Afrikaner white workforce with Blacks (cheap labor).• Afrikaners’ status worsened as did their

resentment of British and Blacks

National Party

• Afrikaners decided to organize themselves and channel their anger through a political party• The National Party founded in 1913 to promote

Afrikaners in business & politics• Founders were moderates – wanted to

cooperate with British• The NP also formed a more militant group:

Broederbond

The Broederbond

• Protestant men only• By invitation only-In theory, it existed to promote Afrikaner culture

and Calvinist religion-In practice, it promoted Afrikaner supremacy• Party split in 1934 – militant Daniel Malan

became the leader

Rise of the National Party

• Daniel Malan was the 4th prime minister of South Africa and stood for Afrikaner supremacy• Mobilized popular support• NP won elections in 1948.

Remained in power until the shift to multi-racial democracy n 1994.

The National Party Era

• Democracy for a few!• Used public resources exclusively for

advancement of Afrikaners• Packed military and bureaucracy with supporters• Adopted policy of Apartheid (separateness);

passed laws that completed separation of the races

Apartheid Legislation

Population Registration Act (1950) defined allpeople as one of four racial categories:Whites: people of European origin with no trace of other

blood in their familiesColoreds: includes people of mixed racial origin but also

descendants of Malaysian and others brought to South Africa as slaves

Asians (Indians): colonial IndiaAfricans (Blacks): everyone else whose family roots were

on the continent

Apartheid Legislation

• Prohibition of Mixed Marriages (1949) & Immorality Acts (1950) banned marriage and sexual relations across racial lines• Native Laws Amendment Acts (1953) only Blacks

who had been born there could live legally in urban areas• Extension of University Education Act (1959)

prohibited Africans from attending the three major universities

Apartheid Legislation

• Reservation of Separate Amenities Act (1953): separate, segregated facilities

• Suppression of Communist Act (1950): allowed state to ban people from political life

• Pass Laws: required Africans to carry internal passports when outside their homelands

• Employers used these laws to enforce work discipline

“Separate Nations”

• Hendrik Verwoerd became Prime Minister in 1958• In 1961, South Africa

declared a republic• Shifted emphasis from

racism to his theory of “separate nations”

The “Homelands”

• Areas of rural South Africa set aside as “homelands” for black population• Supposedly given a degree of self-gov’t• The NP argued that blacks could enjoy the vote

in their homelands• Homelands were less than a tenth of South

Africa’s most infertile land and had puppet gov’ts

The “Homelands”

• Divided South Africa into different states:-Blacks citizens of impoverished “homelands”-3 million sent to “homelands”-Rest of country became first world, white majority state-Forced relocation into urban areas: part of Johannesburg

was flattened; 60,000 residents forced into a new slum, Soweto• Chief objective was to deny non-whites the fruits

of white labors: commerce and industry

• “…the white man, therefore, not only has an undoubted stake and –and a right to- the land which he developed into a modern industrial state from denuded grassland and empty valleys and mountains. But – according to all the principles of morality – it was his, is his, and must remain his.”

-Hendrik Verwoerd

Political Opposition to Apartheid

• In 1940s, the ANC Youth League insisted that appeals to Crown were implausible• They offered a

change to mass demonstration and civil disobedience

The colours of the ANC flag are black, green and gold. Black symbolises the people, green the fertility of the land, and gold the mineral wealth beneath the soil. These colours were adopted by the ANC in 1925.

Nelson Mandela

• Born in 1918• Studied at all-black Fore

Hare University• Expelled for participating

in political demonstrations• Finished his B.A. by

correspondence, earned law degree in 1942. One of first Africans to practice law in S. A.• Joined ANC and helped

form the Youth League in 1944

Politics of Mass Demonstration (1950s)

• ANC had support but little organization• Earlier campaigns centered around issues

important to elite• Held Defiance Campaign• Police harassment/ignored by government

The Congress of the People (1955)

• ANC held on June 25& 26, 1955• Adopted the Freedom

Charter, a vision for a united, non racial and democratic South Africa

Crowd at Congress of the Crowd at Congress of the People (1955) to adopt People (1955) to adopt

CharterCharter

The Freedom Charter (1955)

• The people shall govern• Equal rights for all groups• Share country’s wealth• Share land• Enjoy equal human rights• Work and security• Equal education and culture• Housing, security and comfort• Peace and friendship• BBC Video on APARTHEID

The Sharpeville MassacreMarch 21, 1960

• The regime constantly harassed ANC• Young ANC leaders came to doubt that

nonviolence was the answer• Mass demonstration turned into armed

resistance• A large crowd of South Africans assembled in front of the

Sharpeville police station to protest the “pass laws.” Tensions escalated: the crowd threw rocks at police and the police retaliated with gunfire. 60 protesters were killed, 180 wounded. Some were shot in the back while trying to flee

Sharpeville Massacre

Politics of Armed Resistance (1960s)

• After the Sharpeville Massacre, te ANC built a new military wing headed by Nelson Mandela• They launched a sabatoge campaign• The regime used violence to ban the ANC and

arrest its leaders• Nelson Mandela was arrested and spent 27 years

in prison

White Opposition to Apartheid

• Small but vocal: The Progressive Party• Helen Suzman was a leader

who spoke out against discrimination• Tried to improve conditions

of political prisoners• White opposition

newspapers denounced apartheid

South African Students Organization

• Young black activists moved away from non-racial ideology towards black consciousness• Steven Biko founded

SASO in 1969• Philosophy was black

assertiveness, unity, and reliance in trying to end the White rule

“We know that all interracial groups in South Africa are relationships in which whites are superior, blacks

inferior. So as a prelude whites must be made to realize that they are only

human, not superior. Same with blacks. They must be made to realize

that they are also human, not inferior."

Steven Biko

Cry Freedom• Film about Steven Biko’s

death• Based on Donald Woods’s

book, Biko

Cry FreedomStudents will be able to:•understand how apartheid destroyed families and divided a nation •unravel the motives behind apartheid •articulate how awareness breaks down ignorance and leads to enlightenment •show how protest and human sacrifice are for the greater good •connect the struggle for apartheid to the struggle for civil and human rights in other nations

Banning Laws A Banned Person could be/have •imprisoned without trial •sent to any other part of the country •followed and watched by police 24 hours a day •forbidden to speak in public •forbidden to travel •forbidden to be in a room with more than one person at a time (excluding immediate family) •forbidden to attend or join any organization •forbidden to protest or oppose any government policy •their passport taken away from them •their home or any other premises searched without a warrant •their home electronically bugged

Soweto Uprising• On the morning of June 16, 1976, thousands of students Soweto

gathered at their schools to participate in a student-organized protest demonstration. • The cause for the march was student opposition to a decree

issued by the Bantu Education Department that imposed Afrikaans as the language half the subjects in higher primary (middle school) and secondary school (high school). Since members of the ruling National Party spoke Afrikaans, black students viewed it as the "language of the oppressor." Moreover, lacking fluency in Afrikaans, African teachers and pupils experienced first-hand the negative impact of the new policy in the classroom.

Soweto Uprising• Policemen stopped the students and tried to turn

them back. At first, the security forces tried unsuccessfully to disperse the students with tear gas and warning shots. Then policemen fired directly into the crowd of demonstrators. Many students responded by running for shelter, while others retaliated by pelting the police with stones.

• That day, two students died from police gunfire; hundreds more sustained injuries during the subsequent chaos that engulfed Soweto. The shootings in Soweto sparked a massive uprising that soon spread to more than 100 urban and rural areas throughout South Africa.

Amy Biehl• It was supposed to have been one of Amy Biehl's last

days in South Africa. In only three days was scheduled to return to the United States. An idealistic Stanford graduate, Amy was completing a 10-month course of study as a Fullbright exchange scholar at the University of Western Cape Community Law Center where she had helped to develop voter registration programs for South African blacks and women as that nation's first all-race elections approached in April, 1994. Amy was scheduled to continue her promising academic career the following week as a new graduate student at Rutger's University in New Jersey. Amy never made it back to the United States alive.

• On August 25, 1993, while Amy was driving three black colleagues back to Cape Town's Guguletu Township, a group of youths pelted her car with stones and forced it to stop. Dozens of young men then surrounded the car repeating the militant Pan Africanist Congress chant, "One settler [white person], one bullet!" Amy was then pulled from the car, struck in the head with a brick as she tried to flee, and then beaten and stabbed in the heart while she lay on the ground. During the attack, Amy's black friends yelled that she was a "comrade" and friend of black South Africa to no avail. Amy was carried back to the car after the attack by her friends who then drove her to the nearest police station where she died. Amy was 26 years old at the time of her murder.

Mass Resistance in 1970s

• In 1976, black school children protested against discriminatory education policies – police fire on the children.• Triggers a violent conflict in Soweto – more than

600 killed• Steven Biko was arrested for encouraging the

protests – died in police custody on Sept. 12, 1977• Journalist Donald Woods broke story about Biko’s

execution. Hollywood made a movie Cry Freedom.

United Democratic Front

• 600 civil society groups came together in 1983• Committed to non-

racialism as a strategy• Resisted to the 1983

constitution that offered colored and Indian people a role in parliament but excluded Blacks

International Community

• South Africa banned from Olympic games in 1960s• United Nations suspended South African membership in

1974• U. N. imposed arms embargo in 1977 & declared

apartheid a crime against humanity• American universities divested themselves of stocks in

companies that did business in South Africa• Many American corporations pulled out of South Africa• Banks refused to roll over loans• In 1985, U. S. Congress passed a bill that outlawed

further investment in South Africa

South African Gov’t Response

• Reshaped the parliament: big chamber for whites and two smaller chambers for coloreds and Indians.• -white supremacy preserved• Blacks (3/4 of population) got no representation• Indians and coloreds understood that these

institutions were shams and boycotted elections• Pass laws lifted

South African Gov’t Response

• NP gov’t grew more repressive• Crime continued and grew• Gov’t declared state of emergency• Political Stalemate:

-gov’t could only rule with force-Opposition too weak to overthrow gov’t

• Leadership of ANC and NP began secret negotiations (including with Mandela, even though he was in prison)

Changes had to be made…

• Fredrik Willem de Klerk came to power in 1989. In 1990 he “unbanned” the ANC and other anti-apartheid groups• Nelson Mandela released from

prison in 1990• In 1991, the Land Acts and

Registration Acts were abolished• New constitution in 1993• First non-racial elections held in

1994 with Nelson Mandela being elected president.

Under Mandela’s rule

• Served 5 year term• Focused on social issues neglected during

apartheid era: unemployment, housing shortages, crime• Reintroduced South Africa to global economy• Created Truth and Reconciliation Committee

(under Archbishop Desmond Tutu)• Lack of Political violence under Mandela

Characteristics of South African Writing• Plot is LEAST important• Setting, atmosphere, characterization, and theme are MOST

important• Very little dialogue between characters• Most themes are social and political• The main purposes are to inform and persuade

Themes in South African Writing-Reuniting family and nation-Reconciliation between fathers and sons-Tensions between urban and rural societies-Vicious cycle of inequality and justice-Relationship between Christianity and injustice

South African Literature

• Cry the Beloved Country, by Alan Paton in 1948• Chinua Achebe, Nigerian author of Things Fall Apart• Mark Mathabane wrote Kaffir Boy, his autobiography

published in 1986• Nadine Gordimer, author of “The Train from Rhodesia”,

Crimes of Conscience, Berger’s Daughter, various short stories

• Ethnic groups as of 200979.3% Black

9.1% White9.0% Coloured2.6% Asian[4]

• 11 official languages listed in the Constitution• 25% unemployment• Agriculture - products: corn, wheat, sugarcane, fruits, vegetables; beef, poultry, mutton, wool,

dairy products• Industries: mining (world's largest producer of platinum, diamonds, gold, chromium),

automobile assembly, metalworking, machinery, textiles, iron and steel, chemicals, fertilizer, foodstuffs, commercial ship repair

South Africa TodayDemographics and Natural

Resources

Johannesburg

Soweto

Cape Town