Apartheid in
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South Africa
December 2013
Apartheid
in
The w o rd ‘ a p a rt h e i d ’ m eans ‘separ a t e n e s s ’ i n S ou t h Afri ca’s ma i n l a n gu a ge, A fri ka a ns.
I
By Grace Chung
South Africa The
Beginning
n 1948, the National
Party gained power in S o u t h A f r i c a a n d introduced new laws that discriminated against the black South Africans.
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In 1948, the National Party defeated the United Party and apartheid became law. The effect of apartheid was immediate, forcing many black South Africans out of their homes and into areas that lacked many things the areas for the whites had.
Segregation laws w e r e p r e s e n t b e f o r e apartheid was introduced, but apartheid enforced the present laws and introduced new and harsher ones. During apartheid, the white A f r i c a n s r u l e d a n d controlled most of the land in South Africa. Everything during apartheid was segregated by the race, such as education, medical care and even benches. Apartheid was a time that proved to be terrible and difGicult for the blacks, which no human should have to suffer through.
Education
D
u r i n g a p a r t h e i d ,
education was separated. The whites had their own separate schools and so did the blacks and Indians. However, in many cases, the black and Indian children were put together into the same school, as there weren’t enough pupils. Their schools had small per capita expenditures, which was around 200 rands for each school, whereas the schools for the white children had much larger per capita expenditures, with around 1000 rands for each school. Many blacks and Indian c h i l d r e n o n l y r e c e i v e d education up to primary s c h o o l , w h i l e i t w a s mandatory for white children to attend school up to the age of 15.
A
E ff e c t s
partheid affected many
of the people in South Africa. Whereas for the whites, that meant better jobs and wealth for them, it meant adversities and difEiculties for the black South Africans. The Group Areas Act affected thousands of people, forcing many to leave their homes because the area they lived in was assigned to the whites. Whole communities were f o r c i b l y r e m o v e d a n d transported to new areas away from their old homes. Their new areas lacked many things, such as electricity and plumbing. When the black South Africans were forced to leave their homes,
many black farmers lost their land and the land was sold to white farmer for low prices. T h e P o p u l a t i o n Registration Act, established in 1950s, classiGied the different races of the South Africans. The three original groups were White, Bantu (black South Africans) and Colored (mixed race). Later on, another group was added: Indians. This act not only caused the separation of different races, but families as well. In some cases, the parents of a family could be classiGied as white, and the children would be classiGied as colored..
Resistance
E
v e n w i t h t h e
strong and constant rebellion against the apartheid, its laws remained for around 50 years. During apartheid, riots and protests were common, but the National Party crushed most. However, that did not stop many black Africans from trying. The resistance to apartheid took many forms from the 1940s to the 1970s. I n t h e 1 9 5 0 s , t h e resistance took non-‐violent forms, with the blacks breaking certain laws they deemed wrong. The peaceful protests included the blacks staying out after the curfew the government set for them. However, in the 1960s, black South Africans began take things further and turned to violent ways.
End
of
Apartheid
I
n the 1980s, President
Pieter William Botha revoked
many of the laws of apartheid, but that was not enough. Unrest stirred again, and riots came back as well. In 1990, President Fredrick Willem de Klerk lifted the ban on the African National Congress and helped set an anti-‐ a p a r t h e i d a c t i v i s t , N e l s o n Mandela, free from prison.
In 1994, apartheid ofGicially ended when Nelson Mandela was elected as president of South Africa in an election where all South Africans were allowed to vote, regardless of race.
To d a y During apartheid, the blacks suffered very much because of their skin tone, when no one should be judged by how they look. The children suffer when they could not go to school. The adults suffered when they lost their jobs and land. Entire families suffered when they were forcibly removed f r o m t h e i r h o m e s a n d separated in some cases. Although apartheid ended in 1994, there is still racism today. There are children as well as adults that are hurt everyday because of their skin tone. Please help raise awareness about racism and remember what Michael Jackson once said in his song, Black or White, “I’m not going to spend my life being a color.”
Bibliography America: www.history.com/topics/apartheid
postcolonialstudies.emory.edu/apartheid www.brainpop.com/socialstudies/worldhistory/apartheid
United Kingdom: www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/africa/features/storyofafrica/12chapter6.shtml
South Africa: www.sahistory.org.za/article/land-labour-and-apartheid