The policy of apartheid was introduced in 1948 by Afrikaner Nationalists as a method to maintain their control of South Africa. Apartheid, an Afrikaans word, is translated into English as “apartness”[1]. The policy was cleverly disguised as a fair way for the people of South Africa to preserve their cultures[2]. In reality, however, it was just a way for the white people of South Africa to keep control over the Africans.
Before 1948, most of the laws and ideas that made up apartheid had already been introduced. The new political system put more force into regulating them, and the consequences of breaking these laws were more severe. It was “achieved and sustained only through force, creating human misery and deprivation and blighting the lives of millions”[3].
The leader of the Afrikaner Nationalist Party, James Barry Hertzog, was referred to as the “father of apartheid”. He believed that white people were superior to Africans, and that their supremacy could not afford to be challenged by giving Africans equal rights[4]. These rights included the right to vote, which left Africans with no political voice, and the right to fair work and wages[5]. Hertzog described apartheid as “a policy of good neighbourliness”[6].
The whites believed that they had to act as “guardians” for the Africans, that the black people of South Africa didn’t know what was best for them, and so needed to be pointed in the right direction by whites[7].
By the time apartheid was introduced as government policy in 1948, all the groundwork had been laid. The Africans had been oppressed for centuries, and now all the ideas that had kept them under white power became laws. To make matters worse, the Dutch Reformed Church backed apartheid, saying Afrikaaners were God’s chosen people, and so deserved to be treated as superior beings[8].
Over the next couple of years, the laws of apartheid were introduced. All throughout South Africa, areas were set aside for the different races. This meant “the separate and unequal division of all public facilities such as buses, beaches, swimming pools, post office counters, sports fields, cinemas, theatres, toilets, cafeterias, park benches. ‘Whites only/Blankes Alleen’ signs defined racial access or lack of access”[9].
Though Africans made up 70% of the population, only 13% of the land of South Africa was given to them for their homelands, or “Bantustans”[10]. In these Bantustans, Africans were promised separate government and independence from the whites. However, the homelands were used by whites to divide and conquer the Africans, who would not only be separated from the Afrikaaners, but also from each other[11].
“The Africans would lose their existing rights in white areas in return for a promise of self-government in the reserves”[12]. Because Africans were supposedly given an independent government system, they had to no say in the white government who controlled the whole of South Africa. This meant that the natives had no political voice, and no way of voting out the Nationalists.[13]
The capital of South Africa, Cape Town, was a little less strict when it came to enforcing the laws of apartheid. For instance, blacks and whites were allowed to ride the same bus, but the African’s were always seated at the back.[14]
“Wherever white encountered black, white was boss and black was servant. Indeed, whites were conditioned to regard apartheid society as normal, its critics communists or communist-sympathisers.”[15]
The idea was for the Africans and the Afrikaaners to develop separately, and so keep their cultures pure. However, a lack of government funding left Africans well behind whites in every aspect. Schools were just run-down sheds, and African children were only taught necessities. They were being trained for the unpleasant, physical jobs that whites didn’t want to do. Many believed that because Africans were never going to get a chance to use special knowledge, they shouldn’t be taught anything other than the basics.[16]
After 1948, more laws separating the races were introduced. A year after apartheid became government policy, the Prohibition of Mixed Marriage Act made marriage between people of different races illegal. A year later, it was also a crime to have sexual relations with a person of another race. Also in 1950, people were classified in racial groups, based entirely on physical appearance.[17]
All African males were forced to carry passbooks which identified who they were, where they were allowed to work, and even where they were allowed to die. The use of pass books meant the government was able to control the movement of Africans. If an African male failed to provide a passbook outside of his homeland, the result was imprisonment. Over ten million Africans were arrested for breaking pass laws.
Unless they could prove that they had either lived in the area since birth, worked for the same employer for more than ten years, lived there lawfully for fifteen years, or had been contracted to do a specific job, African’s were not allowed to spend more than 72 hours in a “white zone”. [18]The whites managed to keep the Africans dependent on them by making sure they relied on the economic power that the Afrikaaners had. The separate development meant that Africans had to focus on survival rather than challenging white power.[19]
In 1994, apartheid was overthrown by the African National Congress, led by Nelson Mandela.[20]
Whites used many tactics to maintain their control of South Africa, all of which came under the government policy of apartheid. They arrested, killed, and separated families just to keep themselves in power. Apartheid was alive for 46 years, and finally ended in 1994.
[1] DECV Unit 2 History: Power and People, page 1.3
[2] DECV Unit 2 History: Power and People, page 1.27
[3] Eminent Persons Group Report (http://www.anc.org.za/ancdocs/history/commonwealth/eminent.html)
[4] E. Pascoe, South Africa, Troubled Land, Franklin Watts New York 1992 (1987) p 60
[5] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Barry_Munnik_Hertzog
[6] Famous Assassinations, The History Channel (Foxtel), screened 18/11/08
[7] G. Cronje quoted in A. Sparks, The Mind of South Africa.
[8] DECV Unit 2 History: Power and People, page 4.8
[9] B. Gillian, The Struggle for Freedom, p.10
[10] Apartheid in South Africa, United Nations report, UNESCO Courier 1965
[11] DECV Unit 2 History: Power and People, page 4.22
[12] In Anatomy of Apartheid, United Nations, p.3
[13] DECV Unit 2 History: Power and People, page 5.8
[14] DECV Unit 2 History: Power and People, page 4.18
[15] L. Thompson, A History of South Africa, p.200-201
[16] DECV Unit 2 History: Power and People, page 4.19-20, 5.15-16
[17] DECV Unit 2 History: Power and People, page 4.13
[18] DECV Unit 2 History: Power and People, page 4.17-18
[19] DECV Unit 2 History: Power and People, page 5.13
[20] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apartheid
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