Apartheid in South Africa

Apartheid Policy under Dr. Hendrik Verwoerd

• Dr. Hendrik Verwoerd became prime minister in 1958 and refined apartheid policy into "separate development".
• The Promotion of Bantu Self-Government Act of 1959 created 10 Bantu homelands known as Bantustans.
• The Bantustans separated black South Africans from each other, allowing the government to claim there was no black majority and reducing the possibility of black nationalism.
• Every black South African was designated as a citizen of one of the Bantustans, supposedly giving them full political rights, but effectively removing them from the nation's political body.

Forced Removals and Land Dispossession

• The government forcibly removed black South Africans from rural areas designated as "white" to the Bantustans.
• The government sold their land at low prices to white farmers.
• Between 1961 and 1994, more than 3.5 million people were forcibly removed from their homes and deposited in the Bantustans.
• The forced removals led to widespread poverty and hopelessness in the Bantustans.

Forms of Resistance

• Non-violent demonstrations, protests, and strikes were forms of resistance to apartheid within South Africa.
• Political action and armed resistance were also used to fight against apartheid.

Early Resistance Efforts

• In 1952, the ANC and South Indian National Congress organized a mass meeting where attendees burned their pass books.
• The Freedom Charter was adopted in 1955, asserting that "South Africa belongs to all who live in it, black or white."
• The government broke up the meeting and arrested 150 people, charging them with high treason.

Sharpesville Massacre

• In 1960, the police opened fire on a group of unarmed blacks associated with the Pan-African Congress (PAC) at Sharpesville, killing at least 67 and wounding over 180.
• The event convinced many anti-apartheid leaders that peaceful means would not achieve their objectives.

Military Wings and Leadership

• The PAC and ANC established military wings, but neither posed a serious military threat to the state.
• By 1961, most resistance leaders had been captured and sentenced to long prison terms or executed.
• Nelson Mandela, a founder of Umkhonto we Sizwe, was incarcerated from 1963 to 1990, drawing international attention and support for the anti-apartheid cause.

Soweto Uprising

• In 1976, thousands of black children in Soweto demonstrated against the Afrikaans language requirement, leading to police crackdowns and international attention.
• The protests and government crackdowns shattered illusions that apartheid had brought peace or prosperity to the nation.

International Pressure

• The United Nations General Assembly denounced apartheid in 1973.
• The UN Security Council voted to impose a mandatory embargo on the sale of arms to South Africa in 1976.
• The United Kingdom and United States imposed economic sanctions on the country in 1985.

Reforms and End of Apartheid

• In 1985, the National Party government of Pieter Botha sought to institute reforms, including the abolition of pass laws and the ban on interracial sex and marriage.
• By 1989, Botha was pressured to step aside in favor of F.W. de Klerk.
• De Klerk's government repealed the Population Registration Act and most of the other legislation that formed the legal basis for apartheid.
• A new constitution, which enfranchised blacks and other racial groups, took effect in 1994, and elections that year led to a coalition government with a nonwhite majority, marking the official end of the apartheid system.