History of South Africa in the Apartheid era

 

Apartheid in South Africa
Events and Projects
Sharpeville Massacre · Soweto uprising Treason Trial Rivonia Trial · Church Street bombing CODESA · St James Church massacre
Organizations
ANC · IFP · AWB · Black Sash · CCB Conservative Party · PP · RP · PRP PFP · HNP · MK · PAC · SACP · UDF Broederbond · National Party · COSATU
People
P.W Botha · Oupa Gqozo · DF Malan Nelson Mandela · Desmond Tutu · F.W. de Klerk Walter Sisulu · Helen Suzman · Harry Schwarz Andries Treurnicht · HF Verwoerd · Oliver Tambo BJ Vorster · Kaiser Matanzima · Jimmy Kruger Steve Biko
Places
Bantustan · District Six · Robben Island Sophiatown · South-West Africa Soweto · Vlakplaas
Other aspects
Apartheid laws · Freedom Charter Sullivan Principles · Kairos Document Disinvestment campaign South African Police

History of South Africa
General periods
Ancient (before 1652) (1652 to 1815) (1815 to 1910) (1910 - 1948) Apartheid-era (1948 - 1994) Modern (1994 to present)
Specific themes
Economics · Military Social · Religious

For the legal definition of apartheid, see the crime of apartheid. For other uses, see Allegations of apartheid.

Apartheid (meaning separate-ness in Afrikaans, cognate to English apart and -hood) was a system of racial segregation in South Africa from 1948, and was dismantled in a series of negotiations from 1990 to 1993, culminating in democratic elections in 1994.

The rules of Apartheid dictated that people be legally classified into racial groups -- the main ones were Black, White, Coloured and Indian -- and separated from one another on the basis of legal classification and unequal rights. Blacks legally became citizens of one of ten bantustans (homelands) that were nominally sovereign nations. These black homelands were created out of the territory of Black Reserves founded during the British Empire period -- Reserves akin to United States Indian Reservations, Canadian First Nations reserves, or Australian aboriginal reserves. Many Black South Africans, however, never resided in these "homelands."

The homeland system disenfranchised black people in "white South Africa"^[1] (even if they resided there); their voting rights were restricted to the black homelands, which were economically the least productive areas of the country. Education, medical care, and other public services were segregated, and those available to Black people were of an inferior standard. The black education system within "White South Africa" was designed to prepare blacks for lives as a working-class. There was a deliberate policy in "White South Africa" of making services for black people inferior to those of whites, to try to "encourage" black people to move into the black homelands, hence black people ended up with services inferior to those of whites, Indians and 'coloureds'.

Creation of Apartheid

Racial segregation and colonialism prior to Apartheid

For more information on the period of history leading up to apartheid, see History of South Africa.

The first recorded use of the word "apartheid" ([ə.ˈpɑː(ɹ).teɪt]) was in 1917 during a speech by Jan Christiaan Smuts, who became Prime Minister two years later. Although the creation of apartheid is usually attributed to the Afrikaaner-dominated government of 1948-1994, the fact must not be ignored that it is actually partially a legacy of British colonialism which introduced a system of pass laws in the Cape Colony and Natal during the Nineteenth Century. This stemmed from the regulation of blacks' movement from the tribal regions to those occupied by whites and coloureds, ruled by the British. There were similar regulations in Australia and New Caledonia (the French Code de L'indigenat).

Laws were passed to not only restrict the movement of blacks into these areas but also to prohibit their movement from one district to another without a signed pass. Blacks were not allowed onto the streets of towns in the Cape Colony and Natal after dark and had to carry their passes at all times. Mahatma Gandhi, a young lawyer at the time, cut his political teeth by organising non-violent protests against restrictions which hurt the middle-class Indian. During the Second World War, Smuts's United Party government began to move away from the rigid enforcement of segregationist laws. Amid fear that United Party policies would eventually lead the nation inexorably towards assimilation between the different ethnic groups, the Sauer Commission was set up to look into the matter, and averred that this would bring about a loss of personality for all racial groups.

The practice of apartheid retained many of the features of the above segregationist policies of earlier administrations. Examples include the 1913 Land Act and the various workplace "colour bars". However, Werner Eiselen (1948-76), the intellectual who designed apartheid as we know it, specifically argued that segregation and white supremacy were no longer "sustainable". He also proposed specifically in 1948 that apartheid (as a "political partition" policy) was a favourable alternative to segregation. Hence, the idea behind apartheid was more one of political separation (later "grand apartheid") than segregation (later "petty apartheid"). The politician deemed to have had the most powerful influence on the growth of apartheid was Hendrik Frensch Verwoerd.

The 1948 elections and the group areas act

In the run-up to the 1948 elections, the National Party (NP) campaigned on its policy of apartheid. The NP narrowly defeated Smuts' United Party, and formed a coalition government with the Afrikaner Party (AP), under Protestant cleric Daniel Francois Malan's leadership. It immediately began implementing apartheid: legislation was passed prohibiting miscegenation (mixed-race marriage), individuals were classified by race, and a classification board was created to rule in questionable cases. The Group Areas Act of 1950 became the heart of the apartheid system designed to geographically separate the racial groups. The Separate Amenities Act of 1953 created, among other things, separate beaches, buses, hospitals, schools and universities. The existing pass laws were tightened. All South Africans were compelled to carry identity documents. For blacks, these identity documents became a sort of passport by which blacks could be prevented from migrating to 'white' South Africa. Blacks were prohibited from living in (or even visiting) 'white' towns without a migration permit. For blacks, living in the cities was restricted to those who had employment. Families were excluded, thus separating wives from husbands and parents from children. Some authors, such as David Yudelman and Hermann Giliomee have argued that the system of Apartheid can be traced to the labour movement in South Africa and English policies as early as 1907.

The disenfranchisement of coloured voters

J.G. Strijdom, who succeeded Malan as Prime Minister, moved to strip coloureds and blacks of their voting rights in the Cape Province. The previous government had first introduced the Separate Representation of Voters Bill in parliament in 1951. However, its validity was challenged in court by a group of four voters^[2] who were supported by the United Party. The Cape Supreme Court upheld the act, but the Appeal Court upheld the appeal and found the act to be invalid. This was because a two-thirds majority in a joint sitting of both Houses of Parliament was needed in order to change the entrenched clauses of the Constitution. The government then introduced the High Court of Parliament Bill, which gave parliament the power to overrule decisions of the court. This too was declared invalid by both the Cape Supreme Court and the Appeal Court. In 1955 the Strijdom government increased the number of judges in the Appeal Court from five to eleven, and appointed pro-Nationalist judges to fill the new places. In the same year they introduced the Senate Act, which increased the senate from 49 seats to 89. Adjustments were made such that the NP controlled 77 of these seats. Finally, in a joint sitting of parliament, the Separate Representation of Voters act was passed in 1956, which removed coloureds from the common voters' roll in the Cape, and established a separate voters' roll for them.

Apartheid legislation

Apartheid legislation in South Africa
Precursors Natives' Land (1913) Urban Areas (1923) Prohibition of Mixed Marriages (1949) Immorality Act† (1950) Population Registration (1950) Group Areas Act (1950) Suppression of Communism (1950) Bantu Building Workers (1951) Separate Representation of Voters (1951) Prevention of Illegal Squatting (1951) Bantu Authorities (1951) Natives Laws† (1952) Pass Laws (1952) Native Labour (Settlement of Disputes) (1953) Bantu Education (1953) Reservation of Separate Amenities (1953) Natives Resettlement (1954) Group Areas Development (1955) Natives (Prohibition of Interdicts) (1956) Bantu Investment Corporation (1959) Extension of University Education (1959) Promotion of Bantu Self-Government (1959) Coloured Persons Communal Reserves (1961) Preservation of Coloured Areas (1961) Urban Bantu Councils (1961) Terrorism Act (1967) Bantu Homelands Citizens (1970) † No new legislation introduced, rather the existing legislation named was amended.

Main article: Apartheid legislation in South Africa

The principal "apartheid laws" were as follows^[3]:

• Amendment to The Prohibition of Mixed Marriages Act (1949)
  • This law prohibited marital union between persons of different races.
• Amendment to The Immorality Act (1950)
  • This law made it a criminal offence for a white person to have any sexual relations with a person of a different race.
• The Population Registration Act (1950)
  • This law introduced an identity card for all persons over the age of sixteen. Their racial group was stipulated on the card.
  • This law required all citizens to be registered as black, white, coloured or Indian.
• The Suppression of Communism Act (1950)
  • This law banned the South African Communist Party as well as any other party the government chose to label as 'communist'. It made membership in the SACP punishable by up to 10 years' imprisonment. The South African minister of justice, R.F. Swart, drafted the law.
• The Group Areas Act (27 April 1950)
  • This law partitioned the country into different areas, with different areas being allocated to different racial groups. This law represented the very heart of apartheid because it was the basis upon which political and social separation was to be constructed.
• Bantu Authorities Act (1951)
  • This law created separate government structures for black people.
• Prevention of Illegal Squatting Act (1951)
  • This law allowed the government to demolish black shackland slums.
• Native Building Workers Act and Native Services Levy (1951)
  • This law forced white employers to pay for the construction of proper housing for black workers recognized as legal residents in 'white' cities.
• The Reservation of Separate Amenities Act (1953)
  • This law prohibited people of different races from using the same public amenities, such as restaurants, public swimming pools, restrooms, and so on.
• The Bantu Education Act (1953)
  • This law brought all black schooling under government control, ending mission-run schools.
  • Apartheid placed great emphasis on separate education for different ethnic groups. Eventually there were 17 separate education systems. The education provided by the black system was of a lower standard to that provided in white, colored or Indian schools.
• Bantu Urban Areas Act (1954)
  • This law curtailed black migration to the cities.
• The Mines and Work Act (1956)
  • This law formalised racial discrimination in employment.
• The Promotion of Black Self-Government Act (1958)
  • This law set up separate territorial governments in the 'homelands', designated lands for black people where they could have a vote. The aim was that these homelands or 'bantustans' would eventually become independent of South Africa. The South African government exercised strong influence over the homelands even after some of them became 'independent'.

• Bantu Investment Corporation Act (1959)
  • This law set up a mechanism to transfer capital to the homelands in order to create jobs in the black homelands.
• The Extension of University Education Act (1959)
  • This law created separate universities for Blacks, Coloureds and Indians.
• Physical Planning and Utilisation of Resources Act (1967)
  • This law allowed the government to stop industrial development in 'white' cites and redirect such development to homeland border areas. The aim was to speed up the relocation of blacks to the homelands by relocating jobs to homeland areas. White-owned business was effectively forced to relocate away from 'white' cities. This resulted in the building of cities (housing millions of people) in the black homelands such as Babalegi, Temba, Mabopane, Ga-Rankuwa, Mdantsane and Madadeni.
• Black Homeland Citizenship Act (1970)
  • This law changed the status of the inhabitants of the 'homelands' so that they were no longer citizens of South Africa. The aim was to ensure whites became the demographic majority within South Africa.
• The Afrikaans Medium Decree (1974)
  • This decree required the use of Afrikaans and English on a fifty-fifty basis in high schools outside the homelands.^[4]

The Apartheid System

The apartheid system is often classified into "grand apartheid" and "petty apartheid". Grand apartheid involved an attempt to partition South Africa into separate states, while petty apartheid referred to the segregationist dimension. The National Party clung to grand apartheid until the 1990s, while they abandoned petty apartheid during the 1980s.

Grand Apartheid - The "homeland" system

Main article: Bantustan

The policy of separate development came into being with the accession to power of Dr HF Verwoerd in 1958. He began implementing the homeland structure as a cornerstone of separate development. Verwoerd came to believe in the granting of "independence" to these homelands. Border industries and the Bantu Investment Corporation, were established to promote economic development and the provision of employment in the homelands (to draw black people away from "white" South Africa.

The Tomlinson Commission of 1954 decided that apartheid was justifiable. It also stated that additional land ought to be given to the homelands and favoured the development of border industries. In 1958, the Promotion of Black Self-Government Act was passed, and proponents of apartheid began to argue that, once apartheid had been implemented, blacks would no longer be citizens of South Africa; they would instead become citizens of the independent "homelands". In terms of this model, blacks became (foreign) "guest labourers" who merely worked in South Africa as the holders of temporary work permits.

The South African government attempted to divide South Africa into a number of separate states. Some thirteen per cent of the land was reserved for black homelands -- representing fifty per cent of South Africa's arable land (Davenport, 1977: p. 268). That thirteen per cent was divided into ten black "homelands" amongst eight ethnic units. Four of which were given independence, although this was never recognised by any other country. Each homeland was supposed to develop into a separate-nation state within which the eight black ethnic groups were to find and grow their separate national identity, culture and language:

• Transkei -- Xhosa (given "independence")
• Ciskei -- Xhosa (given "independence" in 1981)
• Bophuthatswana -- Tswana (given "independence")
• Venda -- Venda (given "independence")
• KwaZulu -- Zulu
• Lebowa -- Pedi
• Kangwane -- Swazi
• QwaQwa -- Sotho
• Gazankulu -- Tsonga
• KwaNdebele -- Ndebele.

Each homeland controlled its own education and health system.

Once a homeland was granted its "independence", its designated citizens had their South African citizenship revoked, to be replaced with citizenship of their homeland. These people were then issued passports instead of passbooks. Citizens of the supposedly "autonomous" homelands also had their South African citizenship circumscribed, and so became less than South African.^[5] The South African government attempted to draw an equivalence between their view of black "citizens" of the "homelands" and the problems which other countries faced through entry of illegal immigrants.

While other countries were dismantling their discriminatory legislation and becoming more liberal on racial issues, South Africa continued to construct a labyrinth of legislation promoting racial and ethnic separation. Many white South Africans supported apartheid because of demographics; that, is separation and partition were seen as a means of avoiding a one-person-one-vote democracy within a single unified South African state, which would render whites a politically-powerless minority. In addition, leaders of the above homelands became important defenders of apartheid, such as Kaiser Matanzima, Bantu Holomisa, Oupa Gqozo, Lucas Mangope and Mangosuthu Buthelezi.

Apartheid placed great emphasis on "self-determination" and "cultural autonomy" for different ethnic groups. For this reason, "mother-tongue" education was strongly emphasised. Thus, in addition to pouring resources into developing Afrikaans educational material, resources were also poured into developing school textbooks in black languages like Zulu, Xhosa, Sotho, Tswana, and Pedi. As a result, one of the consequences of apartheid was a South African population literate in black-African languages (a rare thing in Africa where schooling is normally carried out in colonial languages like English and French).

Forced removals

During the 1960s, 1970s and early 1980s, the government implemented a policy of 'resettlement', to force people to move to their designated "group areas". Some argue that over three and a half million people were forced to resettle during this period. These removals included:

• People re-located due to slum clearance programmes
• Labour tenants on white-owned farms
• The inhabitants of the so-called 'black spots', areas of black-owned land surrounded by white farms
• The families of workers living in townships close to the homelands
• 'Surplus people' from urban areas, including thousands of people from the Western Cape (which was declared a 'Coloured Labour Preference Area') who were moved to the Transkei and Ciskei homelands.

The best-publicised forced removals of the 1950s occurred in Johannesburg, when 60,000 people were moved to the new township of Soweto (an acronym for South Western Townships).

Until 1955, Sophiatown had been one of the few urban areas where blacks were allowed to own land, and was slowly developing into a multiracial slum. As industry in Johannesburg grew, Sophiatown became the home of a rapidly expanding black workforce, as it was convenient and close to town. It could also boast the only swimming pool for black children in Johannesburg^[6]. It was, however, one of the oldest black settlements in Johannesburg and held an almost symbolic importance for the 50,000 blacks it contained, both in terms of its sheer vibrancy and its unique culture. Despite a vigorous ANC protest campaign and worldwide publicity, the removal of Sophiatown began on 9 February 1955 under the Western Areas Removal Scheme. In the early hours, heavily armed police entered Sophiatown to force residents out of their homes and load their belongings onto government trucks. The residents were taken to a large tract of land, thirteen miles from the city centre, known as Meadowlands (that the government had purchased in 1953). Meadowlands became part of a new planned black city called Soweto. The Sophiatown slum was destroyed by bulldozers, and a new white suburb named Triomf (Triumph) was built in its place. This pattern of forced removal and destruction was to repeat itself over the next few years, and was not limited to people of African descent. Forced removals from areas like Cato Manor (Mkhumbane) in Durban, and District Six in Cape Town, where 55,000 coloured and Indian people were forced to move to new townships on the Cape Flats, were carried out under the Group Areas Act of 1950. Ultimately, nearly 600,000 coloured, Indian and Chinese people were moved in terms of the Group Areas Act. Some 40,000 white people were also forced to move when land was transferred from "white South Africa" into the black homelands.

Forced removals continue in post-apartheid South Africa and are being vigorously contested by, amongst others, the shack dwellers' movement Abahlali baseMjondolo.

Petty Apartheid

• Blacks were not allowed to run businesses or professional practices in those areas designated as "white South Africa" without a permit. They were supposed to move to the black "homelands" and set up businesses and practices there.
• Transport and civil facilities were segregated. Black buses stopped at black bus stops and white buses at white ones. Trains were segregated.
• Hospitals and ambulances were segregated. Because of the smaller numbers of white patients and the fact that white doctors preferred to work in "white" hospitals, conditions in white hospitals were much better than those in often overcrowded black hospitals.^[7]
• Blacks were excluded from living or working in white areas, unless they had a pass — nicknamed the dompas ("dumb pass" in Afrikaans). Only blacks with "Section 10" rights (those who had migrated to the cities before World War II) were excluded from this provision.
  • A pass was issued only to a black person with approved work. Spouses and children had to be left behind in black homelands. Many white households employed blacks as domestic workers, who lived on the premises — often in small rooms external to the family home.
  • A pass was issued for one magisterial district (usually one town) confining the holder to that area only.
  • Being without a valid pass made a person subject to arrest and trial for being an illegal migrant. This was often followed by deportation to the person's homeland and prosecution of the employer (for employing an illegal migrant). Police vans patrolled the "white" areas to round up "illegal" blacks found there without passes.
• Black people were not allowed to employ white people in "white South Africa".
• Although trade unions for black and "coloured" (mixed race) workers had existed since the early 20th century, it was not until the 1980s reforms that a mass black trade union movement developed.
• In the 1970s each black child's education within the Bantu Education system (the black education system within "white South Africa") cost the state only a tenth of each white child's. Higher education was provided in separate universities and colleges after 1959. Eight black universities were created in the homelands; an Indian university built in Durban and a coloured university built in Cape Town. In addition, each black homeland controlled its own separate education, health and police system.
• Blacks were not allowed to buy hard liquor. They were able only to buy an African home brewed beer. (although this was relaxed later).
• Public beaches were racially segregated. Public swimming pools, some pedestrian bridges, drive-in cinema parking spaces, graveyards, parks, public toilets were segregated.
• Cinemas and theatres in "white areas" were not allowed to admit blacks. There were practically no cinemas in black areas. Most restaurants and hotels in white areas were not allowed to admit blacks except as staff. Black Africans were prohibited from attending "white" churches under the Churches Native Laws Amendment Act of 1957. This was, however, never rigidly enforced, and churches were one of the few places races could mix without the interference of the law.
• Sex and marriage between the races were prohibited.
• Taxation was unequal — the yearly income at which tax became payable by blacks was 360 rand (30 rand a month), while the white threshold was much higher, at 750 Rand (62.5 rand per month). On the other hand, the taxation rate for whites was considerably higher than that for blacks.
• Black people could never acquire land in white areas. In the homelands, much of the land belonged to a 'tribe', where the local chieftan would decide how the land had to be utilized. This resulted in white people owning almost all the industrial and agricultural lands and much of the prized residential land.
• Most blacks were stripped of their South African citizenship when the "homelands" became "independent". Thus, they were no longer able to apply for South African passports. Eligibility requirements for a passport had been difficult for blacks to meet, the government contending that a passport was a privilege, not a right. As such, the government did not grant many passports to blacks.
• Apartheid pervaded South African culture, as well as the law. This was reinforced in many media, and the lack of opportunities for the races to mix in a social setting entrenched social distance between people.

Coloured classification

Main article: Coloured

The population was classified into four groups: Black, White, Indian, and Coloured. (These terms are capitalized to denote their legal definitions in South African law). The Coloured group included people of mixed Bantu, Khoisan, and European descent (with some Malay ancestry, especially in the Western Cape). The Apartheid bureaucracy devised complex (and often arbitrary) criteria at the time that the Population Registration Act was implemented to determine who was Coloured. Minor officials would administer tests to determine if someone should be categorised either Coloured or Black, or if another person should be categorised either Coloured or White. Different members of the same family found themselves in different race groups. Further tests determined membership of the various sub-racial groups of the Coloureds. Many of those who formerly belonged to this racial group are opposed to the continuing use of the term "coloured" in the post-apartheid era, though the term no longer signifies any legal meaning. The expressions 'so-called Coloured' (Afrikaans sogenaamde Kleurlinge) and 'brown people' (bruin mense) acquired a wide usage in the 1980s.

Discriminated against by apartheid, Coloureds were as a matter of state policy forced to live in separate townships — in some cases leaving homes their families had occupied for generations — and received an inferior education, though better than that provided to Black South Africans. They played an important role in the struggle against apartheid: for example the African Political Organisation established in 1902 had an exclusively coloured membership.

From about 1950 to 1983, voting rights were denied to Coloureds in the same way that they were denied to blacks (see Coloured). In 1977, however, the NP caucus approved proposals to bring coloured and Indian people into central government. In 1982, final constitutional proposals produced a referendum among white voters, and the Tricameral Parliament was approved. The Constitution was reformed the following year to allow the Coloured and Asian minorities participation in separate Houses in a Tricameral Parliament, and Botha became the first Executive State President. The theory was that the Coloured minority could be granted voting rights, but the Black majority were to become citizens of independent homelands. These separate arrangements continued until the abolition of apartheid. The Tricameral reforms led to the formation of the (anti-apartheid) UDF as a vehicle to try and prevent the co-option of coloureds and Indians into an alliance with white South Africans. The subsequent battles between the UDF and the NP government from 1983 to 1989 were to became the most intense period of struggle between left-wing and right-wing South Africans.

Women Under Apartheid

Colonialism and apartheid had a major impact on women since they suffered both racial and gender discrimination. Oppression against African women was different from discrimination against men. Indeed, they had very little or no legal rights, no access to education and no right to own property ^[8]. Jobs were often hard to find but many African women worked as agricultural or domestic workers ^[9] though wages were extremely low ^[10] , if not non-existent. Children suffered from diseases caused by malnutrition and sanitary problems, and mortality rates were therefore high. The controlled movement of African workers within the country through the Natives Urban Areas Act of 1923 and the pass-laws, separated family members from one another as men usually worked in urban centers, while women were forced to stay in rural areas. Marriage law and births^[11] were also controlled by the government and the pro-apartheid Dutch Reformed Church, who tried to restrict African birth rates.

Other minorities

Defining its East Asian population, which is a tiny minority in South Africa but who do not physically appear to belong any of the four designated groups, was a constant dilemma for the apartheid government. Chinese South Africans who were descendants of migrant workers who came to work in the gold mines around Johannesburg in the late 19th century, were usually classified as "Indian" and hence "non-white", whereas immigrants from Republic of China (Taiwan), South Korea and Japan, with which South Africa maintained diplomatic relations, were considered "honorary whites" and termed "Worthy Oriental Gentlemen", thus granted the same privileges as normal whites. It should be noted that "Non-Whites" were sometimes granted an 'honorary white' status as well, based on the government's belief that they were "civilised" and possessed Western values. This was frequently the case with African-Americans.

Internal resistance

The ANC and the PAC

In 1949, the conservative leadership of the African National Congress (ANC) was overthrown by its Youth League (ANCYL). Led by Walter Sisulu, Nelson Mandela and Oliver Tambo, the ANCYL advocated a radical black nationalist programme which combined the Africanist ideas of Anton Lembede with those of Marxism. Once the ANCYL had taken control of the ANC, the organization advocated (for the first time ever) a policy of open defiance and resistance. This unleashed the 1950s' Programme of Action, which resulted in occasionally violent clashes, with mass protests, stay-aways, boycotts and strikes predominating.

The 1950 May Day stay-away was a strong, successful expression of black grievances. In 1952, the ANC launched the Defiance Campaign: apartheid laws were broken, 8,000 people arrested and prisons filled. The government, consequently, was forced temporarily to relax its apartheid legislation, but that was not the Campaign's only success: as a direct result, membership of the ANC increased and attention was drawn to apartheid's injustices.

Once things had calmed down, however, the government responded with an iron fist, taking several supreme measures -- among which were the Unlawful Organisations Act, the Suppression of Communism Act, the Public Safety Act and the Criminal Procedures Act. Thus, in the longer term, this spelt defeat for the resistance movement.

Still, support for the ANC and its endeavours increased. In June 1955, at a congress held in Kliptown, near Johannesburg, a number of organizations, including the Indian Congress and the ANC, adopted the Freedom Charter, which articulated a vision for South Africa radically different to the partition policy of apartheid. The Freedom Charter called for a one-person-one-vote democracy within a single unified state, and also for a socialist redistribution of wealth.

In 1956, the Federation of South African Women was founded and led by Lilian Ngoyi and the more famous Helen Joseph. On 9 August that year, the women marched on the Union Buildings in Pretoria, protesting against the pass laws. Later in 1956, though, 156 resistance leaders were arrested on charges of treason for their involvement in the drafting of the treason trial. The state's drawn-out case was defeated -- but only in 1960, when all accused (having spent the past four years imprisoned) were finally released.

Sharpeville Massacre

Main Article: Sharpeville massacre

In 1959 a group of disenchanted ANC members broke away from the ANC and formed the Pan Africanist Congress (PAC), saying the ANC was too strongly influenced by white communists. First on the PAC's agenda was a series of nationwide demonstrations against the pass laws. The PAC called for blacks to demonstrate against pass books on 21 March 1960. One of the mass demonstrations organized by the PAC took place at Sharpeville, a township near Vereeniging. Estimates of the size of the crowd vary from 3,000 to 20,000.^[12][13] The crowd converged on the Sharpeville police station, singing and offering themselves up for arrest for not carrying their pass books. A group of about 300 police panicked and opened fire on the demonstrators after the crowd trampled down the fence surrounding the police station. They killed 69 people and injured 186. All the victims were black, and most of them had been shot in the back. Many witnesses stated that the crowd was not violent, but Colonel J. Pienaar, the senior police officer in charge on the day, said, "Hordes of natives surrounded the police station. My car was struck with a stone. If they do these things they must learn their lesson the hard way". The event became known as the Sharpeville massacre. In its aftermath the government banned the African National Congress (ANC) and the Pan Africanist Congress (PAC).

The Sharpeville Massacre helped shape ANC policy. Before Sharpeville those advocating the use of organized violence, such as Nelson Mandela, had been marginalized as too radical by the ANC's leadership. After Sharpeville Mandela was allowed to launch his guerilla struggle (called the "M" Plan). Hence, from 1961 the ANC adopted terrorist^[14] tactics, such as intimidation, bombing, murder and sabotage. Although their units detonated bombs in restaurants, shopping centres, cinemas and in front of government buildings over the following years, the military wings of the ANC and PAC were never a military threat to the state.

Resistance goes underground

Sharpeville signalled that the South African government was not going to yield to the mood of black nationalism then sweeping across Africa, and that white South Africans did not accept that they were "colonials" to be swept into the sea by "decolonization". Sharpeville thus foreshadowed the coming conflict between black nationalists and Afrikaner nationalists over the next thirty years.

In the wake of the shooting, a massive stay-away from work was organised and demonstrations continued. Prime Minister Hendrik Frensch Verwoerd declared a state of emergency, giving security forces the right to detain people without trial. Over 18,000 were arrested, including much of the ANC and PAC leadership, and both organizations were banned. The ANC and PAC meanwhile ran campaigns of sabotage and terrorism through their armed wings, Umkhonto we Sizwe (Spear of the Nation, MK) and Poqo ("Pure" or "Alone"). Nelson Mandela, who was the commander of the ANC's military wing (MK), had developed the "M Plan" (Mandela Plan) of launching a guerilla war modelled upon the FLN's guerilla struggle in Algeria. MK ran a far more successful guerrilla campaign than Poqo. In July 1963, members of the ANC underground movement, including Govan Mbeki, Ahmed Kathrada and Dennis Goldberg, were arrested.

Together with Nelson Mandela, who had by then already been arrested and charged with terrorism, they were all tried for treason at the widely publicised Rivonia Trial. In June 1964, Mandela and seven others were sentenced to life imprisonment for terrorism. Oliver Tambo, another member of the ANC leadership, managed to escape South Africa and was to lead the ANC in exile for another thirty years.

The trial was condemned by the United Nations Security Council, and was a major force in the introduction of international sanctions against the South African government. After Sharpeville the ANC, PAC and South African Communist Party were banned, and leaders like Mandela were either in jail or in exile. The State of Emergency was de-proclaimed; the economy boomed; and the government began implementing apartheid by building the infrastructures of the ten separate Homelands, and relocating blacks into these homelands. In 1966, Verwoerd was stabbed to death in parliament, but his policies continued under B.J. Vorster and later P.W. Botha.

Black Consciousness Movement

During the 1970s, resistance again gained force, first channelled through trade unions and strikes, and then spearheaded by the South African Students' Organisation under the charismatic leadership of Steve Biko. Biko, a medical student, was the main force behind the growth of South Africa's Black Consciousness Movement, which stressed the need for psychological liberation, black pride, and non-violent opposition to apartheid^[15].

In 1974 the government issued the Afrikaans Medium Decree which forced all schools for blacks to use the Afrikaans language as the medium for instruction in mathematics, social sciences, geography and history at the secondary school level. Punt Janson, the Deputy Minister of Bantu Education, was quoted as saying: "I have not consulted the African people on the language issue and I'm not going to. An African might find that 'the big boss' spoke only Afrikaans or spoke only English. It would be to his advantage to know both languages."^[4]

The policy was deeply unpopular, since Afrikaans was regarded by some as the language of the oppressor. On 30 April 1976, students at Orlando West Junior School in Soweto went on strike, refusing to go to school. Their rebellion spread to other schools in Soweto. The students organised a mass rally for 16 June, which turned violent — police responded with bullets to stones thrown by the students. The first student to be shot by the police was Hastings Ndlovu, aged fifteen. The image of Hector Pieterson who was killed at age 12 became an international icon of the uprising. The official death toll on the day was 23 dead, including the two children, but some placed it as high as 200. The incident triggered widespread violence throughout South Africa, which claimed further lives.

On 18 August 1977, Steve Biko was arrested, and unidentified security police beat him until he lapsed into a coma. He went for three days without medical treatment and finally died in Pretoria. At the subsequent inquest, the magistrate ruled that no-one was to blame, but the South African Medical Association eventually took action against the doctors who had failed to treat Biko.

There was tremendous reaction both within and outside South Africa. Foreign countries imposed even more stringent sanctions than those which had come before, and the UNO imposed an arms embargo. Young blacks inside South Africa committed themselves even more fervently to the struggle against apartheid, under the catchphrase "Liberation before education". Black communities became highly politicised.

The Black Consciousness Movement began to change its focus during the 1980s from being on issues of nation and community to issues of class and, perhaps as a result, had far less of an impact than in the mid-'seventies. Still, there is some evidence to suggest that it retained at least some influence, particularly in workers' organisations.

The role of BC could be quite clearly seen in the approach of the National Forum, which believed that the struggle ought to hold little or no place for whites. This ideal, of blacks leading the resistance campaign, was an important aim of the traditional BC groups, and it shaped the thinking of many 'eighties activists, most notably the workforce. Furthermore, the NF focused on workers' issues, which became more and more important to BC supporters.

The Azanian People's Organisation (AZAPO) was the leading BC group of the 1980s. It got most of its support from young black men and women -- many of them educated at colleges and universities. The organisation had a lot of support in Soweto and also amongst journalists, helping to popularise its views. It focused, too, on workers' issues, but it refused to form any ties with the whites.

Although it did not achieve quite the same groundswell support that it had in the late 1970s, BC still influenced the thinking of a few resistance groups.

The Trade-Union movement

After 1976, trade unions and their workers began to play a massive role in the fight against apartheid. With their thousands of members, the trade unions had great strength in numbers, and this they used to their advantage, campaigning for the rights of black workers and forcing the government to make changes to its apartheid policies. Importantly, trade unions filled the gap left by banned political parties. They assumed tremendous importance because they could act on a wide variety of issues and problems for their people -- and not only work-related ones, as links between work issues and broader community grievances became more palpable.

Fewer trade-union officials (harassed less by the police and army) were jailed than political leaders in the townships. Union members could meet and make plans within the factory. In this way, trade unions played a pivotal role in the struggle against apartheid, and their efforts generally had wide community support.

In 1979, one year after Botha's accession to power, black trade unions were finally made legal, and their role in the resistance struggle grew to all-new proportions. Prior to 1979, black trade unions had had no legal clout in dealings with employers. All strikes that took place were illegal, but they did help to establish the trade unions and their collective cause. Although the legalisation of black trade unions gave workers the legal right to strike, it also gave the government a degree of control over them, as they all had to be registered and hand in their membership records to the government. They were not allowed to support political parties either, and it goes without saying that some trade unions did not comply.

Later in 1979, the FOSATU body was formed, followed by the Council of Unions of South Africa (COSAS). It was influenced strongly by the ideas of black consciousness and wanted to work to ensure black leadership of unions.

The establishment of the trade-union federations led to greater unity amongst the workers. The tremendous size of the federations gave them increased voice and power. 1980 saw thousands of black high-school and university students boycotting their schools, and a country-wide protest over wages, rents and bus fares. In 1982, there were 394 strikes involving 141,571 workers. FOSATU and CUSA grew from a mere 70,000 members in 1979 to 320,000 by 1983, the year of the establishment of first the National Forum and then the UDF. Both of these had an important impact, but the latter was far more influential.

With the establishment of the new constitution in 1984, the biggest and longest black uprising exploded in the Vaal Triangle. COSAS and FOSATU organised the longest stay-away in South African history, and, all told, there were 469 strikes that year, amounting to 378,000 hours in lost business time.

In accordance with the State of Emergency in 1985, COSAS was banned and many UDF leaders arrested. A meeting between white business leaders and those of the ANC in Zambia brought about the formation of COSATU in 1985. The newly-formed trade-union governing body, committed to improved working conditions and the fight against apartheid, organised a nationwide strike the following year, and a new State of Emergency was declared. It did not take long for COSATU's membership to grow to 500,000.

With South Africa facing a neigh-unprecedented shortage of skilled white labour, the government was forced to allow black people to fill the vacancies. This, in turn, led to an increase in spending on black, coloured and Indian education.

Still, there were divides amongst the trade-union faction, which had the membership of only ten per cent of the country's workforce. Not all trade unions joined the federations, while agricultural and domestic workers did not even have a trade union to join and were thus more liable. Nevertheless, by the end of this period, the unions had emerged as one of the most effective vehicles for black opposition.

The role of the churches

With so many political parties having to carry out their operations underground, the role of the churches increased manifold. Church leaders were very much involved in the struggle against apartheid because they felt that it was unjust and contradicted the beliefs and values taught them by their religions. Such leaders were able to give hope and inspiration to people resisting apartheid. Another bonus was that the government was far less likely to attack or arrest religious leaders, allowing them to be potentially more politically active, mobilising the struggle. The government did, however, take action against some churches.

Beyers Naudé left the pro-apartheid Dutch Reformed Church and founded the Christian Institute, bringing white and black people together. He, along with the Institute, were banned in 1977, but he later became the general secretary of the South African Council of Churches (SACC), a religious association which supported anti-apartheid activities. Significantly, it also refused to condemn violence as a means of ending apartheid.

Frank Chikane was another general secretary of the SACC. He was detained four times because of his criticism of the government and once allegedly had an attempt on his life, initiated by Etienne Vlok.

The charismatic Archbishop Desmond Tutu was yet another general secretary of the SACC. He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts in 1984 and used his position and popularity to denounce the government and its policies.

Alan Boesak, finally, was the leader of the World Council of Reformed Churches (WCC). He was very influential in founding the UDF and was once jailed for a month after organising a march demanding the release of Nelson Mandela.

Although church leaders were not totally immune to prosecution, they were able to criticise the government more freely than the leaders of the resistance groups. They were pivotal in attacking the government and inspiring resistance fighters.

The MDM

The Mass Democratic Movement played a brief but very important role in the struggle. Formed in 1989, it was made up of an alliance between the UDF and COSATU, and organised a campaign aimed at ending segregation in hospitals, schools and beaches. The campaign proved successful and managed to bring segregation to an end. Some historians, however, argue that this occurred because the government had planned to end segregation anyway and did not, therefore, feel at all threatened by the MDM's action.

Later in 1989, the MDM organised a number of peaceful marches against the State of Emergency (extended to four years now) in the major cities. Even though these marches were illegal, no-one was arrested -- evidence that apartheid was coming to an end and that the government's hold was weakening.

Although the MDM emerged only very late into the struggle, it did add to the effective resistance that the government faced, organising a series of protests and further uniting the opposition movement. Certainly, it was characteristic of the "mass resistance" which characterised the 'eighties: many organisations were united, dealing with different aspects of the fight against apartheid and its implications.

Student organisations

The National Union of South African Students (NUSAS) and the Congress of South African Students (COSAS) were two of the main anti-apartheid student organisations. NUSAS was largely white, but it worked closely with the black opposition groups and also educated fellow whites about the evils of apartheid. COSAS was aimed at coordinating the educational struggles. It organised strikes, boycotts and mass protests around community issues.

Protests by school children became more and more frequent after 1976, in both rural and urban areas. Members of COSAS made a number of demands to the Department of Education and Training, DET, including the scrapping of matric examination fees. It also barred many DET officials from entering schools, demanded that all students pass their exams -- "pass one, pass all" -- and disrupted exams.

There were two major urban school boycotts in 1980 and then 1983. Both involved black, Indian and coloured children, and both went on for months. There were also extended protests in rural areas in 1985 and 1986. In all of these areas, schools were closed and thousands of students, teachers, parents and principals were arrested.

As a result of all this, the National Education Crisis Committee (NECC) was set up in 1986. It comprised parents, teachers and students, and encouraged students to return to their studies, taking on forms of protest less disruptive to their education. Consumer boycott, certainly, were highly recommended. Teachers and students were also encouraged to work together to develop an alternative educational system.

White resistance

While the majority of white South African voters supported the apartheid system, a substantial minority opposed it. In parliamentary elections during the 1970s and 1980s between 15% and 20% of white voters voted for the liberal Progressive Party, whose MP Helen Suzman provided for many years the only Parliamentary opposition to apartheid. Suzman's critics argue that she did not achieve any notable political successes, but helped to shore up claims by the Nationalists that internal, public criticism of apartheid was permitted. Suzman's supporters point to her use of her parliamentary privileges to help the poorest and most disempowered South Africans in any way she could.

Harry Schwarz was in the minority opposition for over 40 years and was leader of the opposition for the United Party in 1958-61. Schwarz was one of the defence barristers in the Rivonia Trial. He continually petitioned for the release of Nelson Mandela. In 1975, Schwarz left the United Party and formed the Reform Party which later joined the Progressive Party. in 1991 Harry Schwarz was made ambassador to the United States.

Non-violent resistance to apartheid came from the Black Sash, an organisation of white women formed in 1955 to oppose the removal of Coloured (mixed-race) voters from the Cape Province voters' roll. Even after that failure, however, it went on assisting blacks with issues such as pass laws, housing and unemployment.

Covert resistance was expressed by banned organisations like the largely white South African Communist Party, whose leader Joe Slovo was also Chief of Staff of the ANC's armed wing, Umkhonto we Sizwe. Whites also played a significant role in opposing apartheid during the 1980s through the United Democratic Front and End Conscription Campaign. The latter was formed in 1983 to oppose the conscription of white males into the South African military. The ECC's support-base was not particularly large, but the government still saw fit to ban it 1988.

The army played a major role in the government's maintenance of its apartheid policies. It was expanded considerably to fight the resistance, and more money was being spent on increasing its effectiveness. It is estimated that something between R4,000,000,000 and R5,000,000,000 was spent on defence in the mid-'eighties. Conscription was used to increase the size of the army. Initially, only white males were conscripted, but other races were also gradually drawn in. The army was used to fight battles, on South African borders and in neighbouring states, against the liberation movements and the countries that supported them. During the 1980s, the military was also used to repress township uprisings, which saw support for the ECC increase markedly.

Cultural opposition to apartheid came from internationally known writers like Breyten Breytenbach, André Brink and Alan Paton (who founded the South African Liberal Party) and clerics like Beyers Naudé.

Some of the first violent resistance to the system was organised by the Africa Resistance Movement (ARM) who were responsible for setting off bombs at power stations and notably the Park Station bomb. The membership of this group was virtually all drawn from the marginalized white intellectual scene.

The Role of Women

South African women greatly participated in the anti-apartheid and liberation movements that took hold of South Africa. They demanded the independence of their country and their people. These female activists were rarely at the head of the main organizations, at least at the beginning of the movement, but were nonetheless prime actors. One of the earliest organization was The Bantu Women’s League founded in 1913 ^[16]. In the 1930s and 1940s, female activists were strongly present in trade union movements, which also served as a vehicle for future organization. In the 1950s, organizations specifically for women were created such as the ANC Women’s League(ANCWL) or a Women’s Council within the South West Africa People’s Organization(SWAPO)^[17]. In April 1954, the more global Federation of South African Women (FSAW or FedSAW) was founded with the objective to fight against racism and oppression of women as well as to make African women understand that they had rights both as human beings and as women. While female actvists fought along men and participated to demonstrations and guerrilla movements, FSAW and ANCWL also acted independently and organized bus boycotts, campaigns against restrictive passes in 1956 in Pretoria and in Sharpeville in 1960^[18]. 20.000 women attended these kind of demonstrations. Many participants were arrested, forced into exile or imprisoned such as Lilian Ngoyi. In 1958, 2000 women were arrested during an anti-pass campaign^[19]. After the Sharpeville Massacre, however, many organizations such as FSAW were banned and went underground.

At the same time South African women fought against gender discrimination and called for rights specific to women, such as family, children, gender equality and access to education. At a conference in Johannesburg in 1954, the Federation of South African Women adopted the “Women’s Charter”^[20], which focused on rights specific to women both as women and mothers. The Charter referred both to human rights, women’s rights and asked for universal equality and national liberation. In 1955, in a document drafted in preparation for the Congress of People^[21], the FSAW made more demands, including free education for children, proper housing facilities and good working conditions, such as the abolition of child labor and a minimum wage.

The difficulty for these local movements was to raise global awareness in order to truly have an impact. Yet, their actions and demands gradually attracted the attention of the United Nations and put pressure on the international community. In 1954, Lilian Ngoyi attended the World Congress of Women in Lausanne, Switzerland ^[22]. Later, in 1975, the ANC was present at the 1975 United Nations Decade for Women in Copenhagen and in 1980 a essay on the role of women in the liberation movement ^[23] was prepared for the United Nations World Conference. This has been crucial in the recognition of Southern African women and their role in the anti-apartheid movement.

Among important activists during the liberation movement were Ida Ntwana, Lilian Ngoyi, Helen Joseph, Dorothy Nyembe^[24]. Lilian Ngoyi joined the ANC National Executive and was elected first vice-president and later president of FSAW in 1959. Many of these leaders served long prison sentences.

International relations

Main article: Foreign relations of South Africa

South Africa officially took possession of South-West Africa after it was captured from the Germans during World War I. Following the war, the Treaty of Versailles declared the territory to be a League of Nations Mandate under South African administration. South Africa formally excluded Walvis Bay from the mandate and annexed it as an exclave. The Mandate was supposed to become a United Nations Trust Territory when League of Nations Mandates were transferred to the United Nations (UN) following World War II, but the Union of South Africa refused to agree to allow the territory to begin the transition to independence. Instead it was treated as a de facto 'fifth province' of the Union. The South African government turned this mandate arrangement into a military occupation, and extended apartheid to South-West Africa — later re-named Namibia by the UN.

In 1960, South Africa's policies received international scrutiny when British Prime Minister Harold Macmillan criticised them during his Wind of Change speech in Cape Town. Weeks later, tensions came to a head in the Sharpeville Massacre resulting in more international condemnation. Soon thereafter, Verwoerd announced a referendum on whether the country should sever links with the British monarchy and become a republic instead. Verwoerd lowered the voting age for whites to 18 and included whites in South West Africa on the voter's roll. The referendum on 5 October that year asked whites "Do you support a republic for the Union?" — 52% voted 'Yes'.

As a consequence of this change of status, South Africa needed to reapply for continued membership of the Commonwealth, with which it had privileged trade links. Even though India became an independent state within the Commonwealth in 1947 it became clear that African and Asian member states would oppose South Africa due to the apartheid policies being enforced. As a result, South Africa withdrew from the Commonwealth on 31 May 1961, the day that the Republic came into existence.

Sanctions

International opposition to Apartheid in South Africa
Campaigns
Disinvestment · Academic boycott
Instruments and legislation
UN Resolution 1761 (1962) Crime of Apartheid Convention (1973) Gleneagles Agreement (1977) Sullivan Principles (1977) Comprehensive Anti-Apartheid Act (1986)
Organisations
Anti-Apartheid Movement UN Special Committee against Apartheid Artists United Against Apartheid Halt All Racist Tours
Conferences
1964 Conference for Economic Sanctions 1978 World Conference against Racism
Other aspects
Elimination of Racism Day Biko (song) · Activists

On 6 November 1962, the United Nations General Assembly passed Resolution 1761, condemning South African apartheid policies. On 7 August 1963 the United Nations Security Council established a voluntary arms embargo against South Africa. Following the Soweto uprising in 1976 and its brutal suppression by the apartheid regime, the arms embargo was made mandatory by the UN Security Council on 4 November 1977 and South Africa became increasingly isolated internationally, with tough economic sanctions weighing heavily. Not all countries imposed or fully supported the sanctions, however; instead, they continued to benefit from trade with apartheid South Africa. During the 1980s, though, the number of countries opposing South Africa increased, and the economy came under tremendous strain.

Numerous conferences were held and the United Nations passed resolutions condemning South Africa, including the World Conference Against Racism in 1978 and 1983. A significant divestment movement started, pressuring investors to refuse to invest in South African companies or companies that did business with South Africa. South African sports teams were barred from participation in international events, and South African culture and tourism were boycotted.

Countries such as Zambia, Tanzania and the Soviet Union provided military support for the ANC and PAC. It was more difficult, though, for neighbouring states such as Botswana, Lesotho and Swaziland, because they were economically dependant on South Africa. Still, they did feed the struggle underground.

Ordinary people in foreign countries did much in protest against the apartheid government, too. The British Anti-Apartheid Movement was one of these, organising boycotts against South African sports teams, South African products such as wine and fruit, and British companies that dared trade with or in South Africa. Other organisations were formed to prevent musicians and the like from coming into the country, and others raised funds for the ANC and PAC.

After much debate, by the late 1980s the United States, the United Kingdom, and 23 other nations had passed laws placing various trade sanctions on South Africa.^[25] A divestment movement in many countries was similarly widespread, with individual cities and provinces around the world implementing various laws and local regulations forbidding registered corpo