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Apartheid South Africa Grade 11 2018

Education senior phase and FET (University of Johannesburg)

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APARTHEID SOUTH AFRICA – 1940s TO 1960s

The global pervasiveness of racism and segregation in the 1920s and 1930s.

• Apartheid did not emerge out of nowhere. Its key features evolved in
the 1900s as part of a system referred to as segregation.
• Segregation refers to the policy of keeping some population groups
separate from others.
• Various societies around the world suffered from policies of racial
discrimination in the 20th century. Examples are:
➢ In Ireland, the British deprived the Irish of their land.
➢ African Americans had to live under the threat of the Ku Klux Klan
in the Southern States of the USA. Black Americans also subjected
to the Jim Crow Laws in the Southern states.
➢ The 1920s and 30s were marred by racism towards the Aboriginal
people in Australia.
➢ In Germany, there was intense racial discrimination against the
Jews during the holocaust.

Segregation after the formation of the Union of South Africa.

• The Act of Union in 1910 formed a white government that represented

white interests.
• In three of the four provinces, only white men could vote. A few
coloureds and blacks in the Cape had the franchise until 1936. The new
government thus had to address the needs of the whites who had the
vote.
• Efforts by representatives of black people were unsuccessful as the new
government passed a barrage of laws that increased racial segregation in
South Africa.

Major segregatory legislation.

1. 1911 – The Mines and Works Amendment Act.

➢ Reserved skilled jobs on the mines for whites, barring blacks from
doing skilled jobs on the mines.

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➢ Secured jobs for the white population as employers could no

longer employ skilled black people who were paid lower wages
for the same positions.
2. 1913 – The Native Land Act.
➢ Set aside 7% of the land area in South Africa as reserves for
African occupation.
➢ Africans not allowed to buy land outside of these areas.
➢ Thousands of Africans left homeless by this act.
3. 1920 – The Native Affairs Act.
➢ Established a system of tribal district councils to administer the
reserves.
➢ Reserves thus ruled separately.
➢ Traditional chiefs given limited powers and a separate system of
Native Law.
4. 1923 – The Urban Areas Act.
➢ Act recognised the need for African accommodation in the urban
areas.
➢ Established segregated locations or townships on the edges of
towns where Africans had to live.

5. 1924 – The Industrial Conciliation Act.

➢ Set up industrial councils where trade unions could negotiate with
employers.
➢ Africans could not be members of trade unions.
6. 1925 – The Wages Act.
➢ Set compulsory minimum wages for white workers in unskilled
jobs.
7. 1926 – The Mines and Works Amendment Act.
➢ Excluded Indians and Africans from skilled jobs.
➢ Certificates of competence given only to whites and coloureds in
certain categories.
8. 1936 – The Native Trust and Land Act.
➢ Availed more land in African reserves, increasing them to 13% of
all South African land.

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➢ Act recommended by the Native economic commission of 1932.

➢ Identified the influx of Africans into the towns and cities as the
main cause of urban labour problems.
➢ Enlarging the reserves would make more land available and thus
eliminate the need for Africans to move to urban areas.
9. The Native Representation Act.
➢ Removed the Africans from the common voters roll and provided
a separate institution, the Native Representative Council. (NRC)
➢ Africans would now be represented in parliament by elected
white representatives.
➢ The NRC had limited advisory powers.
10. 1937 – The Native Laws Amendment Act.
➢ Strengthened influx control.
➢ Pass system used to limit black movement from reserves to urban
areas.
➢ Local authorities could refuse Africans entry into towns and force
them into reserves if they did not have jobs.

Resistance to segregation in the early 1900s.

Black resistance to segregatory legislation in the early 1900s.

• The most prominent organisations that were against the discrimination

and segregation policies were the ANC, ICU, (Industrial and commercial
workers’ union) and the CPSA (Communist Party of South Africa).

The ICU.

• Founded in 1919 by Clements Kadalie a Nyasaland migrant worker.

• Established after a successful dock workers’ strike.
• Aimed at mobilising the African rural masses.
• At its peak in 1927, enjoying a membership of 100 000.
• Brought many legal actions against white commercial farmers who tried
to evict their tenants but this drained its financial resources and brought
it to the brink of bankruptcy.
• Collapsed due to weak organisation, poor strategies and regional rivalry.

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The ANC and the CPSA.

• The CPSA founded in 1921.

• Socialist and Marxist organisation aimed at overthrowing the capitalist
system.
• Believed that a white workers revolution could not succeed so it worked
with the ANC.
• Believed the revolution would undergo two stages: creation of a republic
governed by blacks followed by a republic controlled by peasants and
workers.
• Late 1920s, ANC against its new leaders Josiah T. Gumede and E. J.
Khalie who was also a member of the CPSA.
• Gumede believed in the extensive use of boycotts, strikes and anti-pass
campaigns. Also encouraged strong links with the CPSA as well as the
international community opposed to imperialism.
• Gumede did not enjoy the support of the ANC because of influential
conservative groups in the leadership who cautioned against close
cooperation with the communists and urged the use of consultations,
persuasion and participation in the system instead of militant mass
confrontation.
• The brutal repression of black militancy ( police and the armed forces
broke up meetings, raided homes, harassed leaders and imprisoned
suspected ring leaders) by the government generated a crisis within the
ANC leadership as there was no consensus as to what strategies to
adopt.
• A struggle for leadership developed between Gumede and the
conservative Pixley Ka Seme.
• When Gumede confirmed his support for communism and advocated
mass militancy at the 1930 conference, he was voted out by an over
whelming majority. Pixley became the new ANC president. Cooperation
with the CPSA came to an end.
• By 1935, it had faded into the background due to government repression
and internal dissension.
• The ANC was divided and had little drive. There was so much inactivity
that even its newspaper Abantu, Batho stopped circulation.

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Movements towards unity within the liberation struggle.

• Various organisations attempted cooperation and unity in the struggle

against racial discrimination.
• Non-European Conferences held in 1927, 1930, 1931 and 1934.
• In attendance were the ANC, CPSA, APO, SAIC (South African Indian
Congress) and various African religious and welfare groups.
• Most significant of the gatherings was the 1935 All Africa Convention
convened to voice opposition to the Hertzog Bills.
• Delegation sent to discuss concerns with Hertzog.
• ANC and the CPSA struggling to revive their organisations. In 1937, the
ANC convened a Silver Jubilee Conference to celebrate 25th anniversary.
• Congress members travelled throughout the country trying to garner
support for the organisation.
• The beginning of WW2 made it difficult for the ANC and the CPSA to
establish themselves at this time.

Black resistance. (1939 – 1948)

• A new generation of black activists emerged in the 1940s and began to

revitalise their organisations with new ideas.

The CPSA

• By 1939, membership of the CPSA was a mere 300.

• When Russia was invaded, the CPSA demanded that:
➢ Black soldiers are given guns.
➢ Black trade unions are recognised.
➢ The pass laws are scrapped.
➢ Africans should be given the franchise.
• When passes were re-introduced in 1943, the CPSA organised an anti –
pass campaign and presented a petition to the government which was
ignored.
• The organisation lost support when it could not decide whether or not
to embark on a policy of open confrontation.

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The ANC

• Most important development in the ANC at this time was the formation
of the ANC youth league in 1943.
• A group of young African intellectuals was becoming impatient with the
slow and cautious methods of the old guard.
• Most prominent members of the ANCYL included Mandela, Walter
Sisulu, Peter Mda, Jordan Ngubane and William Nkomo.
• League’s philosophy based on African Nationalism with an emphasis on
unity of all Africans.
• First leader of the league was Anton Lembede.
• Women’s league formed at the same time.

NATIONAL PARTY VICTORY: 1948.

Why did the white electorate vote for the NP (apartheid)?

• Many voters worried that Smuts at 78 years was too old and would most
likely be succeeded by J.H. Hofmeyr who was too liberal on race issues.
• Smuts angered the Afrikaners when he invited King George VI and his
family to visit South Africa in 1947. Afrikaners resented the British
because of the South African War and the concentration camps.
• White voters and ex – service men were affected by post war problems
such as unemployment, shortage of housing and unemployment.
• The UP had been overconfident of winning and did not put much effort
into canvassing for voters.
• The NP had a lot of support in the rural areas. This was significant as
rural areas were over – represented so it took far fewer voters to return
a member to parliament than it took urban voters. The UP on the other
hand had a lot of support in the cities which had fewer seats in
parliament.
• The huge influx of blacks into the cities during the war alarmed many
whites. The Fagan Commission of 1946 appointed by the UP
recommended that black people should be recognised as a permanent
part of urban life and that the government should provide for them in
the cities.

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• Smuts wanted to increase the number of whites living in South Africa by

encouraging large numbers of European immigrants into South Africa.
• Most Afrikaners felt that this would threaten their identity and reduce
the number of jobs available to Afrikaners.
• There was an awakening of Black Nationalism as a result of the
international call to end racial discrimination and several strikes had
erupted in the Rand and other parts of the country.
• The Sauer Commission appointed by Malan’s National Party
recommended apartheid and many whites felt that this would remove
the swart geevar. It recommended that:
➢ Black people should as far as possible, be returned to the
reserves.
➢ There they could develop along their own lines.
➢ The urban areas and commercial farms belonged to whites.
➢ Black people should be regarded as temporary residents in the
white areas.

What was apartheid?

It was the National Party’s racial policies that were based on a rigid system of
racial classification and were aimed at keeping power and wealth in the hands
of the white minority, especially the Afrikaner segment.

How did apartheid differ from segregation?

• The segregation laws under apartheid were more rigid and were
ruthlessly enforced by the government.
• Before apartheid, the system of racial segregation had been undermined
to some extent during and after WW2. Prior to that, the laws had not
been rigidly enforced. Examples include:
1. Towns and cities were not forced to implement the Urban Areas
Act and some of them did not. Municipalities were left in control
so there were variations across the country. Areas where black
people had bought property remained untouched during
segregation, e.g. Sophia Town and Alexandra in Johannesburg and
District Six in Cape Town.

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2. Mixed marriages were still illegal but there was no attempt to

establish a national population register.
3. Coloureds at the Cape still had the franchise.
4. The land Acts were never enforced with the thoroughness of
Apartheid legislation. In some parts of the country, share croppers
continued to farm white land and the act did not apply in the Cape
at all. Africans who had bought land continued to have legal title
to that land.
• Segregation was introduced during the colonial era while apartheid was
implemented at a time when the entire world was moving towards
strengthening the ideals of democracy, independence as well as human
rights.
• Christianity was used to justify apartheid.

Major Apartheid Legislation.

1. The Prohibition of Mixed Marriages Act. (1948)

✓ Passed to ensure racial purity.
✓ People of different races forbidden to marry.
2. The Immorality Amendment Act. (1950)
✓ Also aimed at maintain racial purity.
✓ Prevented sexual intercourse between whites and non-whites.
3. The Population Registration Act. (1950)
✓ All South Africans had to be classified into one of four categories,
White, Asian, Coloured or Native.
✓ Coloureds and Natives further classified into ethnic groups such as
Malay, Griqua, Xhosa, Zulu.
✓ Classification based on appearance, social acceptance and
descent.
✓ A person could not be classified as White if one of the parents
were non – white.
✓ A racial board investigated cases where there was doubt and used
the pencil test to determine race.
4. The Group Areas Act. (1950)
✓ Clarified the existing boundaries between the areas in which each
race was supposed to live.

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✓ Government enforced the boundaries by removing people who

did not belong. For example, Indians were moved from Cato
Manor in Durban to Chatsworth, coloureds were sent to
Wentworth and Africans to Umlazi.
5. The Prevention of illegal Squatters Act. (1951)
✓ Passed to stem the development of black squatter camps in the
urban areas.
✓ Act authorised government officials, local authorities and land
owners to evict and destroy homes of squatters.
✓ A program of township development started and areas such as
Daveyton, (near Benoni) Nyanga, (near Cape Town) New Brighton
(near Port Elizabeth) and Soweto (near Johannesburg) were built.
6. The Abolition of Passes and Co- ordination of Documents Act. (1952)
✓ Required Africans to carry a single pass book or reference book,
commonly known as the dompass.
✓ Dompass had to have holder’s photograph, name, address, id
number, tax receipt and the signature of one’s employer.
✓ Contained authorisation to be in a particular area.
✓ All Africans who were 16 and over had to carry these at all times.
✓ Fines and imprisonment imposed on those who violated the act.
7. The Urban Areas Act.(1954)
✓ Prescribed 72 hours as the longest that any African could remain
in an urban area without authorisation.
✓ Section 10 provided for the African to be domiciled in an urban
area by birth, continuous employment or 10 years for the same
employer or continuous residence for more than 15 years.
✓ Qualification cancelled if African found guilty of a criminal offence.
8. The Separate Amenities Act. (1953)
✓ Reserved public facilities for the exclusive use of certain groups.
✓ Proprietors allowed to exclude people because of their race.
✓ Government empowered to prosecute any person who used a
facility not allowed to his / her race group.
✓ White facilities superior.
✓ Ensured that there was no physical contact and socialising
between whites and blacks.

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RESISTANCE TO APARTHEID IN THE 1950s.

• Early resistance to segregation had taken the form of sending

delegations to government and signing petitions.
• In 1949, the ANCYL pressured the ANC to adopt the Program of Action
which called for boycotts, strikes and other forms of non-violent
protests.
• Formed an alliance, with the SAIC, APO, and the CPSA.
• Organised the May Day strike in 1950 and a National Day of Protest and
Mourning in remembrance of the 18 protesters who had been killed on
the May Day strike.

THE DEFIANCE CAMPAIGN

• 1952, the ANC and its allies organised the defiance campaign in which
protesters deliberately broke the laws.
• The aim was to get multitudes arrested and overcrowding the jails as a
way of forcing the government to repel the laws.
• Protesters were not to apply for bail or opt for fines.
• Campaign lasted for 3 months and around 8000 people were arrested.
• ANC called off the campaign when police responded violently to
peaceful protests in the Eastern Cape.
• The campaign turned the ANC into a mass based organisation as
opposed to the elitist movement it had been.
• ANC membership rose sharply, from 7000 to 100000.
• Greater unity was achieved amongst the resistance groups. Formed a
congress alliance.
• The Liberal Party and the Congress of Democrats (White) also joined the
alliance. These were predominantly white parties.
• International solidarity movement against apartheid. Organisations such
as the defence and aid fund for South Africa in London, the American
Committee on Africa in New York were formed.
• Government passed harsher laws like the Public Safety Act of 1953
allowed the government to declare a state of emergency if it believed
that public order was threatened.

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THE CONGRESS OF THE PEOPLE AND THE FREEDOM CHARTER.

• 1953, congress alliance formed by the ANC, SAIC, CPC, COD and later
SACTU.
• Committees were set up which then travelled around the country
collecting demands and grievances from the masses.
• These were put together in a document called the Freedom Charter
which was unanimously adopted at the Congress of the people in
KlipTown on 26 June 1955.
• The Freedom Charter upheld political rights for all, human rights and an
equal distribution of wealth.
• Also called for a non-racial South Africa and equal security and
education for all.
• The Freedom charter compelled the Africanists in the ANC to break
away and form the PAC.
• The government arrested the leaders of the congress.
• The government alleged that the freedom charter was a communist
document since it called for equality.
• The leaders were put to trial in what became known as the Treason
Trial.
• The leaders were acquitted after a lengthy trial and most historians
believe the government was trying to divert the leaders’ attention from
the struggle so that they could focus on the trial and not the mass
movement.

WOMEN’S RESISTANCE.

• Prior to 1954, women did not have to carry passes but in 1954, the
government announced that the women would have to carry passes.
• 9 August 1956,about 20 thousand women under the leadership of the
FEDSAW (Federation of South African Women) converged at the Union
Buildings in Pretoria to present a petition to the prime minister J.G.
Strijdom
• The prime minister would not see them so the four women’s leaders left
the petition at his door.
• Protest failed to achieve its goal.

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• Another women’s group was the Black Sash.

• Organisation made up of middle class white women who assisted black
women in difficulty and demonstrated against unjust laws.
• Wore black sashes, to show that they were mourning the death of the
constitution and black human rights.

STATE’S RESPONSE TO RESISTANCE IN THE 1950s

1. Suppression of Communism Act (1950)

• Communist Party and its ideology declared illegal.
• Act interpreted very widely to mean any scheme aimed at bringing
about change by “the promotion of disorder or disturbance.
• Act provided for banning orders which limited the number of people
that the banned person might speak to at any one time and severely
restricted their movements.
• This way, many people who were not communists were prosecuted
under this law.
2. Public Safety Act (1953)
• All laws could be suspended and a state of emergency declared.
3. Criminal Law Amendment Act(1953)
• Any one accompanying a person engaged in a campaign or protest to
have a law amended or repelled would be presumed guilty and subject
to harsh penalties.
4. Native Administration Act (1956)
• The government could banish African trouble makers to remote rural
areas.

THE SHARPVILLE MASSACRE (1960)

• The ANC organised a mass anti - pass law campaign for the 31st of
March.
• The PAC decided to counter the ANC campaign by calling their anti –
pass law campaign for the 21st, ten days earlier.
• The masses heeded the PAC’s call and converged at various police
stations.
• At Sharpeville, the police shot at the peaceful crowd killing 69 and
wounding many.
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• On 30 March, the government declared a state of emergency which gave

police the power to arrest and detain people without taking them to
court.

Significance of Sharpeville.

• The massacre brought the apartheid regime to the international

attention. This initially led to the withdrawal of foreign capital and white
emigration. This did not go on for long and South Africa prospered in the
1960s. The government continued with the policy of separate
development and the ruthless suppression of all resistance.
• The government banned the ANC and the PAC and in the weeks that
followed arrested thousands of ANC, PAC and SACP supporters.
• The resistance movement decided to abandon passive resistance and
take up armed resistance. This saw the formation of Umkhonto
Wesizwe (MK) of the ANC and Poqo of the PAC.
• By 1965, the power of the main resistance movement had been
completely broken and Oliver Tambo had escaped.
• In 1967, compulsory conscription of white males was introduced.

The Rivonia Trial (1964)

• The banning of the ANC forced it underground. Both the PAC and the
ANC decided to embark on the armed struggle.
• They used violence and sabotage to overthrow the government.
However they tried as much as possible to avoid injury to people.
• Targets included apartheid offices, railway lines and electricity supply
lines.
• The aim was to disrupt government administration and the economy,
and draw attention to the injustices that continued in South Africa.
• The ANC headquarters were at Lilliesleaf farm in Rivonia.
• In 1963, a number of ANC leaders were discussing plans for a major
military operation called “operation Mayibuye”.
• They had documents that outlined an operation that would bring in
guerrillas via Durban who would conduct acts of sabotage in the country.
• The secret police were tipped off by an informer and all the leaders were
arrested. They included five Africans, two whites and one Indian.
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• Documents were confiscated and used as evidence in the trial that

came to be known as the Rivonia Trial.
• Mandela was brought out of prison to stand trial with the eight arrested
in Rivonia.
• Mandela and the other leaders were sentenced to life imprisonment and
were sent to Robben Island.
• By the mid-1960s the apartheid government seemed to be in full control
since the Congress Alliance leaders were in prison, exile or had been
banned.

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