Some Basic Features of Apartheid :
Basic premise : The races must be separated and allowed to develop their own way. In reality it was a system to keep white South Africans in control of the country. Put into effect when the Afrikaners gained control of the Government (Afrikaners outnumbered other whites).
For years the system was supported theologically by a perversion of the Calvinist doctrine of predestination held in the South African Dutch Reformed Church.
The population was classified into four racial groups and had to carry internal passports which stated to which group the person belonged:
• European- whites – Afrikaners and British.
• Asians – from India – Brought over by the British to build the railroads and became a class of small shop owners.
• Coloured- People of mixed racial background – the largest number being in the Cape Town area.
• Bantu – the black residents of South Africa from numerous tribes.
Intermarriage was not allowed.
Only the white South Africans were considered complete citizens – The Bantu were considered foreigners living in South Africa.
Residence and jobs were determined by racial category – separate jobs, water fountains, benches in the park, residences, hospitals, schools – separate, but no equality was mentioned.
Criticism of the government was considered a Communist activity and was punishable by imprisonment.
Under the 90-day detention act, a person could be held in jail without being charged with a crime for 90 days (could be extended for a second 90 days).
International sanctions and embargoes helped in bringing an end to the system. Today all people are considered equal citizens of South Africa and Nelson Mandela (imprisoned for 27 yrs.) led the country, as president, into an era of real freedom and equality for all.
Opposition to apartheid within South Africa: Internal resistance to the apartheid system in South Africa came from several sectors of society and saw the creation of organisations dedicated variously to peaceful protests, passive resistance and armed insurrection.
In 1949, the youth wing of the African National Congress (ANC) took control of the organisation and started advocating for a radical black nationalist programme that combined the tenants of Africanism with those of Marxism. The new young leaders proposed that white authority could only be overthrown through mass campaigns. In 1950 that philosophy saw the launch of the Programme of Action, a series of strikes, boycotts and civil disobedience actions that led to occasionally violent clashes with the authorities.
In 1959, a group of disenchanted ANC members formed the Pan Africanist Congress (PAC), which organised a demonstration against pass books on 21 March 1960. One of those protests was held in the township of Sharpeville, where 69 people were killed in the Sharpeville uprising.
The majority of whites supported apartheid. However, there were some who opposed apartheid, such as Helen Suzman, Colin Eglin and Harry Schwarz.
In the wake of the Sharpeville incident the government declared a state of emergency. More than 18,000 people were arrested, including leaders of the ANC and PAC. As a result both the organisations were banned. The resistance went underground, with some leaders in exile abroad and others engaged in campaigns of domestic sabotage and terrorism.
In the 1970s, the Black Consciousness Movement was created by tertiary students influenced by the American Black Power movement. BC endorsed black pride and African customs and did much to alter the feelings of inadequacy instilled among black people by the apartheid system. The leader of the movement, Steve Biko, was taken into custody on 18 August 1978 and died in detention.
In 1976, secondary students in Soweto protested against forced tution in Afrikaans. On June 16, it was meant to be a peaceful protest, 23 people were killed. In the following years several student organisations were formed with the goal of protesting against apartheid, and these organisations were central to urban school boycotts in 1980 and 1983 as well as rural boycotts in 1985 and 1986.
In parallel to student protests, labour unions started protest action in 1973 and 1974. After 1976 unions and workers are considered to have played an important role in the struggle against apartheid, filling the gap left by the banning of political parties. In 1979, black trade unions were legalized and could engage in collective bargaining, although strikes were still illegal.
At roughly the same time churches and church groups also emerged as pivotal points of resistance. Church leaders were not immune to prosecution, and certain faith-based organisations were banned, but the clergy generally had more freedom to criticise the Government than militant groups did.
Among the white population, some 20 percent of which did not support apartheid, resistance was largely centred in the South African Communist Party and women’s organisation the Black Sash. Women were also notable in their involvement in trade union organisations and banned political parties.
