Thematic Essay

Nelson Mandela once said, “The millions of graves strewn across Europe which are the result of the tyranny of Nazism, the decimation of the native people of the Americas and Australia, the destructive trail of the apartheid regime against humanity—all these are like a haunting question that floats in the wind: why did we allow this to happen?” Throughout its history, the Republic of South Africa has translated inherent racism into national policy, resulting in a society, which promotes white domination in politics, economics, and daily life. Though white supremacy has been a constant in South Africa, the term Apartheid only became relevant in the late 1940s. Today, at the end of the Apartheid regime, the question is “Why?” Racial discrimination has been an inherent part of South Africa’s culture and politics for over 300 years.

Apartheid is an Afrikaans word that, when translated into English literally means ‘apart-hood.’ In South Africa Apartheid was a political policy that separated the development of the races. However racial segregation has been a constant part of South Africa’s past since the late 1600s. The Dutch were the first Europeans to see the importance of South Africa’s cape on the way to India; and built their colonies on the principles of slave labor. These principles were brought into the newly colonized area not because of necessity, but rather because it served to please the Dutch people. The natives of South Africa were the first people to experience racial discrimination. They were sold in slave trades and, if they were ‘unfit’ for slavery, they were sent to the least livable area of the country. Slaves became, in a short period of time, a labor force that transformed a small cluster of immigrants into a prosperous colony. On paper, they had no existence. They were essentially a group of citizens who couldn’t own property, couldn’t marry, and weren’t recognized as South African people. As time passed, the living conditions of the native people of the land continued to deteriorate. In 1910 a series of laws were passed that expanded racial segregation. The laws granted white, privileged people the right to expropriate land from African farmers. This removed the last bit of ownership a black or colored African had. It wasn’t long after these laws before South Africa experienced a dramatic change; the majority of economic success shifted from agriculture, to industrial. The new industries spiked urban growth bringing white, colored, and black workers into closer contact.

The boost in urbanization and industrialization posed a great threat to the racial segregation the white population of South Africa had worked so hard to maintain. In 1948, the nationalist party, led by Daniel Francis Malan, initiated a policy of apartheid. Elected by a tiny margin, the party wasted no time putting multiple laws in place to prevent the party’s upheaval. Early in 1949, the party began to implement its apartheid program. The policy was presented to the white Afrikaans population as the political move that had the potential to solve all of the country’s racial problems, when in actuality the objectives of the policy were simply white supremacy within South Africa. The document stated that, “Whites, Africans (blacks), coloreds and Asians shall be totally separated from each other and each race shall be able to develop along its own lines in it’s own [geographical] area.” On paper, it was almost justifiable. Many of the political problems the country had faced in the past resulted from the friction between races. Tribal and civil warfare had resulted in the death of millions of South Africans, and slavery still left a sour taste in many blacks’ mouths.

The laws were presented to the white population, as ‘gods will.’ Malan, playing off the Afrikaans’ resentment and fear of “black menace” said that God “had first created all men as a single race. At the time of the tower of Babel, he divided them and scattered them over the face of the whole earth.” He implanted the idea into the heads of the Afrikaners that God had set boundaries between the races at the ‘tower of Babel,’ and that by determining where the blacks could live, Malan was really following God’s will. Apartheid became a religious duty for the Afrikaans people. It was undoubtedly morally and spiritually correct- if God believed in racial separation so should they.

The actions of the government, however, told a different tale than their words. In practice, rather than furthering the development of the races, Apartheid led to the collapse of many tribes and cultures. ‘Undesirable’ blacks were removed from their homes and placed on reserves. In the Cape Province, rigid racial separation was enforced in all forms of public transportation, offices, libraries, movies and restaurants. The laws were very similar to the American segregation acts, however they were much more intense. Each race was to be entirely separate. This included separate homes, jobs, and churches. The laws dissolved any representation blacks had in city and town councils, and put in place a tribal council where they could ‘discuss their problems.’ The government failed to recognize the different tribes and the language barriers each tribe might face. There was a set prohibition of mixed marriages, and an immorality act was placed in the constitution that “outlawed sexual relations between all blacks and whites.”All of South Africa separated, including notably, education. At the end of Apartheid, the white population was highly educated, with over 98% of the country completely literate; contrast to this, only 50% of the black population were literate. Education of the non-white citizens was government controlled and the amount of information presented to the blacks was extremely limited. The Apartheid regime created an element of control over the blacks by restricting their knowledge. Much like American slavery, the government believed that limiting the amount of information available to the ‘undesirables’ would decrease the chance of a revolution. Blacks were not permitted to attend university, and were subjected to horrible conditions and inadequate materials.

In the late 1960s, a law was passed called the Population Registration Act. The Registration Act was a law that defined who was of which ‘race.’ The act, in essence decided which race you belonged to based on your physical appearance. To determine what race you belonged to, authorities would place a pencil in your hair, and if it remained in your hair you were marked as black. Decisions were also made on complete whim, based on hair color, eye color and whether or not the authorities ‘liked the look of you.’ Wrong decisions were often made, and families were torn apart. If declared ‘black’ you were made to carry an identification card (much like the star of David in the second world war). Documentation put regulations on who was permitted where, where colored and blacks travelled, and how they conducted themselves. Speaking out against the government would end in either a life sentence at Robben Island Prison, or banishment to a township. Many of the men sent to Robben Island Prison ended up passing before they left the prison, due to horrible working conditions, insufficient food, and insufferable living conditions. Men were made to work in a limestone quarry with no protection for 12 hours a day, and were fed nothing more than bread and water for weeks at a time. Political Prisoners were allowed to receive one piece of mail every six months, and wardens monitored their visits.

Blacks in South Africa outnumber whites in a ratio of 4 to 1. Apartheid’s laws only provided 13% of the land to the blacks. In the first 20 years of Apartheid, 3,5 million people were uprooted from their homes and sent to townships, which were little more than informal settlements.

Townships were, and still continue to be, segregated ghettos where many blacks were sent during Apartheid. Also called Shantytowns, the townships were located outside every city, town, and village, and were first built to provide temporary dwellings for blacks that worked in the neighboring cities. The men who lived in these dwellings did not own the land, and were given no control over their living conditions. The largest township, Soweto, housed 150,000 blacks, and is one of South Africa’s largest cities. Until the middle of the 1980s there was no electricity, and the habitants were confined to homes that were 7.3m x 7.6 m in groups of as many as 12 residents. Many South African blacks still reside in the townships, and are still segregated today. The separation of races has become a permanent fixture. The black unrest in these townships has left the country being one of the most dangerous in the world–with over 1000 murders a year.

In retrospect, South Africa’s lack of humanity is utterly disgusting. There was a lack of fundamental compassion for differences that left the country in shambles. Whites were given an ideal world, wealth and prosperity surrounded them; however the rest of the country suffered in Shantytowns and ‘homelands.’ Apartheid yielded to world pressure and domestic revolt in 1990 by repealing most of the Apartheid laws. In the next few years a new constitution was formed giving the right to vote to people of all races. Equality was finally reached in 1990.

“We are convinced that the risen masses must stand at the heart and in the vanguard of the great historic process to eradicate the legacy of slavery, colonialism, apartheid and neo-colonialism.”-Thabo Mvuyelwa MbekiBibliography:Books:Bell, Paul and others, Illustrated History of South Africa: The Real Story, Readers Digest Association, Inc. Pleasantville, New York 1988Di Kiewiet, C.W., A History of South Africa: Social and Economic, Oxford University Press, 1957Pascoe, Elaine, South Africa: Troubled Land, Franklin Watts, Ontario, 1987Lawson, Don, South Africa, Franklin Watts, Toronto, 1986Websites:South Africa under Apartheid: The politics of race. ProQuest. History Study Center. ProQuest LLC. 6 Oct. 2008 .

Author Unknown,”South Africa under Apartheid: the politics of race.” Study Unit. History Study Center. ProQuest LLC. 6 Oct. 2008 .

Newspaper Articles:Darnton, John. “Apartheid, as Real and Painful as Ever.” ProQuest Historical Newspapers: New York Times 30 Oct. 1977. 166. History Study Center. ProQuest LLC. 6 Oct. 2008 .