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SOUTH AFRICA NOTES The apartheid regime -

Political, economic, social and demographic issues in South Africa in 1960 + impact on rural and urban areas ● Sa political, economic, and social policies were directly contrary to the decolonisation and desegregation taking place in the rest of the modern world ● They faced some international criticism ● Diplomatic sporting and economic ties still existed, in 1962 the UN tried to impose economic sanctions on south Africa ● This did not work due to their immense supply of minerals ● British, German, American and Japanese people and companies invested money into south Africa ● Sa economy grew 5-7% in the 60s ● Condemnation of the apartheid regime from other countries only strengthened the white governments determinations to defend and develop apartheid ● Pm Verwoerd developed comprehensive policies to expand separate development ● He also held a referendum for sa to be a republic ‘unite to keep south Africa white’ ● White south Africans voted in favour of this ● The Republic of south Africa (RSA) in 1961 cut off all ties witch British commonwealth ● As white Afrikaner nationalism was coming to its peak, black opposition to apartheid was becoming more organised ● The anc was working to educate and unite blacks against the common enemy of apartheid ● Many groups were also forming for rights to Indians and coloureds ● Economy in 1960 boomed

● Mining and minerals were the main reason for this (see book for the minerals they had0 ● Johannesburg became the city of gold ● New technology and cheap black labour, the economy surged forwardblacks did not gain from this economic boom ● Government also used its new wealth to purchase military equipment from France ● Whites prospered most ● Large Afrikaner corporations were formed and Afrikaners were earning twice as much as English speaking south Africans ● Still small pockets of Urban and rural poverty ● Black workers had not benefited from increase wages at all ● Paid less than half the earnings of a white workers ● Their work was labour intensive and unskilled ● Only in 1970’s due to relaxed apartheid laws were black trade unions allowed to protest ● government decided it required more skilled workers and paid some semi-skilled workers in higher rates ● South Africa was heavily divided in 1960 ● Some wealthy and educated whites moved from south Africa, criticising the apartheid regime ● However most whites supported the system ● White protest at this time was minimal ● During 1960 white society began to urbanise ● Illegal black townships were being bulldozed out of existence to make way for white suburbs ● This was also done to ease the fears of a black revolt ● Blacks were forced to live in shanty towns ● Bantustans were overcrowded -

ideology policy and practise

● Apartheid was developed in the 1930s and 40s ● During the 1930s and 40s south Africa became a modern industrialised and urbanised nation and apartheid was a reaction by Afrikaners to this rapid change ● Afrikaners felt disempowered by blacks in the workforce ● Afrikaners believed that the smuts government had not be able to adequately apply the policies of segregation to advance the living standards of Afrikaners and deal with the problems of ‘poor whites’ ● Ideological foundation of apartheid was that different races in south Africa needed to be separated for their own mutual benefit ● ‘scientific racism’ ● This insistence on racial apartness became the political and legal doctrine of apartheid ● The separation could work if the government was willing to finance the apartheid policy ● Recommended by Tomlinson ( A professor that Malan ordered to research about apartheid) that homelands be set up in seven areas and become Bantustans ● These homelands would remain separated from the white community and eventually become independent ● Blacks could only live in there prescribed homelands ● They would only be able to enter ‘white areas’ with correct documentation and a pass book ● The key function of these homelands was to keep blacks and whites separated ● The only exception being blacks who worked for whites ● More than eighty percent of the land in south Africa was set aside for whites ● The government instituted ‘influx’ laws control laws to limit the number of passes issued to black south Africans

● The government spent no money on constructing services in the homelands of the blacks ● Apartheid caused black south Africans to live in poverty with whites living in comfort and prosperity ● Main tenets of apartheid: separate development for black people, no political rights for black people in ‘white areas’, Influx control and apartheid in industry, division of black labour ● Apartheid Laws

National resistance to apartheid -

The nature growth and impact of the African national congress and one other anti- apartheid movement within south Africa ● Anc was created in 1912 as the South African native national congress but did not represent the majority of black Africans ● Their policy was non racial democracy freedom for all races in south Africa ● The communist party of south Africa during the early 40s and 50s conducted most resistance to apartheid ● This was lead mostly by white south Africans ● Banning of the communists party in 1952 made organising protests exceptionally difficult ● In 1944 anc changed its tactics to mass protests by the creation of the youth league ● They demanded a more militant programme of action ● Their aim was to conduct mass protest, boycotts of white services and passive resistance to apartheid ● This was known as the programme of action ● Programme of action was adopted by the anc in 1949 ● Defiance campaign- 1952

● Aim was to deliberately break apartheid laws ● This campaign was not effective in the face of harsh government oppression ● Police responded with violence and many peaceful protesters were jailed and finally the anc was forced to call of the defiance campaign ● A number of groups in the struggle against apartheid joined and formed the congress alliance after the failed defiance campaign ● This alliance included the anc, south African council of trade unions, south African Indians congress and the coloured people’s association ● In 1955 members of the congress alliance went around south Africa collecting the demands of all ordinary demands- this created the freedom charter ● Overarching goal of freedom charter –‘ we the people shall govern’ ● In 1959- a splinter group from the anc- pac ● Led by Robert Sobukwe ● Pas drew much of its support from areas such as SOWETO and other black areas around cape town ● Notably Langa were the anc was not influential ● Pac argued that it differed radically in its conception of the struggle against apartheid ● Pac believed they were repressed as Africans- pac was pro African were anc was non racial ● Pac was mostly opposed to congress alliance ● Sobukwe argued that the anc was heavily influenced by the communist party ● Pac held the belief that blacks alone should be responsible for policy matters without white interference ● Similar to the mk, they formed poqo ● Poqo was the first black political organisation oin south Africa which openly accepted the taking of a human life as a necessary part of its

strategy

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Significance of the sharpville massacre 1950 ● 1960 the PAC organised a protest against pass laws ● The PAC called on its followers to leave their passes at hom and gather at the police station ● Over 5 thousand protestors came ● The police opened fire killing 69 ● The pac argued that if thousands were arrested they would not have the jails to fill them all, they did not account for murder ● Sobukwe insisted that the campaign should be conducted in non violence ● This caused for international condemnation ● Trouble erupted in cape town ● Phillip Kgosana, local pac leader, led 30 000 protestors to the house of parliament in protest of police violence ● Police did not have the numbers to hold back the crowd so a compromise was reached ● Pass laws were suspended, but this suspension was lifted the next day and Phillip was arrested ● Vulnerability of whites and the seething undercurrent of black unrest was being clear ● Both anc and pac were banned ● Both mk and poqo changed tactics to those of violence ● Robert Subukwe and other pac leaders were arrested ● Mandela and tambo fled overseas

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Role of mandelas leadership in the anc ● Joined anc in 42 after meeting sisulu ● He originally only participated in nonviolent protest

● being influence from the indian national congress later by non violent protests ● Understood the power of mass influence from seeing communist party organised strikes ● Led to the defiance campaign ● Anc membership rose from 7000 to 100 000 ● After the anc became banned after Sharpeville, they were forced to work underground ● Mandela pushed the anc and the mk towards the direction of sabotage ● Banning of the anc left no other option but to pursue a policy of violence ● Objective of sabotage was to harm the white economy and bring international and national attention to the anc cause ● Successfully operated underground for 2 years ● In this time Mandela travelled through south Africa and trained in Ethiopia in guerrilla tactics ● Mandela also made his way to Britain and other African states seeking support and advice on fighting the apartheid regime ● He earned the nick name ‘black pimpernel’ ● He disguised himself as a chauffeur one time to avoid being caught -

Significance of Steven Biko and the black consciousness movement ● The bcm was led by steve biko, who was a young medical student ● He was able to express theories of black consciousness which were coming out of the united states and apply it to the struggle against apartheid ● He formed the SASA- south African students association ● This demanded change and argued that whites in south Africa would not take the necessary steps to end apartheid and that only pride in black culture and history and an advancement of black consciousness

would end apartheid ● Hje argued that only blacks could liberate themselves as white society was to accustom to the racist policies ● In order to advance black consciousness, biko and other uni students set up community health clinics to give free medicine and treatments to those in needs ● gained him national and international attention ● biko was banned in 1973 and detained without trial ● biko came under close scrutiny by the sa police for his political and community programmes ● arrested again in 1977 and held naked in a cell for 18 days ● interrogated and beaten ● he lay dying from internal bleeding yet his death was listed as an accident ● the death of steve biko and the bcm inspired many young blacks in south Africa ● steven biko became a rallying point against the growing oppression of the apartheid regime ● his death fuelled political militancy in many blacks- particularly young blacks ● as Botha made it official that half the subjects in schools would be taught in Afrikaans, black students knew their education was in jeopardy ● most black teachers were unable to teach in Afrikaans ● 1967- school children began rioting against these policies and overcrowding and lack of resources ● This was the Soweto riot ● Protesters were also unhappy with rising unemployment and they soon realised the only thing blacks were taught in schools was how to be a slave

● Over 20 000 protesters marched in the streets of Soweto ● Uprising in Soweto would eventually be crushed by police Repr Repression ession and contr control ol by South Africa -

The nature, impact and significance of tactics of repression and oppression ● The economic boom of the 60s was falling and unemployment was on a rise ● The black population was growing at a much faster rate than the whites ● Resistance from black organisations intensified ● International pressure against apartheid increased ● Complex set of laws and enforcing bodies part of apartheid were becoming expensive ● South Africa’s neighbours were throwing off their white masters and setting up independent black governments ● PW botha declared south Africa was facing a ‘total onslaught’ in every aspect of national life ● He was determined to keep south Africa under white minority rule ● He believed this total onslaught needed to be met with an equally massive counter attack led by the government and security forces ● Botha felt that a world conspiracy against south Africa, led by communists as china and the soviet union were helping anc in exile- he felt as though is the anc succeeded, a communist government wouldn’t be far away ● They had to both outfight the enemy and win the hearts and minds of the blacks –total strategy ● Total strategy would fight things externally and internally ● Internal reforms consisted majorly of reforms to petty

apartheid laws such as: 1.

Recognising African trade unions

2. Ending laws against interracial sex and marriage 3. Ending SOME segregation in business and employment 4. Government granted LIMITED independence to four homelands- these homelands were still economically dependant on the south African economy 5. Government planned to reorganise black urban townships by allowing the development of new townships and by providing them with adequate facilities, housing, water and electricity. This was done to reduce the frequency of riots NOT FOR THE BENFIT OF BLACKS 6. Government attempted to build a black middle class 7. Creation of the tricameral party- Indians and coloureds given limited representation and blacks still denied the vote ● Tactics of repression of opposition included more banning orders, strengthening of the army and increasing the civil defence forces ● Fighting wars in border nations to prevent liberation and deliberately destabilizing any black government not subordinate to sa became part of government policy ● Additional security measures and legislations were created in parliament ● Internal security act amendment act 70 of 1976 garneted the police powers to deal with individuals who were seen as a threat to the security of state ● large number of activists were detained without trial and many died from ‘suicide or hunger strikes’ ● South African broad casting commissions, newsprint and radio compiled with censorship laws set down by the government. All news dealing with security matters’ was censored. Any organisation or individual breaking these censorship laws were fined and jailed

● Gun ownership by whites was higher than any population ● To enforce these tactics of repression, the military was vastly increased and modern equipment such as jets, tanks and military technology was purchased from around the world ● Total military spending increased significantly ● As black resistance was rising and continued riots made police unable to control townships, by 1986 the south African defence force was used to stop riots and a national state of emergency was declared ● This included strict curfews and saw military patrols in cities and streets ● Townships were sealed off by the army -

Role of south African security forces ● Botha had been minister for defence for many years ● He had good links with arm generals ● He set up a state security council (SSC) in 1982 consisting of army generals and police chiefs ● It had more influence over Botha than the politicians in the cabinet ● Ssc was supported by a system of local joint management centres, run by a local police chief or army brigadier ● South African security forces became of police and army ● It was almost parallel to the government ● Botha greatly increased the size of armed forces ● Since 1972 every south African man had to do 9 months on the force and he later increased this period to two years ● Two hundred thousand school children went on regular camps run by the army and joined cadet forces ● There was a world boycott on selling arms to south Africa ● So they set up their own arms industry called ARMSCOR

● Oit made guns, tanks, rocket launchers etc ● A large portion of the south African national budget was dedicated to making the country a military state ● People were spied on, banned, banished, tortured, jailed in secret etc ● It seemed the government and its agencies would stop at nothing to enforce apartheid and white minority rule -

Role and significance of Bantustans and independent black states ● In the creation of the policy of apartheid, black home lands or ‘Bantustans’ were created for the black population ● Over 80% of the area had been reserved for whites, but blacks made up more than 70% of the population ● Little to no spending was used to create these Bantustans ● In 1970, under Botha’s new reforms, the government wanted to make some of these homelands independent black states ● This wasn’t done for the benefit of the blacks, however, it was done to preserve white south Africa ● It was done to also appease the rest of the world and to make black population somewhat happy and to ‘appreciate’ the white government ● 1959- promotion of Bantu Self-Government Act had been passed, this was designed to create the homelands as separate areas for black south Africans ti live according to different racial groups ● Hendrick Verwoerd was determined to push the message of ‘separate development’ for all black south Africans ● The theory was to ‘detribalise’ Africans ● All blacks would be prescribed to one of the ten black homelands ● Many black leaders opposed to homelands ● Eventually came to adopt government policies ● Bantustans were overcrowded and impoverished and heavily reliant on

South African infrastructure and economic aid ● Creation of these homelands was the jewel in the crown f the social engineering policies of the apartheid government ● The government hoped this would solve the black problem ● By the 1970s these homelands were failures, yet the south African government was determined to make them independent ● Homelands only housed one third of the black African population -

Relations with neighbouring African countries ● Second phase of total strategy was to protect the borders of south Africa from the countries who were advancing the process of decolonisation ● South Africa had always maintained the border countries of Angola, Namibia, Mozambique, Rhodesia and Botswana as a ‘buffer zone’ ● These countries were being supported by Marxist governments including the soviet union and Cuba who were determined to help ANC ● The south African defence forces carried out a policy of forward defence by carrying out undercover cross border operations ● Sadf crossed borders which they believed were part of the anc ● Sadf also illegally occupied Namibia ● Sadf also supplied arms and financial aid to the Mozambique national resistance ● The main goal of the sadf was to destabilize those countries by supporting the opposing revolutionary forces ● South Africa continued to attempt to destabilise its neighbouring countries ● As her neighbouring countries were gaining freedom and were determined to not support apartheid, south Africa attempted to seal her borders and create a ‘ring of steal’ ● The sadf built wire fencing along the border with Zimbabwe and

stationed farmer commando units to monitor movement on the border -

International responses to south African policies ● After the Soweto uprising in 1976, Soweto began to face much international condemnation ● Economic sanctions were applied by many western nations and never before had south africa been so politically isolated ● Not only was this international condemnation coming from places like the UN, but form the word council of churches, international businesses and international anti apartheid movements ● Important political figures such as us vice president Walter Mondale, President Jimmy carter and others began to speak out against apartheid ● Sporting sanctions included banning from Olympic and commonwealth games ● Economic sanctions placed a very big burden on south africa ● The free nelson Mandela campaign grew stronger in England ● Many students led anti-apartheid movements and marches ● In 1...