South Africa’s Apartheid Policy, Essay Example

While the policy of apartheid came to define the official policy of the minority white government in South Africa from 1948 to 1994, it was actually a term that originated in 1652, when the Dutch came to South Africa and used it as a political slogan which meant “apartness”.  This was a social and political policy which contained state-sanctioned discrimination and segregation by race. (Robinson,n.d.) It became the official policy of Afrikaner Nationalists in 1948 when they first came to power.  At that point, the institutionalization of apartheid was an official aspect of the legal system of South Africa.  Apartheid later became known under the term ” separate development,” and in a statement by the National Party of South Africa, which describe the policy of apartheid as arising from the experience of ” establish European populations of the country and which is based on the Christian principles of Justice and reasonableness.” (Halsall, 1998.)

The implementation of the apartheid policy was legitimized by the Population Registration Act of 1950 in which all South Africans were divided into three distinct racial categories: black Africans, known as Bantus; white people; or mixed race people referred to as “coloureds”.  In addition, Asians, or more specifically Indians and Pakistanis, were eventually included as well.  In the 1950s, apartheid as a system was reinforced by a series of laws that included the Group Areas Act of 1950.  This law enforced housing segregation when it assigned different races to certain residential and business areas in the cities.  In addition, the Land Acts of 1954 and 1955 prevented nonwhite residents to travel to or be found within certain areas.  Since the rights of black people were already very restricted, these acts prevented the black Africans from owning land, which allowed the white minority to control more than 80% of South African land.(Robinson.) Social contacts between the races were strictly forbidden by law, and much as the United States prior to the 1960s, public facilities as well as schools were also segregated.  Nonwhites were relegated to specific jobs, or restricted from forming nonwhite unions, and did not allow members of the majority to participate in the South African government.

The goals of the National Party’s Colour Policy were clear: the maintenance and protection of the European population of the country as a pure White race, the maintenance and protection of the indigenous racial groups as separate communities, with prospects of developing into self-supporting communities within their own areas, and the stimulation of national pride, self-respect, and mutual respect among the various races of the country.(Halsall.)

The races continued to be divided by such other laws as The Bantu Authorities Act of 1951 and the Promotion of Bantu Self-Government Act of 1959.  These acts created 10 African homelands which claimed to be revivals of original tribal groups.  The result was that the black people who lived in the homelands were not consider to be citizens of South Africa, but rather, their own homeland.  This became a very effective way for white South Africans to exclude blacks from participating in the political process.  The homelands were extremely poverty stricken, disconnected from each other and completely without power.

The policies of apartheid were strictly enforced, and opposition was quickly and aggressively thwarted.  Despite that, the black population of South Africa opposed the government’s policies and struggled to resist them, forming a number of political groups that were also supported by growing numbers of white people who had begun to view the policies as oppressive and dangerous, as well as destined to fail and eventually endanger their own lives.  As resistance grew, the opponents of apartheid began to utilize different means to express their  opposition, including strikes, demonstrations and violence.  Increasingly as well, the international community began to draw much attention to the plight of South African blacks, and widespread outrage grew across the globe.  For example, the United States and England imposed a series of economic sanctions on South Africa to protest apartheid.  Ultimately, the pressure reached such a peak both within and outside of South Africa that President F.W. De Klerk took steps to dismantle the apartheid system in the 1990s.  The ultimate symbol of the demise of the apartheid political structure occurred when Nelson Mandela was elected to be the country’s first black president.

References

Halsall,P. (1998, July) . “Report of the United Nations Commission on the racial situation in the union of South Africa,”.Retrieved July 15, 2010 from http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/1948apartheid1.html

Robinson, A. (n.d.). Apartheid, social and political policy of racial segregation and discrimination enforced by white minority governments in South Africa from 1948 to 1994. Retrieved July 15, 2010 from http://www.africanaencyclopedia.com/apartheid/apartheid.html).