– Effects of Apartheid in South Africa:
– South Africa- Beautiful Scenery with Ugly History:
– What is Apartheid in South Africa?
– Laws of Apartheid in South Africa:
– Books about Apartheid in South Africa:
– Apartheid in South Africa: Nelson Mandela
– Apartheid in South Africa: Facts:
A peep into South Africa under and after Apartheid, is a sad reminder of numerous effects of apartheid in South Africa, the segregation that included even such public facilities as seashores and beaches. Today, 30 years after apartheid was repealed, the ugly separation appears to remain commonplace and inequality still persists in the beautiful country.
South Africa- Beautiful Scenery with Ugly History:
The book, “A Beautiful Place to Die“, written by Malla Nunn, tends to portray South Africa as a country of beautiful landscape. The natural beauty of the land has continued to fascinate tourists. Hundreds of tourist attractions decorate the scenery, including beautiful sun-drenched beaches, magnificent mountain ranges, and a broad variety of mountaineering trails.
An unforgettable experience is a visit to one of South Africa’s several indigenous forests. As you look up at a magnificent yellowwood tree, you marvel that this giant has grown from a tiny seed. Some of these trees may reach a height of 180 feet and be a thousand years old.
However, a different kind of seed had been sown and cultivated in the country. It is apartheid a troubled race relations policy that brought international condemnation.
What is Apartheid in South Africa?
The word “apartheid” literally means “separateness” and was first used by the National Party during the political elections of 1948. That party won the election that year, and strict separation of the various racial groups in South Africa became official government policy with the firm backing of the Dutch Reformed Church.
National Party’s all-white government immediately began enforcing existing policies of racial segregation. Under apartheid, nonwhite South Africans (a majority of the population) would be forced to live in separate areas from whites and use separate public facilities. Contact between the two groups would be limited. Despite strong and consistent opposition to apartheid within and outside of South Africa, its laws remained in effect for the better part of 50 years.
This policy, driven by the determination to ensure white supremacy, led to laws that regulated key facets of life—residence, employment, education, public amenities, and politics.
The major racial groups were classified as follows: white, Bantu (black Africans), colored (those of mixed race), and Asian (Indians). Apartheid proponents declared that the races should have their own designated areas, called homelands, where they could live and develop in harmony with their culture and customs. What may have looked viable to some in theory did not work in practice. Intimidated by guns, tear gas, and snarling dogs, many blacks with their meager possessions were driven from their homes and relocated to other areas. Most public facilities, such as banks and post offices, had separate sections for whites and nonwhites. Restaurants and cinemas were set aside for whites.
Effects of Apartheid in South Africa:
Today, 30 years after apartheid was repealed, separation appears to remain commonplace and inequality still persists, with most South African believing that they are still in apartheid.
After the initial excitement abated, inevitable questions were raised. To what extent would the new government redress the injustices of apartheid? How long would it take? With the passing of three decades, serious problems remain.
Apartheid cast its shadow over many areas of life, including education, marriage, employment, and property ownership. Among the great effects of apartheid in South Africa the people and government face are:
However, the effects of apartheid are not easy to quench. Poor education, corruption, poverty and racial discrimination remain facts of life in a country that suppose to recover from apartheid.
Crime: Crime remains one of the 7 effects of apartheid on South Africa. There has been increasing in crime rate in South Africa.
Unemployment: Unemployment rate has reached the height of over 51 percent.
HIV/AIDS: Estimated millions individuals are HIV-positive.
Frustration: Many people have come to realize that successive governments have not been able to eradicate these ills and have turned elsewhere for solutions.
Cheap Labour: Whites still relied on cheap black labour, both for business and domestic reasons. This resulted in division of families. For example, black men were permitted to go to the cities to work in mines or factories and accommodations were provided for them in men’s hostels while their wives had to stay in the native lands.
Immorality and Family Breakdown: Another of the effects of apartheid on South Africa was that family life was disrupted, leading to a great deal of immorality. Black servants working in white homes, as a rule, stayed in a room on the boss’s property. Their families could not live in white communities, and as such, parents did not see their families for extensive periods. To worsen the situation, blacks had to go about with identity passbooks at all times. It was a case being foreigners in your own land that still affects an average South African even today.
Apartheid has negatively affected the lives of all South African children but its effects have been particularly devastating for black children. The consequences of poverty, racism and v iolence have resulted in psychological disorders, and a generation of maladjusted children may be the result.
Economic difficulties:
Wages remained low for most white citizens. Black citizens could not own private property. The economy had a stagnant growth rate.
History of Apartheid in South Africa:
The 20th-century history of South African history cannot be complete without apartheid, a misapplied meaning of an Afrikaan word for “apartness” describing the nation’s authorised system of national and tribal segregation.
Contrary to general conception, racial segregation and white supremacy had become central aspects of South African policy long before apartheid began. The controversial 1913 Land Act, passed three years after South Africa gained its independence, marked the beginning of territorial segregation by forcing black Africans to live in reserves and making it illegal for them to work as sharecroppers. Opponents of the Land Act formed the South African National Native Congress, which would become the African National Congress (ANC).
The Great Depression and World War 11 brought increasing economic woes to South Africa, and convinced the government to strengthen its policies of racial segregation. In 1948, the Afrikaner National Party won the general election under the slogan “apartheid” Their goal was not only to separate South Africa’s white minority from its non-white majority, but also to separate non-whites from each other, and to divide black South Africans along tribal lines in order to decrease their political power.
The discriminatory divide between whites of European descent and black Africans stretch back to the era of 19th-century British and Dutch imperialism but the concept of apartheid did not become law until 1953, when the white-dominated parliament passed the Reservation of Separate Amenities Act, which officially segregated public spaces such as taxis, ambulances, hearses, buses, trains, elevators, benches, bathrooms, parks, church halls, town halls, cinemas, theaters, cafes, restaurants, hotels, schools, universities—and later, with an amendment, beaches and the seashore.
Laws of Apartheid in South Africa:
By 1950, the government had banned marriages between whites and people of other races, and prohibited sexual relations between black and white South Africans. The Population Registration Act of 1950 provided the basic framework for apartheid by classifying all South Africans by race, including Bantu (black Africans), Coloured (mixed race) and white. A fourth category, Asian (meaning Indian and Pakistani) was later added. In some cases, the legislation split families; parents could be classified as white, while their children were classified as colored.
A series of Land Acts set aside more than 80 percent of the country’s land for the white minority, and “pass laws” required non-whites to carry documents authorizing their presence in restricted areas. In order to limit contact between the races, the government established separate public facilities for whites and non-whites, limited the activity of nonwhite labor unions and denied non-white participation in national government.
Numerous laws were passed in the creation of the apartheid state. Here are a few of the pillars on which it rested:
Population Registration Act, 1950:
This Act demanded that people be registered according to their racial group. This meant that the Department of Home affairs would have a record of people according to whether they were white, coloured, black, Indian or Asian. People would then be treated differently according to their population group, and so this law formed the basis of apartheid. It was however not always that easy to decide what racial group a person was part of, and this caused some problems.
Group Areas Act, 1950:
This was the act that started physical separation between races, especially in urban areas. The act also called for the removal of some groups of people into areas set aside for their racial group.
Promotion of Bantu Self-Government Act, 1959: This Act said that different racial groups had to live in different areas. Only a small percentage of South Africa was left for black people (who comprised the vast majority) to form their ‘homelands’. This Act also got rid of ‘black spots’ inside white areas, by moving all black people out of the city. Well known removals were those in District 6, Sophiatown and Lady Selborne.
These black people were then placed in townships outside of the town. They could not own property here, only rent it, as the land could only be white owned. This Act caused much hardship and resentment. People lost their homes, were moved off land they had owned for many years and were moved to undeveloped areas far away from their place of work.
Some other significant laws included the: Prohibition of Mixed Marriages Act, 1949; Immorality Amendment Act, 1950; and Separate Representation of Voters Act, 1951.
20 greatest books about Apartheid in South Africa:
The story of apartheid in South Africa depended on writers, who told stories of South Africa’s Dark Age. Books played central role in the process. In this case, many books are targeted at tracing this event and the surrounding conditions, with a view to eliminating the difference between the so-called white and the black.
From Steve Biko collection “I Write What I Like”, through Nelson Mandela’s autobiography, “Long Walk To Freedom,” to Mark Behr’s “The Smell of Apples”, books remain significant document in shaping the history of Apartheid in South Africa.
The followings are some of the 20 greatest books Apartheid in South Africa you can’t afford to miss: “The Smell of Apples”, “Welcome to Our Hillbrow”, “My Son’s Story”, “Life & Times of Michael K”, :My Traitor’s Heart”, “I Write What I Like”, “Biko”, “A Beautiful Place to Die”, “Long Walk to Freedom”, “Disgrace”, “Fools And Other Stories”, “Amandla”, “Burger’s Daughter”, “And a Threefold Cord”, “Cry, the Beloved Country”.
End of Apartheid:
The year 1990 marked the beginning of a new epoch for apartheid South Africa. The era began with the release of Nelson Mandela from prison, as President F.W. de Klerk lifted the outlawed the proscription of Mandela’s political party, the African National Congress (ANC) and Parliament abolished the law that endorsed apartheid.
Beginning in the mid-1970’s, the government made a number of reforms, rendering their racial policies less restrictive. On February 2, 1990, then President F. W. de Klerk announced measures to dismantle apartheid, such as the official recognition of black political organizations and the release of Nelson Mandela from prison. With the democratic election of a black majority government in 1994, apartheid officially ended.
Apartheid in South Africa: Nelson Mandela
Activist Nelson Mandela and President de Klerk played crucial role in ending apartheid in South Africa. Both would later win the Nobel Peace Prize for their role in creating a new constitution for South Africa.
Apartheid in South Africa: Facts:
Do You Know?
Activist Nelson Mandela and President de Klerk played crucial role in ending apartheid in South Africa. Both would later win the Nobel Peace Prize for their role in creating a new constitution for South Africa.
ANC leader Nelson Mandela, released from prison in February 1990, worked closely with President F.W. de Klerk’s government to draw up a new constitution for South Africa. After both sides made concessions, they reached agreement in 1993.
South Africa is country of beautiful landscape. The natural beauty of the land has continued to fascinate tourists.
Diverse wildlife is a major attraction. The country boasts some 200 species of mammals, 800 species of birds, and 20,000 kinds of flowering plants. People throng to game reserves, such as the famous Kruger National Park.
There in the wild, you can see Africa’s “big five”: elephants, rhinos, lions, leopards, and buffalo.
