Apartheid Summary

While Apartheid never truly began until 1948, racial segregation began almost immediately after the formation of the new country.  When gaining their independence in 1910, only whites were able to wield any power within the country.  These were the British colonists as well as the Boers, who were descendants of 17^th century Dutch colonists.  The Natives Land Act of 1913 truly kicked of the beginning of color segregation, where land ownership was segregated by race.  Blacks were also unable to work in certain businesses with this act.  While these laws existed, none of them were enforced very strongly until the National Party came in to formation following World War II. 

 

The first use of the perm Apartheid, literally meaning “aparthood” and is derived from the Afrikaans and Dutch languages, was in a speech given in 1917 by Jan Smits, who was later to lead the Nationalist Party.  Apartheid became a reality in 1948 when the Nationalists Party came in to power.  New Population laws were put in to place which classified black Africans as Bantus, mixed races such as Indians as colored, and the Dutch and British colonists as white.  Other laws in place specified where each group of people was allowed to live, work, or own land.  If anyone other than a white wanted to enter into a white area, they required a pass.  Social or sexual mixing of the races was also restricted, as well as the entire educational system.  While the white population of South Africa only accounted for 10 percent of the population, they had control over 80 percent of the land.  Blacks were placed into their own townships throughout South Africa, and they were all politically placed within a nation inside of South Africa known as Bantustans.  This nation was created under the pretext that black Africans were given the right to self-determination.  The white South African government was the only one to recognize Bantustans though.  South Africa began to fall out of line with international norms (pariah state) as violent resistance against apartheid broke out in 1976.  In the early 1990s, negotiations between Nelson Mandela, who at the time was leading the African National Congress, and the Prime Minister of South Africa, F. W. de Klerk.  These negotiations led to the eventual dismantling of apartheid, and the first free elections in South Africa were held in 1994.