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Well written summary of Grade 11 History: Apartheid (1940s to 1960s).
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Apartheid South Africa, 1940s to 1960sThe roots of Apartheid
Apartheid was the continuation of the system of racial segregation that the South African
government created long before 1948.
The migrant labour system affected the lives of all black people living in South Africa.
The constitution of the Union gave special privileges to whites.
The Natives’ Land Act was passed in 1913. This act declared that black people (70%) could
live in only 13% of South Africa’s land. The rest of the land was reserved for white ownership
and occupation, although whites only made up 20% of the population.
The black ‘reserves’ were widely scattered pieces of land mainly east of the country.
Unequal access to land was a main pillar of racial segregation and later Apartheid.
In South Africa’s cities and farms, racism and official racial discrimination was a part of
everyday life long before 1948.
After the establishment of the Union in 1910, the government intervened in agriculture to
benefit white farmers. It helped white farmers at the expense of black farmers.
- The Land Bank lent them money to buy machinery.
- They could borrow money to buy seeds and equipment, paying little/no interest.
- Government controlled crop pests and livestock disease.
- Government-sponsored irrigation schemes were developed.
On the other hand, the government passed laws which forced independent black farmers to
become wage labourers on white farms, or to move to the cities as wage labourers.
Pass Laws
Pass laws were designed to control the movement of black South Africans in white urban
Areas.
In 1923, the Natives (Urban Areas) Act stated that all black African men in cities and towns
had to carry permits or ‘passes’ at all times. Anyone found without a pass would be arrested
immediately and sent to a reserve.
,The Colour Bar
Black people living in cities were in an extremely insecure legal position.
The (Native) Urban Areas Act of 1923 stipulated that Africans could only be in cities as long as
their labour ‘served the white man’s needs’.
At the end of their working lives, they were expected to return to the reserves in the
countryside.
African farmers in the reserves faced serious soil erosion because so many people were
forced to farm on so little land.
In the 1920s, the government passed laws which protected white workers from competition
with black workers.
Prime Minister, J.B. Hertzog introduced a ‘civilised labour policy’ which led to white
workers being paid more than black workers for the same job.
White farmers, who could not make a living by farming were moving into cities. They got jobs
at much higher rates of pay than black workers.
Hertzog's Colour Bar Act excluded black workers from skilled jobs and established what
came to be known as ‘job reservation’ for whites.
White families were allowed to settle permanently in cities. They were provided with services
by the government and had the incentive to improve their properties and quality of life.
In the 1920s, racial segregation laid the foundations for Apartheid.
White South Africans benefitted economically at the expense of black South Africans.
Segregation policies in the 1930s
The South African government’s policy of ‘separate but equal’ development usually
meant that white people received preferential treatment.
In the rural areas, black farmers’ lives were made so difficult that they often gave up.
White farmers received the best land and the government made sure they got the best
prices for what they produced.
The government also imposed various taxes on black South Africans and these had to be
paid in cash.
, There was not enough land in the reserves and it was not fertile enough to support
everyone. Many black farmers were forced to move off the land and find jobs in order to
live and to pay their taxes.
The government also considered Indians and coloured to be ‘non-white’.
It did discriminate against these groups but they were in general not as disadvantaged
as black Africans.
Segregation policies in the 1940s
Some white people disagreed with racial segregation and were concerned about the
poor conditions in which the majority of the population was forced to live.
By the end of WW2 in 1945, the more liberal United Party government of Jan Smuts
had loosened some of the segregation laws.
In 1948, the Fagan Commission, which the Smuts government had appointed to
investigate changes to the racial segregation system encouraged that migrant labour
be phased out and thus the United Party policy now accepted that black people were
permanently settled in the urban areas.
The National Party set up the Sauer Commission and the findings of the commission
recommended that not only should segregation continue, but it should be strictly
implemented in all spheres of social and economic life.
It proposed the policy of Apartheid, in which black and white people were to be strictly
separated as much as possible.
Factors that led to the National Party victory in 1948
At this time, only white South Africans and a small number of coloured males were
allowed to vote in South Africa.
The United Party which had won the general election in 1943 expected a victory in the
1948 election because it had successfully led South Africa through the war.
However, the changes that took place during WW2 affected the way white people voted
in the 1948 elections. The National Party led by D.F. Malan won by a small majority.
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