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apartheid

Racial-segregation policy of the government of South Africa from 1948 to 1994. Under the apartheid system, non-whites - classified as Bantu (black), coloured (mixed), or Indian - did not share full rights of citizenship with the white minority. For example, black people could not vote in parliamentary elections, and until 1990 many public facilities and institutions were restricted to the use of one race only. The establishment of Black National States was another manifestation of apartheid. In 1991, after years of internal dissent and violence and the boycott of South Africa, including the imposition of international trade sanctions by the United Nations (UN) and other organizations, President F W de Klerk repealed the key elements of apartheid legislation and by 1994 apartheid had ceased to exist.

The term apartheid has also been loosely applied to similar movements and other forms of racial separation, for example social or educational, in other parts of the world.

Apartheid policies

The term ‘apartheid’ was coined in the late 1930s by the South African Bureau for Racial Affairs (SABRA), which called for a policy of ‘separate development’ of the races. It was first legislated in 1948, when the Afrikaner National Party gained power under Prime Minister Malan. The principal measures adopted included the prohibition of mixed marriages (1949) and sexual relations between individuals of different race (1950); the introduction of the ‘pass laws’ of 1950, which required all black people over the age of 16 to carry identity documents; and the provision of separate transport and other public facilities for non-whites, which was introduced under the Separate Amenities Act of 1953. These measures were further reinforced in 1950 by a forced resettlement policy, by which the government segregated the population into different areas on the basis of ethnic background; and by legislation in education, which first set out a restricted curriculum for black school children (under the Bantu Education Act of 1953), and later led to the establishment, in 1959, of five ‘ethnic’ universities and the banning of non-white students from all other universities. In the 1970s the Bantu Homelands Citizenship Act provided for all blacks to eventually become citizens of segregated ‘homelands’, and for their South African citizenship to be revoked.

Internally, organizations opposed to apartheid were banned, including the African National Congress (ANC) and the United Democratic Front (UDF). Some leading campaigners for its abolition, like Steve Biko, were killed; others, such as Archbishop Desmond Tutu, were harassed.

Opposition to apartheid

As well as the ANC and UDF (which were founded in 1912 and 1983 respectively), a number of other anti-apartheid organizations were active in South African politics during the years of apartheid. Even as the government first began to legislate apartheid policies, the ANC's leaders joined with coloured and Indian groups in the ‘defiance campaign’ of 1952, holding peaceful demonstrations to draw attention to their grievances. The campaign collapsed within a few months, however, and its leaders, including Albert Luthuli, were banned or imprisoned, while new legislation was introduced to block further demonstrations. Other opposition to the Afrikaner National Party included the multiracial Liberal Party, which was set up in 1953 and eventually included universal suffrage among its aims, as well as the Pan Africanist Congress (PAC) and the Progressive Party, which were both formed in 1959.

Uprisings

Anti-apartheid feeling resulted in many uprisings, including the Sharpeville uprising of 1960, which took place during a campaign launched by the Pan-Africanist Congress against the pass laws; the Soweto riots of 1976, which were prompted by the government's ruling that Afrikaans was to be the language used in African schools; and unrest at the Crossroads squatter camps in 1986. During this period, thousands of the regime's opponents were imprisoned without trial and many anti-apartheid leaders were exiled, while others joined guerrilla forces outside South Africa.

International condemnation Anti-apartheid movements also sprang up in many countries outside South Africa, and in 1961 criticism of its apartheid policy by other Commonwealth members forced South Africa to withdraw from the Commonwealth. During the 1960s and 1970s there were calls for international sanctions, especially boycotts of sporting and cultural links; and in the 1980s advocates of sanctions extended them into trade and finance, with the UN proclaiming trade sanctions in 1986.

The South African government's reaction to internal and international pressure was twofold: it abolished some of the more hated apartheid laws (the ban on interracial marriages was lifted in 1985 and the pass laws, which restricted the movement of non-whites, were repealed in 1986); it also sought to replace the term ‘apartheid’ with ‘plural democracy’. In 1985 and 1986, however, states of emergency were declared by the government after further uprisings and riots broke out. Police used force to regain control, causing hundreds of deaths, and from 1986 an official ban on the reporting of the situation was imposed upon the media.

The end of apartheid In the wake of these violent acts of repression international pressure for the overturning of South Africa's racial policies grew, and in October 1989 President de Klerk permitted anti-apartheid demonstrations. This was followed in 1990 by the abolition of the Separate Amenities Act, and a new constitution was also promised by the South African government. In the same year Nelson Mandela, a leading figure in the ANC, was released from prison after 26 years and was later elected president of the ANC, which was itself only declared legal in South Africa in 1990. In 1991 the remaining major discriminating laws embodied in apartheid were repealed, including the Population Registration Act of 1950, which had made it obligatory for every citizen to be classified into one of nine racial groups. As a consequence of these moves, the majority of international trade sanctions were abolished by 1993 and, in February of the same year, Mandela and de Klerk agreed to the formation of a government of national unity, after free non-racial elections. The elections were held in April 1994, with the ANC winning 62% of the vote and Mandela becoming president.

Following Mandela's election, South Africa rejoined the Commonwealth in June 1994, and a committee was set up to draft a new non-racial constitution. In 1995 a Truth and Reconciliation Commission was appointed to investigate human-rights abuses that had taken place during the apartheid era.

Biko, Steve Botha, P(ieter) W(illem)

boycott (of South Africa) de Klerk, F(rederik) W(illem)

Gordimer, Nadine La Guma, Alex(ander)

Mandela, Nelson Rolihlahla South Africa

township Truth and Reconciliation Commission