apartheid

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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imposition of international trade sanctions by the United Nations (UN) and other organizations, President F W de Klerk repealed the key elements of apartheid legislation and by 1994 apartheid had ceased to exist.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.

Black and white reflect the black and white communities and the harmony between them. Yellow represents the golden beaches. Blue stands for the sea. Effective date: 22 February 1979. >>