South Africa: A Country’s History

Native Cultures of South Africa

Zulu Tribe - The Zulu are the largest ethnic group in South Africa. They are well known for their beautiful brightly colored beads and baskets as well as other small carvings. They are also the most feared group because of their long history of deadly and fearsome warfare. (SPARTA, ASSYRIA)

San - The 'Bushmen' are the oldest inhabitants of southern Africa, where they have lived for at least 20,000 years. Their home is in the vast expanse of the Kalahari desert.

April 27, 1994

South African’s of all races will go to the polls in the first FREE and DEMOCRATIC elections in the nation’s history!

On April 27,1994, Nelson Mandela became South Africa’s FIRST black president!

Until this day, three out of four

black South Africans had never

been allowed to vote.

WHY?

APARTHIED

A governmental policy of racial segregation.

Apartheid : Separateness

How did it all begin?

Early Inhabitants

of South Africa

The Khoikhoi speaking people lived in the southern coastal region of South Africa, the San, or bushmen, in the desert region, and Bantu speaker (farmers, hunters, and herdsmen) in the east .

And Then …

In 1488, the Portuguese were the first

Europeans to round the Cape of Good Hope,

sailing for India.

However, the first

European settlement

was not established

until . . .

. . . April 6, 1652

After the British decided against establishing a colony at the Cape of Good Hope, the Dutch, commissioned by the Dutch-East India Company, established Cape Town under the lead of Jan van Riebeeck.

Accompanied by 82 men and 8 women, Riebeeck was instructed to establish astrong base to provide the Company’s shipswith fresh food, water, and other provisions onthe long journey from Europe to Asia.

Riebeeck built the“Fort de Goede Hoop” and set up trade with thenative Khoikhoi people and drove many from their homelands.

Intermarriage

1700s– Slaves outnumbered the colony’s whites and

intermarriage was common.• The children of such marriages become known as

“Coloureds” being neither white or black.

– Many Dutch settlers decided to Trek out on their own

Expansion1652: Cape Town established.

Slaves from other parts of Africa and East Indies were brought in to clear farmland.

1659: Khoikhoi uprising failed. Natives retreated North.

1662: 250 Europeans, mostly Dutchand Germans settle in Cape Town. Become known as

Boers, later Afrikaans.

1685: Interracial marriages between whites and local black slaveswere banned.

1688: French Huguenots fleeing political persecution settle inCape Town.

Cape Town in modern times

1720-1770

Trek Boers expanded north and east looking for land for farming and grazing of cattle. They preferred free, unrestricted life to town law. They paid for

their choice of lifestyle with constant conflict with the native “black” tribe population.

Afrikaners (Boers) – Africa’s “white tribe”

Dutch Trekkers developed their own culture and beliefs, including a strict form of Protestantism that portrayed them as a chosen people in a hostile word.– Protestantism (branch of Catholic church)

The language they developed is a mixture of Dutch and African languages called Afrikaans.

A Change in Politics

Due to the French Revolution and the Napoleonic wars (1779-1806), the British gained control of the Dutch colony in Cape Town in 1795.

By 1833, England had abolished the slave trade and the “Emancipation Act” demanded that white slave owners free their slaves promising a small compensation from the state for their loss.

1835: The “Great Trek”Feeling the British policy destroyed theirpolitical and social order, based on racial separation and thatwhite dominance was“God’s own will,”10,000 Boers, or Voortrekkers, left Cape Town to escapeBritish rule on a 1,000 mile migration inland, known as the“Great Trek.”

A Series of Boer Struggles

1838: Boers defeat the Zulu nation in the Battle of Blood River in their fight to obtain land the Zulu tribe was occupying.

1843 : British take over Natal.

1852-1854: Boers travel further north and establish the Orange Free State and Transvaal as independent republics.

1870-1886: Diamonds deposits are discovered in Kimberley and gold deposits are discovered in Transvaal causing an influx of British immigrants and black Africans searching for work and fortune.

1880-1881: Anglo-Boer Wars

More struggles

1899: Boer War erupted as a result of Afrikaaners upset over Continual British migration inland to the mining

regions.

1899-1902: British established Afrikaner civilian camps where epidemics broke out and killed 26,000 prisoners.

1902: Boers surrendered to British rule

1910: British award independence to South Africa. They believed only white to be capable of self-

government. Blacks were barred from voting and Afrikaans was made the official language.

A Country Divided

White South Africans made up only 21.5% of the total population and of these, an English-speaking minority dominated government and business in the cities.

Most whites were Afrikaans-speaking Boers, mostly farmers and still bitter about the war

The majority black population, 67%, included many different groups of people including Zulu and Xhosa of the Transkei region. Other groups were much smaller.

By 1910, black Africans owned less than 10% of a country their ancestors completely controlled.

1913, the South African Parliament passed a Native Land Act that limited the blacks’ ownership of land even more.– Apartheid placed restrictions on how people

could live. For example, black South Africans were made to live in tiny clusters of homes called townships.

Other Ethnic Groups

Coloureds: 9% of the population.

Indian immigrants: 2.5% of the population.

Both groups had varying rights in the Cape, but were not treated as equals by most whites

The Native Homeland Act

separated different African

tribes into segregated

areas. This act set aside

7.3% of the country’s land

Aside as reservations and

banded black Africans

from buying land outside

these areas.

Road to Apartheid

In 1912, the South African Native National

Congress (later known as the ANC – 1923)

was founded to unite black Africans and

defend their interests.

In 1913, the Afrikaaner Nationalist Party was

established.

Peaceful Protest

1912, a young Indian Lawyer living in Cape Town named Mohandas K. Gandhi became outraged after being thrown off the train for sitting in a “white’s only” seat.

He organized a peaceful protest march, inspiring some black South Africans to form a civil rights organization.

ANC

African National Congress (ANC) was created to aide in the civil rights movement.

In 1924, the Labour Party defeats the South

African Party. Led by James Hertzog, South

Africa became more independent of British

control and favored the interests of whites,

especially Afrikaners. Afrikaans is

confirmed as an official language along with

English.

1948: Apartheid becomes Law

During the 1948 elections, the NationalParty introduced apartheid as part of theircampaign. With the party’s victory, led byD.F. Malan, apartheid became thegoverning political policy until the early 1990’s. Many National Party members aligned with the Nazi party racist

movement that had divided humanity into “master race” to dominate and an “inferior” race to be enslaved.

Laws of Apartheid

Apartheid is the rigid racial division betweenthe governing white minority population and the non-white majority population. It is Afrikaan for “apartness”

People were divided into three social groupsWhiteBlack African or BantuColoured or people of mixed descent.

Separate residential areas were established, with whites getting the best land. Blacks were put into areas called “homelands”.

Black Africans were reduced to menial jobs (housekeeping, gardener, ect.)

Pass Law required all ethnic groups, excluding whites, to carry passes to allow them to have Jobs and travel out of their Homelands. Racial segregation in all public institutions, transportation, and toilets.

Bantu Education Act (1953) limited the quality of education young black Africans could receive.

Homelands

Covered 13% of South Africa’s land area for 75% of its population.

Economic development was outlawed.

The only work was in the white areas

Blacks were forced to live apart from their families to work in the white areas where they had to carry Passes at all times.

Pass Checks

Checks were performed at random of any/all black Africans.

Those without Pass were arrested and fined. If they couldn’t pay the fine, they were sent to work camps.

Courtesy of www.unitedstreaming.com

During the 1950’s

The ANC declared that:

“South Africa belongs to all who live in it,

black and white,”

and worked to abolish apartheid.

A Suppression of Communism Act gave the government the power to imprison anyone accused of trying to make changes through “disturbance or disorder.”

Nelson Mandela was elected national president of the

Youth League. He planned a “Defiance Campaign” of

marches and meetings for April 6, 1952 – just as Afrikaners

celebrated the 300th anniversary of Dutch settlement.

The Nationalist government cracked down with arrests and

made apartheid laws harsher, but the campaign spread

awareness abroad and the system was condemned by the

United Nations.

Mandela was arrested under the Communism Act.

March 6,1960: Sharpeville Massacre

A large crowd of Black South Africans assembled in front of theSharpeville police station to protest the pass laws imposed byapartheid.

The Pan-Africanist Congress (PAC), led by Robert Sobukwe, togetherwith Nelson Mandela's African National Congress (ANC), organizedthe protest for the nation's blacks to join together to demonstratepeacefully against apartheid.

Rarely in South Africa before 1960 had so many black peopledemonstrated their defiance of the laws in any way. The police werehighly apprehensive, not knowing what to expect. Suddenly, tensionswere released: the crowd pelted the policemen with stones, and theedgy policemen retaliated with gunfire.

In the end, sixty-nine protesters were killed and one hundred and eightywere wounded (some shot while trying to flee)

After the Sharpeville Massacre, the government banned (exile) all

black African political organization, including the ANC

and the PAC.

“Spear of the Nation”

ANC created an armed resistance movement. It’s leader was Nelson Mandela.

1964, Mandela and the rest of the ANC leaders were arrested and convicted of sabotage and treason and sentenced to life imprisonment.

During his 26 year imprisonment, his is work was carried on by his wife, Winnie, who herself spied on, kidnapped, and repeatedly was forced to move by police.

Mandela went on the run after the ANC was banned. He was arrested in 1962, after secretly returning to South Africa, and was imprisoned for five years for organizing strikes.

In 1963, Mandela was linked to a sabotage campaign in Rivonia near Johannesburg. He was sentenced for life.

1973, Mandela was offered a shorter sentence if he would support the bantustan program – he refused!

In 1974, South Africa was banned from the United Nations General Assembly.

1976: Soweto

When high-school students in Sowetostarted protesting for better education on June 16, 1976,police respondedwith teargas and live bullets. In theaftermath, the plan for schooling inAfrikaans was dropped and the UNbanned sales of weapons to south Africa in 1977.

The government implemented a series of reforms that allowed black labor unions to organize and permitted some political activity by the opposition.

The 1984 constitution opened parliament membership to Asians and Coloureds, but it continued to exclude black Africans, who made up 75% of the population.

Many countries, including the United States, imposed economic sanctions of South Africa. More urban revolts erupted and, as outside pressure on south Africa intensified, the government’s apartheid policies began to unravel.

Mid 1970’s – Mid 1980’s

Momentous Meetings

In May 1988, the United Nations called for Mandela’srelease without conditions.

In July 1989, President Botha met with Mandela. Both menpledged a “support for peaceful developments.”

Both resigned due to health reasons and was succeededas president by F.W. de Klerk.

Determined to break the “cycle of violence,” de Klerk Ordered the release of eight political prisoners.

De Klerk and Mandela met in December. Mandela declared de Klerk to be “the most honest and serious white leader” he had ever met.

On February 2, 1990, de Klerk announced the end of the bans on the ANC, the PAC, and over 30 other anti-apartheid organizations

Free At Last!On February 11, 1990, after 27 years in

prison, Nelson Mandela was released.

“Today the majority of South Africans, black

and white, recognize that apartheid has no

future.” – Nelson Mandela

Nobel Peace Prize

Mandela and De Klerk both won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1993 for their efforts to end Apartheid.

Accepting the award on December 10, 1993, Mandela declared:

“We live in the hope that as she battles to remake herself, South Africa will be like a microcosm of the new world that is striving to be born.”

On April 27, 1994, Nelson Mandela was elected

the first black president if the first free election.

“We are moving from an era of resistance, division,

oppression, turmoil, and conflict and starting a

New era of hope, reconciliation, and nation-building. I

sincerely hope that the mere casting of a vote . . . will give

hope to all South Africans.”- Nelson Mandela