sa topic 1 (c1948-1959)
- 1911 Mines and Works Act: excluded Africans from skilled jobs in the mines
- 1913 Natives Land Act: restricted African land ownership to 7% of SA - forced to work
for white farmers
- 1923 Native Urban Areas Act: Africans should only remain in cities to administer to the
needs of whites
- 1936 Representation of the Natives Act: restricted right to vote
- Gold was discovered in the Rand in 1886: workers grew from nothing to 100,000 by
1900
- gradually industry diversified to produce textiles, food, machinery etc
- developed major iron and steel industry (ISCOR) and generated electricity, largely from
coal
- during WW2, SA industry developed as getting goods from Britain was difficult
- 180,000 white SAs served in the armed forces (50% of white male population)
- increasing opportunities for black ppl, out of 125,000 manufacturing workers, 25%
were white
- 1946: 23% of Africans and 75% of whites lived in urban areas
- but increased job competition after the war
- Dutch Reformer Church emphasised that non-whites were cursed by God: 'laager
mentality' need to stick together
- still need for cheap black labour: Africans worked on temporary contracts
- between 1919-39, every African man went to work for white people at some point in his
life
- influx of migrants was too large prior to 1948: establishment of informal shack
settlements, so townships (areas outside cities) were hastily allocated to house black
migrants - south west of Joburg later became SOWETO
- whites owned 80% of land (but black people worked in many farms)
- maintained racial authority (aka baaskap)
,- most African rural communities lived on the white-owned farms or on reserves
(heartlands of old African kingdoms, protected for occupation by Natives Land Act
1913) - reserved land, but forbade Africans from purchasing land oustide of them
- many SAs resented lingering imperial presence and how English-speaking SAs
supported Britain (esp after Anglo-Boer war)
- increased pride in Afrikaner culture:
- Great Trek 1830s: Boer settlers moving to the hinterland, away from British rule
- myth that they had moved to empty land: justifies apartheid
- Battle of Blood River 1838: Covenant with God asking for victory - God had 'granted'
them the land of SA
- in 1948 SA was self-governing part of British Empire
- Governor-General was the representative of the British monarch
- parliament imitated the system in Westminster
- English was joint official language, British sports eg rugby were popular
- strong cultural/political links had encouraged SA to join the war, but many resented
them after: Smuts had encouraged participation, so many resented him
- idea of Afrikaners as a 'volk' with a distinct identity seperate to other SAs gained
increasing political currency after 1939
- Broederbond: Afrikaner Calvinist org, dedicated to advancement of Afrikaner interests
and provided ideological direction in favour of a Christian, nationalist, republican
outlook - all NP leaders were members
- Dutch Reformer Church also supported idea of a 'volk' - believed in boundaries
between races, inter-marrying was a key concern in 1948
- many Afrikaner nationalists opposed going to war: Ossewabrandwag was a massive
anti-war movement, and ppl compared them to the Nazis as uniformed militias staged
mass rallies - claimed 300,000 members at its peak and many joined NP after the war
,- Verwoerd was editor for Die Transvaler, an Afrikaner newspaper that adopted a pro-
Nazi stance
- 1938: Voortrekker movement made to celebrate centenary of Battle of Blood River -
sense of Afrikaner identity
- Smuts played major role in the formation of the UN and so was out of touch with SA
politics
- UP was more liberal - Smuts wasn't a liberal, but he was a pragmatist and if the
industry needed more black workers, he was willing to facilitate this
- his Minister of Health advocated for health service along the lines of the NHS in 1946,
which would serve both black and whites
- Jan 1942: speech given by Smuts, where he said that racial segregation had been a
failure for Africans
- Afrikaners scared of the 'swart gevaar' (black danger) and opposed flooding of Africans
into cities
- NP were more popular in the countryside, so they could argue that Africans going to
the city was creating a labour shortage for farmers
- NP defined religion and Afrikaner culture as being central to them, were in favour of a
republic and attacked Britain and Smuts since he was an Afrikaner who worked for
British
- rural constituencies weighed 15% more heavily than urban ones
- NP won 6 seats in gold mining areas of Witwatersrand, where Hertzog's mine workers
union had played a key role in organising the electoral campaign (Hertzog was former
PM)
- UP won 50% of popular vote while NP won 40%, but Westminster constituency system
allowed NP to win 79 seats while UP won 71
- UN General Council condemned apartheid every year from 1952
- however, US was very influential in UN, esp in its Security Council (international
peace-keeping)
, - SA was a reliable ally to US against communism, and profitable for investment
- solidified power in next election (since their win was so narrow in 1948) - 1949: 6 MPs
were added in Namibia - each new seat contained 9000-12,000 voters (SA average was
24,000): lots of new, secured power
- emphasised 'seperate development' for success - began to implement this with the
law
- Coloured ppl shared history with whites, but NP treated them as a seperate racial
category: important as they still had a vote in central parlimentary elections and voted
overwhelmingly for UP
- like in the UK, simple majority could enact new laws (very few checks and balances)
but the Coloured vote in the Cape was specially protected and required a 2/3 majority of
parliament to change it
- 1951 Seperate Representation of Voters Act: removed the remainder of the Coloured
vote
- constitutional battle initially accepted that the Act was invalid without a 2/3 majority
- govt enlarged senate (1955 Senate Act) from 48 to 89 members to ensure a majority
- but also NP increased its vote in 1953 (second election) from 400k to 600k and
narrowly outpolled the UP
- clearly had support from the great majority of Afrikaner voters
- by 1959, only 6/40 heads of govt departments were English speakers
- Verwoerd was Minister of Native Affairs (1950-58) and was responsible for
coordinating apartheid
- Dept of Native Affairs budget doubled from £3 mil in 1946 to £7 mil in 1960
- 1951 Bantu Authorities Act: appointed African chieftains to reserves - placed
responsibility for govt onto a conservative rural African leader that would work with the
govt (many complied bc direct rule from Pretoria could have been worse)
- 1911 Mines and Works Act: excluded Africans from skilled jobs in the mines
- 1913 Natives Land Act: restricted African land ownership to 7% of SA - forced to work
for white farmers
- 1923 Native Urban Areas Act: Africans should only remain in cities to administer to the
needs of whites
- 1936 Representation of the Natives Act: restricted right to vote
- Gold was discovered in the Rand in 1886: workers grew from nothing to 100,000 by
1900
- gradually industry diversified to produce textiles, food, machinery etc
- developed major iron and steel industry (ISCOR) and generated electricity, largely from
coal
- during WW2, SA industry developed as getting goods from Britain was difficult
- 180,000 white SAs served in the armed forces (50% of white male population)
- increasing opportunities for black ppl, out of 125,000 manufacturing workers, 25%
were white
- 1946: 23% of Africans and 75% of whites lived in urban areas
- but increased job competition after the war
- Dutch Reformer Church emphasised that non-whites were cursed by God: 'laager
mentality' need to stick together
- still need for cheap black labour: Africans worked on temporary contracts
- between 1919-39, every African man went to work for white people at some point in his
life
- influx of migrants was too large prior to 1948: establishment of informal shack
settlements, so townships (areas outside cities) were hastily allocated to house black
migrants - south west of Joburg later became SOWETO
- whites owned 80% of land (but black people worked in many farms)
- maintained racial authority (aka baaskap)
,- most African rural communities lived on the white-owned farms or on reserves
(heartlands of old African kingdoms, protected for occupation by Natives Land Act
1913) - reserved land, but forbade Africans from purchasing land oustide of them
- many SAs resented lingering imperial presence and how English-speaking SAs
supported Britain (esp after Anglo-Boer war)
- increased pride in Afrikaner culture:
- Great Trek 1830s: Boer settlers moving to the hinterland, away from British rule
- myth that they had moved to empty land: justifies apartheid
- Battle of Blood River 1838: Covenant with God asking for victory - God had 'granted'
them the land of SA
- in 1948 SA was self-governing part of British Empire
- Governor-General was the representative of the British monarch
- parliament imitated the system in Westminster
- English was joint official language, British sports eg rugby were popular
- strong cultural/political links had encouraged SA to join the war, but many resented
them after: Smuts had encouraged participation, so many resented him
- idea of Afrikaners as a 'volk' with a distinct identity seperate to other SAs gained
increasing political currency after 1939
- Broederbond: Afrikaner Calvinist org, dedicated to advancement of Afrikaner interests
and provided ideological direction in favour of a Christian, nationalist, republican
outlook - all NP leaders were members
- Dutch Reformer Church also supported idea of a 'volk' - believed in boundaries
between races, inter-marrying was a key concern in 1948
- many Afrikaner nationalists opposed going to war: Ossewabrandwag was a massive
anti-war movement, and ppl compared them to the Nazis as uniformed militias staged
mass rallies - claimed 300,000 members at its peak and many joined NP after the war
,- Verwoerd was editor for Die Transvaler, an Afrikaner newspaper that adopted a pro-
Nazi stance
- 1938: Voortrekker movement made to celebrate centenary of Battle of Blood River -
sense of Afrikaner identity
- Smuts played major role in the formation of the UN and so was out of touch with SA
politics
- UP was more liberal - Smuts wasn't a liberal, but he was a pragmatist and if the
industry needed more black workers, he was willing to facilitate this
- his Minister of Health advocated for health service along the lines of the NHS in 1946,
which would serve both black and whites
- Jan 1942: speech given by Smuts, where he said that racial segregation had been a
failure for Africans
- Afrikaners scared of the 'swart gevaar' (black danger) and opposed flooding of Africans
into cities
- NP were more popular in the countryside, so they could argue that Africans going to
the city was creating a labour shortage for farmers
- NP defined religion and Afrikaner culture as being central to them, were in favour of a
republic and attacked Britain and Smuts since he was an Afrikaner who worked for
British
- rural constituencies weighed 15% more heavily than urban ones
- NP won 6 seats in gold mining areas of Witwatersrand, where Hertzog's mine workers
union had played a key role in organising the electoral campaign (Hertzog was former
PM)
- UP won 50% of popular vote while NP won 40%, but Westminster constituency system
allowed NP to win 79 seats while UP won 71
- UN General Council condemned apartheid every year from 1952
- however, US was very influential in UN, esp in its Security Council (international
peace-keeping)
, - SA was a reliable ally to US against communism, and profitable for investment
- solidified power in next election (since their win was so narrow in 1948) - 1949: 6 MPs
were added in Namibia - each new seat contained 9000-12,000 voters (SA average was
24,000): lots of new, secured power
- emphasised 'seperate development' for success - began to implement this with the
law
- Coloured ppl shared history with whites, but NP treated them as a seperate racial
category: important as they still had a vote in central parlimentary elections and voted
overwhelmingly for UP
- like in the UK, simple majority could enact new laws (very few checks and balances)
but the Coloured vote in the Cape was specially protected and required a 2/3 majority of
parliament to change it
- 1951 Seperate Representation of Voters Act: removed the remainder of the Coloured
vote
- constitutional battle initially accepted that the Act was invalid without a 2/3 majority
- govt enlarged senate (1955 Senate Act) from 48 to 89 members to ensure a majority
- but also NP increased its vote in 1953 (second election) from 400k to 600k and
narrowly outpolled the UP
- clearly had support from the great majority of Afrikaner voters
- by 1959, only 6/40 heads of govt departments were English speakers
- Verwoerd was Minister of Native Affairs (1950-58) and was responsible for
coordinating apartheid
- Dept of Native Affairs budget doubled from £3 mil in 1946 to £7 mil in 1960
- 1951 Bantu Authorities Act: appointed African chieftains to reserves - placed
responsibility for govt onto a conservative rural African leader that would work with the
govt (many complied bc direct rule from Pretoria could have been worse)
