Apartheid South Africa - Key Event Summary Notes

1948 (Malan continued the segregationist system established prior to 1948 and mostly upheld it through petty apartheid)

1949

1949 (interracial couples were not allowed to be legally married)

1950 (made it illegal for white and non-whites to be in a relationship and was a stricter continuation of the Mixed Marriages Act)

1950

Forced all citizens of South Africa to register as a race (White, Colored (mixed), Bantu, or Asian/India) and carry around registration at all times

Was implemented with pass laws in which everybody had a prescribed area (based on race) where they could be

If found outside of this area the police could ask for the registration and arrest the individual if they were traveling outside their area without government approval

These pass laws were applicable only to non-whites

1950 (a policy of forced removals from areas where non-whites were living, was a precursor to the Policy of Forced Removals)

1950

1951 (was a step to remove all non-white people from the voting pool)

1951 (Reestablished tribal organizations and promoted the Bantu Self Government Act)

June-August 1952

Aim: Organized by the ANC to protest the unjust laws that upheld segregation and apartheid by non-violent disobedience

Method: Coordinated nonviolent mass campaigns in which people would break laws made during apartheid, be arrested, and overcrowd the prisons and courts

Results:

Continuity —>

the government responded with violence, arrests, new laws, and banned thousands of people under the suppression of communism act

Passed the Public Safety Act of 1953 and the Criminal Laws Amendment Act of 1953

Change —>

ANC membership grew rapidly (20,000 to 100,000)

The government’s response to passive resistance became more violent and forceful (usually against simpler offenses) necessitating active resistance

1953 (made passive resistance against any law illegal)

1953 (gave the gov. authority to impose strict situations of emergency and harsher punishments on anyone who protested against or supported the repeal of a law)

1953 (made it mandatory for children of different races to attend different school with different curriculums which disadvantaged children who were non-white)

1953 (legalized the racial segregation of public premises, vehicles, and services)

1954

1954 and was an anti-apartheid political coalition led by the ANC

1955

COP was an alliance between many anti-apartheid movements and had 3 main goals:

To create a united front against the government, to create a freedom charter, and to expand membership through the involvement of poorer africans

At a mass rally in Kliptown where 2900 COP delegates were present the COP announced the freedom charter (making it an iconic document of the struggle)

The rally was broken up by the government with violence and they took the freedom charter to use as evidence of treason

Began in January 1955 and was organized by the gov. to remove any black “spots” from white cities with violence

The most memorable removal was that of Sophiatown in Johannesburg in February of 1955 where the town was bulldozed and habitants where physically kicked out of their homes

January - June 1957

The bus fare was raised by one penny which made it unaffordable by many non-white South Africans in Alexandra

70,000 people were provoked to walk their daily commute from Alexandra to Johannesburg in protest

Successes:

The old fare was returned since the government was not involved and the bus company was losing money

Non-whites were reassured they could incite change

Brought about immense White sympathy and solidarity

Failures:

Depended on the action of the bus company and did not push the government to change systematic issues

April 6th, 1959

More radical, africanist members of the ANC became unsatisfied by the slow pace at which the party was acting

Believed in an African state for Africans by Africans and opposed the coalition with the communist party

Robert Sobukwe and other likeminded left in 1959 to a new more extreme party named the Pan Africanist Congress of Azania (PAC)

March 21st, 1960

Began as an impromptu anti-pass protest campaign by the PAC in an attempt to hijack the upcoming ANC campaigns on Pass Laws

5,000 pass-less demonstrators joined on the field outside the Sharpeville police station to themselves in for arrest

Despite the peaceful nature of the protest the police began firing on the crowd killing 69 and injuring more than 180 people

Most of the dead bodies were facing away from the police station indicating that they were fleeing and not fighting back

Showed the public how dire the situation had become and showed the prominent activist organization s that armed struggle was necessary (peaceful protests gave them the moral high ground but their opposition did not care and were barbaric in their responses)

The ANC formed uMkonto we Sizwe and the PAC formed Poqo

1963-64

A document outlining Operation Maibuye (the plan for a possible commencement of guerrilla operations and how it might spark a mass armed uprising) was found during a raid of Liliesleaf

11 high-ranking MK officials are charged with treason and at risk of the death penalty

10 out of the 11 are sentenced to life in prison (one acquitted)

This marked the end of the struggle against apartheid for a long period of time