South Africa in the era of the Apartheid

South Africa in the era of the Apartheid

The logical racial segregation, was introduced after foundation of the South African union in the year 1910 by a bundle of laws, all rights of the black population-majority was restricted on and on. The racial segregation was and is a world-wide problem, the main difference is, that the african Government has created more and more laws against the black population and in the other countries the racial segregation has been developed more or less by itself.

The ' Mines and Works Act ' of 1911 for example indebted, to perform exclusively low works, and guaranteed so the availability of cheap manpower with it.

The ' Native Land Act ' of 1913 declared 7,3% of the surface of South Africa to reservations for black and prohibited them to acquire country outside these areas.

The black were mainly cheap workers, who were used in mines and on the white farms, the so-called white cities (townships) for the black were born.

In these settlements, however, only those workers were allowed to live, who had a permission to stay, the so-called ' passport '. Each colored who was caught without this passport risked a deportation into the Homeland (until 1958 this happened 17 million times!). Therefore it even often occurred that families were hardly split in this way.

Hendrik Verwoerd, 'executor ' of the apartheid, had the opinion that for the long term discrimination would come to an end by the separation of the nations. Each nation should be able to develop after its own ideas. In practice this meant the shut out and deprivation of rights of the repressed black, that approximately amount 80 percent of the total population. However only 13% of the country, the so-called Homelands, remained for the black population-majority.

Because the black weren`t given the right to vote and also they had to accept a general strike-prohibition, they had no possibilities to protest on political level.

So the ' African National Congress ' (ANC) was established in 1912 as well as more resistance-movements of black freedom-fighters. First they all were badly organized and little effective whereby their resistance ran on peaceful basis.

The white governments could therefore continue their politics of the racial segregation more or less unchecked .

After the second world war the conflicts intensified, and there were numerous strikes of black workers. The unsured white helped the right-conservative National Party under Dr. D. F. Malan (1948), who had guaranteed drastic measures against the ' black danger ', to an overpowering election victory. Malan shaped the concept of the ' apartheid ' and introduced the consistent transposition of this disastrous politics.

Now also the privacy of the 'not-white' people became increasingly influenced and controlled. Marriages between different races were prohibited. If relationships between white and colored occurred nevertheless, the white had to give up the relationship or were regarded as colored and treated badly too.

In all public facilities, authorities, transportation and even on the toilets the racial segregation was introduced.

However in the meantime under the leadership of the ANC the black resistance had organized itself and huge numbers of protests induced that the government prohibitted the ANC in 1960 as well as all opposition groups. The prohibition remained ineffective however.

The resistance-organizations militarized themselves and worked in the underground of ANC under the management of Nelson Mandela. As a result Nelson was arrested in August 1962.

When 1976 by a demonstration thousands of pupils were brutally shot  in Soweto, the unrests encroached on the whole country. The ANC further militarized its fight and South Africa developed more and more into a police state. It however still lasted up to the year 1989, until the last president of the old South Africa, Frederik Willem de Klerk, finally admitted the failure of the apartheid-politics.

The apartheid had the increasing economic isolation in consequence. Furthermore, the development of the population showed a growing part of black and half-breeds. 47% of the population, primarily black, were unemployed, the inflation-installment layed at 16%. Therefore an alteration of the politics was absolutely necessary. The following phase of agreement between Mandela and De Klerk is often marked as a miracle, it was only possible because both sides were in a dead end which only could be solved through negotiations.

The way for the first general elections in South Africa was free now.

However the unbelievable is that the racism still lives, actually worse than ever before. While the police between 1960 and 1994 tortured approximately 2700 black or immediately shot by prisoning, from 1995 up to the March 2000 over 2000 people came to death through the police. One year ago an independent comission had already examined the miserable circumstances at the police and had tried to press the government to intervene, but it was in vain.

In principle the white police didn`t accept any orders or rules given by black bosses. Instead of this, they provoke them until the black give up or until they can change to a white police department. Most of the white policemen in South Africa come from the lower class. They own only a low education, recognizing however that a policeman has the power to decide between life or dead.

Like Gods, they take the law into their own hands, completely in the tradition of the country they pursue the lynch-law. At the moment there are examinations against approximately 14000 policemen of the country. 1999 / 2000 the security-ministry payed about 15 million marks to 1562 victims of the police.

First today, many crimes come to daylight through the so-called 'Truth-commision', handeling hearings of witnesses in the whole country. It appears maybe strange, that there was hardly resistance, however the security-controll suffocated it in the germ immediately.

Half of the black in the cities and 80% in the Homelands had to live much below the existence-minimum. In the ghettos in 1992 still lived 20 people in 4 rooms and 66 inhabitants had to share 1 toilet. There were settlements, where 760 people had to share one faucet. Crime, drugs and epidemics belonged to the everyday life. As the black were finally allowed to open its own business, most lacked the necessary money to it, furthermore it was lacking them in education and in English-knowledge frequently (over 50% of the black are illiterates, 0% of the white). Most of the banks refused credits to black people. Because the black had no money, they often turned into hawkers, so they don`t need to pay a rent.

The big differences in the education can be explained by the fact that during the apartheid the white government has essentially made available more money for the education of the white (1953 amounted to the edition-relationship per students of black too white 1:7,5 / 1970 it already was 1:16,6).

Also with the salaries, there are big differences. The average income of black is under 10.000 Rand, the income of the half-breeds is about 21.000 Rand, while the average income of the white amounts about 56.000 Rand.

However generally the situation has improved itself, the number of the black students climbs for example, and also the life-level under black has climbed. There are however also still very many street-children and beggars.