Apartheid

Apartheid Coursework

What can you learn from source A about the National Party’s policy of Apartheid?

Source A shows that the national party’s policy of apartheid aimed to maintain and protect the European population as a pure White race segregating the blacks. The national party intended to do this to prevent national suicide for the White race. Source A says the national party will safeguard the future of every race and then contradicts itself by saying ‘the fundamental guiding principle of National Party policy is the preservation and safeguarding of the White race.’ The party therefore undertakes to protect the White race properly and effectively against any policy or attack which might undermine or threaten its continued existence. The national party planned to isolate blacks in crammed reserves situated away from the white people along with schools and social services. They have their rights taken away, source A tells us ‘Blacks in urban areas should be regarded as migrants not entitled to political or social rights.’ Because they are not entitled to vote this means they have no say in what happens and have no choice but to do as the whites say. This would mean they would be forced into segregation forever, and being helpless and unable to do anything about it. Source A also shows they expected opposition, ‘Churches and missions which oppose the policy of apartheid will not be tolerated.’ This source tells us a lot about the national party’s policy and their sole interest to become the supreme race.

Use the sources and your own knowledge to explain why Apartheid was opposed by many people in South Africa and Britain.

Many people did not agree with the national party’s policy of Apartheid, sources A, B and C explains the implications for blacks and why Apartheid was opposed in Britain.

Source A shows the way they intend to treat the blacks restricting them of basic rights treating them unfairly, ‘Blacks in urban areas should be regarded as migrants not entitled to political or social rights.’ Source A also shows the national party was expecting opposition this is shown by ‘Churches and missions which oppose the policy of apartheid will not be tolerated.’ We also learn form source A ‘The fundamental guiding principle of national party policy is the preservation and safeguarding of the white race.’ From this we can see the blacks would oppose apartheid as they would be pushed aside by the whites and become the weaker inferior race whilst the whites become stronger and more superior.

Source B was a newspaper article written by an English woman living in Cape town. It says ‘The scheme is getting Dr Malan into difficulties’ showing there are complications and people objecting the national party’s policy. As well as this source B says it will not work because of the need for the black people. The united party showed the importance of having workers of different ethnicities. ‘The United party points to the absolute necessity of employing native and coloured labour in the factories.’ As in order to continue trading with neighboring countries more workers would be needed and blacks would be needed to work in white areas to keep trade stable. ‘It is economically out of the question to move the non-Europeans to distant districts.’ Without them South Africa will be unable to run efficiently enough to meet the demands of the people and with other trading countries. Britain would be concerned about losing trade because South Africa are unable to keep up therefore people in Britain would show opposition to apartheid and be in favor of the united party instead.

The opposition for Apartheid is also shown in source C where the voting shows the majority of white people voting in South Africa voted against the national party who wanted to enforce apartheid. The national party received ‘443,278’ (41.2%) of votes and the united party received ‘547,437’ (50.9%) of the votes. This shows more people voting for the united party against apartheid. The national party however had 79 MPs seated in the government and the united party only had 71 seated and therefore lost the vote. This shows white people in south Africa also opposed what was happening to ...

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In conclusion, there is information showing opposition of the national parties policy of apartheid in all 3 sources from the blacks point of view, the white south Africans as well as Britain.

Does the evidence of sources D, F and H support the view of the Bantustans given in source E?

Source E gives a very negative impression of the bantustans, This source tells us how bad the bantustans conditions were and they were a dumping ground of ‘undesirable elements’, criminals and delinquents. Source E also describes the bantustans as ‘home of disease and miserable poverty, the place where we shall be swept into heaps in order to rot.’ They are described as places where unwanted people are dumped, ‘Our home is in the white man’s garbage can. The land is infertile and therefore useless. Living conditions are poor and they have no resources. ‘ The land which we have been allocated is sometimes just stones; the people are shabbily clad, animals are feeble and bony. Overall source E tells us how bad the bantustans were and how conditions were very poor.

However source D disagrees with the views shown in source E. Source D gives out a positive message about the bantustans. This source is a propaganda piece and was sent to all schools free entitled ‘Dr Verwoerd, Minister for Native Affairs’ Dr Verwoerd is the leader of the national party and therefore this source is biased and not reliable. It sends the message to school children that the bantustans are helping to support the people living there and they are given good laws and proper education that otherwise they could not have managed. Contradicting what was said in source D about good laws being given source E shows it is filled with criminals and delinquents and therefore crime would be very common. This source shows a completely different opinion to that of source E.

Source F on the other hand agrees with source E being a speech from the parliament. This source has a negative tone however is telling us that it is a positive thing that the Bantu’s are in poor condition. It agrees with source E by saying ‘Teaching a Bantu in English or Afrikaans would only make Bantus think they had a place among civilised South Africa.’ From this we understand that they do not have a place in society and are uncivilised as is shown in source D. Also source F refers to a Bantu child as ‘it’ showing they are not people and are ‘undesirable elements’ as is said in source E. This source tells you how it is good not to spend money on education in the bantustans as it is not necessary for the children to learn advanced things and will not receive the qualifications, so there is no competition for the whites to get good jobs.

Source H agrees with source E. This source is trying to show that within the bantustans are the things that would be bad for the white society. Both sources E and H state that the Bantu’s consist of ‘disease and poverty’, also the aged and unfit, widows, women with dependent children and families who do not qualify for accommodation in European urban areas. Also the bantustans consist of people with professional jobs but are not regarded as essential as is shown in source D where it says ‘people are sent when the cities have taken what they had to offer.’

In conclusion sources F, H and E give a negative impression of the bantustans agreeing with source E. Source D however disagrees with source E and is showing how the bantustans are good and tricks people into believing so.

How useful are these sources in helping you understand the effects that apartheid had upon south Africans?

Source D is not very useful in helping understand the effects of apartheid. It is part of a poem to the minister of native affairs, Dr Verwoerd, published in the native affairs magazine and distributed to all schools for free. This source tells us how conditions in the bantustans were good and it was helping the blacks by giving them good laws and proper education. However it is not a useful source as it is propaganda and therefore biased towards the national party as they are trying to convince people to vote for them and that apartheid is a good thing. It does however show how the department of native affairs tried to persuade the white race the positive sides of apartheid.

Source G is a very useful source in helping to understand the effects on South Africans as it shows information on the average spending on school pupils in South Africa in 1953. The figures were published by the South African Government and therefore is reliable and factual information. It helps you to understand the effects on black school children showing big differences in spending. White children benefiting from £63.92 each, coloured and asians receiving £20.91 each and blacks only receiving £8.99 each which is far less than the white children. This shows how apartheid has led to the blacks being unable to be properly educated so they are unable to get a good job. Also whites will not be in competition for good jobs with any other race. This source also shows that coloured and asians were given less also but not as little as the blacks. Overall this source is very useful as it in non-biased factual information.

Source I is also a useful source in helping to understand the effects apartheid has on the blacks. It shows the information contained within all pass books which had to be carried by all black Africans aged over 16 living outside a bantustan. This included information such as: Tax receipts, concessions, exemptions and privileges, drivers license, weapons license and an identity document showing personal information. This source is reliable in telling you this as it is non-biased factual information and is not propaganda like source D. It shows how blacks had no freedom and were restricted in where they can go. They had to have a permit to be in certain areas. This source is useful in understanding how restricted the blacks were.

In conclusion Sources G and I were useful in understanding the impact on south Africans because they were reliable sources and gave relevant information. However source D was not useful as it was biased towards the national party, who were for apartheid and therefore they are trying to make it sound a good thing to make themselves more popular and there was no factual information.

Does the history of South Africa in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s support the view in source K that Apartheid was unworkable and harmful to South Africa?

Source A shows that the policy of apartheid would be harmful to south Africa as the blacks would be treated unfairly and have all their rights taken away. It is also unworkable as it only focuses on the whites ‘The fundamental guiding principal of the national party policy is the preservation and safeguarding of the white race.’ Source A also shows how there was expected opposition ‘Churches and missions which oppose the policy of apartheid will not be tolerated.’

Source B shows how it would be unworkable if the policy of apartheid was in place. It shows how segregating the blacks would not work, ‘The united party points to the absolute necessity of employing native and coloured labour in the factories.’ The industries would be unable to cope with demands from trade links as well as their own economy. ‘It is economically out of the question to move the non-Europeans to distant districts. This source shows apartheid would not work as the blacks are needed to work in urban areas.

Source C also shows how the national parties policy of apartheid would be unworkable. This source shows the number of white people voting for and against apartheid. It is unworkable because the majority of whites in south Africa voted against apartheid showing most people did not want this policy.

Source D shows how the policy of apartheid is both unworkable and harmful. It is unworkable as the national party are not telling the truth in this piece of propaganda of the actual conditions of the bantustans making them sound better than they are in order to receive more support. It is harmful in the way that it is tricking people into voting for the national party.

Source E is harmful to south Africa as the blacks are situated in reserves away from urban white areas. These are the home of disease and miserable poverty. The conditions are really bad ‘Our home is the white man’s garbage can. The land which we have been allocated is sometimes just stones; the people are shabbily clad, animals are feeble and bony.’ This shows how conditions in these reserves are harmful to people as the ground is not good for growing crops and the animals are weak, therefore unable to produce a lot of food, meaning the blacks would have no resources and be unable to live.

Source F is unworkable as because blacks will not be taught in English or Afrikaans so they wont have a place in south Africa. Because they will not be taught subjects such as mathematics they will not be able to find work anywhere other than labour, ‘There is no place for the bantu in the European community above the levels of certain forms of labour.’

Source G is both unworkable and harmful to south Africans. This source shows the amount spent annually on school children whites having the most then coloured and asians and blacks receiving the smallest amount. This is harmful and unworkable as the blacks will receive less education and have less qualifications that the whites and therefore the whites will get all the best jobs, the coloured and asians in the middle and blacks having the worse jobs that no one else wants.

Source H is harmful in the way which it moves the people unable to work either the elderly or disabled also including people not regarded as essential into the bantustans. These people are forced to leave their homes because they are not good enough to live with the whites in urban areas. This harms them by moving them to very poor conditions.

Source I is unworkable as it humiliates the blacks by stripping away their freedom and making them carry pass books to go to a restricted area. They have to get permission to go there and therefore is unworkable as everyone entering or leaving a place has to be checked causing disruptions to everyday lives.

Source J is harmful and unworkable because of the protests against apartheid people can get injured when they get out of control. It also shows the opposition towards the policy of apartheid.

In conclusion all the sources in some way do support the views of source K that apartheid could never work and was harmful to south Africa.