Choosing two events/problems, explain how important the role apartheid played in causing these problems.

If apartheid did not enforce passes there wouldn't have been issues to the black South Africans. This means that the two organisations would not have occurred as they were both campaigning against pass - laws. If the passes were not issued the PAC's and ANC's would not have campaigned. The white police's attitudes would have been different as there would not have been as much hatred so people would not have got injured or not as many.

Sharpeville Massacre was not the only problem in South Africa The Soweto Riots were also another problem.

Soweto is a township outside Johannesburg. The riots took place from the 16th June 1976 and took place for the rest of the year. On 16th June 1976, 15,000 students held a demonstration in part of Soweto. The police fired at them and two students were killed. More demonstrations were held in Soweto and also in other parts of South Africa as well. The students burnt schools and attacked shebeens. On top of this the government forces encouraged migrant workers to beat up demonstrators. All together the riots went on for about 6 months, so by the end of the year about 1,000 people were killed.

The apartheid was to blame for the Soweto riots. This was because the apartheid was responsible for the black people being poor and living in poor conditions in Soweto. They had no jobs and this meant they had no money and lived a poor quality of life. They were afraid of being sent away to live in Bantustans, as they would end up in greater poverty than they were already in. There was also a difference in education. The original plan of apartheid was that black children were only allowed primary education. The government spent nearly ten times more money on each white student than a black student. In Soweto, there were normally 60 or even 100 black students in every class. Where as, there were only about 25 white students per class. Teachers were also badly trained and poorly paid; they often came into school drunk. This meant the black students had extremely poor education and the white students had better educations. The government announced that many subjects were to be taught in Afrikaans, this was the final straw and led to the start of the riots. It is clear apartheid was the main cause of the Soweto riots.

However, the apartheid was not the only factor that led to the Soweto riots. Another factor was that the black independence movements had thrown out the white Portuguese colonial rulers of Mozambique and Angola. This made Mozambique and Angola independent, which was what the black people of South Africa wanted, so they carried out the riots in an attempt to gain their rights. Another factor that was to blame for the Soweto riots were the Shebeens. This was because the money that was spent on the brew from the brew-houses could have been spent on their families. This is also why the families lived in poverty as the brew-houses were taking money from their fathers.

Also the South African government used so much force to put down the riots, which deterred other black protests. This also stopped black people from getting ideas to control the country.

Samantha Krzywopulski