South Africa - Past, Present and Future

Carly Hill

South Africa – Past, Present and Future

Part 1 – The Past

The first part of my coursework is going to be about South Africa in the past. I will be looking at Crime in South Africa, how it all started and how it got to the point it is today.

It all started in 1652, the first white settlers, who were Dutch, arrived at the Cape of Good Hope. After 20 years they then bought the area for about £800. The settlers thought of black people as slaves and they would steal their land and then force the black people who had lost it to work for the Dutch people who had took it. I think this was very cruel and from 1658 onwards the Dutch also imported Black slaves. Immigration was also stopped in 1707 for over 100 years. Over time the settlers didn’t really have much contact with Europe and so basically just stuck to the ways of the early settlers.

However this all changed in 1806, the British captured the Cape and in 1814 bought it from the Dutch. It became part of the British Empire and this meant the Dutch would have to obey British Laws.

This was how a conflict started between white (British) and white (Dutch). The Dutch settlers did not want to be ruled by the British as so called themselves Boers or Afrikaners. They thought the British were interfering with their lives and didn’t trust them.

The Afrikaners didn’t think Black and White people were equal. They thought of the black people as slaves and they were mad in 1833 when the British banned slavery. The Afrikaners packed their belongings and moved away with their families. From 1835 onwards thousands of people made the Journey that became known as “ The Great Trek”. The map below shows who was where in South Africa in the 19th Century.

Eventually the Afrikaners set up two new states of their own the Orange Free State and the Transvaal.

Then in 1866 the diamond was found in Kimberly and a Gold rush began. In 1871 the British took over the Diamond fields and in 1877 the Transvaal aswell. Then in 1886 gold was found at the Transvaal. The Afrikaners now did not trust the British at all and they were worried they might lose control of their republic.

This was when war broke out between ...

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Eventually the Afrikaners set up two new states of their own the Orange Free State and the Transvaal.

This was when war broke out between the British and the Afrikaners it was known as the Boer war.

Eventually the British won the war and in 1902 signed the treaty of Vereeniging. The Orange Free State and the Transvaal came under British Rule. The Boers were paid
£3 million in return.

In 1909 Britain created the dominion of South Africa. The Dominion was the Transvaal and Orange free state controlled by the Boers and Natal and Cape Colony by the British. Despite losing the war the Boers seemed pleased with the solution as now they had their own land to control.

Now the Boers were in control of the Orange Free State and Transvaal they could make their own rules and the Boers agreed that white and black people should live separately and in 1913 this policy was made.

I think this was the start that eventually led to Apartheid. In 1926 a law was made that stopped black and Asians doing skilled jobs. Then in 1927 a law that banned sexual intercourse between black and whites. These were only some acts that the government passed and they only led to worser things.

However in 1948 the government had accepted a report saying that total segregation of blacks and whites was impossible but the Purified National Party did not agree. This was the start of Apartheid.

Apartheid was put into practise in 1948 it meant not only separateness but also total domination of other races. Over the years the government kept making new laws to keep whites in charge. These laws included the

Population registration act (1950)
Prohibition of mixed marriages act (1949)
Immorality Amendment act (1950)
Group areas act (1950)
Pass Laws etc.

All of the laws basically did the same thing, which was kept whites separate from blacks. The black people knew they couldn’t live like this but they didn’t have much choice.

In 1952, 8065 volunteers deliberately broke various Apartheid laws and each went to jail for a week or two and because the black people reacted like this the government came back at them with a new law – the criminal amendment act (1953), Things seemed to be getting worse and worse for the black people.

Then in 1960 it was the “massacre at Sharpville”. A peaceful protest was organised starting on March 21st in various towns. One of the towns was Sharpeville. People over the town gathered together and as the crowd grew they set off for the police station at about 8:00 am. There were two sides to the story one that it was planned to be a peaceful protest and the other that it was aggressive and the protesters carried weapons.

At 10:00 am aircraft flew over the people as if they were trying to scare them away. Then at 1:15 pm Lieutenant colonel Pienaar turned up. He and 75 white policemen lined up outside the police station and Pienaar ordered them to load five rounds. The shooting lasted 10-30 seconds and the protestors ran for their lives. 67 Africans died and 186 wounded.

Photographs of dead bodies were printed in newspapers around the world and over the next few days riots broke out over South Africa, 86 more people died and about 30,000 people marched through Cape town on a protest. A strike of black workers in the city lasted almost 3 weeks. This was then followed by a huge burning of passes and the ANC (African national congress) leader chief Luthili and Nelson Mandela burnt theirs too.

Nelson Mandela was one of the people who was arrested after Sharpeville, he was a black lawyer who played an important part in South Africa’s history. He was the ANC youth leagues secretary and then in 1952 chosen as volunteer-in-chief for the defiance campaign.

After Sharpeville ANC was banned. However Mandela worked for it secretly. It became known as MK. MK set up its HQ in Rivonia. They would bomb places like electricity pylons and post offices. In 1962 Mandela left the country to gain more support, when he returned he was arrested and got five years hard labour. Even though there was no evidence he was involved with MK. However while he was in prison the police were given details of the Rivonia HQ and in 1963 six whites and twelve non-whites were arrested in Rivonia.

This happened the same year as a new law was passed it was known as the sabotage act. This resulted in the defendants at the rivonia trial to be accused of sabotage. Mandela was also accused and in the end admitted being involved with MK. He was sentenced to life imprisonment.

Then on 11th February 1990 he was released after 27 years and president de Klerk lifted the ban on the ANC and began to demolish petty apartheid.

The ANC and the national party soon began talks about forming a new multi-racial democracy for South Africa.

However violent clashes broke out between supporters of the Inkatha freedom Party, a Zulu group led by chief Buthelezi and ANC supporters. Despite attempts to resolve the problems through talks the violence soon grew and the Inkatha targeted ANC, with support from the white police.

Over the time relations with de Klerk grew tense but the two leaders still continued to meet. Despite the violence there was progress and in February 1991 de Klerk announced that the last Apartheid laws would be scrapped.

In 1994 South Africa rejoined the United Nations and the commonwealth, Apartheid was finally over and most of the success was down to Mandela. He did a lot to improve life for the blacks but also not upset white businessmen.

The people now hoped they could live a life of freedom and peace.