Apartheid in South Africa

Leanne Summers 10.4 19th October 2000

GCSE History Coursework – South Africa

2. Before the 1994 elections many white South Africans were against giving up the white majority rule. This was mainly because whites were scared blacks would take revenge on them for all the years of hardship they’d been through under apartheid. Especially as the whites put apartheid in place.

The whites feared that giving up the white majority rule would mean all their land and most of their white towns would be taken over by blacks who would move in for work, which they proberly wouldn’t find because even after the end of apartheid blacks will still be looked down upon by the whites.

The whites feared their land would be redistributed, as it was almost certain that the ANC was going to win the 1994 elections, and one of their election promises was to redistribute the land to the blacks. Basically what redistribution of the land was, was the blacks getting back land they’d owned before apartheid which had been taken away from them. Obviously the whites feared this, as it would mean having to give up land maybe even property that they have owned since it was taken away from the black, and anyone no matter colour age sex or anything else that could be discriminated against would feel some remorse towards giving it up. This fear was mainly caused by the fear of the complete dismantling of apartheid.

Whites had always been superior to blacks. Many whites if any had never really lived in a society were there was no separation between different races. So whites would therefore fear a loss in their status. It would feel strange to a white to be equal to a black, as whites had always looked down on blacks as children or people who were inferior to them. If they lost their status they would have to see black as their equal, which would be difficult. Even if laws were enforced about blacks being made to feel equal the whites would ...

This is a preview of the whole essay

Along with the loss of status they feared that their lifestyle would be taken away from them. If they became equal to blacks then their children would have the same education, as blacks meaning there would be more competition for top jobs, because all their opportunities would be equal.

Whites feared some of the conditions of the freedom charter as well. One of the things whites feared the most about the freedom charter would have been the term in which,

“The people shall govern”

This gave every man and woman the right to vote, and stand for election. The whites feared that this would eventually mean the end of whites in parliament what so ever as 75per cent of the population was black.

The other term of the freedom charter that caused fear amongst the whites was,

“The land shall be shared by all”

This term would mean whites giving up their land so it can be given back to blacks. This might result any profit made from these nearly unproductive farms (this is proved by the

fact that most of South Africa’s food is imported) would be reduced as there would be even less land to farm.

Many whites also feared that with the loss of white majority rule would result in communism. Communism would be awful for the whites as it would be many of their fears rolled into one, they would lose their status have their land re-distributed and the whole country would proberly end up in turmoil not just whites but blacks as well.

Whites also feared the way blacks would get revenge, they might increase crime rates in white towns and cities, with angry blacks taking revenge by burgling whites houses and selling what they take to make money. Blacks might also take revenge by high-powered blacks in government giving whites less powerful jobs, resulting in whites having next to no power.

Blacks might also take revenge by trying white policemen or white people or white cabinet members who committed crimes during apartheid. If this happened lots of whites would be imprisoned for long periods of time as lots of whites murdered blacks especially in the peaceful protests, which turned into murderous riots with no particular reason.

Many fears of the whites were un-necessary. Even though some land has been redistributed it is a mere 0.5 per cent, which is good form the whites point of view. Whites haven’t lost their status, they still live in their rich houses in their rich areas and many blacks still live in the slums. Two million black school children are not at school so there would be less competition for jobs, and the education for blacks is still not up to scratch. The collapse of communism in Russia meant the ANC had no allies so communism collapsed amongst the ANC. Whites were also incorrect to fear a loss in power, the government is now a multiracial one with similar numbers of each race, but the overall party is the ANC with the black leader, Thabo Mvuyelwa Mbeki.

Although a majority of white fears were incorrect some were right. Unfortunately the crime rate has increased and whites are being found out about committing crimes under apartheid. The government however gave secret amnesty to 3500 police crimes against blacks. The government are working on a scheme, which encourages whites to admit to the crime they committed under apartheid and apologise, but it won’t be taken any further.

White South Africans had fears about giving up the white majority rule, as would anyone who was about to give up something. Their main fears were that they’d lose their land, lose their status, become a communist country, lose power, and be prosecuted for crimes committed under apartheid. Out of the five main fears stated only one has come true that is the fear that they’d be prosecuted for crimes committed under apartheid. So giving up the white majority rule wasn’t as bad as many whites had feared.