"Apartheid System"
Poster highlighting the discrimination
of the apartheid system
by Anti-Apartheid Movement (AAM) (early 1970s)
Source: AAM Archives Committee
The time has come for a world-wide protest against the racist policies of the Government of the Union of South Africa. Freedom-loving people throughout the world have watched with great concern as the doctrine of white supremacy has gained increasing acceptance among South African whites. This racist doctrine — apartheid — has denied the African, Asian and Coloured people in South Africa even the elementary rights granted by any democratic state. Totalitarianism increasingly grips almost every area of human activity in South Africa. It is the only system by which apartheid can be imposed upon the South African people. As such, apartheid is a threat to the liberty of every South African, white or non-white.
Almost as shocking as these tragic developments has been the absence of any universal protest by the free peoples of the world, The Government of South Africa must learn that those who cherish freedom repudiate apartheid and similar racist policies anywhere. In addition, those courageous South African of all races who struggle to build a free and democratic society must know that their efforts are supported by men and women of good will in all nations.
More than a hundred of the world's leading spokesmen for freedom from every continent have joined in signing a Declaration of Conscience, which appears on the inside of this folder. This broad response is probably unprecedented in modem times. The Declaration is the heart of a campaign that culminates on Human Right Day, December 10, 1957, which has been designated the Universal Day of Protest against South Africa's official policy of racism. The signers of the Declaration call upon civic, labor business, professional, political, educational, church and other leaders and organizations throughout the world to support the Declaration of Conscience and the Day of Protest.
This Declaration is an appeal to the conscience of people everywhere to condemn apartheid and to demand that the Union of South Africa live up to its obligations under the United Nations Charter. While there is still time, we cannot afford to remain silent. Your help is needed.
More than fifteen years after the end of apartheid in South Africa, this declaration is still applicable. Because apartheid is not the only regime who acts against human rights, there are also colonialism and foreign occupation... (affaire à suivre)
For memory, the main Apartheid Laws are described below:
(Sources: Nelson Mandela Foundation – African History – Black History 4 Schools)
Prohibition of Mixed Marriages Act, Act No 55 of 1949
Immorality Amendment Act, Act No 21 of 1950; amended in 1957 (Act 23)
Population Registration Act, Act No 30 of 1950
Group Areas Act, Act No 41 of 1950
Suppression of Communism Act, Act No 44 of 1950
Bantu Building Workers Act, Act No 27 of 1951
Separate Representation of Voters Act, Act No 46 of 1951
Prevention of Illegal Squatting Act, Act No 52 of 1951
Bantu Authorities Act, Act No 68 of 1951
Natives Laws Amendment Act, Act No 54 of 1952
Natives (Abolition of Passes and Co-ordination of Documents) Act, Act No 67 of 1952
Native Labour Settlement of Disputes Act, Act No 48 of 1953
Bantu Education Act, Act No 47 of 1953
"Declaraction of Conscience: An Appeal to South Africa"
Pamphlet published in 1957
The time has come for a world-wide protest against the racist policies of the Government of the Union of South Africa. Freedom-loving people throughout the world have watched with great concern as the doctrine of white supremacy has gained increasing acceptance among South African whites. This racist doctrine — apartheid — has denied the African, Asian and Coloured people in South Africa even the elementary rights granted by any democratic state. Totalitarianism increasingly grips almost every area of human activity in South Africa. It is the only system by which apartheid can be imposed upon the South African people. As such, apartheid is a threat to the liberty of every South African, white or non-white.
Almost as shocking as these tragic developments has been the absence of any universal protest by the free peoples of the world, The Government of South Africa must learn that those who cherish freedom repudiate apartheid and similar racist policies anywhere. In addition, those courageous South African of all races who struggle to build a free and democratic society must know that their efforts are supported by men and women of good will in all nations.
More than a hundred of the world's leading spokesmen for freedom from every continent have joined in signing a Declaration of Conscience, which appears on the inside of this folder. This broad response is probably unprecedented in modem times. The Declaration is the heart of a campaign that culminates on Human Right Day, December 10, 1957, which has been designated the Universal Day of Protest against South Africa's official policy of racism. The signers of the Declaration call upon civic, labor business, professional, political, educational, church and other leaders and organizations throughout the world to support the Declaration of Conscience and the Day of Protest.
This Declaration is an appeal to the conscience of people everywhere to condemn apartheid and to demand that the Union of South Africa live up to its obligations under the United Nations Charter. While there is still time, we cannot afford to remain silent. Your help is needed.
More than fifteen years after the end of apartheid in South Africa, this declaration is still applicable. Because apartheid is not the only regime who acts against human rights, there are also colonialism and foreign occupation... (affaire à suivre)
For memory, the main Apartheid Laws are described below:
(Sources: Nelson Mandela Foundation – African History – Black History 4 Schools)
Prohibition of Mixed Marriages Act, Act No 55 of 1949
Prohibited marriages between white people and people of any other racial group.
Prohibited adultery, attempted adultery or related immoral acts (extra-marital sex) between white and black people.
Led to the creation of a national register in which every person’s race was recorded. A Race Classification Board took the final decision on what a person’s race was in disputed cases. This Act grouped every South African into a particular race - white, indian, coloured (mixed race) and black (bantu). Only whites could vote, and the opportunities available to each group decreased according to their race.
Forced physical separation between races by creating different residential areas for different races. 84% of the land was given to the whites, even though they were only 15% of the total population. Blacks were only given 14% of the land, known as the ‘Tribal Homelands’, even though they made up over 80% of the population. If you were living in the ‘wrong’ area you had to move. Usually it was black and coloured people that had to move: out of 3.5 million people who had to leave their homes under this act between 1951 and 1986, only 2% were white.
Outlawed communism and the Community Party in South Africa. Communism was defined so broadly that it covered any call for radical change. Communists could be banned from participating in a political organisation and restricted to a particular area.
Allowed black people to be trained as artisans in the building trade, something previously reserved for whites only, but they had to work within an area designated for blacks. Made it a criminal offence for a black person to perform any skilled work in urban areas except in those sections designated for black occupation.
Together with the 1956 amendment, this act led to the removal of Coloureds from the common voters’ roll.
Gave the Minister of Native Affairs the power to remove blacks from public or privately owned land and to establishment resettlement camps to house these displaced people.
Provided for the establishment of black homelands and regional authorities and, with the aim of creating greater self-government in the homelands, abolished the Native Representative Council.
Narrowed the definition of the category of blacks who had the right of permanent residence in towns. Section 10 limited this to those who’d been born in a town and had lived there continuously for not less than 15 years, or who had been employed there continuously for at least 15 years, or who had worked continuously for the same employer for at least 10 years.
Commonly known as the Pass Laws, this ironically named act forced black people to carry identification with them at all times. A pass included a photograph, details of place of origin, employment record, tax payments, and encounters with the police. It was a criminal offence to be unable to produce a pass when required to do so by the police. No black person could leave a rural area for an urban one without a permit from the local authorities. On arrival in an urban area a permit to seek work had to be obtained within 72 hours.
Prohibited strike action by blacks (including unionism).
Established a Black Education Department in the Department of Native Affairs which would compile a curriculum that suited the “nature and requirements of the black people”. The author of the legislation, Dr Hendrik Verwoerd (then Minister of Native Affairs, later Prime Minister), stated that its aim was to prevent Africans receiving an education that would lead them to aspire to positions they wouldn’t be allowed to hold in society. Instead Africans were to receive an education designed to provide them with skills to serve their own people in the homelands or to work in labouring jobs under whites.
Reservation of Separate Amenities Act, Act No 49 of 1953
Natives Resettlement Act, Act No 19 of 1954
Forced segregation in all public amenities, public buildings, and public transport with the aim of eliminating contact between whites and other races. “Europeans Only” and “Non-Europeans Only” signs were put up. The act stated that facilities provided for different races need not be equal.
This enabled the Government to remove the African residents of Johannesburg's western suburbs of Sophiatown, Martindale and Newclare, where much property was black-owned, to a new government settlement at Meadowlands.
Criminal Procedure & Evidence Amendment Act No 29 1955.
Natives (Prohibition of Interdicts) Act, Act No 64 of 1956
Native Urban Areas Amendment Act, Act No 69 of 1956.
Native Laws Amendment Act, Act No 36 of 1957
Bantu Investment Corporation Act, Act No 34 of 1959
Extension of University Education Act, Act 45 of 1959
Promotion of Bantu Self-Government Act, Act No 46 of 1959
Terrorism Act, Act No 83 of 1967
All the Apartheid Legislation enacted between 1948 and 1990 (over 160 acts) are listed on the O'Malley website
This made whipping compulsory punishment for "theft of or from motor vehicles and receiving stolen property".
Denied black people the option of appealing to the courts against forced removals.
This "enabled municipalities to expel without trial any Black who was considered a threat 'to the maintenance of peace and order' and made failure to obey the ejection order a punishable offence. The chief native commissioner could confine to particular areas the movements of any person who received two such orders within five years. Failure to comply with that order could result in the person being sentenced to a work colony".
Prohibited Africans from going to church services in white areas. However, despite the lack of protest by the Dutch Reformed Church, the law was not enforced and some churches became the rare public places where cross-racial gatherings persisted.
Provided for the creation of financial, commercial, and industrial schemes in areas designated for black people.
Put an end to black students attending white universities (mainly the universities of Cape Town and Witwatersrand). Created separate tertiary institutions for whites, Coloured, blacks, and Asians.
Classified black people into eight ethnic groups. Each group had a Commissioner-General who was tasked to develop a homeland for each, which would be allowed to govern itself independently without white intervention.
Allowed for indefinite detention without trial and established BOSS ( Bureau Of State Security) which was responsible for the internal security of South Africa. Terrorism was defined as "any act committed with the intention of endangering law and order or inciting to or conspiring in the commission of such an act, a separate offence and equated it to treason. Terrorist acts included murder, the possession of arms, ammunition or explosives and the receiving of military training"
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