Previously, under the apartheid regime, only the non-whites had limited rights to vote while the black majority of South Africans had no voting right whatsoever. They have won major legal battles: in Port Elizabeth Municipality v Various Occupiers, the citys eviction of squatters on unoccupied land was ruled illegal. Hamilton, Carolyn and Bernard K. Mbenga, eds. Namibia gained independence in 1990 --- Namibian Sun After being under the control of South Africa for about 75 years, Namibia was born 28 years ago as the world's newest independent nation. Years of violent internal protest . Rural poverty and overpopulation, however, pushed people off the land and toward jobs in cities. The weaker and less-skilled Dingaan became king, relaxing military discipline while continuing the despotism. [39], Various theories have been advanced for the causes of the difaqane, ranging from ecological factors to competition in the ivory trade. [24] The free burghers were ex-VOC soldiers and gardeners, who were unable to return to Holland when their contracts were completed with the VOC. (In South Africa, Mandela is often called by his clan name, Madiba.) Leaders of the Communist Party of South Africa were mostly white. Subscribe for fascinating stories connecting the past to the present. APLA denied the attacks were racist in character, claiming that the attacks were directed against the apartheid government as all whites, according to the PAC, were complicit in the policy of apartheid. During apartheid, to have a friendship with someone of a different race generally brought suspicion upon you, or worse. People would then be treated differently according to their population group, and so this law formed the basis of apartheid. Cattle rustling and livestock theft ensued, with the Khoikhoi being ultimately expelled from the peninsula by force, after a succession of wars. On the other hand, colonial and apartheid-era seizure of land from black South African communities was often justified on the grounds that they used it inefficiently, so new restrictions based on climate patterns could evoke those earlier rationales. They saw this as the best way to come to terms with the fact of a white Afrikaner majority, as well as to promote their larger strategic interests in the area. It was only on Dec 11, 1931 after World War II when Britain gave South Africa its' independence as a country. 1970s - More than 3 million people forcibly resettled in black 'homelands'. Others said it was not relevant to the struggle for their rights. 142168. Ross, Robert, Anne Kelk Mager and Bill Nasson, eds. He withdrew from the area and led his people northwards to what would later become the Matabele region of Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe). [90], The Bapedi wars, also known as the Sekhukhune wars, consisted of three separate campaigns fought between 1876 and 1879 against the Bapedi under their reigning monarch King Sekhukhune I, in the northeastern region known as Sekhukhuneland, bordering on Swaziland. After the suppression of the abortive, pro-German Maritz Rebellion during the South African World War I campaign against German South West Africa in 1914, the South African rebel General Manie Maritz escaped to Spain. On June 10, 1980, his followers smuggled a letter from Mandela in prison and made it public: UNITE! By January 1907, 53,000 Chinese labourers were working in the gold mines.[114]. This is obviously not a justification for apartheid, but explains how people were thinking. May 31, 1910Pre-Crisis Phase (May 31, 1910-June 13, 1913): South Africa formally achieved its independence from Britain on May 31, 1910. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 2010. In order to limit contact between the races, the government established separate public facilities for whites and non-whites, limited the activity of nonwhite labor unions and denied non-white participation in national government. Prosecutions before the courts of the Union of South Africa were instituted in the name of the Crown and government officials served in the name of the Crown. [9], Many more species of early hominid have come to light in recent decades. The Great Depression and World War II brought increasing economic woes to South Africa, and convinced the government to strengthen its policies of racial segregation. According to Solomon Johannes Terreblanche, a South African academic economist, the government's concessions to big business represented "treacherous decisions that [will] haunt South Africa for generations to come". From 1948 through the 1990s, a single word dominated life in South Africa. [168] [79], The increasing economic involvement of the British in southern Africa from the 1820s, and especially following the discovery of first diamonds at Kimberley and gold in the Transvaal, resulted in pressure for land and African labour, and led to increasingly tense relations with Southern African states.[39]. In 2018, the World Bank ranked South Africa as the most corrupt country in the world. In 1845, a treaty was signed between the British colonists and Moshoeshoe, which recognised white settlement in the area. This caused further dissatisfaction among the Dutch settlers. The South African Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging or AWB (meaning Afrikaner Resistance Movement), a militant neo-Nazi, mainly Afrikaner white supremacist movement that arose in the 1970s, and was active until the mid-1990s, openly used a flag that closely resembled the swastika. Mbekis position was treated with scorn across the world and by South Africans such as Archbishop Desmond Tutu, but it took nearly a decade for the Ministry of Health to take HIV/AIDS seriously. Frere, on his own initiative, without the approval of the British government and with the intent of instigating a war with the Zulu, had presented an ultimatum on 11 December 1878, to the Zulu king Cetshwayo with which the Zulu king could not comply. By 1950, the government had banned marriages between whites and people of other races, and prohibited sexual relations between Black and white South Africans. [207], A total of 130 political prisoners were hanged on the gallows of Pretoria Central Prison between 1960 and 1990. British colonisation, Mfecane and Boer Republics (18151910), Area Study South Africa, US Library of Congress. Comrades, South Africa's 342 years of struggle to end European occupation, Settler colonialism, racial domination and Apartheid is highly instructive, in both understanding the . The government declared martial law on 14 October 1914, and forces loyal to the government under the command of generals Louis Botha and Jan Smuts defeated the rebellion. Their South African National Party, later known as the South African Party or SAP, followed a generally pro-British, white-unity line. In November 1497, a fleet of Portuguese ships under the command of the Portuguese mariner Vasco da Gama rounded the Cape of Good Hope. How South Africa Gained Independence and fought Apartheid. 8 years after the end of the second Boer war on 31 May 1910, Britain gave South Africa nominal independence. The June 16, 1976 Soweto Uprising changed the socio-political climate in South Africa. [89], Other members of the Ndebele ethnic language group in different areas of the region similarly came into conflict with the Voortrekkers, notably in the area that would later become the Northern Transvaal. Zuma resigned. Stories about ANC members living in luxury amid their constituents poverty are routine in the media. The British High Commission territories of Basutoland (now Lesotho), Bechuanaland (now Botswana), and Swaziland (now Eswatini) continued under direct rule from Britain. As Cape Prime Minister, Rhodes curtailed the multi-racial franchise, and his expansionist policies set the stage for the Second Boer War. Black people got onto 'white buses', used 'white toilets', entered into 'white areas' and refused to use passes. In 1991, the future of South Africa held tremendous promise. Mandelas inaugural speech did not shy away from acknowledging the realities of apartheid and the terrible circumstances of the past half-century. It took 24 years of revolt and warfare for Namibia to gain its independence from South Africa. The ANC continued along the same path during the rest of the 1950s, until in 1959 some members broke away and formed the PAC. 469503. Tens of thousands died. then administered by apartheid South Africa until 1990. Cecil Rhodes and Charles Rudd followed, with their Gold Fields of South Africa company. [102][103] It has been suggested in some academic circles that the wealth produced at Kimberley was a significant factor influencing the Scramble for Africa, in which European powers had by 1902 competed with each other in drawing arbitrary boundaries across almost the entire continent and dividing it among themselves. The Ohio State University: Stanton Foundation. Available at, Edgerton, Robert B, Africa's armies: from honor to infamy: a history from 1791 to the present (2002) p.109. Athens, GA: University of Georgia Press, 2013. The territory of the South African Republic became known after this war as the Transvaal Colony.[53]. Climate change and its unpredictable effects on water resources have only complicated farming and land-use issues, reviving earlier disputes. Those settlers who were allocated money could only claim it in Britain in person or through an agent. [97], By the 1870s and 1880s the mines at Kimberley were producing 95% of the world's diamonds. The Sharpeville massacre convinced many anti-apartheid leaders that they could not achieve their objectives by peaceful means, and both the PAC and ANC established military wings, neither of which ever posed a serious military threat to the state. The war is notable for several particularly bloody battles, including an overwhelming victory by the Zulu at the Battle of Isandlwana, as well as for being a landmark in the timeline of imperialism in the region. [51], The South African Republic (Dutch: Zuid-Afrikaansche Republiek or ZAR, not to be confused with the much later Republic of South Africa), is often referred to as The Transvaal and sometimes as the Republic of Transvaal. From Apartheid to Democracy: Deliberating Truth and Reconciliation. Philip's intention was for the Griquas to protect the missionary station there against banditti in the region, and as a bulwark against the northward movement of white settlers from the Cape Colony. How South Africa Gained Independence and fought Apartheid 7,203 views Jul 11, 2019 94 Dislike Share Save BioGreat Tv 30.6K subscribers In 1921, the South African Communist Party was. The popularity of black consciousness and the massive levels of participation in the Soweto demonstrations illustrated profound discontent among the black population, particularly the young, and an increasing readiness to challenge the system physically. This led to conflict between the Basotho and the British, who were defeated by Moshoeshoe's warriors at the battle of Viervoet in 1851. [217] As of 2021, tens of thousands of white South Africans continue to emigrate each year. Independence: 31 May 1910 (from the UK); South Africa became a republic in 1961. [71] East Griqualand was subsequently annexed by Britain in 1874 and incorporated into the Cape Colony in 1879. In 1994, the first elections following the country's independence were held. Part of that would inevitably be about solving poverty, which was deeply entrenched in the country. [145] The anti-semitic Boerenasie (Boer Nation) and other similar groups soon joined them. [121], The AngloBoer War affected all ethnic groups in South Africa. Facing a choice between decreasing the foreign debt or more aggressively funding housing and school construction, the ANC ultimately chose the former. Why is Freedom Day important to South Africa? [123] In terms of the peace agreement known as the Treaty of Vereeniging, the Boer republics acknowledged British sovereignty, while the British in turn committed themselves to reconstruction of the areas under their control. South Africa Table of Contents. Vuuren, Hennie Van. [241] The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) found that competition over jobs, business opportunities, public services and housing gave rise to tension among refugees, asylum seekers, migrants and host communities, identified as a main cause of the xenophobic violence. Between 19601994, according to statistics from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, the Inkatha Freedom Party was responsible for 4,500 deaths, South African Police 2,700, and the ANC about 1,300. [243], Civil unrest occurred in South Africa's KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng provinces in July 2021, sparked by the imprisonment of former President Jacob Zuma for contempt of court, after he declined to testify at the Zondo Commission, an inquiry into allegations of corruption during his term as president from 2009 to 2018. Another reason for Dutch-speaking white farmers trekking away from the Cape was the abolition of slavery by the British government on Emancipation Day, 1 December 1838. Many of these deaths were caused by unsanitary water or by the use of unventilated indoor fires. The colonizers i.e. One other fact is important to note about the country. To circumvent an arms embargo by the UN in 1977, South Africa developed an enormous homegrown armaments sector. Despite 8 000 people ending up in jail, the ANC caused no threat to the apartheid regime. The Kingdom of Mapungubwe, which was located near the northern border of present-day South Africa, at the confluence of the Limpopo and Shashe rivers adjacent to present-day Zimbabwe and Botswana, was the first indigenous kingdom in southern Africa between AD 900 and 1300. In 1952 the ANC started the Defiance Campaign. [93] Cape Colony Governor Henry Barkly persuaded all claimants to submit themselves to a decision of an arbitrator and so Robert W Keate, Lieutenant-Governor of Natal was asked to arbitrate. The main difference is that apartheid made segregation part of the law. Pearson Longman. Nearly 9,000 were killed in action. Original architects of Apartheid Image source. The Republic of South Africa as it is today did not gain independence. When did South Africa become independent? Many of these have survived and have been sites of development since apartheid, such as Soweto, though they remain highly segregated. Large white South African diasporas, both English- and Afrikaans-speaking, sprouted in Australia, New Zealand, North America, and especially in the UK, to which around 550,000 South Africans emigrated. The United Nations General Assembly had denounced apartheid in 1973, and in 1976 the UN Security Council voted to impose a mandatory embargo on the sale of arms to South Africa. In 1919, the ANC sent a deputation to London to plead for a new deal for South African blacks, but there was no change to their position. Apartheid lasted form 1948 to 1994. In 1994 President Nelson Mandela 's representatives asked this writer for the text of Churchill's third speech to the American Congress. [188], Both South Africa and Cuba claimed victory at the decisive battle of Cuito Cuanavale, which have been described as "the fiercest in Africa since World War II". The group had arrived at the police station without passes, inviting arrest as an act of resistance. Under the Bantu Education Act in 1953, schooling provided for blacks was strictly vocational. ANC leader Nelson Mandela, released from prison in February 1990, worked closely with President F.W. [161] Four hundred M-113A1 armoured personnel carriers, and 106mm recoilless rifles manufactured in the United States were delivered to South Africa via Israel. Trained as a teacher, he spent 11 years as a political prisoner under Ian Smiths Rhodesian read more, He was born Rolihlahla Mandela on July 18, 1918, into a royal family of the Xhosa-speaking Thembu tribe in the South African village of Mvezo. However, the current style of governance and the normalization of corruption began during the apartheid era as well. Griqualand then became a separate Crown Colony renamed Griqualand West in 1871, with a Lieutenant-General and legislative council. Security guards in South Africa clashing with police during a 96-day strike of private security personnel in 2006. [157], In the aftermath of the 1976 Soweto uprising and the security clampdown that accompanied it, Joint Management Centres (JMCs) operating in at least 34 State-designated "high-risk" areas became the key element in a National Security Management System. [20] By the time of their defeat and expulsion from the Cape Peninsula and surrounding districts, the Khoikhoi population was decimated by a smallpox epidemic introduced by Dutch sailors against which the Khoikhoi had no natural resistance or indigenous medicines.[21]. Tropic of Cancer passes through how many states? [179] The civil war in Angola resulted in 550,0001,250,000 deaths in total mostly from famine. A small German population still lives in the country. CBSE Previous Year Question Paper for Class 10, CBSE Previous Year Question Paper for Class 12. [233] These also involved corruption related financial difficulties at some state owned enterprises such as Eskom and South African Airways that had a notable negative economic impact on the country's finances. [209] Both sides were forced to the negotiating table, with the result that in June 1991, all apartheid laws were finally rescinded- opening the way for the country's first multiracial democratic elections three years later. In 1976, when thousands of Black children in Soweto, a Black township outside Johannesburg, demonstrated against the Afrikaans language requirement for Black African students, the police opened fire with tear gas and bullets. The settlers, incorrectly, believed that the Cape Colony administration had taken the money due to them as payment for freeing their slaves. The first Europeans arrived in South Africa in 1652 under the auspices of the Dutch East India Company to set up a station for passing ships at the Cape of Good Hope. [142], General Jan Smuts was the only important non-British general whose advice was constantly sought by Britain's war-time Prime Minister Winston Churchill. Acts of discrimination were implemented from the very beginning. A History of South Africa. Mack, Katherine Elizabeth. After the country gained independence, the government of South Africa established a policy of apartheid. [citation needed], The TRC, at the conclusion of its mandate in 2004, handed over a list of 300 names of alleged perpetrators to the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) for investigation and prosecution by the NPA's Priority Crimes Litigation Unit. Those legacies have been difficult to escape, and continue to bedevil the country today. This was accomplished after several years of negotiations, when the South Africa Act 1909 consolidated the Cape Colony, Natal, Transvaal, and Orange Free State into one nation. [36], Early relations between the European settlers and the Xhosa, the first Bantu peoples they met when they ventured inward, were peaceful. . It developed into the largest kingdom in the sub-continent before it was abandoned because of climatic changes in the 14th century. A tweet from U.S. President Donald Trump in 2018 referring to a racist conspiracy theory promoting the idea of a white genocide.. It was however not always that easy to decide what racial group a person was part of, and this caused some problems. South Africas problems defy easy solutions. [140] On 21 June 1942 nearly 10,000 South African soldiers, representing one-third of the entire South African force in the field, were taken prisoner by German Field Marshal Rommel's forces in the fall of Tobruk, Libya. Tents in the Bloemfontein concentration camp for Boer women and children around 1900 (left). It was started as a movement for the Black elite, that is those Blacks who were educated. Essential Questions What's Included Separate Representation of Voters Act, 1951. In March 1858, after land disputes, cattle rustling and a series of raids and counter-raids, the Orange Free State declared war on the Basotho kingdom, which it failed to defeat. A succession of wars followed from 1858 to 1868 between the Basotho kingdom and the Boer republic of Orange Free State. The Union of South Africa came to an end after a referendum on 5 October 1960, in which a majority of white South Africans voted in favour of unilateral withdrawal from the British Commonwealth and the establishment of a Republic of South Africa. Facing a troubled budget at independence, former Bantustans saw budget cuts among civil servants and institutions that threw them into chaos. [176][177] In response to the South African intervention, Cuba sent 18,000 soldiers as part of a large-scale military intervention nicknamed Operation Carlota in support of the MPLA. A fourth category, Asian (meaning Indian and Pakistani) was later added. [167], The Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) would later establish that a covert, informal network of former or still serving army and police operatives, frequently acting in conjunction with extreme right-wing elements, was involved in actions that could be construed as fomenting violence and which resulted in gross human rights violations, including random and targeted killings. The uprising spread throughout the country. Twenty-five years ago, South Africans engaged in a peaceful revolution. By the middle of the 1970s, apartheid was clearly under strain. At least 67 people were killed and more than 180 wounded. The first generation to grow up without government-sanctioned segregation and economic restrictions reveals a country grappling with change. [185] On 23 August 1981 South African troops again launched an incursion into Angola with collaboration and encouragement provided by the American Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). Just as he had done in 1919, Smuts urged the delegates to create a powerful international body to preserve peace; he was determined that, unlike the League of Nations, the UN would have teeth. [40] Another theory attributes the epicentre of Zulu violence to the slave trade out of Delgoa Bay in Mozambique situated to the north of Zululand. The controversial 1913 Land Act, passed three years after South Africa gained its independence, marked the beginning of territorial segregation by forcing Black Africans to live in reserves. Elements of the South African Army refused to fight against the Germans and along with other opponents of the government; they rose in an open revolt known as the Maritz Rebellion. The Dutch East India Company (in the Dutch of the day: Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie, or VOC) decided to establish a permanent settlement at the Cape in 1652. It authorised the forced evictions of thousands of African people from urban centres in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) to what became described colloquially as "Bantustans" or the "original homes", as they were officially referred to, of the black tribes of South Africa. At its peak in 1987, the UDF had some 700 affiliates and about 3,000,000 members. History and posterity . In 1986, the pass laws were scrapped. The prisoners were mainly members of the Pan Africanist Congress and United Democratic Front.[208]. The Cape nonetheless remained nominally part of the British Empire, even though it was self-governing in practice. As he works to renovate South Africa, new president Cyril Ramaphosa faces a daunting list of tasks: jump-start economic growth, shrink the debt, build functioning, law-based governance, and hold together the ANC when it seems to be coming apart at the seams. [56] The Boers accepted British annexation in 1844. Afrikaner settlers in particular were loath to live under Moshoesoe's authority and among Africans.[83]. Continue Reading. For nearly 100 years subsequently, the Xhosa fought the settlers sporadically, first the Boers or Afrikaners and later the British. The controversial 1913 Land Act, passed three years after South Africa gained its independence, marked the beginning of territorial segregation by forcing Black Africans to live in reserves and making it illegal for them to work as sharecroppers. It was inhabited by Australopithecines since at least 2.5 million years ago. Before World War Two the Western world was not as critical of racial discrimination, and Africa was colonized in this period. Once the period of colonial wars ended, Europeans consolidated their control over arable land in South Africa. 1833 When did South Africa officially gain independence? The monarchy came to an end on 31 May 1961, replaced by a republic as the consequence of a 1960 referendum, which legitimised the country becoming the Republic of South Africa. Townships were created for blacks, coloureds, and Asians. The British suffragette Emily Hobhouse visited British concentration camps in South Africa and produced a report condemning the appalling conditions there. Apartheid Afrikaans for "apartness"kept the country's majority Black . The laws basic provisions restricted the sale or purchase of land between groups, which effectively left black South Africans with 7% of the countrys land (later 13%) despite making up 67% of the population. Between 1847 and 1854, Harry Smith, governor and high commissioner of the Cape Colony, annexed territories far to the north of original British and Dutch settlement. [156], Although many important events occurred during this period, apartheid remained the central pivot around which most of the historical issues of this period revolved, including violent conflict and the militarisation of South African society. In schools, the South African governments per capita spending for black students was a tenth of that for white students. While housing has improved for many people, 14% of the population still lives in so-called informal settlements. [54] The name Orange Free State was again changed to the Orange River Colony, created by Britain after the latter occupied it in 1900 and then annexed it in 1902 during the Second Boer War. This Act also got rid of 'black spots' inside white areas, by moving all black people out of the city. Continue Reading. Who did South Africa gain independence from? [42][43][24], In 1818, Nguni tribes in Zululand created a militaristic kingdom between the Tugela River and Pongola River, under the driving force of Shaka kaSenzangakhona, son of the chief of the Zulu clan. If you have a disability and experience difficulty accessing this site, please contact us for assistance [133] The South African government issued no war service medal to the black servicemen and the special medal issued by King George V to "native troops" that served the Empire, the British War Medal in bronze, was disallowed and not issued to the SANLC. [citation needed] "Untold History with a Historiography: A Review of Scholarship on Afrikaner Women in South African History.". [24] Others, now known as the SothoTswana peoples (Tswana, Pedi, and Sotho), settled in the interior on the plateau known as the Highveld,[24] while today's Venda, Lemba, and Tsonga peoples made their homes in the north-eastern areas of present-day South Africa. Waterboer, fearing conflict with the Boer republic of Orange Free State, subsequently asked for and received British protection. Multi-national mining corporations including Anglo-American Corporation, Lonmin, and Anglo Platinum, were accused of failing to address the enduring legacies of apartheid.
