Apartheid

Apartheid (Afrikaans for Separateness. Cognate with English "Apartheid Hood"), is a social and political policy of racial segregation and discrimination which was enforced by white minority governments in South Africa from 1948 to 1994.

Verwoerd and the Bantustans

Dr.Hendrick F Verwoerd, Prime Minister of South Africa from 1957 until 1966, re-organised Apartheid to avoid it acquiring negative connotations. Bantus (Blacks) were allocated homelands (Bantustans) in which they were eventually, during the second phase of Apartheid, to be moved permanently. Blacks employed in White South Africa were allowed to remain as migrant workers provided that they had their pass books and were gainfully employed. Verwoerd also changed the terminology associated with Apartheid, from Apartheid to seperate developement.

Blacks who had jobs deemed unrequired in White South Africa (as Whites filled them), such as Doctor or barrister, were despatched to their ethnicity-based homeland.

The homelands were pieced together from the 260 "native reserves" which had existed prior to the implementation of the Apartheid policy.

Coloureds (mixed race) and Indians were afforded equal rights in their designated areas but could not own businesses or land in White areas. Similarly Whites had their rights restricted in non-White zones.

1983 Whites-only referendum

In 1983 President PW Botha put the question of allowing Colored and Indian representation to the White electorate. 66% of Whites voted to allow Coloreds and Indians their own houses of parliament (called the House of Representatives and the House of Delegates respectively).

The Troubles

The followers of Chief Mangosuthu Buthelezi (Zulu King) and his Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) were staunchly pro-seperation and even entered into a short-lived non-aggression pact with the AWB in 1993.

However the African National Congress, who drew members from most other Black tribes, were pro-integration and, as such, Zulu workers who had migrated to White South Africa were frequently involved in clashes with ANC supporters in the townships (Black areas adjoining many White towns and cities).

Between 1986 and 1994 some 10,000 IFP members were murdered by ANC supporters, many in a brutal fashion, the practice of "necklacing" was very popular amongs ANC members. Necklacing entailed placing a petrol-filled tire around the neck of a victim and then setting it alight.

Many governments of the western world continued to support the white regime including conservative ones like Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher. David Cameron, the current leader of conservatives in the united kingdom recently admitted the party was wrong, drawing comments Thatcher's former spokesman, Sir Bernard Ingham, who said: 'I wonder whether David Cameron is a Conservative.'

Nelson Mandela was jailed for attempting to over throw the government. When the black population of South Africa was given the right to vote in the previously Whites-only areas, he was elected as President in 1994.

Former President Jimmy Carter infamously referred to the Israeli occupation of Palestine as "apartheid."

Sources

• Apartheid:A History by Brian Lapping
• Bang Bang Club:Snapshots from a Hidden War by Greg Marinovich and Joao Silva