South Africa Apartheid to the Killing of Stephen Biko: 1948 - 1977

South Africa – Apartheid to the Killing of Stephen Biko: 1948 - 1977

1. South Africa and Apartheid

a. Britain gave up its sovereign authority over South Africa in 1910. The development did not mean independence and self-determination for the country’s majority black population. White South Africans were in political control.

b. When a constitution was written for the country in 1908 the convention was held in Durban. The 30 delegates came from the Cape Colony, the Orange Free State, the Transvaal and Natal. All 30 were white. (John Reader, Africa: A Biography of the Continent, page 643)

c. Of the four states only the Cape Colony allowed men of any race to vote. However, voters had to be literate and achieve a certain level of annual income. This “liberal” policy ended in 1948 when a white nationalist party came to power for the first time.

d. The nationalists had campaigned for racial separation and the preservation of white-dominated society. The policy of apartheid was instituted. Blacks were excluded from political life and blatant forms of racial discrimination were imposed in housing, transportation, land ownership and employment.

e. Between 1950 and 1980 more than a million non-whites were forced to leave white areas of residence in the cities and relocate. Permits to blacks for urban jobs were granted only as industry required workers.

f. Under a program of “separate development” the government established a projected ten autonomous homelands (Bantustans) for various black ethnic groups. The land was poor and movement of individuals from the homelands to the rest of the country was strictly regulated.

g. The practices of apartheid and the racist laws enforcing it were internationally condemned. Finding itself increasingly isolated from the rest of the world, the South African government broke all official ties with Britain and the Commonwealth in 1961 and proclaimed itself the Republic of South Africa.

2. Nelson Mandela, The African National Congress and Sharpeville 1960

a. Opponents of the restrictive laws encountered police brutality, torture, preventative detention and prison sentences. Mandela, the black leader of the African National Congress, was sentenced to life in prison.

b. The A.N.C campaigned for racial equality with demonstrations, strikes and armed struggle. The regime attempted to suppress the black movement with military force. There were bloody clashes at Sharpeville in 1960 where a crowd of 5,000 blacks protested the internal passports required for movement from a homeland to other parts of the country. They marched to a police station.

c. The police claimed stones were thrown. They fired into the crowd for approximately 2 minutes. Sixty- nine protestors were killed. One hundred and eighty others were wounded.

d. Sharpeville led Nelson Mandela to renounce non-violence and embrace armed insurrection. He became the first leader of a motley liberation army named “Spear of the Nation”. Mandela never saw combat. His A.N.C’s struggle consisted of planting land mines, blowing up electric power stations and committing occasional acts of terrorism against civilians.

e. Mandela was captured and tried, along with 8 other A.N.C leaders, for sabotage and conspiracy to overthrow the state. Incriminating documents, many written in longhand by Mandela, were found. The documents outlined and justified a violent campaign to bring down the apartheid regime.

f. Certain of conviction, Mandela acknowledged his leadership of “Spear of the Nation”. He said he had embraced violence only after non-violence had failed to achieve his ends. He opened the defense’s case with a four hour speech stating:

I have fought against white domination, and I have fought against black domination. I have cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society in which all persons will live together in harmony and with equal opportunities. It is an ideal for which I hope to live for and to see realized. But, my lord, if it needs be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die.” (Bill Keller, Mandela Obituary, N.Y Times December 6, 2013).

g. Under considerable pressure from liberals at home and abroad, including a nearly unanimous vote of the U.N General Assembly, to spare the defendants, the judge acquitted one and sentenced Mr. Mandela and the others to life in prison.

h. Mr. Mandela was 44 when he was manacled and put on a ferry to the Robben Island prison. He would be 71 when he was released. (Read “An Education In Prison” excerpted from NYT December, 6, 2013)

3. Soweto, Biko and Economic Sanctions (1976-1977)

a. The African National Congress survived the prolonged imprisonment of Mandela and other leaders. The Congress waged a determined campaign for racial equality which included demonstrations, strikes and armed struggle.

b. The regime attempted to suppress the movement with military force. By the 1970s increasing numbers of white South Africans were protesting apartheid and the United Nations had imposed sanctions.

c. 10,000 black students marched in the town of Soweto in June 1976 to protest a law requiring the delivery of lessons in Afrikaans, the language of the Dutch settlers. As the marchers advanced on a hillside school surrounded by the homes of more than one million blacks, the police reported stones being thrown. They fired.

d. An investigation by the U.S newspaper Newsday in December, 1976 concluded that 332 died in Soweto and more than 435 nationally. The Times later estimated more than 700 died in the chain reaction of violence over the year. e. The uprising had a lasting impact and arguably played a significant role in sowing the seeds of democracy in South Africa. International sympathy strengthened the anti-apartheid campaign, and attempts by white minority rulers to clamp down on the protest movement were met with increasing resistance. f. Steven Biko was a leader of a number of organizations including the Black Consciousness Movement and the South Africa Students Organization. Both worked to raise awareness of oppression and demand equality. A wave of strikes followed the Soweto uprising. g. Biko was arrested in August of 1977 and taken to Port Elizabeth. He was thirty years old and in good health. He died in September, 1977 of brain injuries sustained in a “scuffle” with prison guards. h. His funeral was attended by more than 15,000 mourners. Thousands were barred from attending the services by security forces. Twelve Western countries sent representatives, which was conducted by the Reverend Desmond Tutu. Biko's contribution to the black fight for freedom from apartheid is often placed as second only to that of former President Nelson Mandela. i. After the election of the ANC Government in 1994, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, which was set up under Archbishop Desmond Tutu, denied an amnesty to five policemen who admitted being involved in his death, although they have never been prosecuted. j. Peter Gabriel – Biko. South Africa – Apartheid to the Killing of Stephen Biko: 1948 - 1977

Name ______(10 Points)

1. What was held in Durban, South Africa in 1908?

2. What was a uniting characteristic of all 30 delegates who went to Durban?

3. What were the two most immediate effects of the apartheid policy (1948)?

4. How many blacks were forced to relocate from white areas between 1950-1980?

5. In plain language, what is a Bantustan?

6. How did the institution of apartheid affect South Africa’s relationships with the world community?

7. What is the A.N.C?

8. How many people were shot (killed and wounded) in two minutes at Sharpeville?

9. Why was Nelson Mandela sentenced to life in prison?

10. How old was Mandela when he entered prison?

11. How old was he when he was released?

12. How did the international community register its disapproval of South Africa’s apartheid system in the 1970s?

13. What were the students of Soweto protesting in the spring of 1976?

14. How many people did “Newsday” report killed nation-wide as a result of Soweto demonstrations?

15. Who was a leader of the South Africa Students Organization?

16. What type of injuries killed the 30 year old prisoner at Port Elizabeth? How were they sustained?

17. What commission did Archbishop Desmond Tutu establish?