Apartheid

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near-psychotic state of mind of apartheid perpetrators (see introduction to Part II, above). For
a white child, it made sense to believe, based on actual experience, that Whites were the most
numerous.
The racially restricted lack of health care in South Africa was felt and suffered
especially by black women and children. It highlights the fact that apartheid is cowardice as
well as a crime against humanity. For instance, after giving birth in hospitals, black women
were routinely discharged immediately, on the same day or in the same night, and forced to
take the next bus home, sometimes in the middle of the night, and sometimes even if there
were no buses at all. Only hours after giving birth, young mothers were routinely thrown out
of the hospitals, with their babies. As late as the early 1990s, female public servants were still
not entitled to paid maternity leave. Furthermore, as the American Association for the
Advancement of Science (AAAS) noted in its report on health care under apartheid to the
South African TRC: ‘Black women were injected with the controversial contraceptive Depo
Provera, often without their consent, counseling, or being given another birth control option.
White women weren’t even told about Depo Provera. Factories coerced black women to be
injected.’ Again, this was not random violence, or due to personal racism. Women and their
children were intentionally targeted by the oppressive ethnic minority as obstacles to the
repopulation policies of the apartheid society. It was systematic violence, perpetrated by the
state, the ‘public’ servants, and ‘civil’ society.
The AAAS report adds: ‘Apartheid policy mandated an intentional maldistribution of
resources to the benefit of the white population. The priorities of the Ministry of Health also
encouraged its staff to ignore serious health problems if they did not affect whites.’ Full-scale
epidemics, warnings against cancer-inducing asbestos, etc, were simply ignored by the South
African state, but only if those affected, or likely to be affected, were non-Whites. In some
cases, it even accepted a few Whites falling ill, but only if they were very few compared to the
black victims or would-be victims.
As late as 1978, there was only one medical doctor per 44,000 Blacks, but one per 400
Whites. With this as a measure, health care for Whites was 110 times better than that for
Blacks. In direct correlation with this, the infant mortality rate at the time was 2.7 per cent for
Whites, 20 per cent for urban Blacks and 40 per cent for rural Blacks. In spite of (or
alongside) such appalling health care conditions for the great majority of the population in
such a rich country, the government, as we already noted, ran twice as many family planning
offices as health clinics.
These circumstances were partly known around the world. They raised criticism,
outrage and even voluntary offers from health professionals from abroad to aid the suffering
black population. That too, however, was counteracted by the apartheid state. ‘Doctors from
other countries were willing to work in the rural areas of South Africa, but the South African
Medical and Dental Council had difficult and inconsistent procedures for registering foreign
doctors that limited their ability to provide medical assistance.’ 473
If the apartheid government, the army, or elements of the army did not spread HIV
among Blacks intentionally (see Chapter II.1.2), then South African apartheid authorities can
still be held responsible for spreading AIDS, though indirectly. There was not enough health
care provided in order to keep the pandemic contained by this very rich state. A comparison
with other rich countries, especially in the North Atlantic region, will no doubt prove
instructive in this regard, since the spread of AIDS has been checked relatively successfully in
this region, though people of color and low income suffer disproportionally here too.
Although white women suffered much less than black women did, they were needed
by apartheid to counteract black population growth, as we saw in the chapter on repopulation,
above. This had certain repercussions on what else they could hope to achieve in life.
473 Quotes from N.N.: Human Rights and Health: The Legacy of Apartheid: Patterns of Human Rights
Violations, 1998; N.N.: The History of Apartheid in South Africa, no date; see also footnote 180.