Apartheid

During the 19 th century, over 152,000 Indian indentured laborers were imported by the
British to work on sugar plantations in the Natal Colony, on what was to become South
Africa’s east coast. The laborers were thus added to the already numerous descendants of
Asian slaves in the Cape to form the third largest ethnic group, placed on a higher level than
Blacks, but much lower than Whites. Classified as equals to the Asians were so-called
‘Coloureds’, people of mixed racial ancestry, initially mainly White-Khoisan, later anyone
with multi-continental roots. The persistence of the overriding importance of skin color for the
racial hierarchy is evident. Descendants of slaves were classified above descendants of
recently independent indigenous people due to their lighter skin color. Today, Asians and
Coloureds together make up around twelve per cent of South Africa’s population.
The discovery of diamonds and gold in the latter half of the 19 th century brought
prosperity, industrialization and intensified conflicts over land between Whites and Blacks,
and between Whites. The latter resulted in the Anglo-Boer War, from 1899 to 1902, which the
British won, though by 1910 the Afrikaners were given several ‘majority’ rights (they
remained the largest white population group) in the now unified country. Crucially, power,
wealth and firepower remained even more firmly in white hands after the formation of the
Union of South Africa, the first political unification of the whole country in 1910. The non-
Whites were losing out politically and economically, at least in relative terms. Already two
years after the unification, the organization that was to become the ANC was formed as a nonviolent,
inclusive movement against racial discrimination. In 1948, the Whites were in fact
looking to square the circle: to keep the non-Whites out of sight, while at the same time
exploiting and oppressing them. That was what was to become known as apartheid.
‘Reserves’, later referred to as ‘Bantustans’ or ‘Homelands’ were formed by the Whites to
contain the masses of unwanted Blacks. The rest of the world, however, did not recognize
these oppressive constructions as independent countries, when they were declared as such
during the 1970s and ‘80s, and they were dismantled along with apartheid in the narrow sense
in the 1990s. In the end, the white cause, of keeping Blacks away as much as possible whilst
at the same time living off their work, became a self-defeating one. 123
During apartheid and the preceding periods of white domination, it seemed almost
impossible for this racist and oppressive system to ever end. Non-Whites did not have the vote
nor good enough weaponry to resist or oust the invaders, and therefore, any essential change
was ruled out systematically. (Coloureds and people of Indian descent were only allowed to
participate in voting after 1983, by which time the system was already crumbling). 124 Other
‘illegal’ practices (assuming that separateness was legal) took place, helping the white
minority to all privileges, while leaving the rest, especially the black population, in a very
disadvantaged situation, where their income, employment and education opportunities, health
and living standards were regarded as ‘less important’ issues. From his prison experience,
Mandela describes one example of many of how far apartheid is able to reach into people’s
daily lives.
When the proverbial inflexibility of red tape is combined with the
petty small-mindedness of racism, the result can be mindboggling…Although
we were kept together, our diet was fixed
according to race. For breakfast, Africans, Indians and Coloureds
received the same quantities, except that Indians and Coloureds
received a half-teaspoonful of sugar, which we did not. For supper the
diets were the same, except that Indians and Coloureds received four
ounces of bread and we received none. This latter distinction was
123 Ibid: 271ff
124 Robertson: Dictionary of Politics, 1993: 19. The limited votes given to (the few) rich non-Whites in the
British Cape and Natal colonies during certain periods of the 19 th century were in fact designed and set up to
keep Whites in absolute power. See Iliffe 1995: 177.
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