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Sub Saharan Africa
South Africa |
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Country information
History
The British - already rulers in Cape Colony and Natal - took control of the Boer Republics of Transvaal and the Orange Free State (OFS) in the Anglo-Boer War of 1899-1902. On 31 May 1910 Transvaal, the OFS, Cape Colony, and Natal joined together as the Union of South Africa and were formally declared a Dominion under the British Crown. In 1913, the Land Act was introduced to prevent blacks buying land outside the Native Reserves; the 1923 Native (Urban Areas) Act established segregation in the cities. The National Party (NP) electoral victory in 1948 heralded an intensification of segregation under their policy of apartheid ('separateness'). Over the next decade a series of legislative measures sought to restructure South African society to conform to apartheid doctrine.The South African Native National Congress, later renamed the African National Congress (ANC) was formed in 1912 to protest the impending Land Act. Repressive NP policies in the 1950s led the ANC to turn to mass civil disobedience; also the breakaway Pan-Africanist Congress (PAC) formed in 1959. After protests following the police killing of 67 peaceful demonstrators at a PAC gathering at Sharpeville in 1960, the ANC and the PAC were banned. The following year, the ANC formed a military wing - Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK - 'Spear of the Nation') - which was led by Nelson Mandela and included white members of the South African Communist Party (SACP). In the same year, South Africa was declared a Republic and left the Commonwealth. Mandela was detained in 1962 and sentenced to life imprisonment on charges of sabotage in 1964. The 1960s were also marked by large-scale forcible resettlement of more than 1.5 million South Africans.
Attempts to introduce Afrikaans as a medium of instruction in schools led to widespread protests that erupted into violent unrest after police fired on schoolchildren in Soweto in June 1976. P.W.Botha took over as Prime Minister in 1978; he increased the role of the military in the state. In November 1983 white voters approved his constitutional plan in a referendum for a tricameral parliament comprising separate houses for whites, coloureds and Indians. The United Democratic Front (UDF) was formed to oppose the plan, on the grounds that it excluded the black majority. In 1984 elections were held and P.W.Botha became South Africa's first executive president. The black townships erupted in violence, supported by strikes in the mining industry. On 12 June 1986 the existing State of Emergency was extended to the whole country. As many as 24,000 people, mainly young, were detained without trial and soldiers replaced police in the townships. Such measures brought the unrest under control during 1987.
P.W.Botha suffered a stroke in early 1989 and later relinquished the NP leadership to F.W.de Klerk. The latter was confirmed as State President at elections in September 1989. In 1990 he released Mandela after 27 years in prison and rescinded the ban on the ANC, PAC, SACP and 33 other organisations, including the UDF. The repeal of all apartheid legislation was announced in February 1991 and completed by mid-year. Multiparty talks resulted in agreement on an interim constitution that was approved by the tricameral parliament in December that year.
