Gregory Pennington

Trimester III South Africa final exam review

Early History

The Dutch founded a colony in south Africa in 1652
the colony was mostly for trading and never became very big
The British took over during the Napoleonic War in 1806 to keep France from taking over and controlling the trade rout below africa
The British parliament ordered the emancipation of all slaves in British territory in 1834
5000 Boers, with as many slaves, fled the British controlled area of south Africa in 1835-1837
The Boers created three states: Natal, Orange Free State, and Transvaal
The British annexed Natal in 1834 and the Boer population fled to the other two states
Britain recognized the independence of the other two states in 1852 and 1854
Britain tried to annex the Transvaal in 1877, but Kruger successfully led a rebellion to keep the area independent
Britain remained in control of the area’s foreign policy
this was called the First Boer War
Gold was found in the Transvaal in 1886
foreigners (uitlanders) flocked into the Boer states in a huge gold rush
there were almost as many uitlanders as Boers
under Boer law, these uitlanders had very few political rights
Rhodes, Beit, and other "gold bug" millionaires wanted to make the Transvaal part of Britain to better exploit its resources
Rhodes organized the Jamestown Raid (1895), funded by Beit, to try to inspire an uprising of the uitlanders to secure their political rights and outvote the boers in their own republic
about 500 men tried to dash through the Transvaal raising an army, but they received little support and Kruger mobilized quickly to crush the little force
Rhodes was forced to step down as prime minister of cape colony
Kruger gained instant popularity and was elected for his fourth term
the British and Boers met at Bloemfontein (1899) to try to prevent war
Milner represented the British

he kept chamberlain and kruger from making a truce
demanded that voting rights be granted to people who had been in the country for five years
Smutts agreed in desperation, on the condition that the British would not interfere further in their internal affairs
Milner refused

Chamberlain drafted an ultimatum and sent troops to south africa
kruger issued his own ultimatum to allow him to attack before the british reinforcements arrived
the Boer war started

The Boer War

The Boers were a well armed, mobile force
About 35,000 Boers invaded Natal and the Cape Colony
The invasion was held up at the siege of Ladysmith
The British lost 3 major battles and replaced Buller as the head of the army
General Roberts took over
He forced Boer general Cronje to surrender with about 40,000 of his men
He captured Johannesburg and Pretoria in 1900
The Boers switched to guerilla tactics
seized British supplies
cut communications
penetrated into the cape and natal to try to raise support
Kitchner (Robert’s successor) adopted a scorched earth policy
destroyed farms and crops
removed the civilian population to camps

30,000 died

built 8000 bunkers, linked by barbed wire, to control Boer movement
put the gold mines back into production
the Boers finally capitulated

they met in Vereeniging to form a treaty
treaty offered to set up a representative government when each area was ready

Milner wanted to swamp the electorate with british

repatriation of all prisoners of war
limited protection of the Afrikaans language
the rights of blacks were left to the discretion of the representative

History of the Past 100 Years

the electorate was not swamped by british immigrants, and the Boers became more independent
in 1910, after the Boer War, the British recognized the Union of South Africa, a combination of the provinces, as an independent commonwealth
the constitution which was set up only allowed whites to hold public office and does not enfranchise blacks
in 1913 the government passed the first laws to restrict black land ownership
a process that would culminate in the institution of apartheid

The African National Congress (ANC) was formed by black leaders in 1912 to fight for the rights of non-whites.
it started as a nonviolent group trying to promote the intereste of black africans
in 1914, J.B.M. Hertzog founded the Nationalist Party (NP)
it supported white supremacy and segregation of the races.
in 1919, the ANC organized a rally of thousands of people in Johannesburg
the protestors wanted to hand in their passes to protest the pass laws
the police arrested 700 men

Hertzog became prime minister of South Africa from 1924 to 1939
He lead a harsh regime of discrimination and segregation

the ANC staged many more nonviolent protests to try to make the white population see the injustices of the government’s racist policies
unfortunately, in twenty years they saw very little progress
the younger generation of South Africans believed that a much more active type of defiance was necessary before they could see any resultes.
the youth league was formed as a part of the ANC in 1944
formed by Nelson Mandela, Walter Sisulu, and Oliver Tambo
The youth league began a policy of mass boycotts, protests and demonstrations

Daniel Malan became prime minister from 1948 to 1959 by campaigning on the a platform of white supremacy
Malan was the architect of apartheid (means separateness Afrikaans)
apartheid classified people as bantu (black), coloured, and white

later a classification for people from asian nations also developed

apartheid defined bantustans (homelands) for different classes of people and required that people get a pass if they wished to leave their zone

this policy effectively kept inter-racial contact to a minimum.

Malan also denied nonwhites any representation in the government
in 1952, the youth league threatened to launch a massive Defiance Campaign unless six apartheid laws were removed
the campaign was the boldest move made by the ANC in its 40 year history
over 8,500 people began to defy the apartheid laws and were arrested
the protests caused a United Nations commission to come and investigate the situation
the UN later condemned apartheid
the police became more vigilant and more brutal
hundreds of protestors were killed and the leaders of the ANC were arrested in a broad "sweep"
banning was used to effectively isolate ANC leaders
in 1953 the ANC established the People’s Congress
the congress drafted the Freedom Charter which outlined the objectives of the ANC to create a democratic state with equal rights for all people

thousands of people wrote letters to contribute their thoughts to the Charter

the charter was criticized for being to Marxist in its ideas of redistribution of wealth
in 1955, as the nearly 3000 members of the Peoples Congress gathered to vote on the charted, they were arrested by the police
in 1956, a massive sweep operation arrested the entire leadership of the ANC for conspiring to violently overthrow the government
the trial lasted for over four years, but in 1961, all of the accused were released
in 1959, Robert Sobukwe, believing the civil rights movement should be black only, broke away form the institution and established the Pan African Congress (PAC)
he encouraged blacks to shed their subordinate mentalities
in 1960, the PAC organized a national campaign in which people would be arrested by handing in their pass books
in the small township of Sharpeville the police fired into a crowd, killing 69 people and wounding three times that many
the circumstances that precipitated the shooting are unclear
the Sharpeville shooting received large amounts of attention internationally
the UN found the south African government responsible for the shooting
angry blacks engaged in rallies, massive funerals, strikes, demonstrations, and riots
prime minister Hendrik Verwoerd declared a state of emergency (similar to martial law)
the government had the right to detain people without trial or formal charges
twenty thousand people were detained and the ANC and PAC were outlawed
the ANC responded by creating an armed division called the spear of the nation
it was lead by Nelson Mandela and engaged in acts of industrial sabotage
it maintained strict rules against killing anyone
in 1962, Mandela was captured by the government and sentenced to five years in prison
in 1963, the government brought formal charges against the many of the ANC leaders for acts of sabotage in the Rivona trials
they were all sentenced to life in prison
by the 1970s, there were economic reasons to improve the social role of blacks
by the mid 1970s, international criticism was effecting south Africa economically

prime minister Vorster tried to "cosmetically" enhance the look of apartheid, but the blacks did not really benefit from this

south africa was facing a growing labor shortage because the small white population was not enough to fill all the advanced jobs

at the same time, the black community was suffering from chronic unemployment

Stephen Biko filled the role the leaders of the ANC had left when they were arrested
Biko founded the black only organization, the South African Students’ Organization
He preached a black consciousness which was similar to the black power movement in America

Believed that blacks needed to overcome the oppression mentality in order to be successful

he died in jail in 1977
in 1976, prime minister Vorster declared that some school subjects would have to be taught in Afrikaans
twenty thousand high school students gathered in Soweto to protest this
police attempts to stop the protests erupted in violence.

over the course of fifteen months, the violence spread to nearly 20 other townships
up to 1000 students were killed, but the police didn’t report a single causality
there was international outrage

while her husband was in jail, Winnie Mandela became a political leader
she vowed to take black violence into the white suburbs, but she never lead any really violent movements
she was arrested several times

trying to make apartheid look better, the government created a body of legislation for black and colored representatives in 1883

the body had no power and could easily be outvoted by any of the white bodies of legislation
caused tremendous outrage among the blacks
in outrage, thirteen thousand people responded by establishing the united democratic front (UDF) to oppose apartheid
fought for democracy in south africa
expanded to 1.5 million members in only a few months
in 1984, because of parliamentary elections, there was a massive wave of protesting in the townships
over a thousand people were killed in two years
started the most prolonged chain of black dissidence ever in South Africa
in July of 1985, Botha declared a state of emergency (similar to martial law)
people could be jailed without being charged
the government seized control of the media

censored everything to keep the heavily armed white population from panicking (five million whites owned a thirteen million licensed guns)

On June 6, 1988, two million workers went on strike in the nation’s biggest strike ever – about half of the black work force
disrupted industry
the government arrested anyone who they thought presented a threat
armed soldiers were brutal, freed of all restraints by martial law
the spear of the nation tried to make the country ungovernable
there was great foreign pressure put on south africa
instability deterred foreign investors
Chase and other banks called back 13 billion dollars worth of loans
The US and European Union imposed harsh economic sanctions, and the UN condemned the Nationalist Party
the value of the south african currency fell 35% in two weeks
South Africa was finally forced to make a deal with the NAC
F. W. de Klerk was elected president in 1989 promising to bring a peaceful resolution to the crisis
de Klerk met with Mandela (who had been in jail since the rivona trial)
they made a compromise that would end apartheid
over 60 political parties, including the ANC, were legalized
political prisoners were released from prison or banning restrictions
the state of emergency was lifted
a new constitution was drafted to granting all people equal political and social rights
A Zulu nationalistic party, the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP), violently opposed the ANC because they were afraid that the ANC would rob them of their tribal identity
discovery that the government was secretly funding IFP attacks on the ANC and on the peace process was called Inkathagate (named after Watergate)
there was a two day national strike of 90% of the black workforce followed by a march of 100,000 people on the Capital
de Klerk created the Idemnity Bill, stating that government officials could not be held responsible for politically related crimes
he then fired 23 top army officers
in 1993, de Klerk set up the first negotiations to form a new constitution
the first free elections would be in early 1994

South Africa Today

peaceful, democratic, election on Wednesday, June 2, 1999.
ANC candidate, Thabo Mbeki, was elected with a 64 percent majority.

because they got over two thirds of the vote, the ANC has a complete majority in congress and they can amend the constitution.

Mbeki’s regime faces huge difficulties
42% of the black population is unemployed
there is rampant crime
the education system is crumbling
an AIDS epidemic has infected 3.6 million