Apartheid in South Africa, ending in 1994

20th Century · 1914 – 2000

Apartheid, an Afrikaans word meaning 'apartness', was the system of legal racial segregation and white minority rule in South Africa. It was built up after the National Party won the whites-only election of 1948, and it classified people by race, controlled where they could live, work and study, and denied most of the population the vote. It followed earlier colonial and Union-era segregation laws.

Resistance came from the African National Congress, the Pan Africanist Congress, trade unions, churches, students and community groups, and the system faced growing pressure from abroad. In 1990 President F. W. de Klerk lifted the ban on the ANC and freed Nelson Mandela. After negotiations, South Africa held its first election open to all adults in April 1994. Mandela became president in May, and the system of legal apartheid ended.

Things happened, and the rest is history

The National Party victory and the first apartheid laws, 1948 to 1950
Event
What happened
In May 1948 the National Party, led by D. F. Malan, narrowly wins the whites-only general election on a platform of apartheid. Between 1949 and 1950 parliament passes the Prohibition of Mixed Marriages Act, the Population Registration Act and the Group Areas Act. These laws sort people into racial categories and allow the state to set aside residential areas by race.
The rest is history
These laws became the base of the whole system. Later acts removed Black South Africans from the common voters' roll in the Cape, created the 'homelands' and enforced pass laws. Forced removals uprooted very large numbers of people, as at Sophiatown in the 1950s and District Six in the 1960s and 70s. Apartheid became state policy for over four decades.
Sources
1. BookDubow, Saul. Apartheid, 1948-1994. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014.
2. BookThompson, Leonard. A History of South Africa. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2001.
The Freedom Charter, 1955
Event
What happened
In June 1955 about 3,000 delegates meet at Kliptown near Johannesburg, at the Congress of the People organised by the ANC and its allies. They adopt the Freedom Charter, which declares that South Africa belongs to all who live in it. Police break up the meeting before it ends.
The rest is history
The Charter became the main statement of aims for the anti-apartheid movement. In 1956 the government charged 156 people with treason, and the Treason Trial ran until 1961, ending in acquittals. The Charter's principles later influenced the 1996 constitution, though historians note that its economic clauses were debated within the movement.
Sources
1. PrimaryThe Freedom Charter. Adopted at the Congress of the People, Kliptown, 26 June 1955.
2. BookLodge, Tom. Black Politics in South Africa since 1945. London: Longman, 1983.
Sharpeville and the banning of the liberation movements, 1960
Event
What happened
On 21 March 1960 a crowd gathers at the police station in Sharpeville to protest against the pass laws. Police open fire and kill 69 people, many shot as they fled. The government declares a state of emergency and in April bans the ANC and the Pan Africanist Congress.
The rest is history
The massacre drew wide international condemnation, and the UN Security Council passed a resolution on it in April 1960. With legal opposition closed off, the ANC formed its armed wing, Umkhonto we Sizwe, in 1961. Mandela and others were arrested in 1962 and 1963. At the Rivonia Trial in 1964 Mandela and seven others were sentenced to life imprisonment.
Sources
1. BookLodge, Tom. Sharpeville: An Apartheid Massacre and Its Consequences. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2011.
2. BookMandela, Nelson. Long Walk to Freedom. London: Little, Brown, 1994.
The Soweto uprising, 1976
Event
What happened
On 16 June 1976 thousands of schoolchildren march in Soweto against the government's order that some school subjects be taught in Afrikaans. Police fire on the marchers, and the protests spread across the country for many months. Hundreds of people are killed.
The rest is history
The uprising began a new phase of resistance led by young people and tied to the Black Consciousness movement, whose leader Steve Biko died in police custody in 1977. Many young people left to join the exiled movements. The UN made its arms embargo against South Africa mandatory in November 1977.
Sources
1. BookHirson, Baruch. Year of Fire, Year of Ash: The Soweto Revolt. London: Zed Press, 1979.
2. BookDubow, Saul. Apartheid, 1948-1994. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014.
The township revolt and the states of emergency, 1984 to 1989
Event
What happened
From 1984 protests against a new constitution, which gave limited parliamentary roles to Coloured and Indian voters but none to Africans, spread through the townships. The United Democratic Front, formed in 1983, and the trade union federation COSATU, formed in 1985, organise boycotts and strikes. The government declares states of emergency in 1985 and again in 1986, with mass detentions.
The rest is history
The government could contain the unrest but not end it. The economy suffered from the unrest and from foreign pressure, including the US Comprehensive Anti-Apartheid Act of 1986 and the withdrawal of many foreign banks and companies. Many historians see these pressures, and the cost of the armed struggle in the region, as pushing some in the government toward negotiation.
Sources
1. BookSeekings, Jeremy. The UDF: A History of the United Democratic Front in South Africa, 1983-1991. Cape Town: David Philip, 2000.
2. BookPrice, Robert M. The Apartheid State in Crisis. New York: Oxford University Press, 1991.
The unbanning of the ANC and the release of Mandela, 1990
Event
What happened
On 2 February 1990 President F. W. de Klerk tells parliament that he is lifting the ban on the ANC, the PAC and the Communist Party. On 11 February Nelson Mandela walks out of Victor Verster prison after 27 years. Talks between the government and the ANC begin in 1990.
The rest is history
The unbanning opened the way to negotiation, though violence in the townships continued and talks broke down more than once. Apartheid laws were repealed, and the Population Registration Act was removed in 1991. The Convention for a Democratic South Africa began in December 1991. De Klerk and Mandela shared the 1993 Nobel Peace Prize.
Sources
1. BookSparks, Allister. Tomorrow Is Another Country. Sandton: Struik, 1994.
2. BookMandela, Nelson. Long Walk to Freedom. London: Little, Brown, 1994.
The 1992 white referendum and the negotiated settlement, 1992 to 1993
Event
What happened
In March 1992 white voters approve continued reform in a referendum called by de Klerk, with about two thirds in favour. In 1993 negotiators at the Multi-Party Negotiating Process agree an interim constitution that provides for a government of national unity and elections open to all. Violence continues, including the assassination of the communist leader Chris Hani in April 1993.
The rest is history
The interim constitution was approved by parliament in December 1993. It guaranteed a bill of rights and set up a Constitutional Court. The agreement was a compromise that kept the civil service and many institutions in place. Critics later argued that it left economic inequality largely untouched.
Sources
1. BookSparks, Allister. Tomorrow Is Another Country. Sandton: Struik, 1994.
2. BookWelsh, David. The Rise and Fall of Apartheid. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2010.
The election of April 1994
Event
What happened
From 26 to 29 April 1994 South Africans of all races vote in a national election for the first time, with long queues at polling stations. The ANC wins a majority, and on 10 May Mandela is inaugurated as president in Pretoria. De Klerk becomes a deputy president in the government of national unity.
The rest is history
The election ended the legal system of apartheid. The Truth and Reconciliation Commission was set up in 1995 to investigate abuses on all sides, and a final constitution was adopted in 1996. The country still faces large inequality in income and land, which are legacies of the system.
Sources
1. BookReynolds, Andrew, ed. Election '94 South Africa. Cape Town: David Philip, 1994.
2. BookWelsh, David. The Rise and Fall of Apartheid. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2010.
Mandela as the lone hero who ended apartheid
Popular belief
The legend
A common telling credits Nelson Mandela alone with ending apartheid. He is pictured as the prisoner whose moral strength brought the system down and whose forgiveness spared the country a war.
The rest is history
Mandela's role was real and large, and his leadership in the talks was important. But the end of apartheid involved many people and forces. These included the UDF and unions, the exiled ANC, the youth of 1976 and 1985, international sanctions, economic strain, and de Klerk's decision to negotiate. Mandela had also been in prison since 1962, and while there he took part in secret talks with the government from the mid 1980s. The 1994 election was the result of a long collective struggle.
Sources
1. BookDubow, Saul. Apartheid, 1948-1994. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014.
2. BookSampson, Anthony. Mandela: The Authorised Biography. London: HarperCollins, 1999.
Sanctions alone brought down apartheid
Popular belief
The legend
It is often said that international sanctions and boycotts were what forced the white government to give up power. In this telling, outside pressure ended apartheid almost by itself.
The rest is history
Sanctions and the sports and cultural boycotts did matter. Financial pressure after 1985, when banks refused to roll over South Africa's loans, hurt the economy. But historians disagree about how much weight to give them. Sanctions were uneven and often evaded, and internal resistance, the economic costs of the system itself, and the end of the Cold War, which weakened the government's claim to be a bulwark against communism, also played a part. Most scholars treat sanctions as one factor among several.
Sources
1. BookKlotz, Audie. Norms in International Relations: The Struggle against Apartheid. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1995.
2. BookWelsh, David. The Rise and Fall of Apartheid. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2010.
The 1994 handover as a bloodless miracle
Popular belief
The legend
The South African transition is often called a miracle, a peaceful change in which a hated regime handed over power without bloodshed.
The rest is history
The transition avoided the civil war many had feared, and that is a real achievement. But it was not free of violence. Thousands died in political violence between 1990 and 1994, in clashes involving the ANC, the Inkatha Freedom Party and elements of the security forces. Later inquiries found that some state agents had fuelled the violence. The word miracle also hides the years of struggle and negotiation that came before.
Sources
1. BookWelsh, David. The Rise and Fall of Apartheid. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2010.
2. PrimaryTruth and Reconciliation Commission of South Africa Report. Final report presented to President Mandela, 1998 and 2003.
Apartheid ended with a simple act of forgiveness
Popular belief
The legend
Many tell the story as one of instant reconciliation, a rainbow nation in which old enemies embraced and the past was put aside.
The rest is history
The phrase 'rainbow nation' was popularised in the mid 1990s, often linked to Archbishop Desmond Tutu. The Truth and Reconciliation Commission offered amnesty to those who fully disclosed politically motivated crimes, and it heard thousands of testimonies. Many victims and families felt that justice was not done, and few prosecutions followed. Reconciliation is better seen as a continuing and unfinished process than as an event.
Sources
1. BookTutu, Desmond. No Future Without Forgiveness. New York: Doubleday, 1999.
2. PrimaryTruth and Reconciliation Commission of South Africa Report. Final report presented to President Mandela, 1998 and 2003.

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Things happened, and the rest is history

The National Party victory and the first apartheid laws, 1948 to 1950

The Freedom Charter, 1955

Sharpeville and the banning of the liberation movements, 1960

The Soweto uprising, 1976

The township revolt and the states of emergency, 1984 to 1989

The unbanning of the ANC and the release of Mandela, 1990

The 1992 white referendum and the negotiated settlement, 1992 to 1993

The election of April 1994

Mandela as the lone hero who ended apartheid

Sanctions alone brought down apartheid

The 1994 handover as a bloodless miracle

Apartheid ended with a simple act of forgiveness