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Numerous laws were passed in the creation of the apartheid state. Here are a few of the pillars on which it rested:. Population Registration Act, This Act demanded that people be registered according to their racial group. This meant that the Department of Home affairs would have a record of people according to whether they were white, coloured, black, Indian or Asian.
People would then be treated differently according to their population group, and so this law formed the basis of apartheid. It was however not always that easy to decide what racial group a person was part of, and this caused some problems. Group Areas Act, This was the act that started physical separation between races, especially in urban areas. The act also called for the removal of some groups of people into areas set aside for their racial group.
Promotion of Bantu Self-Government Act, This Act said that different racial groups had to live in different areas. Only a small percentage of South Africa was left for black people who comprised the vast majority to form their 'homelands'. This Act also got rid of 'black spots' inside white areas, by moving all black people out of the city. Well known removals were those in District 6, Sophiatown and Lady Selborne.
These black people were then placed in townships outside of the town. They could not own property here, only rent it, as the land could only be white owned. This Act caused much hardship and resentment. People lost their homes, were moved off land they had owned for many years and were moved to undeveloped areas far away from their place of work.
Resistance to apartheid came from all circles, and not only, as is often presumed, from those who suffered the negative effects of discrimination. Criticism also came from other countries, and some of these gave support to the South African freedom movements.
There were also Indian and Coloured organized resistance movements e. We shall consider the ANC. It was started as a movement for the Black elite, that is those Blacks who were educated.
In , the ANC sent a deputation to London to plead for a new deal for South African blacks, but there was no change to their position. In , he briefly left the country to receive military training and gain support for the cause but was arrested and convicted soon after his return for leaving the country without a permit. They charged him and his allies with sabotage.
Mandela and the other defendants in the ensuing Rivonia Trial knew they were sure to be convicted and executed. So they turned their show trial into a statement, publicizing their anti-apartheid struggle and challenging the legal system that oppressed Black South Africans. It is a struggle of the African people, inspired by our own suffering and our own experience. It is a struggle for the right to live. He was allowed only one minute visit with a single person every year, and could send and receive two letters a year.
Confined in austere conditions, he worked in a limestone quarry and over time, earned the respect of his captors and fellow prisoners. He was given chances to leave prison in exchange for ensuring the ANC would give up violence but refused. His supporters agitated for his release and news of his imprisonment galvanized anti-apartheid activists all over the world. In the s, some members of the United Nations began to call for sanctions against South Africa—calls that grew louder in the decades that followed.
Eventually, South Africa became an international pariah. Now 71, Mandela negotiated with de Klerk for a new constitution that would allow majority rule. Apartheid was repealed in , and in , the ANC, now a political party, won more than 62 percent of the popular vote in a peaceful, democratic election.
Here's how South Africa has changed since the end of apartheid. Mandela served as president for five years. Though its results are contested, the commission offered the beginnings of restorative justice—a process that focuses on repair rather than retribution— to a nation still smarting from centuries of scars.
He died in at age Every year on June 18, he is remembered on Nelson Mandela International Day, a United Nations holiday that commemorates his service and sacrifice. Even in the U. All rights reserved. Early life Mandela began his life under another name: Rolihlahla Dalibhunga Mandela. Share Tweet Email.
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