Apartheid in South Africa
Apartheid- defined as the South African term for 'apartness' and a political platform combined of anti-communism ideals and racial segregation. Although the Apartheid laws were abolished, racial conflicts are still present and occurrent in South African society with racial equality still not achieved.South African was colonised by English and Dutch explorers in the 17th century. English domination of the Dutch resulted in the Dutch establishing their own colonies and the discovery of diamonds in these new colonies in 1900 triggered English invasion, and later the Boer War. Throughout the early 1900s, racial groups began to emerge in the continent, with the two European groups of the English and Dutch, a small Asian group of Indian ancestry, a sizeable group of mixed races 'Coloureds' and a majority group of native Africans. The European groups shared power until the Dutch (Afrikaner) National Party gained majority in the 1948 elections. Apartheid laws were introduced to cement control over the economic and social system in South Africa and to maintain white domination while implementing racial separation. It is felt by many that the National Party felt threatened by the large population of native Africans and wanted to apply p
These conditions and the quest for better employment options, caused revolts by the black people causing the government to tighten police and security powers, outlaw the ANC under the Unlawful Organisations Act and the imprisonment of leaders such as Nelson Mandela. There are still extremists in the form of white radicals or black activists, although they are now a majority. The official Opposition Party, the United Party, also opposed to extending special rights to other races and the Progressive Party favoured the gradual integration of races. Much progress has been made for South Africa as a whole with the nation becoming the most advanced African democracy and the end of international isolation. Apartheid was also promoted in the South African education system, with the Bantu Education Act 1954 taking over African education, until 1979, making schooling not free or compulsory for Africans as it was for the white population. Native African people live in very poor conditions in comparison to the white population with many native Africans living in extreme poverty, lower incomes, less access to water, food and employment and other basic rights that are given to the white population. The Population Registration Act, defined the classification of races. With the 1994 election Nelson Mandela was the first democratically elected President of the Republic of South Africa, 'signifying the end of 46 years of white minority rule under South Africa's increasingly oppressive Apartheid government'(1). The churches were a divided issue with some churches refusing to conduct multi-racial services and others preaching equality. With the Apartheid policy being passed in 1950, the Population Registration Act, Immortality Act, Group Areas Act and the Suppression of Communism Act were also introduced. Opposition also arose from groups in parliament, churches, press and all classes of society and race and fields of art and literature. There have been changes, however, with the Ministry of Health providing free health care to pregnant women and young children, legalised abortion and free immunization programs. These regulations were not only racially unjust, but took away many of the basic human rights that should have been held by the native population. Botha attempted to reform 'petty' apartheid, such as the segregation of race in public places and encouraged a certain degree of acceptance of black trade unions and multi-racial organisations. This required the residents of South African to be arranged into three racial categories- white, black (African) and coloured (mixed decent).
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