essay about bantu self government act

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Promotion of Bantu Self-government Act, 1959 explained

The Promotion of Bantu Self-Government Act, 1959 (Act No. 46 of 1959, commenced 19 June; subsequently renamed the Promotion of Black Self-government Act, 1959 and later the Representation between the Republic of South Africa and Self-governing Territories Act, 1959 ) was an important piece of South Africa n apartheid legislation that allowed for the transformation of traditional tribal lands into "fully fledged independent states Bantustan s", which would supposedly provide for the right to self-determination of the country's black population. It also resulted in the abolition of parliamentary representation for black South Africans, an act furthered in 1970 with the passage of the Black Homeland Citizenship Act .

The Act was designed to further the policy of so-called Grand Apartheid , meaning the permanent partition of South Africa into national "homelands" for each supposed "people" or nation. [1] In this plan, the Afrikaner s (indigenized Dutch) people would control the bulk of the country, while the African population was divided into eight peoples, defined according to language groups, that would have separate nation-states in areas unilaterally demarcated by the white regime. Each black "nation" was then provided with a Commissioner-General, who was entrusted with the development of its assigned Homeland into a fully self-governing state. Blacks were expected to exercise their political rights in these Homeland enclave states, not in the remainder of South Africa where white supremacy would continue and Afrikaner nationalism would be expressed.

Content of the Act

The following is a brief description of the sections of the Promotion of Bantu Self-Government Act, 1959: [2]

Definitions and interpretation

The Act was repealed by the Interim Constitution of South Africa on 27 April 1994.

• Web site: 1959. Promotion of Bantu Self-Government Act No 46 - The O'Malley Archives . omalley.nelsonmandela.org. 2020-02-03.
• Web site: Promotion of Bantu Self-Government Act . 7 July 2022 . Digital Innovation South Africa.

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License . It uses material from the Wikipedia article " Promotion of Bantu Self-government Act, 1959 ".

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By: History.com Editors

Updated: April 20, 2023 | Original: October 7, 2010

Apartheid, or “apartness” in the language of Afrikaans, was a system of legislation that upheld segregation against non-white citizens of South Africa. After the National Party gained power in South Africa in 1948, its all-white government immediately began enforcing existing policies of racial segregation. Under apartheid, nonwhite South Africans—a majority of the population—were forced to live in separate areas from whites and use separate public facilities. Contact between the two groups was limited. Despite strong and consistent opposition to apartheid within and outside of South Africa, its laws remained in effect for the better part of 50 years. In 1991, the government of President F.W. de Klerk began to repeal most of the legislation that provided the basis for apartheid.

Apartheid in South Africa

Racial segregation and white supremacy had become central aspects of South African policy long before apartheid began. The controversial 1913 Land Act , passed three years after South Africa gained its independence, marked the beginning of territorial segregation by forcing Black Africans to live in reserves and making it illegal for them to work as sharecroppers. Opponents of the Land Act formed the South African National Native Congress, which would become the African National Congress (ANC).

Did you know? ANC leader Nelson Mandela, released from prison in February 1990, worked closely with President F.W. de Klerk's government to draw up a new constitution for South Africa. After both sides made concessions, they reached agreement in 1993, and would share the Nobel Peace Prize that year for their efforts.

The Great Depression and World War II brought increasing economic woes to South Africa, and convinced the government to strengthen its policies of racial segregation. In 1948, the Afrikaner National Party won the general election under the slogan “apartheid” (literally “apartness”). Their goal was not only to separate South Africa’s white minority from its non-white majority, but also to separate non-whites from each other, and to divide Black South Africans along tribal lines in order to decrease their political power.

Apartheid Becomes Law

By 1950, the government had banned marriages between whites and people of other races, and prohibited sexual relations between Black and white South Africans. The Population Registration Act of 1950 provided the basic framework for apartheid by classifying all South Africans by race, including Bantu (Black Africans), Coloured (mixed race) and white.

A fourth category, Asian (meaning Indian and Pakistani) was later added. In some cases, the legislation split families; a parent could be classified as white, while their children were classified as colored.

A series of Land Acts set aside more than 80 percent of the country’s land for the white minority, and “pass laws” required non-whites to carry documents authorizing their presence in restricted areas.

In order to limit contact between the races, the government established separate public facilities for whites and non-whites, limited the activity of nonwhite labor unions and denied non-white participation in national government.

Apartheid and Separate Development

Hendrik Verwoerd , who became prime minister in 1958, refined apartheid policy further into a system he referred to as “separate development.” The Promotion of Bantu Self-Government Act of 1959 created 10 Bantu homelands known as Bantustans. Separating Black South Africans from each other enabled the government to claim there was no Black majority and reduced the possibility that Black people would unify into one nationalist organization.

Every Black South African was designated as a citizen as one of the Bantustans, a system that supposedly gave them full political rights, but effectively removed them from the nation’s political body.

In one of the most devastating aspects of apartheid, the government forcibly removed Black South Africans from rural areas designated as “white” to the homelands and sold their land at low prices to white farmers. From 1961 to 1994, more than 3.5 million people were forcibly removed from their homes and deposited in the Bantustans, where they were plunged into poverty and hopelessness.

Opposition to Apartheid

Resistance to apartheid within South Africa took many forms over the years, from non-violent demonstrations, protests and strikes to political action and eventually to armed resistance.

Together with the South Indian National Congress, the ANC organized a mass meeting in 1952, during which attendees burned their pass books. A group calling itself the Congress of the People adopted a Freedom Charter in 1955 asserting that “South Africa belongs to all who live in it, Black or white.” The government broke up the meeting and arrested 150 people, charging them with high treason.

Sharpeville Massacre

In 1960, at the Black township of Sharpeville, the police opened fire on a group of unarmed Black people associated with the Pan-African Congress (PAC), an offshoot of the ANC. The group had arrived at the police station without passes, inviting arrest as an act of resistance. At least 67 people were killed and more than 180 wounded.

The Sharpeville massacre convinced many anti-apartheid leaders that they could not achieve their objectives by peaceful means, and both the PAC and ANC established military wings, neither of which ever posed a serious military threat to the state.

Nelson Mandela

By 1961, most resistance leaders had been captured and sentenced to long prison terms or executed. Nelson Mandela , a founder of Umkhonto we Sizwe (“Spear of the Nation”), the military wing of the ANC, was incarcerated from 1963 to 1990; his imprisonment would draw international attention and help garner support for the anti-apartheid cause.

On June 10, 1980, his followers smuggled a letter from Mandela in prison and made it public: “UNITE! MOBILIZE! FIGHT ON! BETWEEN THE ANVIL OF UNITED MASS ACTION AND THE HAMMER OF THE ARMED STRUGGLE WE SHALL CRUSH APARTHEID!”

President F.W. de Klerk

In 1976, when thousands of Black children in Soweto, a Black township outside Johannesburg, demonstrated against the Afrikaans language requirement for Black African students, the police opened fire with tear gas and bullets.

The protests and government crackdowns that followed, combined with a national economic recession, drew more international attention to South Africa and shattered any remaining illusions that apartheid had brought peace or prosperity to the nation.

The United Nations General Assembly had denounced apartheid in 1973, and in 1976 the UN Security Council voted to impose a mandatory embargo on the sale of arms to South Africa. In 1985, the United Kingdom and United States imposed economic sanctions on the country.

Under pressure from the international community, the National Party government of Pieter Botha sought to institute some reforms, including abolition of the pass laws and the ban on interracial sex and marriage. The reforms fell short of any substantive change, however, and by 1989 Botha was pressured to step aside in favor of another conservative president, F.W. de Klerk, who had supported apartheid throughout his political career.

When Did Apartheid End?

Though a conservative, De Klerk underwent a conversion to a more pragmatic political philosophy, and his government subsequently repealed the Population Registration Act, as well as most of the other legislation that formed the legal basis for apartheid. De Klerk freed Nelson Mandela on February 11, 1990.

A new constitution, which enfranchised Black citizens and other racial groups, took effect in 1994, and elections that year led to a coalition government with a nonwhite majority, marking the official end of the apartheid system.

The End of Apartheid. Archive: U.S. Department of State . A History of Apartheid in South Africa. South African History Online . South Africa: Twenty-Five Years Since Apartheid. The Ohio State University: Stanton Foundation . 

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Bantu Education Act Essay (300 Words) + PDF

The Bantu Education Act of 1953 was a South African law that established a separate and inferior education system for black South Africans. This act was a key policy of apartheid, the system of institutionalized racial segregation that existed in South Africa from 1948 until the early 1990s. The act had far-reaching and long-lasting effects on the education and social mobility of black South Africans.

Related: 13 Bibliography of Bantu Education Act 1953

Under the Bantu Education Act, the government established separate schools for black South Africans and created a separate curriculum that was designed to train them for unskilled labour and menial jobs. This curriculum excluded many subjects that were taught in white schools, such as mathematics, science, and literature. Instead, it focused on subjects like agriculture, manual labour, and home economics, which were seen as more relevant to the lives of black South Africans.

The Bantu Education Act also drastically underfunded black schools, resulting in poor facilities, overcrowded classrooms, and a shortage of qualified teachers. The act required that all black schools be run by the government, which allowed the government to control the content of the curriculum and the hiring of teachers. This policy effectively excluded many qualified black teachers from the profession and left many schools without adequate staffing.

Related: 10 Effects & Impact of Bantu Education Act in South Africa 

The impact of the Bantu Education Act was profound. Black South Africans were denied access to quality education, which severely limited their opportunities for social mobility and economic advancement. The curriculum was designed to prepare black students for low-skilled jobs, perpetuating a cycle of poverty and reinforcing racial inequality. The act also led to the development of a separate and unequal education system, which contributed to the overall inequality and segregation of South African society.

Resistance to the Bantu Education Act was widespread and included protests, boycotts, and demonstrations by students, parents, and teachers. Many black schools refused to implement the new curriculum, and students often boycotted classes or went on strike to demand better education. The government responded to this resistance with harsh repression, including arrests, detentions, and violence.

Despite the resistance, the Bantu Education Act remained in effect until the end of apartheid in the early 1990s. The act left a lasting legacy on the education system and society of South Africa, and its effects continue to be felt today. Although South Africa has made significant strides in addressing the legacy of apartheid and promoting educational equality, much work remains to be done to fully address the inequality and injustices that were perpetuated by the Bantu Education Act.

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Related: 47 Questions and Answers Based on Bantu Education Act

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The Black Homeland Citizenship Act of 1970

During Apartheid, starting from the late 1950s the South African Government attempted to divide South Africa into a number of separate states, called homelands, for Blacks. Under the homeland system , each state was supposed to develop into a separate nation-state for a different ethnic group. According to the Promotion of Bantu Self-Government Act No. 46 of 1959 , Black people were classified into ethnic groups for whom a so-called homeland would be established. Approximately thirteen percent of the land which represented fifty percent of South Africa's arable land was reserved and divided into ten Black "homelands" amongst eight ethnic units (Davenport, 1977: p. 268).

The Black Homeland Citizenship Act 26 of 1970 (assent gained 26 March), subsequently renamed the Black States Citizenship Act, 1970 and the National States Citizenship Act, 1970, was a denaturalization law which was instrumental to this effect and required that all South African Blacks become citizens of one of the self-governing territories. The law declared Black people as aliens in urban areas, and could only live there after receiving special permission. It changed the status of Black people living in South Africa so that they were no longer citizens of South Africa, but became citizens of one of the ten autonomous territories. According to the law, "No Black person will eventually qualify [for South African nationality and the right to work or live in South Africa] because they will all be aliens, and as such, will only be able to occupy the houses bequeathed to them by their fathers, in the urban areas, by special permission of the Minister." ( Connie Mulder , South African Information and Interior Minister, 1970.)

Four of the states were given independence (Transkei, Ciskei, Bophuthatswana and Venda), although this was never recognised by any other country. Each homeland was supposed to develop into a separate-nation state within which the eight Black ethnic groups were to find and grow their separate national identity, culture and language. The aim was to strip Blacks of their South African citizenship and ensure a demographic majority of White people within South Africa by having all ten Bantustans achieve full independence. In addition, urban townships were established to provide a readily available supply of labour, but had to be far away from white residential areas.

The Homelands were:

Transkei -- Xhosa (given "independence" in 26 October, 1976) Ciskei -- Xhosa (given "independence" in 4 December, 1981) Bophuthatswana -- Tswana (given "independence" 6 December 1977) Venda -- Venda (given "independence" 13 September, 1979) kwaZulu – Zulu (“Self-government status” in 1 December 1977 )   Lebowa – Pedi (“Self-government status” in 2 October 1972 ) Kangwane – Swazi (“Self-government status” in 8 August, 1984 ) QwaQwa – Sotho (“Self-government status” in 1 November, 1974) Gazankulu – Tsonga, (“Self-government status” in 1 February, 1973 ) kwaNdebele – Ndebele (“Self-government status” in 1984)

 Once a homeland was granted its "independence", its designated citizens had their South African citizenship revoked, to be replaced with citizenship of their homeland. The Bantu Homelands Citizenship Act (National States Citizenship Act) No 26 of 1970 was repealed by the Interim Constitution of the Republic of South Africa Act No 200 of 1993 .

Boddy-Evans, A ., Apartheid Era Laws: Bantu Homelands Citizenship Act No 26 of 1970 , from About.com African History , [online], Available at www.africanhistory.about.com [Accessed: 22 May 2014]|Davenport, T.R.H.,1977, South Africa: A Modem History, Johannesburg: Macmilian. Pp. 268

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The Promotion of Bantu Self-government; fact paper 71, May 1959

Pretoria: South African Affairs, 1959. 12p. including covers, 5x8 inches, very good in stapled pictorial wraps. Issued as a supplement to the Digest of South African Affairs. Cat.No: 122043

Price: $17.00

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