Apartheid

=== Legislation ===
{{Apartheid legislation in South Africa}}
{{Main|Apartheid legislation}}

[[File:Zuid Afrikaanse premier dr. H. Verwoerd, Bestanddeelnr 911-1297 (cropped).jpg|thumb|upright|[[Hendrik Verwoerd]], minister of native affairs (1950{{ndash}}1958) and prime minister (1958{{ndash}}1966), earned the nickname 'Architect of Apartheid' from his large role in creating legislation.]]

NP leaders argued that South Africa did not comprise a single nation, but was made up of four distinct racial groups: white, black, Coloured and Indian. Such groups were split into 13 nations or racial federations. White people encompassed the English and [[Afrikaans]] language groups; the black populace was divided into ten such groups.

The state passed laws that paved the way for "grand apartheid", which was centred on separating races on a large scale, by compelling people to live in separate places defined by race. This strategy was in part adopted from "left-over" British rule that separated different racial groups after they took control of the [[Boer republics]] in the [[Anglo-Boer war]]. This created the black-only "[[Township (South Africa)|township]]s" or "locations", where blacks were relocated to their own towns. As the NP government's [[Minister of Bantu Administration and Development, and Bantu Education|minister of native affairs]] from 1950, Hendrik Verwoerd had a significant role in crafting such laws, which led to him being regarded as the 'Architect of Apartheid'.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Kenney |first1=Henry |title=Verwoerd: Architect of Apartheid |date=2016 |publisher=Jonathan Ball Publishers |isbn=9781868427161 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HmIcDQEACAAJ |access-date=20 June 2021 |archive-date=2 June 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210602233332/https://books.google.com/books?id=HmIcDQEACAAJ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="Indiana University Press"/><ref>{{cite web |last=Gross |first=D. |date=14 September 2016 |title=How Should South Africa Remember the Architect of Apartheid? |publisher=Smithsonian |url=https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/how-should-south-africa-remember-architect-apartheid-180960449/ |access-date=20 June 2021 |archive-date=16 February 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210216080313/https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/how-should-south-africa-remember-architect-apartheid-180960449/ |url-status=live }}</ref> In addition, "petty apartheid" laws were passed. The principal apartheid laws were as follows.<ref name="b">Alistair Boddy-Evans. [http://africanhistory.about.com/library/bl/blsalaws.htm African History: Apartheid Legislation in South Africa] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150906053139/http://africanhistory.about.com/library/bl/blsalaws.htm |date=6 September 2015 }}, [[About.com]]. Retrieved 5 June 2007.</ref>

The first grand apartheid law was the [[Population Registration Act]] of 1950, which formalised racial classification and introduced an identity card for all persons over the age of 18, specifying their racial group.<ref>Boddy-Evans, Alistar. [http://africanhistory.about.com/od/apartheidlaws/g/No30of50.htm Population Registration Act No 30 of 1950] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170207084231/http://africanhistory.about.com/od/apartheidlaws/g/No30of50.htm |date=7 February 2017 }}. [[About.com]].</ref> Official teams or boards were established to come to a conclusion on those people whose race was unclear.<ref>Ungar, Sanford (1989). ''Africa: the people and politics of an emerging continent.'' Simon & Schuster. p. 224.</ref> This caused difficulty, especially for [[Coloureds|Coloured people]], separating their families when members were allocated different races.<ref>Goldin, Ian (1987). ''Making race: the politics and economics of Coloured identity in South Africa.'' Longman. p. xxvi.</ref>

The second pillar of grand apartheid was the [[Group Areas Act]] of 1950.<ref>Boddy-Evans, Alistar. [http://africanhistory.about.com/od/apartheidlaws/g/No41of50.htm Group Areas Act No 41 of 1950] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160829075120/http://africanhistory.about.com/od/apartheidlaws/g/No41of50.htm |date=29 August 2016 }}. [[About.com]].</ref> Until then, most settlements had people of different races living side by side. This Act put an end to diverse areas and determined where one lived according to race. Each race was allotted its own area, which was used in later years as a basis of forced removal.<ref>Besteman, Catherine Lowe (2008). ''Transforming Cape Town''. University of California Press. p. 6.</ref> The [[Prevention of Illegal Squatting Act, 1951|Prevention of Illegal Squatting Act]] of 1951 allowed the government to demolish black [[shanty town]] slums and forced white employers to pay for the construction of housing for those black workers who were permitted to reside in cities otherwise reserved for whites.<ref>Boddy-Evans, Alistar. [http://africanhistory.about.com/library/bl/blsalaws.htm Apartheid Legislation in South Africa] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150906053139/http://africanhistory.about.com/library/bl/blsalaws.htm |date=6 September 2015 }}. [[About.com]].</ref> The [[Native Laws Amendment Act, 1952]] centralised and tightened pass laws so that blacks could not stay in urban areas longer than 72 hours without a permit.{{Sfn|Clark|Worger|2016|p=49}}

The [[Prohibition of Mixed Marriages Act]] of 1949 prohibited marriage between persons of different races, and the [[Immorality Act]] of 1950 made [[Miscegenation|sexual relations between whites and other races]] a [[criminal offence]].

Under the [[Reservation of Separate Amenities Act]] of 1953, municipal grounds could be reserved for a particular race, creating, among other things, separate beaches, buses, hospitals, schools and universities. Signboards such as "whites only" applied to public areas, even including park benches.<ref>Beck, Roger B. (2000). ''The history of South Africa.'' Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 128. {{ISBN|978-0-313-30730-0}}.</ref> Black South Africans were provided with services greatly inferior to those of whites, and, to a lesser extent, to those of Indian and Coloured people.<ref name=crdi>{{cite web|url=http://www.idrc.ca/fr/ev-91102-201-1-DO_TOPIC.html |title=The economic legacy of apartheid |publisher=Centre de recherches pour le développement international |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100426042410/http://www.idrc.ca/fr/ev-91102-201-1-DO_TOPIC.html |archive-date=26 April 2010 }}</ref>

Further laws had the aim of suppressing resistance, especially armed resistance, to apartheid. The [[Suppression of Communism Act]] of 1950 banned the [[Communist Party of South Africa]] and any party subscribing to [[Communism]]. The act defined Communism and its aims so sweepingly that anyone who opposed government policy risked being labelled as a Communist. Since the law specifically stated that Communism aimed to disrupt racial harmony, it was frequently used to gag opposition to apartheid. Disorderly gatherings were banned, as were certain organisations that were deemed threatening to the government. It also empowered the Ministry of Justice to impose [[banning order]]s.<ref name=":1">{{Harvp|Clark|Worger|2016|pages=59-64}}</ref>

After the [[Defiance Campaign]], the government used the act for the mass arrests and banning of leaders of dissent groups such as the [[African National Congress]] (ANC), the [[South African Indian Congress]] (SAIC), and the [[South African Congress of Trade Unions]] (SACTU). After the release of the Freedom Charter, 156 leaders of these groups were charged in the [[1956 Treason Trial]]. It established [[Censorship in South Africa|censorship]] of film, literature, and the media under the Customs and Excise Act 1955 and the Official Secrets Act 1956. The same year, the Native Administration Act 1956 allowed the government to banish blacks.<ref name=":1" />

The [[Bantu Authorities Act, 1951|Bantu Authorities Act of 1951]] created separate government structures for blacks and whites and was the first piece of legislation to support the government's plan of separate development in the [[bantustan]]s. The [[Bantu Education Act, 1953]] established a separate education system for blacks emphasizing [[Culture of Africa|African culture]] and [[Vocational education|vocational training]] under the Ministry of Native Affairs and defunded most [[mission school]]s.<ref>{{Harvp|Clark|Worger|2016|p=53-54}}</ref> The [[Promotion of Bantu Self-government Act, 1959|Promotion of Black Self-Government Act]] of 1959 entrenched the NP policy of nominally independent "homelands" for blacks. So-called "self–governing Bantu units" were proposed, which would have devolved administrative powers, with the promise later of [[autonomy]] and self-government. It also abolished the seats of white representatives of black South Africans and removed from the rolls the few blacks still qualified to vote. The [[Bantu Investment Corporation Act]] of 1959 set up a mechanism to transfer capital to the homelands to create employment there. Legislation of 1967 allowed the government to stop industrial development in "white" cities and redirect such development to the "homelands". The [[Black Homeland Citizenship Act]] of 1970 marked a new phase in the Bantustan strategy. It changed the status of blacks to citizens of one of the ten autonomous territories. The aim was to ensure a demographic majority of white people within South Africa by having all ten Bantustans achieve full independence.

Inter-racial contact in sport was frowned upon, but there were no segregatory sports laws.

The government tightened pass laws compelling blacks to carry identity documents, to prevent the immigration of blacks from other countries. To reside in a city, blacks had to be in employment there. Until 1956 women were for the most part excluded from these ''pass'' requirements, as attempts to introduce ''pass laws'' for women were met with fierce resistance.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.anc.org.za/un/womenrole.html |title=Extracts from paper prepared by the Secretariat for the World Conference of the United Nations Decade for Women, Copenhagen, July 1980 (The anti-pass campaign) |access-date=14 July 2008 |publisher=[[African National Congress]] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080622003552/http://www.anc.org.za/un/womenrole.html |archive-date=22 June 2008 |url-status=dead }}</ref>