Mandela and the Apartheid

Mandela and the Apartheid

Andr Neiva 12 A Brbara Aires 12 A Fbio Jos 12 A Jssica Vigrio 12A Mariana Bastos 12 B

Colgio Santo Andr

Mandela and the Apartheid

Abstract
Who was Nelson Mandela and what was the Apartheid? Mandela and the Apartheid are deeply intertwined. First the man who fought for his ideals with all his might, sticking to them no matter what, even going to jail didn't make him renounce to his beliefs. The last, a policy based on segregation, on separating cultures and white dominance over them all, through the use of physical and psychological violence, going against almost every known Human Right.

Mandela and the Apartheid

Introduction
Human rights are rights inherent to all human beings, whatever our nationality, place of residence, sex, national or ethnic origin, color, religion, language, or any other status. The prohibition of racial discrimination is enshrined in all core international human rights instrument. Racial discrimination is all the distinction, exclusion, restriction or preference based on race, color, descent, or national or ethnic origin which has the purpose or effect of nullifying or impairing the recognition, enjoyment or exercise, on an equal footing, of human rights and fundamental freedoms in the political, economic, social, cultural or any other field of public life. Apartheid was a system of racial segregation in South Africa that violated many human rights of the population. This thesis is concerned with the Apartheid in South Africa and Nelson Mandela as an important anti-apartheid revolutionary. It is divided into two parts. Firstly, we describe the bibliography of Nelson Mandela and his relation with the apartheid system and then, we investigate the Apartheid Era of South Africa. The aims of this paper are to investigate the life of Nelson Mandela and his role against the Apartheid system; the origins of Apartheid in South Africa; the definition and goals of Apartheid; the structure and legislation of the Apartheid government; the end of the system and the Human rights violations in Apartheid. The selection of the theme Nelson Mandela and the Apartheid was based on the curiosity about the history of South Africa, Apartheid and racism and the recent dead of Nelson Mandela, which sparked the interest in deepening and further explore the issue, and sharing this information with others.

Mandela and the Apartheid

Results 1. Nelson Mandela

1.1. Biography
Rolihlahla Mandela was born in Transkei, South Africa on 18 July 1918 and was given the name of Nelson by one of his teachers. Hearing the elder's stories of his ancestor's valor during the wars of resistance, he dreamed also of making his own contribution to the freedom struggle of his people. He entered politics in earnest while studying, and joined the African National Congress in 1943. He became increasingly involved with the African National Congress (ANC), a multi-racial nationalist movement trying to bring about political change in South Africa. In 1948, the National Party came to power and began to implement a policy of 'apartheid', or forced segregation on the basis of race. The ANC staged a campaign of passive resistance against apartheid laws. When the ANC launched its Campaign for the Defiance of Unjust Laws in 1952, Mandela, by then President of the Youth League, was elected National Volunteer-inChief. On 21 March 1960 police killed 69 unarmed people in a protest against the pass laws held at Sharpeville (Sharpeville Massacre). This led to the countrys first state of emergency and the banning of the ANC and the Pan Africanist Congress on 8 April. The ANC was outlawed, and Mandela, still on trial, was detained, along with hundreds of others in the Treason Trial. In 1963, Mandela and other ANC leaders were tried for plotting to overthrow the government by violence. The following year Mandela was sentenced to life imprisonment. During his years in prison, over 27 years, he became an international symbol of resistance to apartheid. Mandela's statement in court during the trial is a classic in the history of the resistance to apartheid, and has been an inspiration to all who have opposed it. He ended with these words that sum up the guiding principles by which he worked for liberation of South Africa: 4

Mandela and the Apartheid

"During my lifetime I have dedicated myself to this struggle of the African people. I have fought against white domination, and I have fought against black domination. I have cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society in which all persons live together in harmony and with equal opportunities. It is an ideal which I hope to live for and to achieve. But if needs be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die." (Mandela on Rivonia Trial, 1994) In 1990, the South African government responded to internal and international pressure and released Mandela, at the same time lifting the ban against the ANC. In 1991 Mandela became the ANC's leader. In a life that symbolizes the triumph of the human spirit, Nelson Mandela accepted the 1993 Nobel Peace Prize on behalf of all South Africans who suffered and sacrificed so much to bring peace to their land. Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela was elected President of a democratic South Africa in 1994. He was the first black president. In his inauguration speech he said: "We have at last, achieved our political emancipation. We pledge ourselves to liberate all our people from the continuing bondage of poverty, deprivation, suffering, gender, and other discrimination. Never, never, and never again shall it be that this beautiful land will again experience the oppression of one by another... Let freedom reign. God Bless Africa!" (Inaugural Speech, Pretoria. Mandela 1994) In 1997 he stepped down as ANC leader and in 1999 his presidency of South Africa came to an end. Nelson Mandela died at his home in Johannesburg on 5 December 2013- aged 95. Despite terrible provocation, he has never answered racism with racism. His life has been an inspiration, in South Africa and throughout the world, to all who are oppressed and deprived, to all who are opposed to oppression and deprivation. Mandela is held in deep respect within South Africa, where is described as "the father of the nation" and often called as Madiba or as Tata (Father).

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2. The Apartheid Era of South Africa

2.1. Definition
Etymologically the word Apartheid is an Afrikaner word meaning "apartness" that means separation, Apartheid is the name given to the particular racial-social ideology and policy introduced by the National Party government of South Africa during the twentieth century. It was all about racial segregation, and about political and economic discrimination which separated people by their skin color, the Black (or Bantu), the Colored, the White and Indian, this last was introduced later. The government segregated education, medical care, beaches and other public services, provided black people with services inferior to those of white people, internal travel passes for blacks and ineligibility from voting and the white control of the legal system.

2.2. The goals of apartheid

Strategists in the National Party invented apartheid as a means to cement their control over the economic and social system. Initially, aim of the apartheid was to maintain white domination while extending racial separation. Starting in the 60's, a plan of ``Grand Apartheid'' was executed, emphasizing territorial separation and police repression.

2.3. Origins of Apartheid

Racial segregation in South Africa began in colonial times under Dutch rule using slave labor of the natives in their plantations. English domination of the Dutch descendents (known as Boers or Afrikaners) resulted in the Dutch establishing the new colonies of Orange Free State and Transvaal, born of the massacre of the native peoples, as societies founded on racial oppression.

Mandela and the Apartheid

The British introduced pass laws, a form of internal passport system designed to segregate the population, severely limit the movements of the black African populace, manage urbanization, and allocate migrant labor. The discovery of diamonds in these lands around 1900 resulted in an English invasion which sparked the Boer War. In 1910 the Union of South Africa was created as a self-

governing dominion, which continued the legislative program: the South Africa Act enfranchised whites, giving them complete political control over all other racial groups while removing the right of blacks to sit in parliament, the Native Land Act prevented blacks, except those in the Cape, from buying land outside "reserves", the Natives in Urban Areas Bill was designed to force blacks into "locations", the Urban Areas Act introduced residential segregation and provided cheap labor for industry led by white people, the Color Bar Act prevented blacks from practicing skilled trades, the Native Administration Act made the British Crown, rather than paramount chiefs, the supreme head over all African affairs, the Native Land and Trust Act complemented the Native Land Act and, in the same year, the Representation of Natives Act removed previous black voters from the Cape voters' roll and allowed them to elect three whites to Parliament. One of the first pieces of segregating legislation enacted by Jan Smuts' United Party government was the Asiatic Land Tenure Bill, which banned land sales to Indians. The United Party government began to move away from the rigid enforcement of segregationist laws during World War II. Amid fears integration would eventually lead to racial assimilation, the legislature established the Sauer Commission to investigate the effects of the United Party's policies. The commission concluded that integration would bring about a "loss of personality" for all racial groups. Apartheid as an official policy was introduced following the general election of 1948. The main Afrikaner nationalist party, the Reunited National Party, under the leadership of Daniel Francois Malan won the 1948 elections. The Reunited national Party narrowly defeated Smuts's United Party and formed a coalition government with another Afrikaner nationalist party, the Afrikaner Party. 7

Mandela and the Apartheid

Malan became the first apartheid prime minister, and the two parties later merged to form the National Party. Apartheid built upon earlier laws, but made segregation more rigid and enforced it more aggressively. It significantly extended the reach of the racist state and led to a systematic and fundamental deterioration of the position of black people in South Africa for the next four decades.

2.4. Apartheid Legislation in South Africa

A large number of laws were passed to establish the apartheid structure of government and created for the benefit of whites. The main laws are: Prohibition of Mixed Marriages Act (1949): prohibited marriage between Whites and any other racial group. Immorality Amendment Act (1950): prohibited adultery, attempted adultery or related immoral acts between white and black people. Population Registration Act (1950): required people to be identified and registered from birth as one of four distinct racial groups: White, Colored, Bantu (Black African), and others. Group Areas Act (1950): separation between races by creating different residential areas for different races. Suppression of Communism Act (1950): the government considered communism as any opposition made to the government, with the possibility of deploying severe penalties for opposition groups. Communists could be banned from participating in a political organization and restricted to a particular area. Bantu Authorities Act (1951): created the legal basis for the deportation of blacks into designated homeland reserve areas and established tribal, regional and territorial authorities. Natives (Abolition of Passes and Co-ordination of Documents) Act (1952): Commonly known as the Pass Laws, this act forced black people to carry identification with them at all times. A pass 8

Mandela and the Apartheid

included a photograph, details of place of origin, employment record, tax payments, and encounters with the police. Native Labor Act (1953): prohibited strike action by blacks. Bantu Education Act (1953): its aim was to prevent Africans receiving an education that would lead them to aspire to positions they wouldn't be allowed to hold in society. Reservation of Separate Amenities Act (1953): Forced segregation in all public amenities, public buildings, and public transport with the aim of eliminating contact between whites and other races.

2.5. End of Apartheid

Inside South Africa, riots, boycotts, and protests by black South Africans against white rule had occurred since the beginning of independent white rule in 1910. Opposition intensified when the Nationalist Party, assuming power in 1948, effectively blocked all legal and non-violent means of political protest by non-whites. All this led to a pressure from inside the country. Members of the government began to have doubts about the system, and several parties which were opposed to it also began to grow in South Africa, starting in the 1970s. Widespread opposition among both black and white South Africans essentially eroded the system from within. With pressure from inside and the international community, that had started to take notice of Apartheids brutality, applying economic and cultural sanctions the white minority rule in Pretoria (Administrative capital of South Africa) was brought down. Apartheid started to fall in 1990 when President FW de Klerk announced Nelson Mandela's release. But it was not until 1994, when the first democratic elections were held in South Africa, with people of all races being able to vote, that Apartheid truly ceased to exist. The African National Congress won those elections with 60.65% of the votes, being its leader, Nelson Mandela, the first black president of South Africa.

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3. Human rights violations in Apartheid

The overwhelming majority of South Africa's people were victims of a racist system which inflicts not only deprivation, fear and oppression but also persecution of organizations and people, by depriving them of fundamental rights and freedom, because they opposed apartheid; denial to a member or members of a racial group or groups of the right to live freely; denying members of a racial group basic human rights and freedom, including the right to work, the right to form recognized trade unions, the right to education, the right to leave and to return to their country, the right to a nationality, the right to freedom of movement and residence, the right to freedom of opinion and expression, and the right to freedom of peaceful assembly and association. Those who protest face detention, torture, imprisonment and even death. So it is considered a crime because inhumane acts are committed for the purpose of establishing and maintaining domination by one racial group of people over any other racial group of persons and oppressing them.

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Mandela and the Apartheid

Discussion
Apartheid was a system of racial segregation in South Africa from 1948 to 1994. The Apartheid legislation establish the apartheid structure and classified inhabitants into four racial groups, "black", "white", "colored", and "Indian" under which the rights of the majority black inhabitants were curtailed and Afrikaner minority rule was maintained. South Africa's people were victims of a racist system which inflicts deprivation, fear, oppression and violation of the human rights. Those who protest like Nelson Mandela face detention, torture, imprisonment and even death. Nelson Mandela was a South African anti-apartheid revolutionary, politician,

and philanthropist who served as President of South Africa from 1994 to 1999. Racism is the systematic practice of denying people access to rights, representation, or resources based on racial differences. Institutionalized racism is a thorough system of discrimination that involves social institutions and affects virtually every aspect of society. The Apartheid was a system of racism in the past, that ends. However, racism is not over, it still exists today, but we are in the right track, if we respect, tolerance and love the other.

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Mandela and the Apartheid

Literature Cited
Mandela on Rivonia Trial, 1994, http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/nelsonmandela/9734032/Nelson-Mandela-in-his-own-words.html . Inaugural Speech, Pretoria, 1994 ,

http://www.africa.upenn.edu/Articles_Gen/Inaugural_Speech_17984.html

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