In the history of South Africa, the period from 1948 to 1994 is also known as the apartheid era, so named after the system of legislated racial segregation known as apartheid. The period began with the election victory of the National Party (NP) in 1948 and was marked by continuous NP governments under a system of white minority rule. It ended with the negotiations to end apartheid, culminating in the 1994 election, the first in which citizens of all races could vote.
Due to a racially segregated election system and restrictive franchise requirements, the electorate consisted almost exclusively of white people (who were roughly 20% of the population). Very few Colored people and of Asian descent were allowed to vote in this election. Indigenous Africans had been banned altogether since the late 1930s, with the limited number of Indigenous Africans meeting electoral qualifications voting for seven "own" white MPs separately. During the election campaign, both the UP and the HNP formed coalitions with smaller parties. The UP was aligned with the left-leaning Labour Party, while the Afrikaner Party sought to advance Afrikaner rights by allying with the HNP.
The HNP capitalised on the fears of many White South Africans who felt threatened by black political aspirations, pledging to enforce strict racial segregation in all areas of life. The party called this system "apartheid" (meaning "apartness" or "separation") and promised safety and security from supposed black-on-white crime. In contrast, the United Party offered only vague ideas of gradual racial integration. Widespread white dissatisfaction with post-war domestic and economic conditions, the HNP's stronger organisation, and electoral malapportionment that favoured rural areas where the HNP enjoyed greater support, all contributed to the UP's electoral difficulties.
The elections marked the start of 46 years of National Party (NP) rule in South Africa, leading to the formal introduction of apartheid and the gradual development of a herrenvolk democracy that persisted until the 1994 election.
Although apartheid as a comprehensive legislative project truly began after the National Party came into power in 1948, many of these statutes were preceded by the laws of the previous British and Afrikaner administrations in South Africa's provinces. An early example is the Glen Grey Act, passed in 1894 in Cape Colony, and which diminished the land rights of Africans in scheduled areas.
The core of apartheid was formed by the Population Registration Act, 1950, which required that every South African be classified registered in accordance with their racial characteristics, and the Group Areas Act, 1950, which divided urban areas into "group areas" in which ownership and residence was restricted to certain population groups.[1][2][3]
The initial decade of National Party rule was met with a concerted campaign of non-violent resistance and mass mobilization, largely orchestrated by the African National Congress (ANC) and its allies in the Congress Alliance, which included the South African Indian Congress, the Coloured People's Congress, and the (white) Congress of Democrats.
A key turning point was the Defiance Campaign of 1952, in which over 8,000 volunteers deliberately violated apartheid laws, primarily pass laws and segregated facilities, leading to arrests. This campaign of non-violent civil disobedience massively increased ANC membership and signaled a new phase of mass protest.
In 1955, the Congress Alliance convened the Congress of the People in Kliptown, where delegates adopted the Freedom Charter. This document became the foundational vision for the liberation movement, calling for a non-racial, democratic state.
In 1956, one of the largest protests in South African history took place when 20,000 women marched on the Union Buildings in Pretoria to protest the extension of pass laws to women. Led by figures such as Lilian Ngoyi, Helen Joseph, and Rahima Moosa, the march became an iconic moment of female-led resistance.
The state responded with severe repression. In 1956, it arrested 156 leaders of the Congress Alliance and charged them with high treason in what became the Treason Trial. The trial lasted until 1961, ultimately ending in the acquittal of all defendants, but it drained the movement's resources and leadership. The failure of non-violent protest to secure fundamental change, coupled with the state's intensifying brutality, led directly to the formation of the ANC's armed wing, UMkhonto weSizwe, in 1961, marking the end of purely non-violent struggle.
On 21 March 1960, a group of approximately 5,000 people gathered at the Sharpeville police station, offering themselves up for arrest for not carrying their passbooks.[4] The police were not completely unprepared for the demonstration, as they had already driven smaller groups of more militant activists away the previous night.[5]
The Pan-Africanist Congress (PAC) actively organized to increase turnout to the demonstration, distributing pamphlets and appearing in person to urge people not to go to work on the day of the protest. Many of the civilians present attended voluntarily to support the protest, but there is evidence that the PAC also used coercive means to draw the crowd there, including the cutting of telephone lines into Sharpeville, and preventing bus drivers from driving their routes.[6]:p.534
By 10:00, a large crowd had gathered, and the atmosphere was initially peaceful and festive. Fewer than 20 police officers were present in the station at the start of the protest. Later the crowd grew to about 20,000,[7] and while some news reports described the mood as "ugly",[7] this has been contested by witnesses who were there, including photographer Ian Berry. 130 police officers supported by four Saracenarmoured personnel carriers arrived in Sharpeville. The police were armed with firearms, including Sten submachine guns and Lee–Enfield rifles. There was no evidence that anyone in the gathering was armed with anything other than stones.[7]
F-86 Sabre jets and Harvard Trainers approached to within 30 metres (98ft) of the ground, flying low over the crowd in an attempt to scatter it. The protesters responded by hurling stones (striking three policemen) and rushing the police barricades. According to some accounts, police officers attempted to use tear gas to repel these advances, but it proved ineffectual, and the police fell back on the use of their batons.[5] However, there is no evidence that the police tried to use teargas to disperse the crowd, or that they charged the crowd with batons.[8] At about 13:00 the police tried to arrest a protester, and the crowd surged forward.[7] The police began shooting shortly thereafter without issuing a warning to the crowd to disperse.[9][7]
Despite the National Party's policy of republicanism, it did not campaign for the declaration of a republic during the election, instead favouring remaining in the Commonwealth while reaffirming the electorate of its committment to a republic. This position was meant to appeal Afrikaners who otherwise might have voted for the United Party and it remained relevant throughout the premierships of Daniёl Malan and Johannes Strijdom.[10][11]
On becoming Prime Minister, Hendrik Verwoerd gave a speech to Parliament in which he declared that:
This has indeed been the basis of our struggle all these years: nationalism against imperialism. This has been the struggle since 1910: a republic as opposed to the monarchical connection... We stand unequivocally and clearly for the establishment of the republic in the correct manner and at the appropriate time.[12]
In 1960, Verwoerd announced plans to hold a whites-only referendum on the establishment of a republic, which was held on October 5 the same year. A republic was approved with a narrow majority of 70,000 voters, and it was declared on May 31, 1961 with the adoption of the Constitution Act, 1961.[13]
Sanctions
The apartheid system as an issue was first formally brought to United Nations attention in order to advocate for the Indians residing in South Africa. On 22 June 1946, the Indian government requested that the discriminatory treatment of Indians living in South Africa be included on the agenda of the first General Assembly session.[14] In 1952, apartheid was again discussed in the aftermath of the Defiance Campaign, and the UN set up a task team to keep watch on the progress of apartheid and the racial state of affairs in South Africa. Although South Africa's racial policies were a cause for concern, most countries in the UN agreed that this was a domestic affair, which fell outside the UN's jurisdiction.[15]
In April 1960, the UN's conservative stance on apartheid changed following the Sharpeville massacre, and the Security Council for the first time agreed on concerted action against the apartheid regime. Resolution 134 called upon the nation of South Africa to abandon its policies implementing racial discrimination. The newly founded United Nations Special Committee Against Apartheid scripted and passed Resolution 181 on 7 August 1963, calling upon all states to cease the sale and shipment of all ammunition and military vehicles to South Africa. From 1964 onwards, the US and the UK discontinued their arms trade with South Africa. The Security Council also condemned the Soweto massacre in Resolution 392. In 1977, the voluntary UN arms embargo became mandatory with the passing of Resolution 418. In addition to isolating South Africa militarily, the United Nations General Assembly encouraged the boycotting of oil sales to South Africa.[14] Other actions taken by the United Nations General Assembly included the request for all nations and organisations "to suspend cultural, educational, sporting and other exchanges with the racist regime and with organisations or institutions in South Africa which practise apartheid".[14]
After much debate, by the late-1980s, the United States, the United Kingdom, and 23 other nations had passed laws placing various trade sanctions on South Africa. A disinvestment from South Africa movement in many countries was similarly widespread, with individual cities and provinces around the world implementing various laws and local regulations forbidding registered corporations under their jurisdiction from doing business with South African firms, factories, or banks.[16]
Following several years of unsuccessful petitioning through the United Nations and the International Court of Justice for Namibian independence from South Africa, SWAPO formed the PLAN in 1962 with material assistance from the Soviet Union, China, and sympathetic African states such as Tanzania, Ghana, and Algeria.[17] Fighting broke out between PLAN and the South African security forces in August 1966. Between 1975 and 1988, the SADF staged massive conventional raids into Angola and Zambia to eliminate PLAN's forward operating bases.[18] It also deployed specialist counter-insurgency units such as Koevoet and 32 Battalion, trained to carry out external reconnaissance and track guerrilla movements.[19]
A pivotal turning point in the internal struggle against apartheid was the Soweto uprising. The immediate catalyst was the Afrikaans Medium Decree of 1974, that mandated both Afrikaans and English be used equally as languages of instruction in black secondary schools. This was deeply unpopular, as Afrikaans was widely viewed as the "language of the oppressor."
On June 16, an estimated 20,000 students organized by the South African Students' Movement (SASM) marched peacefully through Soweto in protest. The demonstration was met with heavy-handed and violent police response.
The uprising sparked weeks of sustained protests and violent clashes that spread from Soweto to other townships across the country. The official death toll for 1976 was given as 176, but actual estimates range as high as 700. The event marked a generational shift in the liberation struggle, radicalizing a new cohort of young black South Africans who would join the armed struggle in exile. Internationally, the brutal images from Soweto galvanized global condemnation and led to a significant hardening of anti-apartheid sentiment and sanctions against the South African government.
A central pillar of apartheid policy was the creation of ten Bantustans, or "homelands," territories designated for specific black ethnic groups. Their intended purpose was to deny black South Africans citizenship and political rights in the Republic by making them nominal citizens of these supposedly independent states.
The term "TBVC states" refers to the four Bantustans that were granted nominal "independence" from South Africa — Transkei, Bophuthatswana, Venda and Ciskei.
The South African government made significant investments into these states, presenting them as evidence of the viability of separate development, while in reality, they were largely economically non-viable and politically unstable, relying entirely on Pretoria's financial and military support.
In a bid to reform apartheid without ending white minority rule, the government under P.W. Botha introduced a new constitution, which was approved in a whites-only referendum in 1983 and came into effect in 1984. This constitution replaced the former British-derived Westminster system with an executive presidency, consolidating significant power in the hands of the State President.
The system was meticulously engineered to ensure continued white control. Each house only legislated on "its own affairs" (such as education and welfare for their respective racial groups), while "general affairs" concerning the entire nation required the approval of all three houses. However, the House of Assembly, with the largest number of seats and the backing of the powerful executive, always had the ability to override the other two chambers.
Crucially, the constitution completely excluded the black South African majority from any form of national political representation, defining their citizenship as belonging to the homelands instead. This provoked massive internal opposition, leading to the formation of the United Democratic Front (UDF), a broad coalition of hundreds of anti-apartheid groups that mobilized a highly effective boycott and protest campaign against the new system. The Tricameral Parliament is widely considered to have failed in its objective; instead of dividing opposition, it further unified and galvanized the internal anti-apartheid movement, contributing to the severe political crisis of the mid-1980s.
State of emergency
Faced with a burgeoning mass resistance movement, the Botha government abandoned even the pretense of normal law enforcement in favour of open military rule. A limited state of emergency was first declared in July 1985 in 36 magisterial districts, but it was superseded by a nationwide state of emergency in June 1986, which would be renewed annually until 1990.
Under the emergency regulations, the government granted its security forces sweeping powers. These included the authority to detain individuals indefinitely without charge, to impose severe censorship on the media, and to ban any public gathering deemed a threat to public order. The normal rules of due process were effectively suspended.
The period of the state of emergency was marked by extreme political repression. Thousands of activists, including those from the United Democratic Front (UDF) and trade unions, were detained without trial. Security forces engaged in widespread brutality, with torture and extrajudicial killings becoming commonplace. The government's strategy was to decapitate the internal anti-apartheid leadership and cripple its organizational capacity through sheer force.
Despite this, organized resistance continued, often driven underground or into the realm of labour strikes and student protests. The state of emergency succeeded in creating a climate of fear and temporarily suppressing open revolt, but it came at a devastating cost to the regime's international legitimacy and demonstrated that the apartheid state could only maintain control through openly authoritarian means, hastening the eventual need for a negotiated settlement.
By the late 1980s, the South African state was in profound crisis, crippled by international sanctions, a stagnant economy, and widespread resistance. Recognizing the unsustainable nature of perpetual conflict, the government under P.W. Botha began tentative, secret contacts with the imprisoned Nelson Mandela and the exiled African National Congress (ANC) leaders. This process dramatically accelerated under his successor, F.W. de Klerk, who in a landmark speech to Parliament on 2 February 1990, unbanned the ANC, the PAC, and the South African Communist Party, and announced the imminent release of Nelson Mandela.
Mandela’s release on 11 February 1990 symbolically opened the door to formal negotiations. The initial period was marked by ongoing political violence, particularly between the ANC and the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP), which the government was accused of fuelling. The first major forum was the Convention for a Democratic South Africa (CODESA), which began in December 1991, bringing together the government and various liberation movements.
Negotiations were fraught and frequently stalled, nearly collapsing entirely after the Boipatong massacre in 1992 and following the assassination of popular ANC leader Chris Hani by right-wing extremists in 1993. A key breakthrough was achieved when the government and the ANC agreed on a government of national unity following the first democratic elections, effectively securing a transition of power.
The result of these complex and often tense negotiations was an interim constitution, which was formally approved in 1993 and came into effect on 27 April 1994, the day of the general election. This constitution provided the framework for the transition, dismantling the apartheid state and establishing a new, non-racial democracy, culminating in the inauguration of Nelson Mandela as the first black President of South Africa on 10 May 1994.
The culmination of the negotiation process was South Africa's first universal democratic general election, held from 26 to 29 April 1994. The election was for a new National Assembly and provincial legislatures, which would also serve to elect the President. For the first time in the nation's history, citizens of all races were eligible to vote.
The election was contested by 19 political parties, with the major contenders being the African National Congress (ANC), the National Party (NP), and the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP). The campaign and voting period were conducted under a shadow of uncertainty and threat of violence, particularly from right-wing white groups and the IFP, which had initially boycotted the process. A last-minute agreement, sealed just days before the election, secured IFP participation.
Despite logistical problems and incidents of violence, the election was declared substantially free and fair by international observers. The results delivered a decisive victory for the ANC, which secured 62.65% of the national vote, just short of the two-thirds majority required to unilaterally draft the final constitution. The National Party won 20.39%, primarily from Coloured and white voters, and the Inkatha Freedom Party won 10.54%, dominating the KwaZulu-Natal province.
On 10 May 1994, Nelson Mandela was inaugurated as the first President of South Africa. The election formally ended over three centuries of white minority rule and the 83-year existence of the South African state as it had been constituted since the Union of 1910, marking the definitive birth of the contemporary republic.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
South Africaportal 
