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| Apartheid legislation in South Africa |
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| †No new legislation introduced, rather the existing legislation named was amended. |
The Mines and Work Act was a piece of legislation in South Africa, originally passed in 1911, amended in 1912 and 1926 before undergoing further changes in 1956 and 1959. This act legally established South Africa's employment "colour bar." and was enacted to establish the duties and responsibilities of workers in Mines and Works in South Africa.
This act (with/without/or its amendments) is sometimes referred to as the COLOUR BAR or the COLOUR BAR ACT. The term colour bar, however, usually refers to a group of labor practices, informal trade union practices, government regulations, and legislation, all of which were developed over time to prevent blacks from competing for certain categories of jobs monopolized by whites.[ citation needed ]
At any rate, this act included various regulations which gave "white workers a monopoly of skilled operations". However, The Act did not specify that blacks should be discriminated against in any way. Indeed, it made no mention of race or colour. Nor did it specifically and clearly give the government Mining Engineer powers to introduce a legal colour bar. But under section 4(n) it gave the Governor-General powers to grant, cancel and suspend certificates of competency to mine managers, mine overseers, mine surveyors, mechanical engineers, engine-drivers and miners entitled to blast. It also gave him the power to decide which other occupations should be required to possess certificates of competency.[ citation needed ]
Some or other commission had criticized mine managements for employing large numbers of unskilled whites 'often entirely ignorant of mining, and whose principal and often only recommendation is their physical fitness and their suitability for rough work'. Yet when the commission reported in 1910, it submitted draft regulations that were heavy with colour bars. Some appeared in the interpretation of terms, as when the words 'white person' were inserted in the definition of banksman, onsetter, ganger and mine manager. Some took the form of an injunction to employ only whites in specified occupations, such as blasting, running elevators, driving engines, supervising boilers and other machinery; or as shift boss and mine overseer. Furthermore, only whites would be allowed to obtain the certificates of competence required, for instance, by engine drivers and boiler attendants. With some modifications, these draft regulations served as model for the MINES & WORKS REGULATIONS ACT of 1912.[ citation needed ]
In contrast to the 1912 REGULATIONS, this Act bracketed Coloured with whites in a position of privilege. For there was no question of segregating the coloured who spoke the Afrikaner's language, shared his outlook and stood closer to one than to the black population. Furthermore, the key section of this act "stated that the minister, before announcing regulations for issuing certificates of competency (including the key blasting certificate, for nearly a century of license of the white miner), should seek the advice of the owners and of the organizations whose members hold a majority of the certificates, that is, the white unions, including the Mine Worker's Union. He was to do this through the formation of advisory committees." This act was further revised in 1956 to deal with the declaration of work in the national interest.[ citation needed ]
Immorality Act was the title of two acts of the Parliament of South Africa which prohibited, amongst other things, sexual relations between white people and people of other races. The first Immorality Act, of 1927, prohibited sex between whites and blacks, until amended in 1950 to prohibit sex between whites and all non-whites. The second Immorality Act, of 1957, continued this prohibition and also dealt with many other sex offences. The ban on interracial sex was lifted in 1985, but certain sections of the 1957 act dealing with prostitution remain in force as the "Sexual Offences Act, 1957".
Coloureds refers to members of multiracial ethnic communities in Southern Africa who may have ancestry from more than one of the various populations inhabiting the region, including African, European, and Asian. South Africa's Coloured people are regarded as having some of the most diverse genetic backgrounds. Because of the vast combination of genetics, different families and individuals within a family may have a variety of different physical features.
In South Africa, Asian usually refers to people of South Asian ancestry, more commonly called Indians. They are largely descended from people who migrated to South Africa in the late 19th and early 20th century from British ruled South Asia.
The National Party, also known as the Nationalist Party, was a political party in South Africa from 1914 to 1997, which was responsible for the implementation of apartheid rule. The party was an Afrikaner ethnic nationalist party, which initially promoted the interests of Afrikaners but later became a stalwart promoter and enactor of white supremacy, for which it is best known. It first became the governing party of the country in 1924. It merged with its rival, the SAP, during the Great Depression, and a splinter faction became the official opposition during World War II and returned to power. With the National Party governing South Africa from 4 June 1948 until 9 May 1994, the country for the bulk of this time was only a de jure or partial democracy, as from 1958 onwards non-white people were barred from voting. In 1990 it began to style itself as simply a South African civic nationalist party, and after the fall of apartheid in 1994, attempted to become a moderate conservative one. The party's reputation was damaged irreparably by perpetrating apartheid, and it rebranded itself in 1997 before eventually dissolving.
General James Barry Munnik Hertzog, better known as Barry Hertzog or J. B. M. Hertzog, was a South African politician and soldier. He was a Boer general during the Second Boer War who served as the third prime minister of the Union of South Africa from 1924 to 1939. Throughout his life he encouraged the development of Afrikaner culture, determined to prevent Afrikaners from being influenced by British culture.
The Prohibition of Mixed Marriages Act, Act No. 55 of 1949, was an apartheid law in South Africa
Chinese South Africans are Overseas Chinese who reside in South Africa, including those whose ancestors came to South Africa in the early 20th century until Chinese immigration was banned under the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1904. Chinese industrialists from the Republic of China (Taiwan) who arrived in the 1970s, 1980s and early 1990s, and post-apartheid immigrants to South Africa now outnumber locally-born Chinese South Africans.
In South Africa and South West Africa, pass laws were a form of internal passport system designed to segregate the population, manage urbanization and allocate migrant labor. Also known as the natives' law, pass laws severely limited the movements of black African citizens, and other people as well by restricting them to designated areas. Before the 1950s, this legislation largely applied to African men; attempts to apply it to women in the 1910s and 1950s were met with significant protests. Pass laws were one of the dominant features of the country's apartheid system until it was effectively ended in 1986. The pass document used in the enforcement of these laws was pejoratively called the dompas.
Apartheid was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa from 1948 to the early 1990s. Apartheid was characterised by an authoritarian political culture based on baasskap, which ensured that South Africa was dominated politically, socially, and economically through minoritarianism by the nation's dominant minority white population. According to this system of social stratification, white citizens had the highest status, followed by Indians and Coloureds, then Black Africans. The economic legacy and social effects of apartheid continue to the present day, particularly inequality.
Group Areas Act was the title of three acts of the Parliament of South Africa enacted under the apartheid government of South Africa. The acts assigned racial groups to different residential and business sections in urban areas in a system of urban apartheid. An effect of the law was to exclude people of color from living in the most developed areas, which were restricted to Whites. It required many people of color to commute large distances from their homes to be able to work. The law led to people of color being forcibly removed for living in the "wrong" areas. People of colour, who were the majority at the time, were given much smaller areas to live in than the white minority who owned most of the country. Pass Laws required people of color to carry pass books and later "reference books", similar to passports, to enter the "white" parts of the country.
Honorary whites was a political terminology that was used by the apartheid regime of South Africa to grant some of the rights and privileges of whites to those who would otherwise have been treated as non-whites under the Population Registration Act. It was enacted by the then ruling National Party (NP).
The system of racial segregation and oppression in South Africa known as apartheid was implemented and enforced by many acts and other laws. This legislation served to institutionalize racial discrimination and the dominance by white people over people of other races. While the bulk of this legislation was enacted after the election of the National Party government in 1948, it was preceded by discriminatory legislation enacted under earlier British and Afrikaner governments. Apartheid is distinguished from segregation in other countries by the systematic way in which it was formalized in law.
Springbok colours is the name given to green and gold blazers awarded to members of the South Africa national rugby union team. They were historically awarded to teams and individuals representing South Africa in international competition of any sport, following their creation in 1906. With the arrival of South Africa's new post-apartheid government in 1994, the name Springbok was abandoned by the various control boards since they felt that the term had been abused by the previous apartheid governments, and stigmatised by the anti-apartheid movement. An exception was made in the case of the national rugby union team, who have retained the practice of awarding colours.
Prior to the arrival of the European settlers in the 17th century the economy of what was to become South Africa was dominated by subsistence agriculture and hunting.
The Extension of University Education Act, Act 45 of 1959, formed part of the apartheid system of racial segregation in South Africa. This act made it a criminal offense for a non-white student to register at a formerly open university without the written permission of the Minister of Internal Affairs. New universities were then established for various non-white groups.
There is a small community of Japanese expatriate people living in or people who were born in South Africa with Japanese ancestry. Most of them live in Johannesburg and other major cities.
The Representation of Natives Act No 12 of 1936 was legislation passed in South Africa which further reduced black rights at the time. The Cape province had a qualified franchise which had allowed a small number of blacks in the Cape to vote for the common roll in terms of the Cape Qualified Franchise. The qualified franchise dated back to the pre-Union period, when the Cape was a separate British colony; it also excluded poorer white men. The 1936 Act removed blacks to a separate roll – and halted the right to run for office; other earlier legislation removed the qualifications imposed in the Cape on whites.
Racial groups in South Africa have a variety of origins. The racial categories introduced by Apartheid remain ingrained in South African society with South Africans and the governing party of South Africa continuing to classify themselves, and each other, as belonging to one of the four defined race groups. Statistics South Africa asks people to describe themselves in the census in terms of five racial population groups. The 2019 mid-year population estimates were 80.7% Black South African, 7.9% White South African, 8.8% Coloured South African, and 2.6% Indian South African.
The Cape Qualified Franchise was the system of non-racial franchise that was adhered to in the Cape Colony, and in the Cape Province in the early years of the Union of South Africa. Qualifications for the right to vote at parliamentary elections were applied equally to all men, regardless of race.
Thembalethu is a township in Western Cape, South Africa. The township is on the Garden Route and falls part of the George Municipality. The name of the township "Thembalethu" is Xhosa meaning "Our Hope".