South African Anti-Apartheid leader and first black President Nelson Mandela. Pictured burning his"pass" which was required for blacks to carry with them to identify their race and area of thecountry. They were not permitted to travel to another region without a passport.

Nelson Mandela was a dominant figure in the South African liberation movement,

burning his pass as a peaceful protest. The twentieth century in South Africa is something

that unfortunately cannot be retrospectively looked at with pride, because of the practice

of apartheid that separated people according to race or color. Apartheid had similarities

to segregation in the American South, but was much worse. In addition to not being able

to vote and separation from the whites in public businesses, blacks (which made up

seventy percent of the population) were forced to live in a small area of the country, and

could not leave without a “pass,” which very few people had and were very hard to get.

 The government segregated public facilities such as education and medical care.

Blacks were forced to be separated from Whites with inferior facilities.

Black or Colored populations were forced to live in Townships such as Soweto, Langa,Khayelitsha,

District six which were living areas reserved located near urban areas.

Also, apartheid laws were explicitly stated laws, which South African blacks were forced

to follow for nearly fifty years.

Nelson Mandela rose up as leader of the African National Congress and major speakeragainst the

evils of Apartheid, becoming the voice of the movement to end apartheid. The use of passes came

into effect when Prime Minister Hendrik Verwoerd developed the policy of separatedevelopment, in

which the nine African groups that lived in South Africa were moved from the urban areasinto the

country areas. If the Africans wanted to travel anywhere, or work, they needed a passshowing that

they were allowed out of their designated section. If found without their passes, ortraveling outside of 

the regulated boundaries, they were arrested and put in jail for a minimum of 30 days. These passes

were used to keep the Africans in check, to regulate their ability to move and theirfreedom. To the

DOCUMENT 1 : NELSON

 

people of South Africa, the passes represented lost freedom.

1-  The Natives (Urban Areas) Act of 1923

2- Prohibition of Mixed Marriages Act, Act No 55 of 1949

3- Immorality Amendment Act, Act No 21 of 1950; amended in 1957 (Act Population RegistrationAct, Act No 30 of 1950

4-  The Group Areas Act, Act No 41 of 19505- Bantu Authorities Act, Act No 68 of 19516- Natives Laws Amendment Act of 19527- Natives (Abolition of Passes and Co-ordination of Documents) Act, Act No 67 of 1952

commonly known as the Pass Laws8- Separate Representation of Voters Act, Act No 46 of 19519- Native Labour (Settlement of Disputes) Act of 195310- Bantu Education Act, Act No 47 of 195311- Reservation of Separate Amenities Act, Act No 49 of 195312- Extension of University Education Act, Act 45 of 1959

13- Bantu Homelands Citizens Act of 1970

  Which of these Apartheid Laws gave South Africans separate

sections for each ethnicity ?

→ Other races were forbidden to live, work, or own land in a different

ethnic’s group area. N° : ……

 Which of these established ten self-governing territories for

different black ethnic groups and compelled all black people to

become a citizen of the homeland ? 

→These territories were called “homelands”. All Black South Africans,

regardless of where they lived, were made citizens of the homelands, and

they weren’t allowed to take part in the governing of South Africa

N° : ……

DOCUMENT 2 :Apartheid Legislation in South Africa

Starting in 1948, the Nationalist Government in

South Africa enacted laws to define and enforce

segregation. 

READING TASK: Read the main

laws described below and then do

the QUIZ to check your

understanding.

 

 According to which of these, all non-whites had to carry a special

passport that proved their permission to be in white areas ?

N° : ……

Which of these prohibited strike action by blacks ?

N° : ……

According to which of these black people were not allowed to

marry White . N°: …

According to which of these, black people were denied the samestandard of education as their white counterparts?N° : … 

Which of these forced segregation in all public places, publicbuildings and public transport with the aim of eliminating contactbetween whites and other races? "Europeans Only" and "Non-Europeans Only" signs were put up.N° : ……

Which of these laws led to the removal of Coloureds from thecommon voters' roll and eventually deprived Blacks of votingrights ? N° : ……

  In order to enforce Apartheid laws , "Europeans Only" and "Non-Europeans Only" signs were put up. Here are some of the signsthat used to be found in South Africa at the time of Apartheid. Howdid these signs affect “Non-European” people living in SouthAfrica ?

With the help of the documents you have read, write down acaption under each sign.

→ YOU WILL MAKE USE OF THE VERBS FROM THE TOOLBOXAND THE PASSIVE FORM

to compel → contraindre to forbid → interdire

to allow →  autoriser

to grant (the right ) →  accorder (un droit) to require →exiger/ nécessiter/avoir besoin 

to deny →  nier/refuser (qch à qn) to deprive →  priver

(of/de) to force →  forcer/obliger 

 

BLACK SOUTH AFRICANS AND

APARTHEID LAWS

LET’S

PRACTISE!

 

   

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  Considering what you have just learnt and taking thedocuments provided into account , write your own definition of “Apartheid” in the form of a paragraph written in the passiveform so as to describe the “hopeless” situation of Black andColoured South Africans when Apartheid was in practice in the“Rainbow Nation”.