INTL101 Week 5
Nelson Mandela and Pre-Apartheid History
Part I
Colonial History of South Africa
The main groups in South Africa at time of European contact were:
San (hunters and gatherers)
Khoikhoi (pastoralists, or sheep and cattle herders”
Bantu-speakers (pastoralists who also farmed cereal crops)
The majority of the present-day Africans in southern Africa are descended from Bantu-speakers
Colonial History of South Africa, cont’d
Portuguese would be the first Europeans to navigate the Cape of Good Hope
Bartholomeu Dias in 1487
Vasco da Gama in 1497 (first European to sail to India)
By the end of the 16th century, Dutch, English, French, and Scandinavian vessels were beginning to use the same route to Asia, only landing to trade for cattle and sheep with the local Khoikhoi from time to time
The Dutch were the first to occupy the territory in the mid-17th century
The purpose was to control the peninsula because it was critical for trade with Asia
The Dutch had no interest (or knowledge) in South Africa’s natural resources
The Dutch colony existed from 1652-1795
Colonial History of South Africa, cont’d
Dutch colony, 1652-1795
In 1658, the Dutch began to use slave labor, but the majority of the enslaved were not African at first
The majority were from Indonesia, India, Ceylon (Sri Lanka) and they included a large majority of Muslims (Slaves from Asia were prohibited in the late 18th century)
The African portion of the enslaved population came from Madagascar and Mozambique
The enslaved did not work on large plantations; most slaveholders owned a few people; slave labor did much of the public works, and others worked as domestic servants, artisans, fishermen, farmers, etc.
Colonial History of South Africa, cont’d
Dutch colony, 1652-1795
The initial cordial relations between the Dutch and the Khoikhoi soured as the Dutch expanded their farming activities and territory, resulting in warfare between the groups
The Dutch had the advantage with their weaponry and they also fanned divisions between local inhabitants
Eventually the Khoikhoi were treated like a subordinate caste, legally free but similar to the enslaved
By the late 19th century, leading Cape Town businessmen and farmers had achieved great wealth
The dialect of Afrikaans had emerged by then
Colonial History of South Africa, cont’d
British colony, 1795-1910
The British captured the Cape in 1795
At first, British were interested in the Cape as a stepping-stone to Asia, where English trade (especially with India) was extremely profitable
The British were also uninterested in/lacked knowledge about natural resources in South Africa and South Africa had little importance to the British economy until the late 1860s; as a result, only a small percentage of British emigrants went to Southern Africa before 1870
Problems for British included:
Resistance of the Xhosa and other local Africans
Efforts of the Khoikhoi to maintain autonomy
Some progressive British missionaries defended the Africans
Colonial History of South Africa, cont’d
British colony, 1795-1910
British troops, backed by some Khoikhoi collaborators, responded to their resistance to colonialism by expelling them from the land and burning their crops and villages
At the end of these conflicts, many local African groups were forcibly removed and relocated to less fertile lands
Situation of the Xhosa was worsened by an 1857 movement began after a 16-year old girl claimed to have a vision that led to the slaughter of cattle and destruction of the grain
About 400,000 cattle were killed and at least 40,000 Xhosa died of starvation
An additional 33,000 or so moved inside the colony to work on farms or in colonial towns and villages
Colonial History of South Africa, cont’d
British colony, 1795-1910
To obtain peace, British adopted a policy used with the Maori in New Zealand to “civilize” them by offering African chiefs salaried positions as officials responsible to white magistrates
Africans were also employed on public works projects as a part of this initiative
In 1820, British Parliament sent British settlers to the colony to become farmers on 100-acre lots in response to an unemployment crisis and social unrest in Britain
Colonial History of South Africa, cont’d
British colony, 1795-1910
Impact of the arrival of the British settlers
British did not intermingle much with the Dutch (called them Boers while the Dutch began to refer to themselves as Afrikaners); tensions continued to exist between the groups
Their occupation of the land pushed more Africans from the land
By 1828, whites were the legal owners of nearly all the productive land in the colony, after having displaced native Africans; thus, the Khoikhoi and other local groups had few alternatives but to work for white landowners
50th Ordinance passed in 1828 gave the Khoikhoi and those emancipated from slavery equal legal status with whites; however, their poverty and dependence on the Afrikaners and British was firmly entrenched
Colonial History of South Africa, cont’d
British colony, 1795-1910
Impact of the arrival of the British settlers
In the 1850s, the British immigrants requested that their government open up the fertile Kat River valley to white settlement; more Khoikhoi were dispossessed of their land
1856 – Masters and Servants Act ended slavery, but the settlers continued to have the use of Khoikhoi labor and that of the formerly enslaved
At this point officials clumped the Khoikhoi and the formerly enslaved into the same racialized category, “Cape Coloured People”; the term “coloured” would stick
Colonial History of South Africa, cont’d
British colony, 1795-1910
The first census, taken in 1865, would show:
About 100,000 ”Europeans”
Around 200,000 Khoikhoi (called “Hottentots”) and “Others” (i.e., coloured people)
About 100,000 ”Kafirs,” or African farmers who were becoming the main labor force in the eastern colony
Racial hierarchy established by the Dutch and the British would set the stage for apartheid, including the transition from slavery to freedom (more on this later)
Blacks struggled against efforts to keep them in a position of economic, political, and social inequality
Colonial History of South Africa, cont’d
British colony, 1795-1910
1867 – Alluvial diamonds were discovered west of Bloemfontein
Within a few years, geologists discovered that the site contained the largest concentration of gem diamonds ever discovered at that point
Kimberley, the diamond city, was born
1886 – Goldfields were discovered in Witwatersrand
Johannesburg, the city of gold, was born
By the end of the 19th century, Southern African became a major contributor to the world economy for the first time
Most of the capital invested in the mining industries came from overseas, and a huge percentage of the profits went to Britain, other European countries, and North America
Colonial History of South Africa, cont’d
British colony, 1795-1910
African groups that had maintained their independence in southern Africa were incorporated into a white-dominated capitalist economy
Thus, in South Africa the huge demand for cheap black lack occurred AFTER slavery was abolished; Africans were dispossessed of their land and lost their independence, becoming economically dependent on low wage jobs
The racialized economic structures that had been created during slavery had not been dismantled
Arguably, in South Africa inequalities, exploitation, and the lack of rights for blacks became worse AFTER slavery and official colonialism than during it
Colonial History of South Africa, cont’d
British colony, 1795-1910
For instance, in the mining industries, the work force was split into white and black workers:
White workers: held supervisory or skilled positions; had opportunities for advancement; high wages; relatively good working conditions; in the diamond city of Kimberley, white workers were allowed to live in the town with their families
Colonial History of South Africa, cont’d
British colony, 1795-1910
Black workers: remained excluded from skilled or supervisory positions; were poorly paid; were subjected to harsh living conditions; did the manual, heavy, and dangerous labor; during the 1870s, Africans became required to carry passes and to live in segregated parts of town, or to live in all-male compounds; after 1885, the African mineworkers were not permitted outside the compounds; they lived in confined quarters under tight discipline; Africans were stripped for intimate body searches for diamonds; their annual mortality rate reached 8% in the late 1870s, mostly due to pneumonia
Colonial History of South Africa, cont’d
British colony, 1795-1910
Black workers in agricultural areas: Africans had to pay rent, surrender a share of their produce, or provide labor services for the right to live on the land from which they had lived traditionally
It was in these decades that the remaining free African societies, like the Zulu nation, were defeated militarily; this was largely accomplished by the beginning of the 20th century
The British also had a bloody war with the Afrikaners (the second Anglo-Boer War) from 1899-1902; more than 15,000 black Africans died, Britain lost over 22,000 men, and more than 34,000 Afrikaners died as well; Britain expanded its colony with this victory, annexing rich goldmining areas; in the peace agreement, a British-Afrikaner alliance against black Africans was negotiated, among other things
Colonial History of South Africa, cont’d
British colony, 1795-1910
In 1910 – the Afrikaners declared independence
The British only recognized it in 1931
1912 – the South African Native National Council formed (which would become the African National Congress); it fought against the racial policies and political exclusions that the independent Afrikaner government enacted
Indeed, apartheid (or “apartness”) already was being enforced in South Africa before the official regime was elected in 1948; 1948 marked the more legalized, bureaucratized, and firmly embedded form of racial segregation, control, and exclusions that had long existed
Colonial History of South Africa, cont’d
Apartheid would:
Chop up the country into racialized group territories, and required special documents to enter into another racial group’s designated area
Prohibit most interracial social contact
Exclude blacks from the national electoral process
See violent state repression against those who protested or organized against the system, even children
More details to come during Part II after the midterm…
Mandela Bio
Born in 1918
His father was legal council to the King of the Thembu people
His mother was “the center of his existence”
Eventually graduated with a BA in 1943
Received his law degree in 1989 while in prison, but was able to practice after earning a two-year diploma
Joined African Negro Congress (ANC) in 1944, helped create the ANC Youth League as well
Married Evelyn Mase; the couple had two sons (the first born would die young); couple divorced in 1958
In 1948, the National Party won the election; marked the beginning of official apartheid era
1950 – Mandela was elected president of the ANC Youth League
1952 – Mandela became the national Volunteer-in-Chief of the Defiance Campaign (ANC and South African Indian Congress joint effort)
Mandela Bio, cont’d
Defiance Campaign organizers were arrested, including Mandela, under the Suppression of Communism Act; They were sentenced to nine months of hard labor, but the sentence was suspended for two years
Mandela and Oliver Tambo opened South Africa’s first black law firm
In 1956, Mandela and other anti-apartheid activists were charged with “high treason”; he was acquitted and went underground
Mandela continued to organize strikes and actions, coming to believe that the need for armed struggle had arrived
He married Winnie Madikizela in 1958; they had two daughters
Mandela co-founded Umkhonto we Sizwe (Spear of the Nation) with the intention to cause property damage, not human casualties
Mandela traveled under a pseudonym to get military training to lead the armed struggle in Morocco and Ethiopia; he was stopped at a road block and charged with leaving the country without a permit and encouraging workers to strike
Mandela was sentenced to 5 years in 1962; that turned into 27 years
Mandela Bio, cont’d
Mandela emerged from prison in 1990
He became active in the talks to end white minority rule, a change that President FW de Klerk helped usher in
Mandela became South Africa’s first democratically elected president in 1994
As he promised, he stepped down after one term
Mandela in Memory
The Trajectory of Mandela’s Image:
From villain/terrorist to hero
Mandela as a sign of the promise of racial reconciliation
Mandela as a sign of the failure of racial reconciliation
Vs.