Running head: A REPARATION LAW SUIT FOR THE BALCK PEOPLE IN SOUTH AFRICA 1
A Reparation Law Suit Outlining the Reasons for the Compensation of the Black People
in South Africa from the Crimes and Violations from Apartheid, Racism, Colonization and
Slavery
HST 643 - Global History
ASU
Summer 2022
A REPARATION LAW SUIT FOR THE BALCK PEOPLE IN SOUTH AFRICA1 2
Introduction
This lawsuit is a reparation lawsuit for the South African people due to the crimes and
violations; they suffered during since the slavery period to date. Slavery, racism, colonization
and apartheid are some of the things that affected the South African population in the past
centuries. However, this is not over as there are various other forms in which colonization,
racism, and slavery are still affecting them. Shillington (2012) suggests that even though these
are not done in the open today, it has been incorporated into the African systems such as Prisons,
schools, the economic sector, social systems and the political systems in the country. It is a truly
troublesome reality to believe that analytically, there is anyone in South Africa who is inept to
sincerely fail to recognize how these histories of the South African community is still affected
them as immigrants in this present day (Shillington, 2012). Due to the fact that these realities
seem to be real to some people or due to the fact most people refuse or ignore to accept or
acknowledge their sufferings, this lawsuit, stands for their justice. Through this lawsuit, reasons
for the compensation of the South African people for a list of crimes and violations provided
herein prove how they have and are still suffering due to slavery, colonization.
Slavery in South Africa
Slavery in South African came as a result of the colonization in the country that began in
the year 1652. Banton (2002) assert that slavery opened the people in South Africa to intense
forms of suffering and given the length of time that the country took to achieve its freedom and
independence means that the country remained under the colonial rule for the longest time than
any other countries in Africa. Some of the key effects imposed on the South African people are
discussed in this section.
A REPARATION LAW SUIT FOR THE BALCK PEOPLE IN SOUTH AFRICA1 3
i. Forced labor
The main reason for the enslavement of the people in South Africa was to provide free
forced labor in the colonial settler farms in the country and abroad in the colonial countries. The
people that intensely suffered from the slavery system providing cheap labor in the country were
the Khoisan people. McDougall (2001) says that they were forced into cultivating the colonial
lands in the country without any payment. What made the situation worse for these people is that
some African rulers colluded with the colonial masters in the enslavement process. They
captured innocent men and sold them to their benefit and intensified their relations with the
white settlers. Men were forced to work for long hours with little food. Therefore, due to this
unpaid for labor, it is important that they are compensated for the economic losses they
underwent.
Along with agricultural exploitation, forced labor in South Africa was also applied to the
mining and infrastructure projects which formed the core of the colonial economy. Keegan
(1996) states that indigenous people had to operate in dangerous diamond and gold mines that
had unfavorable conditions that they were usually subjected to cruelty, poor accommodation and
exposures to hazardous living conditions. Women and children were not left behind since they
were forced into domestic systems or employed to sustain settler families thereby forming
intergenerational processes of exploitation (Ross, 1999). This coercion was further entrenched by
the pass laws and taxation systems which put a limit on the movement and forced Africans to
find jobs in the colonial enterprises (Worden, 2012). These institutions guaranteed the unending
provision of inexpensive labor and also applied a systematic deprivation of autonomy and wealth
to communities. These activities not only weakened the traditional livelihoods, but they also
created socio-economic inequalities which are still there. These injustices are profound as
A REPARATION LAW SUIT FOR THE BALCK PEOPLE IN SOUTH AFRICA1 4
indicated by the torment imposed by forced labor, as well as, the systematic diversion of the land
and resources. They need recognition, historical responsibility, and compensations.
ii. Intense suffering
With the settlement of Europeans and Dutch settlers in South Africa, suffering became an
order of the day among the people. Slavery and loss of freedom devastated a once organized
tradition system that was characterized by peace and tranquility. Shillington (2012) states that
despite the resistance that the people waged against the colonialist; they were weakened and
became helpless victims. The societies and family suffered losses as able-bodied men were taken
to work in settler farms from as far as Cape Town from other regions of the country. In making
the families unable to gather for a living as most men were sole providers. The separations also
led to emotional suffering among the children and spouses. Slavery also led to battering and
other physical industries since slaves were bitten by their masters.
The torment that African societies were exposed to went beyond physical torture to
physical psychological and cultural trauma that left haunting marks to the unfortunate societies.
The mass migration of people and readiness to move whole communities out of their native
home broke the most important links to ancestry, spirituality, and historic economic structure
that preserving the history had been maintaining the population. A report by Worden (2012)
indicated that among the most devastating effects of colonization was land dispossession, which
left families penniless because they relied on paltry wages paid by the colonialists and in the
process, were exploited. Communities were now left without land to practice subsistence
agriculture, and were also unable to maintain their cultural practices that were related to the
environment. The dispossession also destroyed the native forms of governance and leadership,
and left people without leaders who could oppose the colonial influences. The ensuing social
A REPARATION LAW SUIT FOR THE BALCK PEOPLE IN SOUTH AFRICA1 5
disintegration created waves of poverty and insecurity which undermined community fortitude
and created a sense of alienation and powerlessness. Families without their land and the social
order not only survived hunger but also death of dignity and identity. The historical experience
of this displacement defines the inequalities of South Africa up to this day and shows the extent
to which the tragedy of years of dominance is still within the consciousness of the country people
(Worden, 2012).
South Africa had also increased inequalities as a result of gendered suffering during
slavery and colonial domination. Women were usually burdened with a twofold responsibility to
work either on farms or in their homes and at the same time to be caregivers to homes since their
men are sent to the farm and mines which is always at a distance. Ross (1999) highlights that
women were particularly exposed to vulnerability in this system experiencing, not only,
exploitation through the economic system, but also sexual violence and harassment by the hands
of the settlers and overseers. Women lost their rights to the body, and domination systems
established them as powerless. Moreover, the loss of men to their families made house unit
structures unstable and this left the women with the enormous pressure of raising children
without adequate resources. Lack of parental stability denied children cultural education and
exposed them to the vortex of poverty, ignored parenting and exploitations. These multi-
generational impacts of family break-ups brought torment far beyond the direct casualties.
Slavery and colonial exploitation of the Africans destroyed the foundations of these African
communities by subverting family integrity and disrupting cultural pervasion. This kind of
suffering portrays that, forced labor was not only an economic organization but also a systematic
attack on African identity, customs and social transmission (Ross, 1999).
iii. The violation of human rights
A REPARATION LAW SUIT FOR THE BALCK PEOPLE IN SOUTH AFRICA1 6
The violation of human rights through slavery was intense in South Africa. During the
transatlantic slave trade, slaves were transported from other regions to Cape Town. Freedom of
movement was one of the most curtailed freedoms among the South African indigenous people.
Shillington (2012) states that during this period, the Dutch settlers were conducting the slave
trade and they captured and sold many slaves. In the settlement schemes and the plantations,
slaves were not allowed to move away from the master’s premises which further intensified their
lack of freedom. They could not air any of their grievances and whenever they revolted or
resisted, they were killed. As a result, the right to life was not observed by the slave masters
(Dooling, 2008). This still affecting them since they're still new forms of such violations in the
society today. Compensation will allow them to accept the reality of their past and feel that
justice has been served.
The denial of any legal protection and recognition was another major human rights
violation with regard to slavery in South Africa. The slaves were considered property and not
persons, thus having no source of justice and redress against abuse. Dooling (2008) writes that
colonial courts often strengthened the power of settlers and justified the atrocities done to the
slaves. Cruel punishments such as whipping, mutilation and random executions were the order of
the day and they were always meted out without any form of reprisal. Since the slaves were not a
legal party, they were unable to defend themselves in any form, to demand any treatment, and
did not have a way to defend their families and avoid exploitation. Their marriages, parenthood,
and kinship connections were not accepted in the presence of the law, and it once again made
enslaved Africans insignificant to basic human dignity. Such practices institutionalized
dehumanization and the total control that the settlers had over the workforce and social classes.
The deprivation of humanity to even the simplest human rights to be so baseless as even
A REPARATION LAW SUIT FOR THE BALCK PEOPLE IN SOUTH AFRICA1 7
recognition before the law highlights the severity of the injustices suffered. It was not only a
violation of labor, but also destruction of lives and moral stand of the society (Dooling, 2008).
In addition to legal exclusion, enslaved individuals in South Africa were mainly limited
in their cultural and religious freedom, one of the main human infringements. In most cases,
European settlers would demand and enforce their language, rituals and belief systems at the
expense of the indigenous ones, using Christianity and European practices instead. According to
Worden (2012), colonial rulers pushed back the African traditions labeling them as primitive or
uncivilized. Slaves were not allowed to practice their religion or conduct their cultural rituals,
which broke the sense of community and belonging. The aggressive Christianization of Africans
in enslavement, in addition to alienation, caused long-term consequences of psychological
damage since Africans were taught to undermine their culture. According to Ross (1999) cultural
repression was a conscious instrument of control that ensured obedience to the colonial regime
and undermined opposition to it. It was not only an assault on tradition to destroy cultural
freedoms, but a blow at the collective dignity of the African communities. Colonial slavery
deprived the enslaved population of the right to the most basic norms of cultural self-
determination as we see it in the present day by censoring avenues of speech and culture, forcing
away the most relevant customs, and establishing foreign identities.
Colonization
Colonization in South Africa took the longest time than any other African state. It began
to intensify after the Berlin conference of 1884-1885 when Otto von Bismarck convened the
conference to discuss how to partition the African continent among the western and European
powers (Shillington, 2012). It was also meant to lay the way forward on how to control the
continent. As a result, the European powers took control of the continent. After South Africa
A REPARATION LAW SUIT FOR THE BALCK PEOPLE IN SOUTH AFRICA1 8
received its independence in 1994, the country was relieved from a prolonged state of unrest and
intense invasion and migration of people. This section list and explains the effects of
colonization in the country and why people should be compensated.
i. The disintegration of the people’s ways of life
For over 100,000 years, those people who lived in South Africa especially regions such
as Zambezi river valley were the san people who were hunters and gatherers. They are
considered as the indigenous people of South Africa. The Khoisan consisted of two other groups
which are the san was referred to as the Bushmen and the Khoikhoi who were pastoralists.
Michalopoulos and Papaioannon (2016) articulate that when the colonialists arrived in the
country, they disrupted the ways of life of these people in various ways. One is that they
disrupted their pastoralism as the land was taken away for farming. Most of them were forced to
flee the regions where they got pasture for their animals and some of their animals died in the
process. The hunters’ ways of life were also disrupted through slavery when they were captured
and taken to slavery (Shillington, 2012). Therefore, there is a need to compensate them for the
disrupted ways of life that could define, in a different way, the African heritage today.
The collapse of indigenous lifestyles bred an aspect of marginalization in the long term
that characterized social, political, and education systems during colonialism and the apartheid.
The extinction of livelihoods of the Khoisans displaced a large number of the indigenous people
to become resistant to the active economic engagements and reduced them to being subsistient
employees which enhanced the inequality (Dooling, 2008). According to Banton (2002), these
disruptions went beyond being purely economic and were also negotiated within the
communities of racialized hierarchies that undermined the position and identity of African
communities. The systems run by settlers undermined customary power and began to disorganize
A REPARATION LAW SUIT FOR THE BALCK PEOPLE IN SOUTH AFRICA1 9
the cultural traditions and practices that used to be centuries-old and shapes the African tradition.
According to Bond, Garcia, and Garcia (2014), neoliberal reforms did not solve these
inequalities even after the end of apartheid, leaving indigenous people in a disadvantaged
position. Schools like Fort Hare subsequently became associated with African strength, and also
contributed to reinforcing the existence of colonial histories to weigh down on cultural survival
and progress (Johnson, 2018). These are long-term interruptions that demonstrate the necessity
of the historical responsibility and compensation of the cultural and social disintegration of the
indigenous people.
ii. Loss of land
When the scrambled for land in Africa began, South Africa was no exception. The Dutch
and the British settlers took over the region sharing the land amongst them. As a result, the
Khoikhoi and the san people remained homeless in their own country. Their land was taken away
from them and the colonial masters turned it into plantations. The aboriginals were forced out of
the country into the southwest and the southern parts and some were even adopted by the Xhosa
people in their chiefdoms (Shillington, 2012). They could no longer live the life of pastoralism
and hunting as they used to. Compensation will therefore, restore some of their land that is still
on lease to most of the settlers who are still in the country.
The dispossession of land not only displaced the people that consisted of Khoikhoi and
San; but it also increased structural differences that remain to this day in South Africa.
Michalopoulos and Papaioannou (2016) contend that the scramble of Africa had long-term
consequences where native people were intentionally left out of fertile land and economic
platforms. These exemptions institutionalized poverty and enhanced settler control of agriculture.
According to McDougall (2001), this dispossession contravened the international human-rights
A REPARATION LAW SUIT FOR THE BALCK PEOPLE IN SOUTH AFRICA1 10
standards in that the racial discriminatory practices were standardized by the law, which
legitimized the land alienation and deprived the indigenous people of their legitimate rights. The
displacement was not just physical but in other ways in the community of land, who were not
just connected physically but also spiritually and socially as well as economically. Although
slavery was abolished and colonialists went, land was still tightly controlled in the hands of
settlers leaving indigenous population marginalized. The current land restitution wrangle is not
about the past discontents alone but justice to remedy centuries of exclusion and dis inheritance
(Shillington, 2012).
iii. The Erosion of the African culture
Colonialists saw Africans as a primitive culture that needed to be liberated into the light.
They saw them as a people whose ways of life was backward and barbaric. As a result, they
introduced new ways of life that completed corroded the African culture. One of this was
Christianity. Michalopoulos and Papaioannon, (2016) state that Christianity was one of the ways
in which the Europeans used to trick Africans into accepting some of the colonial rule ways of
life. It is through Christianity that education was introduced in South Africa. It advocated for the
acquisition of education and the shunning of the traditional idol-worshipping that existed in the
region. Education that came with it, introduced the people to modernity as most of them, despite
the resistance, converted into Christianity and helped the Europeans in conquering the majority
of the population. It became the new tool in which Africans were made vulnerable to the
European takeover of the region. As a result, the African culture corroded as people embraced
despite their resistance the new ways of life (Shillington, 2012). To date, the African heritage is
only a story to many South Africans. The suffering that came as a result of the corrosion of the
African culture which was rooted on the introduction of Christianity and education and the
A REPARATION LAW SUIT FOR THE BALCK PEOPLE IN SOUTH AFRICA1 11
compensation of these people will help them feel better that their losses have been recognized. It
will also be a major stride towards their healing process.
iv. The torn nature of the modern South African society
The colonization and its effects in South Africa are still evident today. The South African
society has been propelled into a modern world full of colonial bruises. It is a society torn ways
from its past and propelled into an atmosphere fashioned with the characteristics of the outside
such as the western ways of life that have constantly suppressed the African values, norms and
traditions. According to Michalopoulos and Papaioannon (2016) the modern South African
community is dumbfounded by the cultural invasion which has marginalized it. The South
African society today portrays a deformed and deformed image of the western society. The
history of the day in the country does not show an original image of how the South African
tradition society used to be. People have a right to their heritage; however, colonization ripped
them off their right to have an original image of it. Therefore, compensating the South African
aboriginals of their colonial atrocities will serve as an apology for their loss of identity.
A fractured South Africa today presents itself. Political and ethnic tension goes back to
colonial divide and rule policies. As Young (2023) argues, colonial states actively increased the
level of ethnic antagonism. They were determined to curb resistance and fortify the power of
settlers. These artificial lines are present even after the independence and influence the manner in
which people and communities relate with each other and with the government. Instead of there
being one culture, South Africa currently enjoys a divided social fabric with ethnicity, race and
class now hopelessly clashing amongst each other. This division is disabling unity in the country,
and marginalized communities feel even more excluded. Troup (2022) notes that it is still hard to
overcome colonial scars which is a hindrance to reconciliation. Individuals are facing the
A REPARATION LAW SUIT FOR THE BALCK PEOPLE IN SOUTH AFRICA1 12
problem of fitting in and identification. Hence the disrupted social fabric in South Africa cannot
be attributed solely to the globalization process, it is also a result of historical manipulations that
deprived communities of an opportunity to determine who to be.
The history of colonialism continues to manifest itself in economic organization in
contemporary South Africa with a lot of the industrialization and growth having mostly favored
the elites leaving the historically dispossessed to stand alone. As Andreoni, Mondliwa, Roberts,
and Tregenna (2021) demonstrate, the process of structural transformation in South Africa is still
not balanced: inequality is tightly connected with the colonial and apartheid systems established
the racial orders. Industrial and infrastructural development-railroads, etc- was encouraged as
indicators of development, but generally furthered the interests of the colonialists, not the native
population. Even visual representations, Foster (2021) notes, supported the construction of settler
dominance and loss of African presence in the national terrain, including in the form of the
railway photography. According to Parashar and Schulz (2021), such legacies are making
postcolonial selfhood very problematic, with South Africans not knowing how to combine the
imposed Western models of development with their traditional values and dreams. The outcome
is that there is a society that has been thrown into modernity though it is full of inequalities and
cultural dissonance. These long term colonial fractures cannot be solved by economic
reformation, these fractures can only be solved by acknowledging the latent cultural, social and
psychological wounds which have always remained as fabrications to the South African
collective identity.
Apartheid in South Africa
The word apartheid refers to the Afrikaans word “apartness” which refers to the ideology
held by the National Party that the diverse racial groups in the country had to be separated and
A REPARATION LAW SUIT FOR THE BALCK PEOPLE IN SOUTH AFRICA1 13
had to have different development programs. Even though this ideology, on paper, seemed to
advocate for equal and separate development as well as cultural expression in the country, the
problem was at its implementation stage. This section of the lawsuit lists the violations of the
apartheid laws and why black South Africans should be compensated (Johnson, 2018).
i. The creation of a rift between the black and other races
The problem that emerged as a result of this policy was that it propelled for inequality
since the acquisition, distribution and the use of resources in the country created a rift and wide
gap between the black South Africans and the white counterparts. Johnson (2018) asserts that
through this policy, laws were created that forced the various racial groups in the country to live
in separate regions, to develop independently, as well as grossly unevenly. The policy made
intermarriages impossible, interactions between the various races, as well as restriction the social
integration among the races. This created suspicion among the various groups because any
interactions created speculations. The majority of the population which was the black people
were highly disadvantaged by these apartheid laws because in the first place, they did not share
the same skin color with the other groups. Most of them were maintained above destitution in
their country since they were non-white (Johnson, 2018). Therefore, the inequality that is evident
to date is based on the apartheid and compensation the black South African population for the
losses incurred in regard to uneven development will ensure that they get a chance to develop
their societies.
The racial oblivion that has developed under apartheid is carried to the post-apartheid
democratic period, which sets visible trends of inequality and marginalization. According to
Cooper (2019), apartheid was not only physically dividing the populations, but it also
institutionalized disparities in the access to the political and economic power. This
A REPARATION LAW SUIT FOR THE BALCK PEOPLE IN SOUTH AFRICA1 14
institutionalized separation has been the source of historic disparities in terms of wealth,
education and opportunity. According to Mamdani (2018), colonialism and apartheid created the
stratified citizenry in which black South Africans were left to the policies and institutions that
aimed to restrict their freedom of choice. As of 1994, the aftermath of this rift continues to
influence the social and economic processes of the country with the black societies being in
conflict with the structural disfavor with the national structure. According to Oliver and Oliver
(2017), colonization resulted in the creation of its own South African case where race was the
central source of advantage, and hierarchy that was subsequently strengthened by apartheid. The
persistent disparities, such as housing to water access (Calverley & Walther, 2022) indicate that
the process of healing the racial gap can take both material and spiritual redress, in addition to
paying due attention to the psychological scars which linger (Long, 2021).
The resistance of these racial separations depicts how much apartheid shook the social
basis of South Africa. According to Long (2021), psychological damage to generations of people
who lived under legalized inequality has given a lot of black South Africans a sense of
marginalization, distrust, and poor self-worth. These are emotions which are associated with
material deprivation. These segregations can still be observed in residential segregations,
imbalanced education, and employment restrictions in favor of white South Africans. Mamdani
(2018) elaborates on how the ingrained division between colonial and apartheid rule violated the
subjects into citizens and the subjects, and a sense of rejection became permanent that
democracy has not been able to reintegrate these populations. Access to basic resources, as
Calverley and Walther (2022) discovered in their analysis of the situation in Cape Town due to
the water crisis, is still the unequal heritage of racial privilege. Solving these continuous
disparities requires not only the change in policies but also the reparative measures that will
A REPARATION LAW SUIT FOR THE BALCK PEOPLE IN SOUTH AFRICA1 15
reflect the historic injustice black people have experienced. The division between the races will
remain entrenched in the framework and mind of the country without such redress.
ii. Poor social and other facilities
During the apartheid period, black South Africans were the most disadvantaged. The
reason for this is that they were the only one in the country who were at the bottom in regard to
the social chain. As a result, they all received the worst education, health, economic among other
facilities in the country. Shillington (2012) articulate that since they were taught in separate
schools with inadequate facilities and using the Afrikaans language which was considered
foreign to them and inapplicable in other parts of the world, they remained unable to compete
with the rest of the world, as well as the other races in the country. The highest level of education
that the black South Africans could achieve was high school. As a result, they could not get any
good paying jobs and all they could get was to become teachers in their own black schools,
casual workers for the white people doing domestic chores and gardening in the white suburbs
(Johnson, 2018). This was quite detrimental to them because they became technically maimed to
survive in the dynamic society of the day that required better education for a better life. This also
applied to the access to other amenities such as hospitals.
Income denial (lack of essential facilities) was not limited to education and health. It
touched on elementary infrastructures like house, clean water and sanitation. According to
Mamdani (2018), the apartheid system embedded a new system whereby the black South
Africans were viewed as subjects and not citizens. They were solely left out of state investment
in their localities and many black townships lacked the future of reliable electricity, lacked
proper healthcare and provided suitable functioning of public services. According to Oliver and
Oliver (2017), this exclusion was grounded on the colonial model. The hierarchy of privilege
A REPARATION LAW SUIT FOR THE BALCK PEOPLE IN SOUTH AFRICA1 16
which was constructed by that model has been solidified by apartheid which makes sure that the
resources will remain concentrated in regions dominated by whites. The results of these policies
can be observed nowadays. According to Cooper (2019), inequality in South Africa remains
perpetuated by lack of disparities in social infrastructure even after switching to democracy. In
the more recent case of Cape Town water crisis, Calverley and Walther (2022) demonstrate that
even in Cape Town the most disadvantaged areas were the most affected by the shortages, which
goes to show that the black neighbourhoods have not been prioritised throughout history. These
inequalities explain why the heritage of colonialism and apartheid continues to influence access
to vital facilities.
iii. Lack of freedom of movement
The apartheid system separated the races into separate regions and interaction was
prohibited. For those black South Africans who worked in the premises of the white people, their
movements were curtailed and whenever they made any moves, they were under surveillance
(Bond, Gracia & Gracia, 2014). It was during this period that an identification system was
created to allow the workers to access the white settlements and restrict movement among those
who did not have such identification. The inability to move freely in their own country was one
of the bitter realities that Africans had to tolerate each day. To date, a narration of such
experiences elicits emotion and pain among the black people in this country. Therefore,
compensation will, act as a way of relieving them of the pain.
The pass laws as well as the other related restrictions were amongst the most
systematically planned violations of human rights that occurred within the south African setting.
According to McDougall (2001), these laws not only impeded the freedom of movement of the
subjects, but they also institutionalized racial discrimination thus depriving the black South
A REPARATION LAW SUIT FOR THE BALCK PEOPLE IN SOUTH AFRICA1 17
Africans a chance to be equal to the whites. Wholesale fear was felt by the whole family
regarding the police intrusion, arrest, and even financial fines in case they did not have the
required identification paperwork. According to Shillington (2012), the perpetual surveillance
created the feeling of systemic oppression, in which black South Africans were reduced to the
status of foreigners in their own country. These limitations also added to the disintegration of the
family structure with workers being forced to travel long distances away and spend a long time
in their workplace only to be relieved when particular permits were issued to them. The social
cost of such legislation was significant because it destroyed social cohesion and affected trust in
social institutions. The pass system was therefore more than a servient tool of administration and
more so a form of coercion which withholds dignity and self-determination to the black South
Africans in the day to day life.
The political, social, and economic impacts of limited mobility in the long term were
imprinted on South African life, causing damage that will last. Michalopoulos and Papaioannou
(2016) present arguments that mobility restrictions belonged to a larger colonial and apartheid
policy of trying to keep Africans out of economic activities in urban areas and retain the white
dominance in the industry and trade. Apartheid authorities entrenched blacks South Africans in a
cycle of poverty and dependency by limiting their location to work and location to live. As
demonstrated by Troup (2022), this institutionalised inequality by space: African-dominated
underdeveloped homelands were the country of the Africans, whereas well-endowed cities were
the territory of whites. Young (2023) indicates that these suppressed ethnic and racial separations
as well, undermined the collective political reaction to apartheid rule. This inability to move
freely deprived the black South Africans of the right to have education, improved jobs and social
development and this continued to create a generation of inequality. Such rules of segregation
A REPARATION LAW SUIT FOR THE BALCK PEOPLE IN SOUTH AFRICA1 18
and unequal access to urban areas still resonate to this day. These facts support the thesis that the
reparation is necessary to resolve not only historic injustices but also their consequences.
Racism in South Africa
Racism in South Africa is one of the most evident atrocities in the country today.
McDougall (2001) assert that despite the high levels of democracy that exist, there is still a high
tension between the whites and the black people. Racism led to the apartheid system in the
country where people were separated into racial groups could not be allowed to interact. There
was a great level of animosity between the black and the white people in South Africa because of
the perceptions based on colonialism and slavery. Most black people in the country attributed
white people to violence and degradation of their values and ways of life. The white people on
the other hand, saw Africans as uncivilized people who cannot interact with them. Therefore, this
led to the segregation experienced in the country (Shillington, 2012). The black people suffered
due to lack of better living conditions as resources were allotted on a larger scale to the whites
making the poor. They were also referred to be monkeys because they did not have a skin color
like those of the white people. These acts made them have a lower self-esteem. Therefore, a
compensation will be a way of apologizing to them.
Summary
The evidence above shows that the black South African people suffered a lot under the
colonial rule, the racism that existed in the country, the apartheid laws and slavery. Slavery
opened the people in South Africa to intense forms of suffering and given the length of time that
the country took to achieve its freedom and independence. It caused a lot of suffering, forced
labor and the violation of human rights. Colonization, on the other hand, began after the Berlin
A REPARATION LAW SUIT FOR THE BALCK PEOPLE IN SOUTH AFRICA1 19
conference of 1884-1885 when Otto von Bismarck convened the conference to discuss how to
partition the African continent among the western and European powers. It led to the loss of
African land to the whites, disintegration of the ways of life among the San people and it created
the torn image of contemporary South Africa. Apartheid led to the inequalities, poor facilities
for the black people and loss of the freedom of movement. Finally, racism in the country created
animosity among the racial groups that intensified the plague of the black South Africans despite
being the majority in the country.
Conclusion
In conclusion, this lawsuit will serve as a way of restoring the lost glory of the black
people in South Africa. However, despite the inability to restore the state of the country to what
it was in the 15th century, the people in South Africa will feel that justice has been served and
that their opponents have recognized that South Africa is their native land and they have a bigger
say in its affairs. It will serve as a way of reinstating the losses incurred such as the corrosion of
the African culture, the loss of land that most of the white settlers still own in the country and
almost all the restoration of the black peoples’ identity in the country. Therefore, as their
attorney, it could be of great importance to see that the black South African people are
compensated for the above-listed crimes and violations.
A REPARATION LAW SUIT FOR THE BALCK PEOPLE IN SOUTH AFRICA1 20
References
Andreoni, A., Mondliwa, P., Roberts, S., & Tregenna, F. (2021). Structural transformation in
South Africa: The challenges of inclusive industrial development in a middle-income
country (p. 416). Oxford University Press.
Banton, M. (2002). The international politics of race. Cambridge: Polity Press..
Bond, P., Garcia, A., & Garcia, A. (2014). Elite Transition-Revised and Expanded Edition: From
Apartheid to Neoliberalism in South Africa. Pluto Press.
Calverley, C. M., & Walther, S. C. (2022). Drought, water management, and social equity:
Analyzing Cape Town, South Africa's water crisis. Frontiers in Water, 4, 910149.
Cooper, F. (2019). Africa since 1940: the past of the present (Vol. 13). Cambridge University
Press.
Dooling, W. (2008). Slavery, emancipation and colonial rule in South Africa (Vol. 87). Ohio
University Press.
Foster, J. (2021). Capturing and losing the ‘Lie of the Land’: Railway photography and colonial
nationalism in early twentieth-century South Africa. In Picturing Place (pp. 141-161).
Routledge.
Johnson, P. (2018). Procrastination and perseverance: Colonial ambiguity and African
aspirations in the origins of Fort Hare University. South African Journal of Cultural
History, 32(1), 65-84.
Long, W. (2021). Nation on the Couch Inside South Africa’s mind. New Agenda: South African
Journal of Social and Economic Policy, 82, 49-50.
Mamdani, M. (2018). Citizen and subject: Contemporary Africa and the legacy of late
colonialism.
A REPARATION LAW SUIT FOR THE BALCK PEOPLE IN SOUTH AFRICA1 21
McDougall, G. (2001). Racial Discrimination as a Violation of International Law: International
Standards and Mechanisms. Beyond racism: Race and inequality in Brazil, South Africa,
and the United States, 435-467.
Michalopoulos, S., & Papaioannou, E. (2016). The long-run effects of the scramble for Africa.
American Economic Review, 106(7), 1802-48.
Oliver, E., & Oliver, W. H. (2017). The colonisation of South Africa: A unique case. HTS:
Theological Studies, 73(3), 1-8.
Parashar, S., & Schulz, M. (2021). Colonial legacies, postcolonial ‘selfhood’and the (un) doing
of Africa. Third World Quarterly, 42(5), 867-881.
Shillington, K. (2012). History of Africa. Macmillan International Higher Education.
Troup, F. (2022). South Africa: an historical introduction. Routledge.
Young, C. (2022). Ethnicity and the colonial and post-colonial state in Africa. In Ethnic groups
and the state (pp. 57-93). Routledge.
