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Dear fellow students! Our presentation is about apartheid.
Probably, many of you don't know what apartheid is, so in our first point we'll explain you what apartheid actually is, our second point is the beginning of apartheid and happenings in this time, then the consequences, after that we'll explain you the reasons for the end of apartheid. The next point will be South Africa became a democracy. Afterwards we will tell you about the today's situation in SA.
Deposit - Vorkommen
Election - Wahl
Put at disadvantage - benachteiligen
Armed - bewaffnet
Party - Partei
Effort - Bemühung
Abolish - aufheben
Nobel Prize for peace - Friedensnobelpreis
Reconciliation - Versöhnung
Affect - Auswirkung
What is apartheid?
South Africa is a country full of different ethnic groups. In year 1910 the whites, who came to SA because of the gold- and diamond deposit, ruled the country. The separation of different races, called apartheid, began.
The beginning
The government excluded the non-whites from the elections. Soon any sexual contact between different races was forbidden.
One year later the nonwhites were put at economic disadvantage, they were only allowed to do lower jobs, which were paid less. This led them in poverty.
The petty and grand apartheid
As a new party stepped in power separation of the different races became stricter. The non-whites were separated in 3 main groups: blacks, coloureds and Asians. This are the groups which were put in a disadvantage. The 4th group were the whites who had full rights. It was very hard to see the difference between blacks and coloureds. They had to do some tests; one of the strangest tests was this one: someone put a pen in their hair and if it fell out, the test person was put into the coloureds group. The idea was that the blacks had thicker hair.
Here began the petty apartheid. Toilets, restaurants, buses, beaches and other public buildings and places were separated; buildings had mostly 2 entrances, one for whites and one for nonwhites. Hospitals and ambulances were segregated: the white hospitals were generally of a very good standard with well-educated staff , while black hospitals were seriously understaffed , with many black areas without a hospital at all.
Non-whites had their own schools with worse teachers. Because of the worse education the chances for nonwhites to get a good job were very small. Mixed-race marriage was forbidden.
Now the blacks had to live in reservations called homelands, placed around the cities, often behind rubbish heaps. Blacks who worked in areas from the whites had to live in townships, which were from a better standard as the homelands.
Often families were separated. The living conditions were really bad; they didn't even have electricity or running water. Blacks working outside the townships had to carry a passport with them. Those who didn't were seen as foreigners and were only allowed to spend a certain time in the city. This areal separation is called grand apartheid. If the white living areas got too small, blacks were forced to move to other places and build there their houses. (tabelle) This shameless oppression and exploitation of the nonwhites could not go on peaceful. This leads me to my next topic.
The consequences and rebellions
Already in 1912 there was a first party against segregation called African national congress. One of the leaders of this party was Nelson Mandela, a very important person in this time.
In the beginning they just organized smaller strikes but didn't reach anything decisive. But the number of their supporters and the success grew quickly. In 1976 happened a tragedy as black pupils peacefully protested against the introduction of English in their schools.
The police shot at the children. At this massacre 600 people died, 150 of them were children. (hector pieterson)
An other example of the violent police happened as the blacks in Sharpeville, which is a township, refused to wear their passes. They demonstrated peacefully and were not armed. 69 people were killed and 187 wounded. All the victims were black, and most of them were shot in the back, which shows that they didn't attack the policemen who shot. The event became known as the Sharpeville massacre.
Because of this the government banned the African National Congress and arrested Nelson Mandela and 155 other members from the African National Congress. Now this party organized strikes from the underground, they also realized that they had to go further and fight with weapons if they wanted to succeed in this fight against the apartheid. They founded an armed organization.
In South Africa escalated a civil war. SA president, F.W. de Klerk, wanted to free Mandela on condition that they give up the armed organization. Mandela refused this.
Reasons for the ending of apartheid
Many countries (germany) recognized the misery of the non whites and boycott African fruits. But to boycott fruits was not the only thing they did.
Because of the growing pressure from these counties the end of apartheid was to expect.
In 1983 the prices of gold fall and with the prices also SA economy.
All efforts to unable the rebels were now financially not possible for SA.
The non whites won more and more power. Africa's president freed Nelson Mandela, from prison in 1990, because of the pressure from the armed Africans National Congress organization.
Resistance parties were legalized. All these happenings caused the end of this segregation. The government abolished some laws like the population registration act, which means that the citizens don't have to be registered as black, white, or coloured. Also the group areas act which means that the different races again can live together.
Between 1990- 1994 all the other laws of separation were abolished. Many blacks took the chance to move to cities.
South Africa became a democracy
1994 Africa's first democratic elections took place. African National Congress won the elections and Nelson Mandela became the first black president. He also got the Nobel Prize for peace.
The new government had to solve the financial problems. They also had to improve education and medical care of the non-whites. Public buildings with 2 entrances, black restaurants, everything had to change. All these improvements and changes cost a lot of money, and SA had even more debts. The government founded the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. They tried to find out about the, during the apartheid, commited crimes. Their aim was to create a foundation for a peaceful racial reconciliation.
South Africa today
SA has still to fight against the affects of apartheid. The areas of the homelands are least of all developed, many people are living on a very small piece of land and the poverty rate is very high. The living conditions are very bad. Big problems are illnesses. Because of this the life expectancy is in homelands but also in some parts of the townships lower then in the rest of the country. The politics of apartheid still have negative affects on cohabitation between the different races.
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