Events
-End of WWII
-After WW2, South Africa experience economic problems
-Cost of living and shortage of houses
-Many Africans had moved to cities during war and started working in factories and joining trade unions
-Many white people were afraid of this shift in powerIn late 1946, Prime Minister Jan Smuts
appointed the Fagan Commission to investigate
the best way to deal with the problem of
African urbanization: At the same time, the
National Party, led by Dr. D.F. Malan, appointed
its own commission, the Sauer Commission.Recommendations of the Fagan report, February 1948:
-Total segregation would never work
-Industry and commerce needed a permanent and
settled black urban population
-It was impossible to return all the existing townspeople
to the reserves, which were overcrowed
-Migrant labour should be discouraged
-African families should be discouraged to settle in
locations under strict controlRecommendation of the Sauer Report, 1948:
Apartheid or the separate development of the races
was the only way forward.
-The reserves were where Africans belonged.
-The flood of Africans into the cities was a dangerous
development
-Urban Africans must continue to be treated as visitors
without political rights
-Their numbers must be strictly controlled
-The migrant labor system must continue
-Black locations must be kept clearly separate from
white townsTHE IMPLEMENTATION OF APARTHEID
Once the National Party was in power,
it began to pass a wide range of apartheid
laws. These laws aimed to ensure racial
separation in all aspects of social life and
to control the movement and economic
activity of blacks.PROHIBITION OF MIXED MARRIAGES ACT,
NO 55 OF 1949IMMORALITY AMENDMENT ACT, NO 21 OF 1950
POPULATION REGISTRATION ACT, NO 30 OF 1950
GROUP AREAS ACT, NO 41 OF 1950
SUPPRESSION OF COMMUNISM ACT, NO 44 OF 1950PREVENTION OF ILLEGAL SQUATTING ACT,
NO 47 OF 1953
BANTU EDUCATION ACT, NO 47 OF 1953
RESERVATION OF SEPARATE AMENITIES ACT,
NO 49 OF 1953The Prohibition of Mixed Marriages Act, No 55
of 1949
This law prohibited marriage between whites
and people of other races.The Immorality Amendment Act, No 21 of 1950
Sexual relations between black and white South
Africans were forbidden. To enforce this Act,
police raided houses and broke into bedrooms
to photograph couples breaking the law. The
Apartheid Museum has recorded the way in
which the police harassed one particular
couple, Professor Blacking and Dr Desai.The Population Registration Act, No 30 of 1950
This law classified every South African according
to their particular racial group. This would
determine where they were allowed to
live and what work they could do. This
law had a terrible effect on people whose
racial identity was not clear. For example,
families could suddenly find themselves
divided. Parents who were classified
as African might be told that their
children had been classified as coloured.
Their children had to go and live in a so-cal
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