Apartheid existed prior to the 1948 election of South Africa’s white supremacist National Party, which managed the overarching legislation that divided the country’s ethnic groups. However, political historians have always been intrigued by the fact that apartheid was codified into law.
Perhaps the explanation is the arrogance of a white minority in an African country to insist on superiority and separation even after the Nazis — the exemplars of white supremacy – were vanquished in 1945. When we look back, it’s nearly impossible not to see cowardice and wickedness working together to prevent people from living in peace.
Despite widespread condemnation, apartheid lasted over fifty years. Some argue that this censure did not go far enough, because officials in the United Kingdom and the United States appeared to be unconcerned because South Africa was not influenced by Russia during the Cold War.
One of the ways the apartheid administration thought it could keep the racial segregation culture alive was to divide South Africans into four ethnic groups: White, Black, Indian, and Colored (multiracial offspring).
Economic and political stratification resulted from this categorisation. However, it was also deceptive in that there were divisions within each group. One was met by descendants of the British and descendants of the Dutch known as Boers among Whites. The several ethnic groups belonging to that region were among the Black South Africans. Middle Easterners are sometimes referred to as “Indian.”
The Prohibition of Mixed Marriages Act of 1949 was designed to prevent children from being born to “European” and “Non-European” peoples. It’s what comedian Trevor Noah refers to as “born a criminal.”
The rule effectively maintained the “purity” of European blood, which was essential to the National Party’s ideology of nationhood, which was supported by many white people.
Apartheid’s long-term plan was for black South Africans to have their own separate nations. The system was designed to ensure a white nation by alienating and removing native South Africans from their lands and the resources they contain. In the nineteenth century, the new nations were created on what British colonial officials referred to as reserves.
Between 1956 and 1976, twelve Black nations, or Bantustans, were established. Today, the term Bantustan refers to gerrymandered areas that lack political, legal, cultural, or moral legitimacy but are used to perpetuate a status quo or gain an advantage.
Bophuthatswana, Venda, Ciskei, Transkei, and Lebowa were the ten Bantustans. KwaZulu, KwaNdebele, KaNgwane, QwaQwa, and Gazankulu are the others. Because these countries were created on the basis of ethnic groups or tribes, Black South Africans were forced to relocate at considerable expense and risk to their lives and livelihoods. It should be remembered that these areas included what is now Namibia.
According to processes approved by the apartheid administration, these countries gained varying degrees of sovereignty. The administration went to great lengths to ensure that these Bantustans received international recognition. None showed up, but that didn’t stop the South African government from pressing US senators in 1976 to oppose a vote against US recognition of Transkei.
Because the Black homelands were deprived so much economic drive, life in the Bantustans was dreadful. South Africa has remained largely unchanged since 1994 in many aspects. Prior to Nelson Mandela’s presidency, the riches of one of Africa’s most powerful countries remained in the hands of white individuals who had built their homes there.