Origin and Nature of Apartheid

• The prohibition of Mixed Marriages Act banned marriages between black and white South Africans in 1949.
• The Population Registration Act created a racial register which classified whites, natives and coloureds in 1950.
• The Immorality Amendment Act banned sex between whites and blacks in 1950.
• The Group Areas Act divided SA into areas for whites and non-whites. People who lived in the wrong area were forced to move from 1950.
• The suppression of Communism Act, 1950 meant that any form of opposition to the government was treated as Communism and could lead to a ten year jail sentence. This meant that it was effectively illegal to oppose Apartheid.
• Influx Control was the name given to the measures used to regulate the inflow of black Africans into SA's urban areas during Apartheid.
• The pass laws were extended. All black African men had to carry pass book from the age of 16 at all times. Women had to carry them from 1956.
• As many as 400,000 arrests a year were made under the pass laws until they were abolished in 1986.
• The Bantu Education Act, 1953 meant that black children were made educated differently from whites. They were given a basic education that enabled them to undertake menial and manual work.
• The Bantu Education Act was written by Hendrick Verwoerd, who became prime minister in 1958.
• The Separate Amenities Act, 1953 segregated public buildings and places. These included cinemas, park benches, toilets, hospitals, bus stops and clubs.
• The provisions over public places such as separate parks, benches and other facilities became known as "Petty Apartheid".