1948-1959

• In 1948, the National Party won the general election with 79 seats to the United Party's 71. It had a lesser voter share than the united party benefiting instead from the fact that rural constituencies where afrikaans-speakers are more present were weighted 15% heavier under FPTP.
• Apartheid policies


  Institutionalized racial discrimination and segregation, built upon earlier legislation and societal norms that favored the white minority and marginalized non-white populations
• Group Areas Act of 1950


  • Designated specific areas for occupation by different ethnic groups, further segregating communities along racial lines
• Native Laws Amendment Act of 1952


  • Extended Pass laws to include black women and replaced pass books with reference books
• Defiance Campaign


  Launched by the African National Congress (ANC) in 1952, marked the first large-scale opposition to apartheid policies, characterized by non-violent protests against racial segregation and discrimination. It was based around non-conformity to the law, it had as its aim was to prove the prison system ineffective.

  
  

  However it fizzled out in december as the government did not respond to the 8000 arrests which were weak compared to the 8 million african population.

  
  

  But resulted in an increase in ANC membership of 100,000, aiding to rejuvenate the stagnant organisation.
• ANC


  • Founded in 1912, engaged in resistance efforts, including boycotts and protests, with the support of groups like the South African Indian Congress and the Liberal Party
• ANC Youth League (ANCYL)


  • Established in 1944 to mobilize younger activists in the struggle for equality was seen as the antidote to the impression that the ANC was a purely middle-class educated deliberative forum.
• ANC Women's League (ANCWL)


  • Established in 1948 to mobilize female activists in the struggle for equality led by Albertine sisulu alongside Lilian Ngoyi.
• PAC (Pan-Africanist Congress)


  • Founded in 1959 by Robert Sobukwe, advocated for direct action and Africanist governance as an alternative to ANC strategies
• Congress Alliance


  • A coalition of organizations including the ANC, SA Indian Congress, and others, worked collectively to challenge apartheid policies through various means, including the adoption of the Freedom Charter in 1955.
  • Met in Kliptown just outside of Johannesburg in 1955 for the People's Congress
• Treason Trial of 1956, came after the People's Congress, arrested 156 people on the suspect of treason for communist dealings due to the Freedom Charter and SACP involvement. No one was imprisoned after the 5 year trial but it did remove powerful figures from the opposition movement such as Luthuli and Sisulu.
• Protests and resistance efforts

  • Non-violent actions like bus boycotts, potato boycotts, and localized uprisings against corrupt authorities and exploitative practices
• Population Registration Act of 1950

  • Classified individuals by race
  • "cornerstone" of Apartheid as all the other measures worked because everyone was one race or the other.
• Bantu Authorities Act of 1951


  • Restricted Africans to "tribal reserves," effectively disenfranchising them from South African citizenship.
  • Created "white South Africa"
• Extension of Universities Act of 1959


  • Banned African students from attending certain universities.
  • Set up different universities for different races, for example Fort Hare was brought into government hands to manipulate the educated African elite, who were the only ones allowed there.
• Prohibition of Mixed Marriages Act of 1949


  • Made interracial marriage illegal
• Immorality Actof 1950


  • Criminalized interracial sexual relations
• Bantu Education Act of 1953


  • Provided inferior education to black students, perpetuating systemic inequality.
  • Closed nearly all the mission schools, so that the state could control the african education. The only ones that did not close were Catholic, Seventh Day Adventist and The Bishop of Johannesburg School.
  • Also made African education exclusively funded by African taxes, meaning that there was a massive shortfall in remuneration.
• Suppression of Communism Act of 1950


  • Banned political groups opposing apartheid
• Forced removals of non-white communities

  • Sophiatown, Cato Manor, and District Six
• Tomlinson Report

  Tried to justify the Bantustan system by proposing ways in which it could work, however it did the inverse as it declared that R100 million was needed for the "betterment" of the land they were on so that they could do viable farming.
• Bantustan system


  • Exemplified by Ciskei, became symbols of government neglect and lavish spending on non-essential projects instead of meaningful progress for their inhabitants
• ANC's collaboration with the Communist Party aimed at achieving democratic equality before socialism, grassroots movements like the FSAW led Women's Pass Protest of 1956 and localized uprisings against corrupt authorities highlighted the widespread discontent with apartheid policies