Consequences

• Workers are encouraged to stay away from the workplace rather than protesting at their workplace, to avoid reprisals, police action or arrest
• The government declared a State of Emergency


  30 March
• On 30 March, 30,000 Africans marched in an orderly and non-violent demonstration six miles along the main highway from Langa to the edge of central Cape Town
• Kgosana persuaded the marchers to turn back, but he was double-crossed by the police and the meeting never happened
• The armed forces were subsequently deployed to break the strike and impose order, they used gratuitous violence
• The next day, a further protest was mounted at Cato Manor in Durban and activists tried to stop workers from going to town. A series of clashes ensued over the next few days between police and protestors and between protestors and those wishing to go to work
• The PAC was trying to fight a fuse, they were still committed to peaceful confrontation
• The government had shown that they were prepared to enforce their authority and the National Party, if anything, became more determined to impose apartheid in the next few years
• The state of emergency, declared on 30 March 1960, strengthened police powers. Public meetings were outlawed, and the police could detain people without fear of restriction by the courts
• The government, with the support of the main white opposition United Party, passed the Unlawful Organisations Act, banning parties that threatened public order. It was aimed at the ANC and PAC
• The Sharpeville massacre had great importance in the subsequent history of apartheid and protest against it
• The Wessels Commission of Inquiry exonerated the police of any blame, asserting that they acted in self-defence
• The massacre caused international outrage, with widespread criticism from unfriendly countries and allies such as the USA
• The UN called for the abolition of apartheid
• The new Minister of Justice, John Vorster, instituted a new part-time Police Reserve Unit, which was to develop into the feared Security Police
• The Sabotage Act 1962 not only carried the death penalty for acts of sabotage but also placed the onus on the accused to prove themselves innocent
• The General Law Amendment Act 1963 allowed the authorities to arrest anyone for 90 days without having to bring charges against them or even giving them access to a lawyer
• The 'Sobukwe clause' allowed the security forces to keep people in prison beyond the end of their sentence
• The authorities set a network of spies and informers to infiltrate opposition groups and if necessary to act as agent-provocateurs
• The Bantu Laws Amendment Act 1964 empowered the authorities to deport any African person from any urban area or white farming areas for any reason whatsoever
• Radicalisation


  Resistance and the consolidation of National Party Power, 1960-68
• Government reactions to radicalise

  1. State of emergency declared

  2. Arrest of over 10,000 people

  3. PAC and ANC declared illegal

  4. New Minister of Justice appointed

  5. Security Police developed

  6. Sabotage Act 1962 passed

  7. General Law Amendment Act 1963 passed
• In the two-month period following the Sharpeville massacre, a raft of repressive measures was passed
• A state of emergency was declared on 30 March which saw the arrest of over 10,000 people, two thousand within the first few days
• On 8 April, the PAC and ANC were declared illegal under the Unlawful Organisations Act
• The forceful response by the government


  May have been because they were rattled or to assert their authority and reassure investors and white citizens that they were fully in control
• The new Minister of Justice, John Vorster, appointed in July 1961, instituted a new part-time Police Reserve Unit which developed into the feared Security Police
• The Sabotage Act 1962 not only carried the death penalty for acts of sabotage but also placed the onus on the accused to prove themselves innocent
• The General Law Amendment Act 1963 allowed the authorities to arrest anyone for 90 days without having to being charges against them or even giving them access to a lawyer