Laws and Acts

• Betterment policy

  Cheaper, but disruptive strategy to stop environmental degradation and enable Africans to intensify their farming without destroying soil and vegetation
• The government prioritised a policy of 'betterment'
• 1949: Prohibitions of Mixed Marriages Act


  No inter-racial relationships
• 1950: Population Registration Act


  Required every citizen and resident to be classified according to their race and ethnic group
• 1950: Suppression of Communism Act


  Banned the Communist Party of South Africa
• 1950: Group Areas Act


  Assigned racial groups to different areas in South Africa
• 1951: Prevention of Illegal Squatting Act


  Forcible removal of squatting communities
• 1951: Separate Representation of Voters Act


  Removal of all non-white people from voting
• 1952: Pass Laws Act


  Required black, Indian and Coloured people to carry passes on them at all times
• 1953: Bantu Education Act


  Governed the education of Black South African children

  Teaching was to take place in the students' native tongue, though the syllabus included classes in English and Afrikaans.
• 1953: Reservation of Separate Amenities Act


  Enforced segregation of all public facilities, including buildings, and transport, in order to limit contact between the different races in South Africa.
• 1959: Extension of University Education Act


  Made it illegal for a non-white student to register at a formerly open university without the written permission of the Minister of Internal Affairs.
• 1950: Immorality Act


  Sexual relations between a white and non-white person were forbidden