Louna-Aafrika poliitajalugu, South Africa (0)

South Africa – Apartheid and before South Africa was created by peoples from Africa, Asia , and Europe . created their own states , combined (sometimes through war, sometimes through negotiation) to form the current South African state. The important thing is not what states were called or how long they lasted, but how they were organised, maintained control , gained and lost legitimacy. South African state formed out of:

• Conquest
  
• Colonization
  
• Slavery
  
• Indentured labour
  
• Racially discriminatory laws – reserved jobs for whites; differential pay-scales etc
  

Post 1910 state strong and centralized
institutionalised racism : “ power , wealth and privileges [distributed] unequally on a racial basis ” (Giliomee, 1995, p190)
Farming and mining (the basis of the economy ) both required large work forces. Once slavery was abolished, need for to generate labour force . Taxation ( poll tax) used to force blacks into labour force.
Segregation used to control access of blacks to land . A strong, centralized and unequal state.
1936 – Black voters removed from common roll.
1956 – Coloured voters removed from common roll.
1948 ‘Apartheid’ state – based on idea of ‘separate development ’.
Contested control of the state In South Africa, different population groups made conflicting claims to self- government (i.e. democratic rule ).
Nationalism is the doctrine that nations are entitled to self-government. (Hague & Harrop, p.9)
Afrikaner Nationalism : Talking here about different types of nationalism: cultural& political
NP: Founded 1912 Advocated policies designed to advance Afrikaner interests: Language parity (which would enable Afrikaners to get jobs in the state bureaucracy) Using state resources to to redress white poverty , Apartheid

• Cultural nationalism - promotion of language, culture (eg the Broederbond)
  
• Political nationalism - expressed by the National Party (NP)
  
• Right-wing nationalism - fascist influenced movements (AWB)
  

Military purged of British trained soldiers , replaced with reliable Afrikaners Afrikaners in police increased by 77% between 1946-60 Between 1946 and 1960 number of Afrikaners in administration increased by 98.5%
Religion- ‘chosen people’ biblical basis for apartheid
Economics Afrikaners had political control but English -speakers controlled the economy. Limited career options High levels of white poverty
1948: NP came into power and created the apartheid state
improved the economic conditions of National Party supporters (Afrikaners). Apartheid linked pre-apartheid Legislation and post-apartheid…
PREAPARTHEID LEGISLATION
1911 Mines and Works Act The cornerstone of job reservation
1913 Native Lands Act Black ownership of 7% of land in South Africa (extended to 13% in 1936).
1920 Native Affairs Act Political authority over blacks given to government appointed chiefs
1923 Natives ( Urban Areas ) Act Established townships on outskirts of urban areas Blacks "should be educated for their opportunities in life," … there was no place for them "above the level of certain forms of labour.”
These policies generated protest from students in the 1960s and 1970s. the removal of blacks from urban areas to ‘self- governing ’ rural ‘homelands’ 1.7 million (est). people displaced 1960 – 1983 Few homelands were actually occupied by a majority of their designated ethnic group.
The 1952 Defiance Campaign
THE ANC FELT IT HAD REACHED THE ENDS OF CONSTITUTIONAL REFORM ; DEMANDED THE REMOVAL OF UNJUST LAWS
THE PM (MALAN) RESPONDED THAT WHITES HAD EVERY RIGHT TOPRESERVE THEIR IDENTITY ANC RESPONDED BY RESORTING TO EXTRA -CONSTITUTIONAL MEANS USED NON- COOPERATION AND NON- VIOLENT TACTICS EG USING WHITES ONLY FACILITIES NOT CARRYING PASSES DARED AUTHORITIES TO TRY AND ARREST THEM ALL BUT MANDELA SAYS HE SAW NON- VIOLENCE AS A STRATEGY, RATHER THAN A MORAL POSITION
1955 Congress of the People produced the Freedom Charter INTENDED AS A PUBLIC DISPLAY OF STRENGTH
MANDELA SAYS THEY KNEW ANC WOULD SOON BE BANNED EMPHASIS ON MULTI -RACIALISM INVITED 200 ORGANIZATIONS TO SEND REPRESENTATIVES – FROM ALL RACE GROUPS ALL GROUPS ALSO ENCOURAGED TO SEND IN SUGGESTIONS FOR THE CHARTER – AND THEY DID SEND IN IDEAS WRITTEN ON SCRAPS OF PAPER ETC 3000 DELEGATES TURNED UP CHARTER BECAME A REVOLUTIONARY DOCUMENT BECAUSE ITS BASIC DEMANDS – ALTHOUGH SIMPLE, RADICALLY CHALLENGED THE APARTHEID STATE
PARTIES
The Pan Africanists were anti-communist opposed the multi-racialism of the Freedom Charter the PAC split from the ANC in 1959 , led by Robert Sobukwe Banned in 1960 at the same time as the ANC
Black Consciousness Movement Closely associated with Steve Biko Emerged out of the Students’ Movement in the 1960s/70s
Rejected the white liberal National Students’ Association The apartheid state followed those in exile with spies and parcel bombs.
UDF : broad coalition of groups; Linked to Congress movement, trades unions and churches; Mobilized urban uprisings against apartheid state best known member Arch -Bishop Desmond Tutu
Progressive party: committed to a qualified non-racial franchise Helen Suzman Main opposition to NP in Parliament before 1994 Later became the Democratic Party
Inkatha: Zulu Nationalist party ; Led by Chief Mangosuthu Buthelezi co-operated with the apartheid state by governing the Kwa Zulu homeland but refused to accept ‘independence’ Rejected the armed struggle Later called Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP)
Transition

• Why did NP leaders not fight to the end to retain power?
  
  • Why was it possible to negotiate a transition instead of fight a civil war?
    

Authoritarian to democratic

The old regime breaks down.

New democratic structures are built .

These new structures become embedded; their removal is unthinkable: ‘consolidation’.
Structural factors :

• Factors that are ‘unchangeable’
  
  • Historical
    
  • Economic
    
  • Political
    

Agential factors:

• Decisions and calculations made by individuals
  
• Or the personalities of certain individuals
  

Most ‘older’ theories of democratization emphasized structural change – eg revolution in Russia or China ; democratization in the UK & USA
In the 1990s , theories began to emphasize ‘agential’ factors or– eg the rise of solidarity in Poland , Vaclev Havel in Czechoslovakia, the downfall of Pinochet in Chile were thought to have been contingent on the presence of particular people as leaders or groups of people who were able to make pacts and arrange for transfer of power.
The NP probably thought it could control the transition.
But the transition took on a momentum of its own -- leading to universal franchise elections and the ANC victory in 1994.
Reasons for peaceful change from authoritarian to democratic rule
Economic Factors
 gold prices dropping
 industrial stagnation
 capital flight – investor confidence collapsed

• economic impact of sanctions
  

• demographic issues
– Lack of skilled (black) labour
– Lack of black spending power
– Black population growth
– Black unemployment rates 30%
Domestic political factors

• Black Politics
  
  • Mass mobilization
    
  • Ungovernability, Defiance campaign, stayaways.
    

White symphatetic to reform. By 1989 all the main pillars of the Afrikaner establishment -- church , press, universities , Broederbond – had withdrawn their support for apartheid. Major corporations, the Democratic Party, and churches, declared themselves broadly in favour of Deracialisation. Media coverage of the insurrections, though restricted, brought home black anger .

• White politics
  
  • Institutional rejection of apartheid (churches)
    
  • Anti-conscription campaign
    
  • Media coverage
    
  • Changing attitudes
    
• South Africans wanted to ‘rejoin’ the world
  

Military defeat ?
Economic sanctions exacerbated the domestic economic downturn, fuelling further political turmoil and thus feeding back into further economic difficulties. By the mid-1980s the arms embargo had also started to bite . Armscor production met internal needs but could not compete against Cuban and Soviet weaponry in Namibia and Angola .
A severe setback was suffered in 1987 following a major South African offensive supporting of Angola’s UNITA rebels, and attempting to.
undermine SWAPO, adding to the growing government appreciation of

• difficult to justify military expenditure
  
• Sanctions prevented re-arming
  

1987 Cuito Cuanavale, Angola
High casualties - including conscripts
Anti-conscription campaign
the costs of fighting beyond its borders at a time of economic recession
International Political Factors
Clear decline of the Soviet Union in the late1980s, culminating in its collapse with Eastern European uprisings and the destruction of the Berlin Wall. United States took more interest in democratisation in South Africa, as the ANC was no longer perceived as a communist threat . When de Klerk came to power, the USA told him that within a year he must end the state of emergency, lift the ban on the liberation movement and release all political prisoners.
Leadership

• Mandela and de Klerk
  
  • ‘Able to work together’
    
  • Cyril Ramaphosa & Roelf Meyer
    

– Key Negotiators
– Desmond Tutu
– Trusted Moral Leader : 1984 Nobel Peace Prize
Violence
1990-1994: 14 000 violent deaths Violence instigated covertly by state security forces ‘third force’ ANC- Inkatha violence
White paramilitary violence. Contrary to pop;ular belief, the south african transition was NOT ‘peaceful’.