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About SA - History

Early History

In 1652, An exploration party led by a Hollander called Jan Van Riebeeck, arrived at the Cape. They established a post office and trading point there, and then later a fort (which still stands as the Cape Castle). The British arrived in the 1700s and decided that they wanted South Africa for its tactical position. The British settled in Cape Town (after conquering it), then in Durban, Port Elizabeth and East London in the early 1800s. The British gave the vote to persons of colour, specifically the 'coloureds'. (Coloureds are the descendants of imported Malay slaves, indigenous Khoi people and the early Dutch settlers.) This compelled the Dutch to leave en masse. This was called the "Groot Trek" (literally the Great Drag or Great Move. 'Groot' is pronounced "Hroo-it").

The Dutch packed up their belongings, and they moved inland, invading the seasonal grazing lands of the agrarian inhabitants of the land. The Trekkers fenced off large areas of this land to set up farms, and called themselves the Boers (farmers). They engaged in wars with the people who saw the land as 'public' grazing. This created the racial tension that persists to this very day. When the British moved inland, the climate for all-out war was established. This conflict over land eventually culminated in the Anglo-Boer wars. Eventually the British won by pursuing a scorched-earth policy and interring the Dutch women and children into concentration camps, where they were maltreated, abused, and allowed to die of disease.

The word "boor" comes from this war, as do many other loanwords such as "spoor", "veld" and "trek". The Dutch fought the British with a guerilla-war tactic, forcing the British to abandon their use of red uniforms. This war introduced guerilla war as the new face of warfare; previously, European wars had been fought with armies facing each other directly in lines. The British responded by adopting camouflaged uniforms and creating the Boy Scouts. 

Victorian Era and Early 20th Century

Gold was found in Johannesburg in 1886, reputedly by George Harrison (though some say it was his friend, George Walker), and diamonds were found in Kimberley. This sparked a new rush of British immigration. In the early 20th century, under Jan Smuts, the British and Dutch agreed to disagree, creating the Union of South Africa, on 31 May 1910. ("Jan" — John — is pronounced "Yun").

This date was used as South Africa's Independence Day. In the 1940s, the British Empire called the South Africans to war against Hitler in Egypt. When the primarily Afrikaans military returned, they found that the primarily English mining magnates had given their low-paid jobs to Africans, who were prepared to work harder, longer hours for less pay. This loss of employment resulted in what came to be known as the poor-white phenomenon. The white miners protested, and Smuts (who invented the psychological theory of Holism, and who apparently had a genius IQ), bombed the strikers with aircraft. This action made him unpopular with his previous supporters despite the fact that he encouraged the policy of segregation of the races. Resentment built and culminated in the defeat of Smuts' Unionist party by the primarily Afrikaans (Boer) Nationalist Party, called the "Nats", for short.

Apartheid Period

In 1948 the Nats deployed the Apartheid ("apartness") policy (it is pronounced Apart-hate, not Apart-height). Then, in 1956, the Nats implemented the Bantu Education policy (which taught Africans how to be servants). The Apartheid policy was sold as a "separate development" policy, but in fact it was effectively a land seizure and eviction policy, which ushered Africans into the poorest rural areas. It obliged them to carry passports in order to enter Apartheid South Africa, and stripped them of any rights when they were inside (these passports were called the 'dompas' or 'dumb pass' system, because they were despised). All facilities, including park benches, buses, and public toilets, were segregated. Africans were only permitted menial jobs, and no-one was permitted to marry outside of their race. I recall that the Chinese were given some privileges, however, e.g., being allowed into white schools.

A policy of Christian National Education was introduced in the 1960s, in order to subjugate the Africans to the caretakership of the whites, on some Biblical justification. The government was also anti-semitic, and some members of the Nat government openly declared support for Hitler's racial ideologies. They also censored and banned any scientific work on evolution, because they felt that it undermined the Biblical basis of their racial policies, and threatened their church. In 1961 the Nats negotiated independence from Britain and the Commonwealth, becoming the Republic of South Africa on 31 May 1961. In February 1962, they abandoned the Pound as the currency, replacing it with the Rand, based on R1 to £1. On June 16, 1976, the African township, Soweto, erupted into riot over enforced Afrikaans as the medium of education at schools. The riot was suppressed violently. Shortly after, the world's attention was drawn to South Africa, and the regime dug its heels in.

In the 1980s, the international community imposed sanctions, which seemed to create sufficient pressure, combined with the liberation movement's terror activities (including civilian bombings), to cause the regime to relent.

In 1990, Nelson Mandela, a purported "terrorist" and a leader of the ANC, was released from 27 years of imprisonment by the then State President, F. W. de Klerk. (The ANC was a left-wing pro-Socialism party. The name stands for "African National Congress.") In 1994, Mandela became the first non-white president of South Africa, and Apartheid was dismantled. A progressive democratic constitution was put in place, which prohibited discrimination on all grounds, including race, gender, creed, and sexual orientation. The PFP, who, up until that point had opposed the Nats in the white government, had to re-define their purpose. (The PFP was the original English-oriented party, the Progressive Federal Party). They renamed themselves to the DP (Democratic Party). The party subsequently allied itself with the Nats to create the DA (Democratic Alliance). The DA is still the official opposition party in parliament, but they now focus on keeping the government in check, particularly on issues around corruption. The ANC currently holds about 67% of the vote, and thus remain the dominant power in the country. The DA is voted for primarily by whites (and in the Cape, coloureds tend to vote for them, too). The DA's official agenda is to become truly representative of all races and provide a credible alternative party to the ANC. When Apartheid fell, a commission of enquiry was put in place. But instead of being a witch hunt like the Nuremburg Trials, it was intended as a healing process. It was called the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. It was headed by Archibishop Desmond Tutu, a former struggle activist and Anglican Bishop. He is still active today and acts as a credible African voice of opposition.

Passages taken with permission from "An Insider's Guide to Johannesburg" by J. M. Ostrowick

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