The system of racial segregation and oppression in South Africa known as ''

apartheid Apartheid ( , especially South African English: , ; , ) was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. It was characterised by an ...

'' was implemented and enforced by many acts and other laws. This legislation served to institutionalize racial discrimination and the dominance by

white people White is a Race (human categorization), racial classification of people generally used for those of predominantly Ethnic groups in Europe, European ancestry. It is also a Human skin color, skin color specifier, although the definition can var ...

over people of other races. While the bulk of this legislation was enacted after the election of the National Party government in 1948, it was preceded by discriminatory legislation enacted under earlier British and Afrikaner governments. Apartheid is distinguished from segregation in other countries by the systematic way in which it was formalized in law.

Segregationist legislation before apartheid

Although apartheid as a comprehensive legislative project truly began after the National Party came into power in 1948, many of these statutes were preceded by the laws of the previous British and Afrikaner administrations in South Africa's provinces. An early example is the Glen Grey Act, passed in 1894 in Cape Colony, and which had the effect of diminishing the land rights of Africans in scheduled areas.Smythe, N C: 'The origins of apartheid: race legislation in South Africa - 1836-1910', p. 262. LLM thesis, University of Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 1995.

List of apartheid segregation in South Africa

Population registration and segregation

* The Population Registration Act, 1950, required that every South African be classified into one of a number of racial "population groups". This act provided the foundation upon which the whole edifice of apartheid would be constructed. * The Reservation of Separate Amenities Act, 1953 allowed public premises, vehicles and services to be segregated by race, even if equal facilities were not made available to all races. The Reservation of Separate Amenities Act was repealed by the Discriminatory Legislation regarding Public Amenities Repeal Act, 1990, and the Population Registration Act was repealed by the Population Registration Act Repeal Act, 1991, but the racial classifications remained on the population register until 1992.

Job reservation and economic apartheid

* Mines and Works Act, 1911 * Native Building Workers Act, 1951 * Native Labour (Settlement of Disputes) Act, 1953 * Industrial Conciliation Act, 1956

Segregation in education

* Bantu Education Act, 1953 * Extension of University Education Act, 1959 * Coloured Persons Education Act, 1963 * Indians Education Act, 1965

Sexual apartheid

* The Immorality Act, 1927 forbade extramarital sex between

and black people. * The Prohibition of Mixed Marriages Act, 1949 forbade marriages between white people and people of other races. * The Immorality Amendment Act, 1950 forbade extramarital sex between white people and people of other races. These laws were repealed by the Immorality and Prohibition of Mixed Marriages Amendment Act, 1985.

Land tenure and geographic segregation

* The

Natives Land Act, 1913 The Natives Land Act, 1913 (subsequently renamed Bantu Land Act, 1913 and Black Land Act, 1913; Act No. 27 of 1913) was an Act of the Parliament of South Africa that was aimed at regulating the acquisition of land. It largely prohibited the sal ...

limited land ownership by black people to 8% of the land area of South Africa. * The Native Trust and Land Act, 1936 expanded this limit to encompass about 13% of the land area of South Africa. * The

Asiatic Land Tenure and Indian Representation Act, 1946 The Asiatic Land Tenure and Indian Representation Act, 1946 (Act No. 28 of 1946; subsequently renamed the Asiatic Land Tenure Act, 1946, and also known as the "Ghetto Act") of Union of South Africa, South Africa sought to confine Asian people, As ...

restricted land ownership by Asians in towns and cities. * The Group Areas Act, 1950 (re-enacted in 1957 and 1966) divided urban areas into "group areas" in which ownership and residence was restricted to certain population groups. * The Group Areas Development Act, 1955 formed part of the machinery for the implementation of the Group Areas Act. * The Coloured Persons Communal Reserves Act, 1961 and the Rural Coloured Areas Act, 1963 established "reserve" areas for coloured people in rural areas. * The Preservation of Coloured Areas Act, Act No 31 of 1961 further entrenched "Coloured Areas" in law and created a legal mechanism to seize land for white Guardians. * The Aliens Control Act, 1973 loosened the restrictions on residence by Asians in parts of South Africa. These and other discriminatory acts related to land tenure were repealed by the Abolition of Racially Based Land Measures Act, 1991.

Pass laws and influx control

* Natives (Urban Areas) Act, 1923 * Natives (Urban Areas) Consolidation Act, 1945 * Prevention of Illegal Squatting Act, 1951 * Native Laws Amendment Act, 1952 * Natives (Abolition of Passes and Co-ordination of Documents) Act, 1952 * Natives Resettlement Act, 1954 * Natives (Prohibition of Interdicts) Act, 1956 * Urban Bantu Councils Act, 1961 * Black Local Authorities Act, 1982 The pass laws were repealed by the Identification Act, 1986 and the influx control laws by the Abolition of Influx Control Act, 1986.

Political representation

* The

South Africa Act 1909 The South Africa Act 1909 (9 Edw. 7. c. 9) was an Act of Parliament (UK), act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that created the Union of South Africa out of the former Cape Colony, Cape, Colony of Natal, Natal, Orange River Colony, Orange ...

, which united the four South African colonies into a unitary state, preserved electoral arrangements unchanged, meaning that qualified black voters in the

Cape Province The Province of the Cape of Good Hope (), commonly referred to as the Cape Province () and colloquially as The Cape (), was a province in the Union of South Africa and subsequently the Republic of South Africa. It encompassed the old Cape Co ...

could vote for the

House of Assembly House of Assembly is a name given to the legislature or lower house of a bicameral parliament. In some countries this may be at a subnational level. Historically, in British Crown colonies as the colony gained more internal responsible g ...

. This was an

entrenched clause An entrenched clause or entrenchment clause of a constitution is a provision that makes certain amendments either more difficult or impossible to pass. Overriding an entrenched clause may require a supermajority, a referendum, or the consent of the ...

, protected by a provision requiring a two-thirds majority in a joint sitting of Parliament to alter the

Cape Qualified Franchise The Cape Qualified Franchise was the system of multi-racial Suffrage, franchise that was adhered to in the Cape Colony, and in the Cape Province in the early years of the Union of South Africa. Qualifications for the right to vote at parliamenta ...

. * The Representation of Natives Act, 1936, passed with the necessary two-thirds majority, removed black voters in the Cape from the common voters' roll and placed them on a separate roll, allowing them to elect only three members to the House of Assembly. The act also provided for four indirectly elected senators to represent black people countrywide. Qualified coloured voters in the Cape remained on the common roll. * The

allowed Indians in the

Transvaal Province The Province of Transvaal (), commonly referred to as the Transvaal (; ), was a province of South Africa from 1910 until 1994, when a new constitution subdivided it following the end of apartheid. The name "Transvaal" refers to the province's ...

and

Natal Province The Province of Natal (), commonly called Natal, was a province of South Africa from May 1910 until May 1994. Its capital was Pietermaritzburg. During this period rural areas inhabited by the black African population of Natal were organised int ...

to elect three members of the House of Assembly and two senators, but this representation was removed by the Asiatic Laws Amendment Act, 1948. * The

Separate Representation of Voters Act, 1951 The Separate Representation of Voters Act No. 46 was introduced in South Africa on 18 June 1951. Part of the legislation during the apartheid era, the National Party introduced it to enforce racial segregation, and was part of a deliberate pr ...

removed coloured voters in the Cape from the common voters' roll and placed them on a separate roll, allowing them to elect only four members to the House of Assembly. It was not, initially, passed with a two-thirds majority, and the Appellate Division of the

Supreme Court In most legal jurisdictions, a supreme court, also known as a court of last resort, apex court, high (or final) court of appeal, and court of final appeal, is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts. Broadly speaking, the decisions of ...

invalidated it on this basis, precipitating the "

coloured vote constitutional crisis The Coloured vote constitutional crisis, also known as the Coloured vote case, was a constitutional crisis that occurred in the Union of South Africa during the 1950s as the result of an attempt by the Nationalist government to remove coloured ...

". The government subsequently altered the method of election of the Senate and passed the South Africa Act Amendment Act, 1956 with a two-thirds majority, validating the Separate Representation of Voters Act. * The

Promotion of Bantu Self-government Act, 1959 The Promotion of Bantu peoples, Bantu Self-Government Act, 1959 (Act No. 46 of 1959, commenced 19 June; subsequently renamed the Promotion of Black Self-government Act, 1959 and later the Representation between the Republic of South Africa and S ...

abolished the remaining parliamentary representation for black people under the Representation of Natives Act. * The Separate Representation of Voters Amendment Act, 1968, abolished the remaining parliamentary representation for coloured people, and the Coloured Persons Representative Council Amendment Act, 1968 replaced it with an elected "Representative Council" with limited powers. * The Prohibition of Political Interference Act, 1968 prohibited multi-racial political parties. * The Republic of South Africa Constitution Act, 1983 established a tricameral Parliament with separate houses representing whites, coloureds and Indians. Blacks remained unrepresented. The Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1993 established universal non-racial adult suffrage.

Separate development and bantustans

* The Native Administration Act, 1927 gave the executive government wide-ranging authority to govern the "native reserves", and the people living in them, by proclamation. * The Bantu Authorities Act, 1951 established a hierarchy of tribal, regional and territorial authorities, led by chiefs and appointed councillors, to govern the reserves. * The

provided for the development of the territorial authorities into self-governing

bantustan A Bantustan (also known as a Bantu peoples, Bantu homeland, a Black people, black homeland, a Khoisan, black state or simply known as a homeland; ) was a territory that the National Party (South Africa), National Party administration of the ...

s. * The Bantu Investment Corporation Act, 1959 established a corporation to develop the economies of the bantustans. * The Transkei Constitution Act, 1963 made the

Transkei Transkei ( , meaning ''the area beyond Great Kei River, he riverKei''), officially the Republic of Transkei (), was an list of historical unrecognized states and dependencies, unrecognised state in the southeastern region of South Africa f ...

an autonomous self-governing territory, with a partially elected assembly. * The Bantu Homelands Development Corporations Act, 1965 established separate economic development corporations for the various homelands. * The Bantu Homelands Citizenship Act, 1970 made black people citizens of one of the bantustans, with the intention that when the bantustans became independent they would cease to be South African citizens. * The Bantu Homelands Constitution Act, 1971 allowed other homelands to become autonomous self-governing territories, similar to the Transkei. * The Status of the Transkei Act, 1976 declared the Transkei to be an independent state and no longer part of South Africa. This independence was not recognised by any country other than South Africa. * The Status of Bophuthatswana Act, 1977, the Status of Venda Act, 1979, and the Status of Ciskei Act, 1981, similarly declared

Bophuthatswana Bophuthatswana (, ), officially the Republic of Bophuthatswana (; ), and colloquially referred to as the Bop and by outsiders as Jigsawland (In reference to its enclave-ridden borders) was a Bantustan (also known as "Homeland", an area set asid ...

, Venda and

Ciskei Ciskei ( , meaning ''on this side of Great Kei River, he riverKei''), officially the Republic of Ciskei (), was a Bantustan for the Xhosa people, located in the southeast of South Africa. It covered an area of , almost entirely surrounded b ...

to be independent states. The bantustans were abolished by the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1993, and the nominally independent states were integrated back into South Africa.

Banning, detention without trial and state security

Suppression of Communism Act, 1950 The Suppression of Communism Act, 1950 (Act No. 44 of 1950), renamed the Internal Security Act in 1976, was legislation of the national government in apartheid South Africa which formally banned the South African Communist Party, Communist Party ...

* Public Safety Act, 1953 * Riotous Assemblies Act, 1956 * Unlawful Organizations Act, 1960 * Indemnity Act, 1961 *

General Law Amendment Act, 1963 The General Law Amendment Act, number 37 of 1963 (commenced 2 May), commonly known as the 90-Day Detention Law, allowed a South African police officer to detain without warrant a person suspected of a politically motivated crime for up to 90 days ...

* Terrorism Act, 1967 * Indemnity Act, 1977 *

Internal Security Act, 1982 The Internal Security Act, 1982 (Act No. 74 of 1982) was an act of the Parliament of South Africa that consolidated and replaced various earlier pieces of security legislation, including the Suppression of Communism Act, 1950, parts of the Ri ...

References

External links

African History: Apartheid Legislation in South Africa
, About.Com {{DEFAULTSORT:Apartheid Legislation In South Africa