I can not believe this. Put black people head first in the mud for fifty years, and then blame them for their crimes against white people… The crimes are wrong, I know… Two wrongs do not make a right, I know… Still, I can even begin to imagine the anger I would harbor if I was a black person living under the Apartheid… “You reap what you sew.”
History of South Africa in the apartheid era
(link)
[i]
Apartheid (meaning separateness in Afrikaans cognate to English apart and -hood) was a system of racial segregation that was enforced in South Africa from 1948 to 1994. Apartheid was designed to form a legal framework for continued economic and political dominance by people of European descent.
Under apartheid, people were legally classified into a racial group — the main ones being White, Black, Indian and Coloured — and were geographically, and forcibly, separated from each other on the basis of the legal classification. The Black majority, in particular, legally became citizens of particular “homelands” that were nominally sovereign nations but operated more akin to United States Indian Reservations and Australian/Canadian Aboriginal Reserves. In reality however, a majority of Black South Africans never resided in these “homelands.”
In practice, this prevented non-white people — even if actually resident in white South Africa — from having a vote or influence, restricting their rights to faraway homelands that they may never have visited. Education, medical care, and other public services were segregated, and those available to black people were generally inferior.[/i]
Apartheid from day to day
[i]Apartheid was implemented by the law. The Reservation of Separate Amenities Act specifically allowed government to provide different levels of amenities for the different races. The following restrictions were not only social but also strictly enforced by law. For example:
South Africa’s national flag, from 1928-1994. The symbolism of the flag defines South Africa as an inherently white nation, recognizing the country’s British and Dutch ethnic roots, but offering no symbolic recognition of the black majority.
South Africa’s national flag, from 1928-1994. The symbolism of the flag defines South Africa as an inherently white nation, recognizing the country’s British and Dutch ethnic roots, but offering no symbolic recognition of the black majority.
* Non-whites were not allowed to run businesses or professional practices in those areas designated as "white South Africa" (i.e. all economically significant towns and commercial areas) without a permit. They were supposed to move to the black "homelands" and set up businesses and practices there.
* Transport and civil facilities were segregated. Black buses, known as "green" buses because they had a green marker on the front windscreen, stopped at black bus stops and white buses at white ones. 1st and 2nd class train carriages were for whites only. 3rd class carriages were for blacks only.
* Hospitals and ambulances were segregated. The white hospitals were generally of a very good standard with well-educated staff and ample funds, while black hospitals were seriously understaffed and underfunded, with many black areas without a hospital at all.[2]
* Blacks were excluded from living or working in white areas, unless they had a pass — nicknamed the dompas ("dumb pass" in Afrikaans). Only blacks with "Section 10" rights (those who had migrated to the cities before World War II) were excluded from this provision. Strictly speaking, whites also required passes in black areas.
o A pass was issued only to a black person with approved work. Spouses and children had to be left behind in non-white areas. Many white households employed blacks as domestic workers, who were allowed to live on the premises — often in small rooms external to the family home.
o A pass was issued for one magisterial district (usually one town) confining the holder to that area only.
o Being without a valid pass made a person subject to immediate arrest and summary trial, often followed by deportation to the person's homeland and prosecution of the employer. Police vans patrolled the "white" areas to round up the "illegal" blacks, causing enormous harm to the economy by removing willing workers from employers who were chronically short of labour.
* Black people were not allowed to employ white people. Although trade unions for black and "coloured" (mixed race) workers had existed since the early 20th century, it was not until the 1980s reforms that membership of a trade union by black workers became legal.
* In the 1970s each black child's education cost the state only a tenth of each white child's. The Bantu Education Act specifically aimed to teach blacks only the basic skills they would need in working for whites. Higher education was provided in separate universities and colleges after 1959. Very few places were provided for blacks and all the existing and reputable universities remained white.
* Black police were not allowed to arrest whites.
Blacks were not allowed to buy hard liquor (although this was relaxed later).
Black areas rarely had plumbing or electricity.
Public beaches were racially segregated, with the best ones reserved for whites (white beaches were typically developed; whereas black beaches were situated in remote areas with little or no development). Public swimming pools and libraries were segregated, and there were practically no pools nor libraries for blacks. Pedestrian bridges, drive-in cinema parking spaces, graveyards, parks, pedestrian crossings, public toilets and taxis were also segregated.
Cinemas and theatres in “white areas” (i.e. all significant towns and economic areas) were not allowed to admit blacks. There were practically no cinemas or theatres or restaurants or hotels in black areas. Most restaurants and hotels in white areas were not allowed to admit blacks except as staff, unless the government had given specific prior permission (such as when African diplomats needed to be accommodated). Black Africans were prohibited from attending “white” churches under the Churches Native Laws Amendment Act (1957). This was, however, never rigidly enforced, and churches were one of the few places races could mix without the interference of the law.
After 1948, sex and marriage between the races were prohibited. A white driver was not allowed to have a black in the front of the car if that person was of a different sex.
Taxation was unequal — the yearly income at which tax became payable by blacks was 360 rand (30 rand a month), while the white threshold was much higher, at 750 Rand (62.5 rand per month). On the other hand, the taxation rate for whites was considerably higher than that for blacks.
Most blacks were stripped of their South African citizenship when the “homelands” were declared “independent”. They thus were no longer able to apply for South African passports. Eligibility for a passport had, in any case, been difficult. A passport was a privilege, not a right, and the government saw fit not to grant many applications by blacks.
Apartheid pervaded South African culture, as well as the law. This was reinforced in many media, and the lack of opportunities for the races to mix in a social setting entrenched social distance between people.[/i]