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DOMESTIC CHALLENGES TO NP POWER, 1974-83 - Coggle Diagram
DOMESTIC CHALLENGES TO NP POWER, 1974-83
POLITICAL UNREST
Trade unions:
- Zulu-speaking migrant workers who lived in compounds at a brick factory withdrew from work. The strike spread to 150 other factories.
- Black workers had few rights but could threaten a form of disruption that would badly effect the economy and white wealth.
Re-emergence of ANC:
- ANC's political traditions became more dominant within SA.
- Congress of SA Students launched in 1979 to co-ordinate school protests. They drew on ANC traditions and was committed to the freedom charter.
- SA allied worker's union: supported freedom charter, secretly recruited youths to join MK.
- Helped revive deeply rooted support for ANC and mobilise broader opposition.
White liberals:
- The progressives: economic liberals who argued that the SA state intervened too heavily in protecting whites in the job market.
- In 1974, the progressives saw a small breakthrough. The number of seats in parliament rose from 1 to 7.
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NP DIVISION AND SCANDAL
NP divided into opposing wings:
- One was 'progressive' - favoured limited reform.
- The other was conservative - opposed all changes.
Verligtes (progressive) - argued that better training should be available for black workers, and advocated more opportunities for black m/c in cities.
Verkrampte - argued for separate development between white and black peopl.
Information scandal:
- rocked govt
- Newspapers published stories showing that the propaganda slush fund was being used in corrupt and inappropriate ways.
- Individuals used the money for self-enrichment.
- Opposition used the scandal as a way to illustrate the abuse of power and corruption at the heart of Afrikaner rule.
- Connie Mulder lost election in 1978 due to the scandal; Botha won by 98 votes to 74.
ECONOMIC PRESSURES
1973 Oil crisis:
- Oil price doubled.
- SA had no natural oil so were very vulnerable.
- Nationalists set up SASOL, which became the biggest oil producer in the world.
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Skilled white workers were expensive and not numerous, while black workers were held back by racial restrictions such as lack of education.
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POPULATION GROWTH
Huge surge to the cities and unemployment escalated, especially for the youth.
Greater efficiency and more mechanisation led to increases in agricultural production but decreased the need for African workers.
Between 1960 and 1980, 2 million black people were moved or forced off the farms
The rapid population increase and the huge movement out of farms/homelands made displaced towns unable to cope. Instead, people moved to the major cities, where there was no decent housing, bad living conditions. But there was more employment in major cities.
By the 1980s, the pass laws were breaking down, and urbanisation/population growth became a huge problem for the govt as it didn't want black people in the cities.
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