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Resistance to Apartheid and Government reaction 1960-61 - Coggle Diagram
Resistance to Apartheid and Government reaction 1960-61
Sharpeville Massacre
PAC Called for anti-pass protest throughout SA on 21st march 1960
Overall response was disapointing but there was a sizeable demonstration in the township of sharpeville- centre of PAC support with usual problems of crime, high unemployment and associated social problems. had a charasmatic local leader, Nyakane Tsolo and commuters were pressured into protesting rather than going to work that day
Crowd estimated to be as many as 20,000 gathered outside a police station at sharpeville and demanded to be arrested for not carrying their passes. they couldn't arrest so many but arrested PAC leaders, led to intense stand off
there were 400 police, 200 white officers armed with .303 rifles and triggered by disputed events (there was potentially a rumoured gunshot sound from the crowd) at around 1pm police began to fire into the crowd
69 demonstrators were killed 70% of whom were shot in the back attempting to flee almost 200 were injured, some would later die
Authorities were on edge following 9 of their collegues being killed at cato manor, a township near durban where serious riots took place in 1959 as a result of police trying to close down shebeens- illegal drinking clubs
charismatic Tsolo was able to control the crowd , and it was a struggle to arrest other leaders, which led to first shots being fired
Peaceful protest
continued throughout the 50s and early 60s
Sharpeville changed the nature of the protests to an acceptance of violence
Had taken various forms such as strikes, boycotts and demonstrations but achieved little because the government usually responsed with repressive legislation (1956 women protested about the extension of pass laws which led to native administration act made it easier to remove african people from native reserves) and many anti-apartheid campaigners were too preoccupied with the treason trial to organise ambitious protest
ANC called for a series of nationwide anti-pass protests to begin on 31st march 1960. PAC decided to pre-empt this to show strength
Significance of Sharpeville Massacre
state of emergence was declared and the banning of anti-apartheid organisations
Gov appointed the Wessels commission of enquiry into the sharpeville massacre, was accused of being whitewashed . brief made it clear they were to work towards finding out what actually happened and not to place blame. they were reluctant to interview africans and ignored suggestions of tampering with evidence. overall conclusion was that the police were exonerated of all blame; claiming they acted in self defense against a hostile crowd.
It had little real impact
made opposition groups turn to violence
intensified international opposition to apartheid- UN passed resolutions condemming apartheid every year since 1952, but security council resolution 134 was particularly dammning, blaming the shootings on the system of apartheid and asserting that violence would continue until its end. countries that did business with south africa were reluctant to enforce sanctions, eg britain and france abstained from the resoultion
Showed vunerability of white people
Government repression
New minister for justice John Voster increased the powers of the police forces
he set up secret, quasi-legal bodies to co-ordinate security matters and undertake dirty tricks such as assassinations of opposition figures. were intergrated in 1969 to the Bureau for state security BOSS
The Sabotage act 1962 carried the death penalty for acts of sabotage and made the accused prove themselves innocent, guilt was implied
General Laws Amendment act 1963 allowed the authorities to arrest anyone for 90 days without having to bring charged against them or having access to a lawyer
Sobukwe clause allowed the security forces to keep people in prision after the end of their sentence- Sobukwe was the first victim , was imprisioned until may 1969 and then was under house arrest
Bantu Laws Amendment act 1964 came into effect 1st jan 1965, allowed authorities to deport any african from any urban or white farming areas for any reason
Banning of political parties+ state of emergency
state of emergence was declared on march 30 1960- saw 10,000 arrests, 200 within the first few days the banning of anti-apartheid organisations
april 8th, the PAC and ANC were declared illegal under the unlawful organisations act - removed the principle legitimate voices for the african people, so that protesting against apartheid became effectively an illegal activity
white people were scared which led to the increasing demand for firearms
9th april, Hendrik Verwoerd was subject to an assassination attempt
the military wings of the ANC and PAC and the liberal party started bombing campaigns and violence, worried law abiding citizens
economic struggles- falling share prices and a net outflow of currency, Rand, R194 million in 1960, foreign reserves also fell