The beginning of apartheid

1982. A barren landscape is all that remains of Cape Town, South Africa’s District Six. This used to be a vibrant, working-class neighbourhood of almost 60,000 people. What happened here? In 1966, the government declared District Six an area where only white people can live, a 'whites only' area.

It has been bulldozed, and 99% of its residents forcibly removed. The population of South Africa has always been mostly non-white. But for hundreds of years, white South Africans have controlled the country’s government. This is due to the legacy of colonialism: first, Dutch settlement in the 1600s, and later British settlement in the 1800s. The colonists create laws to ensure white South Africans have access to good education, high-paying jobs, and the best property.

The Native Land Act of 1913 restricts black people from buying or renting land in “white areas”, which make up 93% of the land. The law also restricts who can live and work on white-owned farms. To escape these conditions, many rural black South Africans look towards cities, even though their ability to live in urban centres is restricted. Most settle in hastily-built communities called townships on the outskirts of cities. Starting in the late 1930s, even more black workers move to cities, seeking jobs in the new factories created to support the British effort in World War II.

The number of black residents in urban areas nearly doubles in the 1940s, eventually outnumbering white residents. The growth is too fast. There isn’t enough housing in the townships. They quickly become overcrowded. Soon, it is clear that there are not enough jobs for everyone.

The townships don’t have electricity or sewage. People become desperate. Crime grows. White South Africans, meanwhile, feel threatened by the growing presence of black South Africans in cities. They worry their own jobs will be taken.

In this tense climate, the country’s National Party comes into power in 1948, in an election very few non-white people are allowed to vote in. The National Party is led by descendants of Dutch colonists called Afrikaners. They run on a promise to maintain white dominance in society and separate the different racial groups even more. Starting in 1948, racial segregation becomes law under a system called apartheid, meaning "separateness” in Afrikaans. In 1950, each inhabitant is registered in one the following categories: Whites, made up of those whose background is either English or Dutch; Blacks, made up of many different ethnic groups and comprising about two-thirds of the total population; and Coloureds, made up of all mixed-race people regardless of their ethnic group.

There is also a small population in South Africa of people of South Asian descent, a legacy of British colonialism. They also get their own category: Indians. These four groups are forced to live in separate areas under the Group Areas Act. Many black South Africans are stripped of their citizenship and relocated to 10 rural territories called homelands. The homelands are supposed to be self-sufficient, but they lack everything: housing, jobs, farmland.

Others are moved out to the townships. Townships are now segregated as well, and their conditions have not improved. To enter white areas, non-white people have to carry passes with special permission. Those caught without passes are arrested or imprisoned. Public facilities across the country are also segregated – whites and non-whites have to use separate hospitals, buses, even beaches.

Punishment for breaking apartheid laws is severe. Nevertheless, many South Africans do not accept segregation. A resistance movement is building.