Conditions in South Africa before Nelson Mandela’s Presidency (1994)

Conditions in South Africa before Nelson Mandela’s Presidency (1994)
Before 1994, in South Africa a racial segregation system called apartheid was implemented under which the rights, associations and movements of the majority black inhabitants were curtailed and Afrikaner minority rule was maintained.
With the enactment of apartheid laws in 1948, racial discrimination was institutionalized. Racial laws touched every aspect of social life, including a prohibition of marriage between non-whites and whites. In 1950, the Population Registration Act required that all South Africans be racially classified into one of three categories: white, black (African), or colored (of mixed decent). The Department of Home Affairs (a government bureau) was responsible for the classification of the citizenry. Non-compliance with the race laws were dealt with harshly. All blacks were required to carry ``pass books'' containing fingerprints, photo and information on access to non-black areas.
Residential areas were also segregated. From 1960 to 1983, 3.5 million non-white South Africans were removed from their homes, and forced into segregated neighborhoods, in one of the largest mass removals in modern history. Non-white political representation was abolished in 1970, and starting in that year black people were deprived of their citizenship, legally becoming citizens of one of ten tribally based self-governing homelands called Bantustans, four of which became nominally independent states.
Blacks were not allowed to run businesses or professional practices in areas designated as "white South Africa" unless they had a permit. Transport and civil facilities were segregated. Black buses stopped at black bus stops and white buses at white ones. Trains, hospitals and ambulances were segregated. Because of the smaller numbers of white patients and the fact that white doctors preferred to work in white hospitals, conditions in white hospitals were much better than those in often overcrowded and understaffed black hospitals.
Blacks were also excluded from living or working in white areas, unless they had a pass, nicknamed the dompas . Only blacks with "Section 10" rights (those who had migrated to the cities before World War II) were excluded from this provision. A pass was issued only to a black with approved work. Blacks were also not allowed to employ whites in white South Africa.
The blacks were also deprived of education. In the 1970s the state spent ten times more per child on the education of white children than on black children within the Bantu Education system (the education system in black schools within white South Africa). Higher education was provided in separate universities and colleges after 1959. Eight black universities were created in the homelands.
Blacks were not allowed to buy hard liquor. They were able only to buy state-produced poor quality beer. Public beaches were racially segregated. Public swimming pools, some pedestrian bridges, drive-in cinema parking spaces, graveyards, parks, and public toilets were segregated. Cinemas and theatres in white areas were not allowed to admit blacks. There were practically no cinemas in black areas. Most restaurants and hotels in white areas were not allowed to admit blacks except as staff. Blacks were prohibited from attending white churches under the Churches Native Laws Amendment Act of 1957. The blacks also had to pay more taxes than the whites.
Blacks could never acquire land in white areas. In the homelands, much of the land belonged to a "tribe", where the local chieftain would decide how the land had to be used. This resulted in whites owning almost all the industrial and agricultural lands and much of the prized residential land.
The apartheid policy was highly effective of achieving its goal of preferential treatment for whites. The whites being only 4.5 mil in number owned 87% of the land whereas blacks being 19 mil owned 13%. The blacks only had < 20% share of national income whereas the whites had 75% of the national income. The ratio of average earnings between the blacks and whites was 1:14. Also the blacks had a personal allowance of 360 rands whereas whites had 750 rands. The doctor/population ratio was 1/44000 for blacks and 1/400 for whites. The infant mortality rate for blacks was about 40% in rural and 20% in urban areas, for the whites it was only 2.7%. In education matters, the teacher/pupil ratio for blacks was 1:60 with an average annual expenditure of $45 whereas for whites it was 1:22 with an average annual expenditure of $696. All these figures were collected circa 1978. These showed how unequal were the living conditions between those who owned and exploited the land.