Imperialism In South Africa

“When a man is denied the right to live the life he believes in, he has no choice but to become an outlaw” (Nelson Mandela 1995). South African apartheid denied men even the most basic human rights, such as freedom, respect and dignity because of their color. This horrific form of imperialism allowed white men to overpower the native black people of Africa, simply because they were stronger and better-equiped with weapons. From 1948 to 1994, black lives were ruled by the law of white men. Blacks were segregated, tormented and forced to raise their children in the worst conditions imaginable. South African apartheid became the new norm for the natives in 1948 when the National party took control of South Africa and lasted until 1994. Additionally,
An analysis of the Apartheid era in South Africa would show the drastic measures taken by the white population to control and discriminate against the blacks for no reason other than their skin color.
South African apartheid was caused mainly by two major events around the world. The first crisis was Word War II. To begin, most South Africans were of German descent and when the Germans needed more soldiers to fight the war, they unified against the British. However, South Africa was a British territory. This, in turn, caused many political separations in the South African government. For more information, the article, Second World War and its Impact 1939-1948 by South African History Online explains, “At that point, the country was led by the United Party, a coalition of the National Party (NP) of J B M Hertzog and the South African Party (SAP) of J C Smuts. Hertzog preferred that South Africa remain neutral in World War Two, while Smuts wanted to fight on the side of the Allies” (SAHO 2011). For further elaboration, the prime minister JBM Hertzog gave up his seat and Smuts took his place. The next event was a group inside Hertzog’s National Party, or NP, broke away and formed the Herenigde Nasionale
Nelson Mandela was an anti-apartheid revolutionary, and a prime example of someone who felt the pain caused by white supremacists. In his autobiography, Long Walk to Freedom, Mandela reveals, “A few days before the conference was to begin, fifty-two leaders around the country were banned from attending any meetings or gatherings for six months… My bands extended to meetings of all kinds...I could not, for example, attend my son’s birthday party. I was prohibited from talking to more than one person at a time” (Mandela). Furthermore, apartheid did much more than restrict who blacks can talk to. From 1948 to 1994 over four-hundred blacks died every year due to their color. Many of these deaths could have easily been avoided, had the government not been made up of bigoted, power-hungry white men. A sign illustrated by the South African Ministry of Justice states, “Under no circumstance may an employer pay Africans the same rates as white persons event if they do the same work and same hours”. African families had little to nothing because