Apartheid Legislation in South Africa

Apartheid Legislation In South Africa

Apartheid in South Africa
Events and projects
  • 1948 general election
  • Coloured vote constitutional crisis
  • Treason Trial
  • Sharpeville massacre
  • Rivonia Trial
  • Soweto uprising
  • Church Street bombing
  • Khotso House bombing
  • Cape Town peace march
  • CODESA
  • Saint James Church massacre
  • Shell House massacre
Organisations
  • ANC
  • APLA
  • IFP
  • AWB
  • Black Sash
  • CCB
  • Conservative Party
  • ECC
  • PP
  • RP
  • PFP
  • HNP
  • MK
  • PAC
  • UDF
  • Broederbond
  • National Party
  • COSATU
  • SACC
  • SADF
  • SAIC
  • SAP
  • SACP
  • Umkhonto we Sizwe
  • State Security Council
People
  • P. W. Botha
  • Mangosuthu Buthelezi
  • Steve Biko
  • Yusuf Dadoo
  • Sheena Duncan
  • F. W. de Klerk
  • Eugene de Kock
  • Ruth First
  • Bram Fischer
  • Chris Hani
  • John Frederick Harris
  • Barbara Hogan
  • Trevor Huddleston
  • Helen Joseph
  • Ronnie Kasrils
  • Ahmed Kathrada
  • Jimmy Kruger
  • Moses Mabhida
  • Winnie Madikizela-Mandela
  • Mac Maharaj
  • D. F. Malan
  • Nelson Mandela
  • Kaiser Matanzima
  • Govan Mbeki
  • Thabo Mbeki
  • Robert McBride
  • Billy Nair
  • Hastings Ndlovu
  • Alan Paton
  • Hector Pieterson
  • Harry Schwarz
  • Walter Sisulu
  • JG Strijdom
  • Joe Slovo
  • Helen Suzman
  • Oliver Tambo
  • Eugène Terre'Blanche
  • Andries Treurnicht
  • Desmond Tutu
  • H. F. Verwoerd
  • B. J. Vorster
Places
  • Bantustan
  • District Six
  • Robben Island
  • Sophiatown
  • South-West Africa
  • Soweto
  • Sun City
  • Vlakplaas
Related topics
  • Cape Qualified Franchise
  • Afrikaner nationalism
  • Apartheid legislation
  • Freedom Charter
  • Sullivan Principles
  • Kairos Document
  • Disinvestment campaign
  • South African Police
  • Apartheid in popular culture

The Apartheid Legislation in South Africa was a series of different laws and acts which were to help the apartheid-government to enforce the segregation of different races and cement the power and the dominance by the Whites, of substantially European descent, over the other race groups. Starting in 1948, the Nationalist Government in South Africa enacted laws to define and enforce segregation. With the enactment of apartheid laws in 1948, racial discrimination was institutionalised. According to economist Walter E. Williams, apartheid "maintained white power by denying political and economic liberty to black South Africans." The effect of the legislation was invariably favourable to the whites and detrimental to the non-white racial groups namely the Coloureds, Indians and Blacks.

What makes South Africa's apartheid era different from segregation in other countries is the systematic way in which the National Party, which came into power in 1948, formalized the Apartheid rules through the law.


Read more about Apartheid Legislation In South Africa:  Publication of Legislation, Segregationist Legislation Before Apartheid

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