South Africa is located on the souther tip of the African continent. Currently, it South Africa’s population is about 52 million. It is a country blessed with an ample amount of natural resources including fertile farmlands and unique mineral resources. South Africa is the world leader in exports of diamonds and gold as well as strategic metals such as platinum. In 1994, after years of being controlled by an oppressive government, South Africa gained its independence from apartheid, and became a democratic country. Apartheid was a time in South Africa between 1948 and 1994 when the government made laws to discriminate against black people. The National Party ruled Africa during that time and made the many laws that restricted the basic rights of African-Americans. Apartheid had a huge impact on the people of Africa, and because of its once thriving horrors it brought, South Africa will never be the same. In the years that Apartheid was active in South Africa, almost 20,000 blacks were murdered in hate crimes a year by the Afrikaans, or the whites of country. Under their rule, blacks forced Africans to work on farms and plantations to pay taxes, made Africans carry identification cards that limited travel and places blacks could live, forced farmers to grow cash crops, causing widespread famine, and even forcing more than a million Africans to fight on behalf of their colonial rulers during World War I. Christianity was forced into black settlements and communities, and any mention or act of recognition towards African culture was brutally restricted, and was a cause for harsh punishment.
The oppressive white government of apartheid also created many acts that limited the civil and human rights of Africans. All Acts were enforced by the Parliament of South Africa, which favored the apartheid government of South Africa. The Group Areas Act, according to History.com’s article, “History of Apartheid,” assigned racial groups to different residential and business sections in urban areas in a system of urban apartheid. The Bantu Education Act was a South African segregation law which enforced racially separate educational facilities, and forced all African-American students to learn in the language of Afrikaans. This specific act was the main cause of the Soweto Uprising lead buy thousands of African students protesting against the act. The movie, Cry Freedom, accurately portrayed the events of the rebellion, as the film included facts of how 700 hundred school children were murdered by gun shot by the hand of South African officers. Overall, colonizers in South Africa imposed tight restrictions to control Africans, and used violence and murder to influence their power. The actions they took to hold power in South Africa were truly horrifying, and after Africa gained its independence from apartheid government, the time of healing began, and the Truth and Reconciliation Commission was born.
The oppressive white government of apartheid also created many acts that limited the civil and human rights of Africans. All Acts were enforced by the Parliament of South Africa, which favored the apartheid government of South Africa. The Group Areas Act, according to History.com’s article, “History of Apartheid,” assigned racial groups to different residential and business sections in urban areas in a system of urban apartheid. The Bantu Education Act was a South African segregation law which enforced racially separate educational facilities, and forced all African-American students to learn in the language of Afrikaans. This specific act was the main cause of the Soweto Uprising lead buy thousands of African students protesting against the act. The movie, Cry Freedom, accurately portrayed the events of the rebellion, as the film included facts of how 700 hundred school children were murdered by gun shot by the hand of South African officers. Overall, colonizers in South Africa imposed tight restrictions to control Africans, and used violence and murder to influence their power. The actions they took to hold power in South Africa were truly horrifying, and after Africa gained its independence from apartheid government, the time of healing began, and the Truth and Reconciliation Commission was born.