Mandela: Racial Discrimination in South Africa - Essay Example

Nelson Mandela Racial discrimination in South Africa Racial discrimination means to discriminate or have abusive behavior towards the members of another race. Plague of racial discrimination has prevailed in South Africa since long time. In 1903 the South African native affair commission was formed whose policies stated that Africans (Blacks) could not be employed by any farmers, miners or industrialist without a pass. Next year the Chinese labors were imported to work in gold and diamond mines which further eroded the Black worker wages. Further to make conditions worse poll tax was introduced for Blacks on salt and homes, failure to pay the tax compelled the Blacks to look for work in White owned businesses. These conditions kept on prevailing until in 1911 the Mines and Works Act stated that the Black workers could not be engaged as cheap semi-skilled laborers and this prohibited Black workers from seeking skilled work. In 1914 the National Party (NP) under General Hertzog made the law that the right to vote belonged to White and was not extended to Blacks. In coming years Blacks were deprived of the right to own their lands. The years went by and Blacks were subjected to discrimination by the Whites. Apartheid law Encyclopedia of Britannica describes apartheid as, policy that governed relations between South Africas white minority and nonwhite majority and sanctioned racial segregation and political and economic discrimination against nonwhites. It was in 1948 when the apartheid law was introduced which prohibited marriage of White and Non-White marriages and sanctioned White only jobs. The population was classified into White, Black and Colored. The Blacks had to carry pass books all the time containing their fingerprints, photos and information to access Non Black areas. There was discrimination in education, medical care and public services, and Blacks were always considered inferior to Whites. In 1951 the Bantu Authorities act established homelands for Blacks, their own lands were divided into separate homelands in which they had to live and in order to travel to another homeland they needed a passport, thus in other words they became alien to their own country. Whosoever did not abide by the law were subjected to injustices. Severe penalties were enforced on people and they were put in prison where brutal torture killed them. The statistics below show the result of apartheid law policies; Apartheid and people of South Africa Blacks Whites Population 19 million 4.5 million Land allocation 13% 87% Share of national income Less than 20% 75% Ratio of average earning 1 14 Minimum taxable income 360 Rends 750 Rends Doctors/population 1/44000 1/400 Infant mortality rates 20% (urban) 40% (rural) 2.7% Annual expenditure on education/pupil $45 $69 Teacher/pupil ratio 1/60 1/22 (Disproportional treatment circa, 1978) Nelson Mandela’s nationalist tactics It was through these hard times when a man rose up from between to combat these terrible practices of apartheid. Nelson Mandela was born on 28th July 1918, and dedicated his life to remove racial discrimination and fought for its people; he was a man of great respect and achievement. He joined the African National Congress (ANC) which was formed in 1912 as a non violent organization to combat the repression of Blacks in South Africa. In 1944 Mandela joined the Youth league of ANC. ANC arranged for strikes and protests and avoided taking lives at any cost. Gradually seeing his commitment with work he was elected the leader of ANC defiance campaign. Although the campaign was non- violent and passive, but many people were involved in it and this resulted in masses going to jail. This was an excellent example of Mandela’s nationalist tactics. Sharpeville Incident On 21st March 1960 a tragic day came in history of South Africa when a big group of Blacks in the town of Sharpeville were protesting peacefully by refusing to show their passes which resulted in 69 people being killed and 187 wounded by the police. This incident is known by many as a Sharpeville incident. And this had great impact on the times to come. It was after this incident that ANC was banned and Mandela and other members of ANC were forced to take their efforts underground. This bought them the thought of forming a new military fraction called Umkanto Sizwe and decided on sabotage over the guerrilla warfare, terrorism and all other revolts to obtain their goals. Umkanto decided on sabotage whose main targets were power plants, infrastructure and government buildings. These steps crippled the government and the economy and changed the African voter’s attitude. This resulted in Mandela’s arrest as the leader of the group in 1962 and sentenced life imprisonment. His image grew in prison too as a black leader. Throughout Mandela’s imprisonment, local and international pressure mounted on the South African government to release him and slogans such as “Free Nelson Mandela” were raised (ANC, 1988). In 1990 De Klerk announced Mandelas release. He spent 27 years of his life in prison for his cause. Motivational factors that shaped Mandela’s nationalist ideas Mandela’s life was the main motivational factor which led him to develop his nationalist ideas. His frustrated experiences of not being allowed to do certain jobs or live in certain areas or ride on certain train’s etc, apartheid law which he faced every day were the motivators. Apart from this his profession was also a motivator as he was an attorney and encountered apartheid in much extent than others, even his practice was sanctioned through apartheid. The other events in his life were; firstly a new division was formed from between ANC and the ideas being accepted by the Whites were not in favor of Blacks thus he thought of militant African nationalism and formed Youth League of ANC with the aim the national liberation of Africans will be achieved by Africans themselves. (Finlayson, 1999) thus they promoted the participation of masses for the first time. Secondly what influenced Mandela was the Asiatic Land Tenure Act passed in 1946 which placed restrictions on where the Indians lived and traded and on the right to own their property. On listening to the act Indians started repression moments for two years and masses were involved in these movements. This inspired Mandela to take step against the Whites and became a platform for the Youth League to step forward. The third major event that motivated Mandela was the election of 1948. The elections reduced the power of United party against the National party. The United party was a bit mild towards the Blacks but National party was the apartheid Law idea people. Impact of Nelson Mandela on his people After being released from the prison Mandela started his freedom struggle his dedication helped him to unite the masses of Black people in the fight for freedom with the aim of abolishing apartheid and bringing the National party government to the end. The results of these movements had a profound effect on his people and they regained the opportunity to succeed and prosper in their own country. He started the armed struggle and focused on bringing peace to Black people and to regain their right to vote in national and local elections. He entered again the ANC as the leader and between 1990 and 1994 led the party in multi-party negotiations; this led to the country’s first multi racial elections. Mandela started negotiating with others of his party of his freedom ideas and with Whites in 1991. In 1992 the Boipatong massacre occurred when Mandela came out of the negotiations with the Whites accusing them of killing the people. But again after some time the negotiations resumed as it was the only way forward for their movement. In 1993 the ANC leader Chris Hani was assassinated which brought the fear that the country would erupt in violence. Mandela stood up and addressed the nation to stay calm; his speech was a presidential type. The negotiators agreed on new election which took place on 27th April 1994. The ANC won by 62% and Mandela as the leader of the group was elected as the first black president. The first step he took was abolishing apartheid. He encouraged his people to participate in Springbok Cup in which they won over New Zealand and got the trophy. This was a major step of reconciliation of Whites and Blacks. His trademark was the use of Batik shirts which he made a dress course on all informal and formal occasions. Mandela became the oldest elected president and retired the office in 1994 at the age of 75 to be succeeded by Thabo Mbeki. Even after his retirement he became an advocate for a variety of social and human rights organization. He expressed his support for international make poverty history movement. Nelson Mandela invitation charity golf tournament has raised over 20 million rends for childrens charities since its inception in 2000. This annual special event has become South Africas most successful charitable sports gathering and benefits both the Nelson Mandela Childrens Fund and Gary Player Foundation equally for various childrens causes around the world. Conclusion Nelson Mandela’s main agenda was that he was against bigotry of any kind and was concerned about everyone not just his people. He had an idea of democratic and free society in which all people live together in harmony and with equal opportunities. (Smith, 2003) This thought had been inspired by the world and have rewarded Mandela Nobel peace prize in 1993 (Encyclopedia Britannica). Mandela’s dedication and willingness to sacrifice led him to the routes of success, his democratic attitude and determination for humanity led him to stand on this position and win the racial discrimination war for his people. Work cited Charlene Smith, Mandela, in celebration of a great life, Struik publishers, 2003. Reggie Finlayson, Nelson; biography, Lerner publication, 1999. Free Nelson Mandela, ANC, July 1988 retrieved 28-10-2008. Nelson Mandela, invitational trees off, Gary player.com, 14 November 2003, retrieved 01-05-2003. Read More