The Legalization of Racial Segregation - Case Study Example

HOW SUCCESSFUL HAS THE ANC BEEN IN ADDRESSING THE KEY LEGACIES OF APARTHEID The history of South Africa is never complete without a mention of the apartheid Era-an Era that witnessed the legalization of racial segregation between the years of 1948 to 1994. This separatist framework was designed to favour people of European descent, particularly in the economic and political settings in the then such Africa. Against their wishes people were forcibly separated into different geographical locations based on their colour. The distinct classifications were black, white, coloured and Asian. The homeland approach was employed in these classifications such that people were legally made to become citizens of faraway land that they may not have visited in reality. The fact however was that the blacks were handicapped from exercising influence or any form of authority to issues concerning them in their immediate environment. Inferior treatments were meted out to the blacks in terms of the public services that were made available to them (Department of Health, 2004). Apartheid may have been a director consequence of British colonialism that sought to regulate the movement, of blacks to white occupied territories. More than ten different laws encapsulated the apartheid era. There was a laws prohibiting mixed marriages between whites and non-whites, it was considered a criminal act for a white to have sexual relations with other races. Citizens were registered on the basis of their skin colour. The country was partitioned into different areas with different governing structures put on ground for these different areas. There were further laws checking black migration to the cities and from sharing the same public amenities. Other laws mere the banks Education Act that brought black schooling directly under government control and thereby ending the running of schools by the missionaries, the law preventing illegal squatting, the suppression of communism etc. These and many more characterized apartheid or “Separatism” by South Africa. The ANC is an acronym that stands for African National Congress and the currently ruling political party in South Africa with social-Democratic inclinations. South African blacks readily accepted this party as theirs because it had as it major mission, the welfare and the rights of South African Blacks. Formally called the South African native National congress, the ANC was founded in 1912 with initial founding members like John Lube and sole plaatje. The composition of the ANC at foundation included Local Chiefs, Representatives of the people, churches & etc with the sole aim of uniting the people in order to defend their rights and freedoms. The supremacy of the whites was to be challenged when in 1944, Nelson Mandela, Walter sisulu and Oliver tambo jointly established the youth league of the ANC signaling a generational shift where non-violent mass action would be employed as weapon. The restriction of political labour and residential rights by the Afrikaner led national party, the ruling party at the time spurred the ANC to join forces with other organizations with similar ideologies on apart held in defiance campaign in which oppressive laws were deliberately disobeyed. The ANC in the course of its struggle against apartheid, had many of its top members arrested particularly in 1955 when 156 top echelons were arrested after their adoption of the freedom charter as a fundamental document of the Anti-apartheid struggle in a “congress of the people” spearheaded by the ANC, this struggles continued unit 1994 when the ANC swept the rolls to cruise to victory and Nelson Mandela elected as the first black president of south Africa. This was achieved in Alliance with other parties though. 1. Apartheid legacies like Economic Inequality and land ownership inequality etc are still evident in smith Africa Today, though the ANC Government has taken steps to ensure this situation is reversed, there remains an obvious Gap in the income distribution pattern among South Africans. Less than 3% of the entire population have earnings of about US$50000 per annum of course this population is predominantly white while over 60 % earn less than US$7000at the same time more than 90% of the impoverished class are blacks (U.N, World socialist Website 21 May 2004). The ANC Government currently being headed by president Thabo Mbeki has obviously had its hands full in trying to address these issues which like a reccurring decimal has refused to go away despite the efforts being made. One of its attempts to checkmate this trend was the introduction of a black economic empowerment policy. At the moment companies and corporate organization are rated using this policy standards the implementation of this policy has not being without resistance as some groups have termed it as being racial in nature and a return to apart held ideologies. In truth however the policy aims at improving the list of the black population whom have long been deprived of comfort to achieve this the policy promotes discrimination against white mal in staff appointment. This affects the award of government contracts in favour of a company with Good black economic empowerment rating. It has improved to certain extent the lot of blacks as companies, in their quest for government deals and contracts have had to improve their “BEE” ratings even if unwilling as was highlighted earlier, about eighty percent of farming lands are still being held by white farmers and certain complexities have made land reclamation and redistribution some want difficulty. The very poor strata of the society who are predominantly blacks have been unwillingly excluded from land redistribution process due to a mandatory contribution that has to be made towards the process. The offshoot of this has been ceaseless attacks on white farmers that receive extensive media coverage and sometimes obscuring the plight of neglected black people. A genuine fear however exists about the land redistribution process. Redistribution of land just for that purpose alone may be counter productive as the policy makers realize that farming land in the hands of inexperienced farmers could trigger famine as is being witnessed in Zimbabwe. It has been mentioned earlier that the ANC before its rise to power had entered into alliance with other parties, however as a result of its adoption of more liberal economic policies, strains have been witnessed in this alliance, a particular program initialized by “Gear” representing growth, employment and redistribution has been a sore point for this alliance. It was a serious threat to the success of ANC in its quest to erase apartheid legacies furthermore the ANC which prides itself as an anti-apart held organisation has maintained a quiet diplomacy in the crises enveloping its neighbour, Zimbabwe. This is obviously a low point for the administration and its effort to rewrite the apartheid history of South Africa. There have been criticisms too about the “BEE” policy that it has been employed as a tool to favour the elite black class rather than effect a positive change in the coordination of the masses. Internal meaning have also not helped the ANC in achieving total success in some of its policy drive despite all of these it must be said that while the ANC may not have achieved total success in addressing the key apart held legacies it has achieved some level of success because apart held laws such as: The prohibition of mixed marriages Act (1949) The immorality Act (1950) The population Registration Act (1950) The suppression of communism Act (1950) The group areas Act (1950) Bantu Authorities Act (1951) Prevention of illegal squatting Act (1951) The reservation of separate amenities Act (1953) and all others have either been amended or out rightly abolished. It has not been a smooth sailing for the ANC-led government in South Africa Prior to it’s ascent to governance, the ANC had preached messages of hope to the down-trodden in South Africa, however facts on ground seem to be indicating that it has defaulted on this promise. The ANC’s onslaught on apartheid policies were vigorous, promising a turn around in the basic needs of South Africans that included education, housing, health and better employment opportunities. All of these were contained in a document that has since being adopted by all as the major policy framework for South Africa i.e. the Reconstruction and Development Programme or RDP for short. Unfortunately the pace of execution of this programme that holds a lot of promise for South Africans has been unduly very slow. It has been subject of debates among the stakeholders as to what logistics should be applied in its implementation while at the same time having the cost implications in view. Multiple strike actions embarked upon by labour unions are indicators of the diminishing state of the people’s patience. The ANC having awakened the hope of a new South Africa in its constituents now faces the backlash of frustration as a result of unfulfilled promises of a new deal. It does appear at the moment, that the government is not ready as yet to take the bull by the horns in addressing the wage disparity between the blacks and their white counterparts. Labour unions who in the past attacked the apartheid government have in recent times directed its arsenal at the ANC government. Little has also changed within the army which was one of the major strongholds of the apartheid .Attempts at reconciling former members of the ANC’s army and the new South African National Defense Force ended with an unceremonious exist of the former, citing discriminatory attitudes towards them by top echelons of the army, a situation that was obvious during the apartheid era (ICP, 1995) The pressure on the ANC to deliver on its campaign promises is quite daunting when considered in the light of the discredited system it inherited from the last apartheid regime and dismantling or even restructuring these systems have been Herculean. Disparities in wages were evident even within the ANC government at inception that it led to criticisms. This eventually led to a wage cut of the President and his cabinet. Not much have actually changed in the housing system either. And an increasing migration of people from the rural l areas to the urban centres has exerted lots of stress on the existing structures. In an attempt to solve this basic problem, shacks have been erected by these migrants with attendant water and other sanitation problems while majority of the land is held unto by their white owners. Apartheid was a system that was enforced for close to a century in south Africa and can only be addressed gradually in the light of this, the ANC can be said to be on course to right the ills of the past apartheid regimes. REFERENCES 2. Meredith, martin. 1988. In the name of Apartheid: South Africa in the postwar period. 1st US.ed. New York: Harper and Row, 3. Visser, Pippa.2003. In search of history. Oxford University Press Southern Africa, 4. Meredith, Martin.2005. The state of Africa. The free press 2005. 5. Louw, P. Eric.2004. The rise, fall and legacy of apartheid. Praegers, 6. Federal Research Division South Africa – A country study Library of Congress 1996 7. William, Micheal.1994.Crocodile Burning 8. World socialist website 2004 9. Department of Health Report 2004 Read More