History Of South Africa: Political Changes, Economic Depression, Urbanization, And Racial Slurs

Summary of Chapter 5

Chapter five of the book “ Twentieth Century South Africa by William Beinart covers the history of the state from the year 1930 to 1948. The author gave it the title of the Settler state in depression and war, 1930-1948. The first few years of the decade of 1930’s became the harbinger of a political change when elected government of Hertzog’s national party was dethroned by the masses because they failed in addressing the economic depression which was prevailing in the country. His policies were pro Afrikaners and this fact supported him during the 20’s. It was also the period when the national anthem and the flag of the country got their dues. Core sectors like mining and railroads started appointing black employees on respectable posts (Freund, 2018).

During the same period, the struggle for the women suffrage movement found a new voice when ladies from some of the leading white families started raising these issues more fiercely. The government of the National party met with another failure when they failed to capitalize on the change in the status of the gold standard made by Britain. They maintained the gold standard, as a result, the lower strata of the African society suffered very badly and the balance of the payment for the country also suffered (S. Mark, 2014).  

In the year 1993, the formation of United South African nationalist party changed the course of the politics in the country. Hertzog saved his seat as a prime minister, however, his fusion with other parties made him slightly weaker in the process of hard decision making. The tax reforms of the Hertzog government and the new deal offered by American president Franklin D Roosevelt changed the economic condition of the country (William Beinart, 2014). It was a bad period for the agriculture sector and the animal husbandry sector.  Lack of inflation in these sectors forced many farmers to take loans from the banks and later on these loans became a headache for them. It was also the time of the industrialization of the country because the women working the agricultural fields along with the males joined the mining sector and manufacturing sector of the country (Soske, 2017).

On the front of the religion, the Reform churches of the Dutch origin intervened in the life of the disoriented migrants and brought them under the umbrella of the civilized life. Some socio-political moves were also made by working communities in the year 1938 when the labor union of the black rail employees started celebrating their historical events and it gave rise to the Voortrekker movement (Skinner, 2017).

The formation of the Native Economic Commission and its impact on the policy-making bodies of the government paved the way for extensive urbanization. Concepts like “cattle complex” and dissatisfaction of the natives also emerged as the by-product of these policies. In the year 1936, the emergence of the “native representative act” act as a leveler and the same act also opened the skies for certain other reforms as well. The loss of Cape Vote was another historical event that took place during the same time and somewhat mitigated the impact of the reforms. It was the same time when the voting rights and other social rights of the women were also diluted (Stapleton, 2018).

Summary of Chapter 6

One more significant change in the era took place when authorities refused to entertain black employees above the menial positions. The centralization of the authorities also emerged as a major issue during this period. The era from 1930 to 1948 can be marked for the urbanization of African society. However, it was an uneven process. Whites were presented with more opportunities in comparison with their black counterparts. Most of the cities were full of white people where the blacks were present as the service economy. The emergence of the peri-urban townships was another highlight of that era. The unrest caused by the Second World War also gave an opportunity to some of the black communities to establish illegal residential setups in some remote townships (Smith, 2018).

Author Hellmann’s Rooiyard talked a lot about the emergence of the slum culture in the country. The standard of living in these slums was poor; people were suffering under an inner African city culture. This resentment of the Blacks gave an opportunity to Communist powers, with the help of the trade unions communist party also won the support of a big population in the country. Leaders like Max Gordon changed a few things in favor of the blacks during the era of wartime politics. In the year 1944 communist party directly addressed some of the issue related to the blacks (Nancy L Clark, 2017). The mention of this period is incomplete without the mention of leader Mpanza who was a populist. His radical views about the politics and religion gave rise to many streams of the thoughts that became the harbinger of some sea changes in the history of this country in the coming decades.

The period from 1948 to 1994 is also known as the period of the mass opposition.  Concepts of the Apartheid became a part of the lifestyle of the people; this change lasted for more than 40 years. The existing South African polity failed in handling some of the serious issues connected to the equity of the citizens in a post-colonial world. They received criticism and sanctions from the rest of the world. Racial prejudices became more prevalent in society (Natterass, 2017).

The sovereign tried to resolve the issue by looking at the policies from a wider perspective, however, their attempts were half-hearted and they can be considered as lip service to preventing mass revolutions for the time being.  It was also the time of the recasting of the society where blacks were seeking an active stake and more rights. On the economic front, the things were satisfactory because gradually South Africa was rising to become an economic power. The health of the balance of the payments and the exports was good (Bergen, 2017).

Most of the social engineers and the historians describe this era under three headings.  These headings are Industrialization, urbanization and the racial slur promoting a repressive racial order. In the year 1949 and 1950, two legislations of “Mixed marriages act” and “immorality act” passed. These two acts talks loads about the social structure of the society where white mal (Ngcukaitobi, 2018)

The legislation that was passed by the government brought in a lot of resentment of among the organizations that were working in the direction of the reforms of the society. The structure of the labor unions gave rise to a different kind of culture of where mass revolts became an order of the day. Telling the names of the bodies is insignificant because small groups were coming in existence and raising the voice against the irregularities in the system.

Issues like the right to vote, segregation of the Railway and other government entities also became very prevalent during the decade of the fifties. The immigrant communities were becoming powerful in the society, in order to prevent their growth the government came up with a battery of the laws to prevent their growth in the area of Cape Town and Johannesburg. Another class war emerged in the society when Africans started attacking Indian traders of the area. The leadership of the communist party took the lead and helped them in signing a treaty with Natal Indian Congress. This treaty became a peace agreement between the two communities. The Natal Indian Congress ( ANC) later on became a powerful body in society and raised some issues with strong voices. Many such issues became a prominent voice in the future and forced the governments to change legislation in favor of the natives and immigrants.

In the year 1970, the emergence of Migrant labor system changed many things in the field of the jobs where the reservation policies in favor of the white people were prevailing.  Mining industry of South Africa started recognizing the worth of the migrant labors.  The culture of endorsing labors based on their services, stay and the marital status started seeping in. It was a big factor that stabilized many blacks in society. Social leaders like Luthuli took the cues from these reforms and launched a campaign against certain policies and practices of the government. The commonwealth status of the country also worked in favor of natives and migrants. The principle of the party gave them an insight that they are lacking somewhere in the terms of the human right.

The relation of the country with Britain also played a major role in the formation of the policies. However, in the long run, when the international pressure started mounting on the governments they finally came up with some policies to bring in a respite in the life of the natives and migrants. Finally, the conditions paved a way for South Africa following a different type of nationalism; it became a country with full opportunities for all ahead of the racial status. Concerns relate to the Volk and the obsessive racial behavior diminished. This change gave rise to a technocratic state with a complex bureaucracy to serve all the citizens inclusive of their ethnographic status.  

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Natterass, G. (2017). A Short History of South Africa. London: Biteback.

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