Apartheid South Africa

Apartheid: Mixed marriages and the immorality act

In 1949 mixed marriages were banned and the immorality act become the first major piece of apartheid legislation.

In 1950 the act was followed up with a ban on sexual relations between white and black. One of the first people convicted of the immorality act was a Cape Dutch reformed minister; he was caught having sex with a domestic worker in his garage. He was given a suspended sentence and the parishioners bulldozed the garage to the ground.

The police tracked down mixed couples suspected of having a relationship. Homes were invaded and doors were smashed down in the process. Mixed couples caught in bed, were arrested. Underwear was used as forensic evidence in court. Most couples found guilty were sent to jail. Blacks were often given harsher sentences.

The population Registration Act: This law was passed in 1950, to define in no uncertain terms what belonged to a particular race. Race was defined by physical appearance.

If the authorities had doubt as to the color of a persons skin, they would resort to a "pencil in hair test". A pencil was pushed in the hair, and if it remained in the persons hair without dropping, it signified frizzy hair, the person would then be classified as colored. If the pencil dropped out the person would be classified as white.

Many decisions were wrong, resulting in families being split and or evicted for living in the wrong area. In some cases hundreds of colored families were reclassified as white and in a few cases Afrikaners were reclassified as colored. Staunch Afrikaner parents, abandoned children with frizzy hair and or children with dark skin. They were regarded as outcasts by the biological Afrikaner parents. Once the law was implemented all citizens were issued with identity documents in which the race of a person was clearly marked.

Segregation - Group areas act:

The act was designed to restrict the black or colored race group to its own residential area, and to control the purchase or occupation of land. The separate amenities act, allowed the government and business to establish separate but unequal facilities for non-whites. Beaches, government buildings, hospitals, schools, universities, colleges, public transport, parks, sports facilities, shops, etc. all had separate entrances and or entities. All amenities provided for the coloreds or blacks, were sub-standard, while the amenities for "whites" were of high standard. Law segregated all public areas.

The law was further expanded to provide government with complete control over the movement of black Africans. African men and women that did not qualify to work in white urban areas had to carry a "pass" that was valid for 72 hours. If a black African were caught with an expired pass, they would be arrested and had to pay a fine to be released, If these individuals had no money to pay the fine (which was often the case) they would be jailed for a few months. Little regard was given to how the family structure was destroyed or how it would criminalize a large section of the black population.

The pass law was abolished In 1952, only to be replaced by a 96-page document, named a reference book. The identification book had a fingerprint of the holder. The book had to be carried at all times, from Doctors to academics and laborers. Failure to produce the document on demand to a policeman was a punishable offence. Black Africans had no right to appeal to courts if they were removed from an urban area. Police and authorities had the right to raid any dwelling inhabited by blacks in search of "illegal" black residents.

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