1. Topic 3: Civil Resistance in South Africa 1970s to 1980s
ESSAY QUESTION
Topic 3: Civil Resistance in South Africa 1970s to 1980s
The Crisis of Apartheid in the 1980s (Part 1)

2. Background and Focus
“We continue studying the narrative of resistance to Apartheid that we began in Grade 11…. The pressure on the Apartheid government in the 1980s links the wide-ranging internal resistance with the anti-aparteid movements outsode South Africa” (p30)

3. WILL BE EXAMINED 2014-2016 NOT TO BE EXAMINED 2014-2016
The crisis of Apartheid in the 1980s
Government attempts to reform Apartheid
International Responses
The beginning of the end
Internal resistance to Apartheid
WILL BE EXAMINED
NOT TO BE EXAMINED

4. The sections of this topic which will be examined in 2014-2016 are:
Government attempts to reform Apartheid
Contradictions of apartheid emerge
The 1982 Urban Bantu Authorities Act
Internal resistance to reforms
Growing power of trade union movement from 1973
Responses to Botha’s ‘reforms’
(Refer to CAPS, p29)

5. From a foundation of factual knowledge to conceptual frameworks
Refer to textbook timeline (factual knowledge)
All timelines are a selection of available events
‘Dates’ and ‘events’ are not ‘history’ they are ‘the past’.
‘The past’ only becomes ‘history’ when we start to ask questions and start to organise it according to some sort of concept.
The slice of ‘the past’ is already organised according to the concept of ‘chronology’.
What other conceptual frameworks could be used to organise these events?

6. What were the causes of the crisis of Apartheid in the 1980s?

7. What were the consequences of the formation of the UDF?

8. Not Successful Successful
‘P W Botha’s constitutional reforms were a successful attempt to reform apartheid.’ To what extent do you agree with this statement?
Successful
Not Successful

9. MULTIPLE PERSPECTIVES
How did different groups in South Africa believe that the ‘crisis of Apartheid in the 1980s’ could be resolved?
MULTIPLE PERSPECTIVES

10. The South African context by late 1970s: the Apartheid state was on the defensive
Economic
Social / Political
1973 rise in oil prices > global economic recession
Rising inflation and increasing cost of living
Rising unemployment among black population:
,000 , 1970 – 1m
1978 – 2m (20%)
Foreign investment shrunk:
1975/76 - R1.6 billion
1976/77 - R452 million
Limited domestic and international markets for SA products
Growth of organised labour movement
1980 Kwazulu struck by one of the worst droughts in History
Black consciousness had become a powerful mobilising ideology > 1976 Soweto uprising > mass detention and suppression of BCM
Over 12,000 youths fled South Africa after 1976, most joined ANC or PAC in exile and received military training and education.
Substantial growth in young black urban population
‘Apartheid regime was on the defensive’

11. Attempts to Reform Apartheid in the 1980s– The Context
“The reforms [introduced by PW Botha’s government in the 1980s] crystallised out of intense differences and debate within and between state [the government] and capital [industry/ business] about appropriate courses of action.
Intensifying popular pressures and shifting political relations would shape their content and implementation.”
(Marais, 2011:42) 19

12. What were the aims of the national Party’s reform policy in the 1980s?
“We must adapt or die”
(From a speech given by PW Botha to parliament in 1979)
“The aim of this new ‘reform policy’ was to ensure maximum division and differentiation …” (Morris and Padayachee, 1989:74)
PW Botha: State President of South Africa

13. Reforming Urbanisation Policy
1979: Riekert Commission
Proposed that Africans should be divided into ‘qualified’ urban dwellers and a ‘disqualified’ rest who were to be resident in ‘homelands’.
“The small group of privileged urban blacks whose quality of life will undoubtedly improve may well become less urgent in their demands for political power and serve as the lid on the kettle for some years to come.” (Financial Mail, 25 Jan 1980)
1982: Urban Bantu Authorities Act
- Township councils were elected (largely discredited and seen by many as ‘puppets’ of the apartheid state)

14. Restructuring Labour Relations
Context: 1973 strike wave and growth in worker militancy. Industrialists concerned about their profits.
1979: Wiehahn Commission
Investigated how the government could:
(1) Better regulate black workers in order to control their potential strength.
(2) Design measures to increase the productivity and spending power of urban black population (ie create a black middle class)
1981 Labour Relations Amendment Act
Granted black trade unions the right to legally register and negotiate + take part in Industrial Council system and mediation.
Legal job reservation for whites was abolished.
Black petty-bourgeoisie from working class, insiders from outsiders.

15. The Economic context in early 1980s
1982: Gold price fell steeply, NP government took a IMF ‘standby loan’ from IMF
IMF demanded ‘structural adjustment’
Subsidies of consumer good withdrawn
Inflation rose to 17% by 1985
Rates, rents, service payments in townships increased steeply.
Retrenchment in agriculture – increased migration from rural areas into cities. (‘influx’ controls failing)
NP government struggling to meet growing cost of maintaining apartheid (military, police, ‘security’)