12: Beer, guitairs and apartheid.

Beer and guitars. Both things quite dear to my heart. Why, I hear you ask, would I call this blog, of the day I visited the Apartheid museum after beer and guitars?

Wait and see......

A brief journey through time: (I'm hoping that I managed to make sense of an entire museum in so few words...)

50,000 years ago, the African Bushmen lived in Southern Africa; hunter gatherers living off the land, making little impact on their surroundings. Over time, the Khoisan people began painting their history; Bantu speaking farmers from the North came to settle in the area as it was rich in natural resources and these had the skills to work with iron and gold. As the newcomers grew in number, the pressure on the land became more and more, until the people began to fight each other. After some time, white settlers came the the region, armed with muskets. The San people fought the settlers and lost and eventually the San dispersed and disappeared, becoming people of the mist.

In the 17th century, Europeans arrived at the Cape, bringing with them slaves from places as far flung as Indonesia. In 1846, the British arrived on the Cape and became involved in a series of frontier wars with the previous European settlers. Over 1000 people were killed; when the Chief of the local tribe went to the British to ask for peace, he was taken hostage, shot and then his body mutilated.

With the advent of such battles, the Boer settlers moved away from the Cape towards Jo'berg, giving their reasons for moving as the loss of land and the British abolition of slavery. Diamonds were discovered at Kimberley, bringing with them the wealth and the insatiable appetite for prospecting. 1876, gold was discovered in Jo'berg, which led to a need for labour in the newly established mines. Black people and migrant workers were set to work in the mines, as a cheap supply of labour. The government at the time introduced measures that would force more and more Africans to mine labour, including taxes that only Africans would have to pay, for example hut tax and poll tax. Some Chiefs refused to pay the taxes, which led to them and their people being forced to live in remote places and facing starvation. Some were killed.

In 1899, the greed conflicts led the Boer people to go to war against the British in a war where black South Africans fought with us.; 20,000 died. It is at this point that we find that the British were responsible for the first concentration camps; filling areas with captured Boer women and children, where they faced starvation and tens of thousands died. In 1902, the Boer asked for peace. In 1910, the African National Congress (ANC) was formed to fight for the disenfranchised Africans.

In 1913, the government introduced the Land Act, which forced Africans to live in reserves; essentially took away their farm land and left them destitute (unless of course they went to the mines).This left many displaced Africans, who flocked into the city of Jo'berg to find work..... The Land Act was brutal on its own, more so when you consider the fact that with no right to land, those who died often had difficulty being buried.

Following the Land Act, there were so many people flocking to the cities that the authorities became worried that their fragile power would become swamped by Africans, so they began introducing legislation which would prevent this happening. In 1922, the Native Urban Areas Act was passed, which meant that the city slums were cleared and that there were separate locations around the country for Africans to live. The influx of Africans into areas resulted into the Pass system being created; (previously mentioned at Langa) which meant that people needed to carry a pass which stated where they were allowed and had to be produced when the Police asked for it. The system of apartheid was written into law and people were classified in terms of colour. One of the "scientific" tests used was the pencil test; if a pencil was put in your hair and stayed there, you were black. Apartheid was a brutal reality and the things that have stuck with me the most are the fact that the Government did not allow black people to drink alcohol until 1938; when they eventually relaxed the laws, they brewed a 2% proof beer specifically for black people called Bantu Beer; it was found in 1995 that this beer contained sterilising agents that would make people infertile; the Government was systematically abusing people's human rights in every way. For the record, the people responsible were given amnesty and those affected have not had justice. Another fact that struck me, was that if anyone dared to pick up a guitar and play it in public, they could be arrested for public disorder! Beer and Guitars. These facts may not be the worst things seen during apartheid, but I think they are things we can all relate to. Imagine going out on a Friday night and drinking a beer that your government had designed to make you infertile.

In the 1940's, the Afrikaner National Movement gained power and the laws of apartheid became further entrenched. simple things, like the freedom to choose which bench you sat on and which bus to take were not allowed for black and coloured people. I remember Mr. Rooth, my year five primary teacher telling me that when he was in South Africa, even the beaches were segregated and the non-whites were given areas that were known to be shark breeding grounds.

Protests at the Government ensued from the 1950's onwards,such as the Civil Disobedience movement, which aimed to make South Africa ungovernable. These were, for the record, peaceful. The move to direct and violent action came when the peaceful protests turned; guns used against unarmed citizens. The Sharpeville Massacre was one such protest, where people had decided to demand arrest in order to fill jails and force the Government to re-write legislation. A large crowd gathered at the police station; they fired and killed 69 people and injured 180.

Resistance, often led by the youth, had gained strength by 1985, which led to many of the townships becoming ungovernable. The Government declared a state of emergency, which gave them extra powers and created further violent struggles. By the end of the 1980's a political deadlock had been reached; but it was 1989 that put South Africa on the road to democracy. F.W de Clerk unbanned political groups that had opposed apartheid. He released political prisoners, including Mandela and began negotiations for a New South Africa with the ANC and others. While the talks were underway, a further 14,00 people were killed in political violence. The National Party , the ANC and other political parties eventually agreed to hold an election; the Democratic election in the history of the country. The ANC with Mandela leading won. The rest is, as they say, history.

Or is it? Although apartheid is no longer written into legislation, there still seems to be tensions between ethnic groups in some areas. Not suprising when you consider what you have read so far.......