Apartheid Summary

Apartheid

In the short time I’ve been on ATS I’ve come across a lot of disinformation about Apartheid and anything connected to Apartheid. The disinformation is mostly a result of media spun propaganda and exaggerations of what Apartheid was.


So here is everything you need to know about Apartheid

Definition: Separateness

Apartheid was a legal system of racial segregation that was enforced by the N.P.(National Party) government between 1948 and 1993.

A minority group ruling over the majority basically.

Apartheid was practiced in colonial times but it was only given a name and excepted as an official policy following of the 1948 general election. The new legislation classified inhabitants into racial groups (black, white, coloured and Indian).

A full list Racial laws/acts could be found here-

Source- Apartheid legislation

Bantustan(Black African Homeland):

Small pockets of land set aside for black inhabitants divided into the different ethnic groups of Southern Africa, by the Apartheid government.

They were as follow

*Transkei(Xhosa)

*Bophuthatswana(Tswana)

*Venda(Venda)

*Ciskei(Xhosa)

*Gazankulu (Shangaan)

*KaNgwane(Swazi)

*KwaNdebele(Ndebele)

*KwaZulu(Zulu)

*Lebowa(Pedi)

*QwaQwa(Sotho)



Nelson Mandela:

I sometimes find it ridiculous how some people try and paint Mandela as being a saint. Think even he finds it ridiculous.

In fact Nelson Mandela was the leader and co-founder of the ANC’s armed wing, Umkhonto we Sizwe(Spear of the Nation). He coordinated sabotage campaigns against military and government targets, making plans for a possible guerrilla war of the sabotage failed to end Apartheid.

It was the reason he ended up in prison. He was arrested on a farm in Rivonia where he and his comrades planned these attacks.

Rivonia Trial

He was released from prison in 1990,after serving 27 years in prison, and became president in 1994, officially ending Apartheid.


Apartheid Military Structure

Some things to know

No we didn’t have 42 nuclear bombs like I saw on news article on ATS report. Yes, we did have nuclear, biological and chemical weapons. Only 6 nuclear weapons were assembled later to dismantled by the new government. This made us the first nation to voluntarily rid ourselves of nuclear weapons in world.

S.A.WMD


One of my personal favourites….

32 Battalion

One of the most decorated military units in SADF(South African Defence Force), receiving more honoured Crux than the Special Forces Unit. 32 Battalion wasn’t created for Apartheid. It was only later that 32 battalion would be fighting on South African soil.

32 Battalion was founded by Jan Breytenbach of the South African Special Forces Brigade and was, for the most part, a unit made up of mercenaries from different countries in Africa. It was composed of both black and white officers. It also consisted of officers from the UK, Rhodesia, Portugal and the USA.

It was a special infantry unit trained for guerrilla warfare and mainly used in Angola to assist the UNITA movement and stop communism/revolution from spreading to Namibia in further into Southern Africa known as the Border War.

It was only later in South Africa assisting in quelling uprisings that they were criticized, specifically by the ANC. For the most part they were trained for bush warfare and not urban warfare. This probably contributed to their bad reputation as they shot and killed a few members of the public.

32 Battalion was disbanded in 1993. Some of its former soldiers found new jobs in SADF, now under control of the ANC, and others probably joined other mercenary groups.

~~~~Feel free to add anything to this thread in case I’ve missed something~~~

~~~~Wasn't sure where to post this so move it in its correct place,Mods~~~~