African history

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2-12-09
History “Africa”

Analyze the reasons for and the effects of segregation policies in South Africa between 1910 and 1948.

The Union of South Africa was established on 31 May 1910,with Louis Botha being their first Prime Minister. In this union, members of the parliament could only be white, as it had always been. Blacks were not able to exert any substantial influence on theelections results, except for the colony of the Cape as an exception. The franchise was seen by blacks and whites as a reward and privilege. Since the union of South Africa was given the rule to theAfrikaners since the British wanted to maintain that white dominion like they did with other colonies such as Australia, New Zealand and Canada, it meant that they did not want the blacks to have any sortof power. The Union of South Africa, and its leading Afrikaner party, would start to impose segregation policies, that were seen before, but after a series of policies imposed, it would lead to a lawthat had never seen before, and that changed the view of South Africa to everyone, Apartheid.

Before the South Africa Act was passed, the colonies needed to decide how to elect their MPs. Asmentioned before, the Cape Colony was the only place in South Africa in which all races were allowed to vote. The Boers in the Transvaal and Orange Free State did not want the non-Europeans to be allowed tovote. The result of all this in the Union of South Africa run by the Afrikaners, was that non-whites kept their right to vote in Cape Colony but they were not allowed to stand for parliament. Also intheory, non-Europeans were allowed to vote in the other British colony, Natal, but only few ever voted. Elsewhere, only whites had the right to vote.

The Boers also agreed on other aspects. Whitesand blacks should not live together, even though blacks would be needed to work on white farms and industries. In 1913, the new South African government put the Natives Land Act in practice. This...