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Characteristics of the apartheid system (III): Social discriminationSocial discrimination against blacks was especially prevalent in the following areas:
Marriage and sexuality By 1927, the Immorality Act had already been passed by parliament. This law was aimed at bringing about rigorous racial separation of South Africans by intervening in the private lives of its citizens. Sex between whites and blacks became a criminal offence. The law was further expanded in 1950, outlawing all forms of sexual relationships between whites and non-whites. The 1957 Immorality Act also increased the penalty: The maximum sentence for this "offence" was set at 7 years, and even attempting to break the law was made a criminal offence. 4,000 people received prison sentences between 1950 and 1960 as a direct consequence of the Immorality Act. Strongly connected to this act was the 1949 'Prohibition of Mixed Marriages Act', which prohibited marriages between whites and non-whites. The registrar was made responsible for decisions about race, and marriages made abroad were invalid in South Africa. During the course of a general liberalization of apartheid laws during the 80s, this law was repealed, mainly due to some of the curious consequences resulting from the application of this law, which had made the country an international laughing stock. [Back to top of page] [Back to overview]
Health system Reports from the country's health system are no less alarming. If the system of health care enjoyed by white South Africans was regarded as one of the best in the world, the system for the non-whites was nothing less than catastrophic. On average, there were twelve hospital beds available for every 1000 whites in Johannesburg, while in Soweto, a township on Johannesburg's outskirts in which the migrant workers from the homelands lived during their 11-months work period, less than two hospital beds were available for every 1000 non-whites. On average, doctors responsible for whites had 330 people under their care, while doctors responsible for blacks had 91,000! And the situation in the homelands was even worse. In many instances, either no doctors or hospitals existed at all or they were a day's journey away. On average, three children died of malnutrition in South Africa every hour (!), and this in a country that produced more food than was necessary to provide a balanced diet for its entire population! [Back to top of page] [Back to overview]
Education system One of the most insidious of all apartheid laws, however, was the 'Bantu Education Act' from 1953, which created negative implications that have lasted to the present day. This law took away education authority power from the black regions and handed it to a centralized education ministry under H.F.Verwoerd. This law included the requirement that lessons be taught in the respective Bantu languages of the various tribal areas. It also laid down a grotesquely unequal education budget for white and blacks (see below: Table of education spending). The arguments used by the former Minister to justify government policy were as follows: Education should not be used to raise false hopes among the natives, but simply to prepare them for their future role in society.
Only after the government drew back from the 'Bantu-education' concept, as well-qualified white workers became increasingly scarce, was the education budget for black children and young people increased. Be that as it may, decades of inequality cannot be made good overnight, particularly since the birth rate among blacks is more than twice as high as other groups. [Back to top of page] [Back to overview]Education spending (1989)
Pupil-teacher ratio (1988)
[Source: South Africa Yearbook 1989/90] Final qualifications (1988)
[Source: Jörg Fisch, Geschichte Südafrikas, München 1990, 345] [Back to top of page] [Back to overview]
A visit to the Mzimhlope High school in KwaNDebele. A well-maintained dual carriageway runs through the winter dryness of the gray-brown, wind-driven dusty high Buschland in the homeland of KwaNDebele. It is clear from the large number of square corrugated-iron-roofed huts, coming in and out of sight amidst the undulating landscape and which spread out in groups around a few single-story white building for miles, that we are nearing the the capital of KwaMlanga. Only a handful of these buildings are painted in the characteristic white and blue or carry the interesting, traditional paintings of the Ndebele. Instead, they look as if they have been seeded in hurry in the high Buschland that surrounds the new "capital". We turn off down a brown muddy street. The wind blows cold, dry dust mixed with scraps of old plastic in our direction as we negotiate our way towards the large square area dominated by the still fenced-in Mzimhlope High School along a road lined with huts spaced generously apart. The presentable white pre-fabricated walls of the school in the square greet us. All seems orderly and rectangular. Indeed, even the concrete paths leading to the pre-fabricated building and the dry winter terrace in the square are a tribute to strict drawing-board design. The cold icy wind that descended upon the high Buschland during the previous July night leaves us trembling in its cold, mud-ridden dusty breath. The clear deep-blue sky and the shining sun had made it easy to forget that it's winter here in the southern hemisphere, and that an occasional period of cold weather is something that has to be reckoned with. It's break time for the children, who, dressed in their black school uniforms, lean against the walls of their pre-fabricated classrooms and take shelter from the wind in the sun. As is common across South Africa no one is prepared for cold weather. The schools have no heating, and electric ovens can only be found in the private homes of whites. These energy-wasting appliances sometimes see action to counter the cold, but they are only available for South Africa's privileged minority. Heat insulation and energy saving are two concepts that are unheard of South Africa. [Back to top of page] [Back to overview]As we enter the first building we are greeted by three teachers sitting huddled together and doing their best to warm themselves from the cold in a sparsely equipped tiny classroom (chairs, one desk, one small shelf). The headmaster's office is also sparsely furnished: One desk, three chairs, one small table, no telephone (the school doesn't have a telephone). We are taken on a tour of the school and introduced to other teachers, who, like the children, are also leaning against the sunbathed walls in search of protection from the cold and the dust. We exchange pleasantries, before the school's headmaster under the interested gaze of its pupils leads us into a large, almost empty room that must be some sort of all-purpose area: It contains a large blackboard, several desks and chairs, three cookers (a home-economics area?). Four teachers are sitting in one of the room's bare corners around a metal oven, warming their hands and eating French fries out of a paper bowl. We are introduced to the group and warmly welcomed. One of the female teachers gets up and explains to us in an obviously pre-prepared statement about the school's lack of equipment and its tiny budget for teaching materials: She teaches economics and wants to prepare the school's pupils for life in industry and the cities far away form the homelands in which they now live. Yet apart from a bus journey lasting a whole day, the children have no chance of seeing this for themselves, they have no teaching materials, no posters, no books and no films. Perhaps we could help in getting the school a video player, films or television? Suddenly, we are overcome by a feeling helplessness and guilt; we came with an interest and a will to learn about the conditions here, but also with empty hands. How can we explain to them that they are addressing the wrong people? We agree to pass on their requests [Back to top of page] [Back to overview]At last, the purpose of our visit is about to take place - to experience a lesson with Standard 9, the penultimate year before taking the Matrick (school-leaving exam). We are greeted by a ceremoniously dressed young history teacher in black suit, white shirt, black shoes and red tie, who leads us into the classroom filled with two rows of between 25 and 30 pupils aged about 16. Because of the cold (approx. 12 to 15 °C in the classrooms), the children are wearing coats and jackets over their uniforms; some of the children have wrapped a towel around them as an impromptu blanket. I notice a small jointly used terry towel stretched out over the knee-length skirts of two shivering girls, who, apart from a pair of socks and shoes have nothing to cover their naked legs. The pupils stand up as we enter the classroom and reply to the teacher's "good morning students", with a "good morning sir", before sitting back down in an orderly fashion and regarding us furtively and shyly from below - in the proper manner, as is expected. They then turn their outstretched fingers several times around their wrists quickly to greet us, as the headmaster, followed by the teacher introduce us formally to the class.
After about 10 minutes, we had learned that England wanted to step back into European politics after a period of "splendid isolation" - we didn't learn what this actually was. And that was it, no context, no link, no connection of any kind to the present day, to the everyday experiences of the class. [Back to top of page] [Back to overview]The pupils had been offered a few headlines, empty sentences, barren, unknown words, which they had repeated. The teacher seemed to know as much about their content and substance as he did about how to bring across an understanding for them. He had presented the words clearly and correctly in English, the first and sometimes even second of the pupils' foreign languages, the pupils had repeated them correctly and demonstrated that they had understood and mastered these empty words - just like the teacher. He seemed satisfied with all that had been achieved and his performance. Now it was the children´s turn to seize the moment and ask the visitors from Europe some questions. Silence. The silence was eventually ended when the teacher selected a boy to ask the first question. The young Ndebele rose awkwardly, hesitated and asked about the role played by Otto von Bismarck in present-day Germany. The amazement on the faces of the pupils is clear, as we explain that while Bismarck is revered by some as a mighty statesman, his actions can also be seen in a differentiated and even critical light. (Only later, after we have been asked repeatedly about Otto von Bismarck during our visit to South Africa, do we begin to realize the importance attached to the man who had given his people unity, international success and power.) Just as the children are beginning to feel comfortable and the first questions about the situation in Germany following the end of socialism are being asked, which despite all their naivety seem to be decidedly political and relevant to the current situation in South Africa, the bell goes. The relieved and extremely self-satisfied young history teacher accompanies us into the head-teacher's office, while taking the opportunity to ask about the possibilities of a teacher exchange program and for our support in his endeavors. On our return journey, the head teacher accompanying us informs us that he is currently furthering his education in a fourth year at a university for blacks, that most of the school's pupils speak Ndebele as their mother tongue, but that because of forced re-location several Afrikaans, Zulu or Sotho-speaking children also attend the school. We also learn that Ndebele is a spoken language only and that the related Zulu language is used for written work and taught initially. All students have to learn English from year 3 and English is used during all lessons from this point on. Pupils from KwaNDebele were also involved in the student uprisings that took place in 1976 and the years that followed. The school was also set alight, its teachers threatened and persecuted. Many teachers had fled for fear of their lives... [Taken and translated from: Ingetraud Rüsen, Südafrika: Apartheid und Menschenrechte in Geschichte und Gegenwart, Pfaffenweiler 1991, 172-174] [Back to top of page] [Back to overview]
[Further characteristics of the apartheid regime: Homelands, classification, economy, politics]
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