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Vocabulary > South Africa > Racism, Apartheid
Union Of South Africa
Native carpenter Phillip Mbhele wearing WE DON'T WANT PASSES tag,
angrily speaking against the white Afrikaner's pass system
which
requires all Natives to carry one or more passes.
Location: Johannesburg, South Africa, Republic Of
Date taken: 1950
Photographer: Margaret Bourke-White
Life Images
Helen Suzman in Johannesburg
in November 2007
Alexander Joe/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
January 1, 2009
Helen Suzman, Anti-Apartheid Leader, Dies at 91
January 2, 2009
NYT
By JOHN F. BURNS and ALAN COWELL
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/02/world/africa/02suzman.html
The Boer War (1899-1902) / concentration camps
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/513944.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/513944.stm
http://www-sul.stanford.edu/depts/ssrg/africa/boers.html
http://library.stanford.edu/africa/boers.html
http://www.anglo-boer.co.za/concentration.html
Hendrik Verwoerd
http://books.guardian.co.uk/Print/0,3858,4730460,00.html
Dr Death
http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,3604,682952,00.html
http://www.guardian.co.uk/g2/story/0,3604,259601,00.html
Afrikaans
Afrikaner
Afrikanerdom
apartheid
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/15/world/africa/alf-kumalo-south-african-photographer-of-apartheid-dies-at-82.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/13/movies/13field.html
http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,,1936453,00.html
segregation
http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,,1936453,00.html
Apartheid killer > Louis van Schoor
http://www.guardian.co.uk/southafrica/story/0,,1836912,00.html
apartheid laws
Playwright Athol Fugard: a man of obstinacy and
courage 3 June 2012
A new documentary charts the struggle of Afrikaans playwright Athol Fugard
against the violence of apartheid. Michael Billington admires his spirit
http://www.guardian.co.uk/stage/2012/jun/03/athol-fugard-playwright-apartheid-documentary
'whites-only' beach
http://www.guardian.co.uk/southafrica/story/0,,1442366,00.html
mixed race
classified
coloured
passbooks
Polaroid's ID-2 camera > South Africa
(it) had a "boost" button to increase the flash
– enabling it to be used to photograph black people for the notorious passbooks,
or "dompas", that allowed the state to control their movements.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2013/jan/25/racism-colour-photography-exhibition
white areas
township
Afrikaner
boycott
strike
civil disobedience
African National Congress ANC
http://www.anc.org.za/
1912
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1912_in_South_Africa
Nationalist Party
1948
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1948_in_South_Africa
Macmillan's
speech to the South African Parliament / 'wind of change' speech
1960
http://www.guardian.co.uk/fromthearchive/story/0,12269,1137813,00.html
50th anniversary of the Sharpeville
massacreAudio slideshow:
David Smith visits the township and re-lives
the events of 21 March 1950 through
the account of survivor Ikabot 'Ike' Makiki
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/audioslideshow/2010/mar/19/southafrica
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/mar/19/south-africa-sharpeville-massacre-anniversary
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/mar/19/sharpeville-massacre-south-africa-archive
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/audioslideshow/2010/mar/19/southafrica
SA celebrates 20 years of freedom for
Mandela
DAVID SMITH
Mail & Guardian Online
Slideshow > Mandela's release
Relive the historic moment of Nelson
Mandela's release,
as he took his first steps as a free man in
a new South Africa following 27 years in prison.
Feb 11 2010
06:42
http://mg.co.za/article/2010-02-11-sa-celebrates-20-years-of-freedom-for-mandela
http://mg.co.za/multimedia/2010-02-11-mandelas-release
http://mg.co.za/uploads/2010/02/11/mandelawinnie.jpg
Nelson Mandela
http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/m/nelson_mandela/index.html
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/nelsonmandela
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/dec/26/nelson-mandela-south-africa-discharged-hospital
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/17/opinion/keller-south-africa-since-mandela.html
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/dec/08/nelson-mandela-admitted-hospital-tests
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/dec/07/mandela-bailed-out-zuma-audit
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/04/world/africa/arthur-chaskalson-south-african-chief-justice-dies-at-81.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/15/world/africa/alf-kumalo-south-african-photographer-of-apartheid-dies-at-82.html
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/aug/06/south-africa-clinton-mandela-meeting
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/video/2011/dec/02/nelson-mandela-observer-south-africa-apartheid-video
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/oct/11/nelson-mandela-conversations-with-myself
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/mandela_nelson.shtml
http://www.anc.org.za/people/mandela.html
http://www.anc.org.za/people/mandela/
http://www.nelsonmandela.org/index.php
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/feb/26/nelson-mandela-death-fear-south-africa
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/may/04/mandela-tambo-law-offices-museum
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/jan/28/nelsonmandela-southafrica
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/28/world/africa/28safrica.html
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2010/oct/17/nelson-mandela-conversations-with-myself-review
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2010/jun/10/barack-obama-nelson-mandela-diaries
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/mar/14/nelson-mandela-office-redevelopment-fears
http://mg.co.za/multimedia/2010-02-11-mandelas-release
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/09/world/africa/09mandela.html
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/oct/30/nelson-mandela-engagements-health
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/1454208.stm
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/oct/12/mandela
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2007/apr/23/nelsonmandela1
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2007/apr/23/nelsonmandela2
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2007/feb/01/southafrica.nelsonmandela
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2005/jan/09/southafrica.nelsonmandela
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2004/jul/25/southafrica.theobserver
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2003/jul/12/southafrica.nelsonmandela
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T2d3ENhn8Kg
http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/february/11/newsid_2539000/2539947.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/june/12/newsid_3006000/3006437.stm
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/02/12/world/robben-island-journal-with-vivid-palette-mandela-depicts-the-jailhouse-years.html
Nelson Mandela archive launches digital
treasure trove March 2012
More than 1,900 documents, photographs and films
of South Africa's first black president available for free online
http://archive.nelsonmandela.org/#!home
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/mar/27/nelson-mandela-archive-digital-treasure
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/gallery/2012/mar/27/inside-nelson-mandela-digital-archive-in-pictures
Nelson Mandela's statement
from the dock at the opening of his trial on charges of sabotage
Supreme court of South Africa, Pretoria
April 20 1964
http://www.guardian.co.uk/greatspeeches/mandela/0,,2060099,00.html
"Mandelay Day" - Simple Minds song
http://www.simple-minds.demon.co.uk/lyrics/sfy/md1.htm
Robben Island prison
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/02/12/world/
robben-island-journal-with-vivid-palette-mandela-depicts-the-jailhouse-years.html
Dirk Coetzee
1945-2013
Dirk Coetzee (...) led a South African
police hit squad
that killed antiapartheid activists,
(... he) eventually confessed to his crimes
as his country began shifting away from official racial segregation
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/10/world/africa/dirk-coetzee-dies-at-67-led-apartheid-era-killings.html
Arthur Chaskalson
1931-2012
Justice Chaskalson (...)
helped write that Constitution and create the court that would be its safeguard.
He had earlier been part of the team of defense lawyers
that saved Mr. Mandela and other antiapartheid activists from the death penalty
at the infamous Rivonia trial in 1963-64.
Mr. Mandela, convicted of sabotage and other crimes,
spent 27 years in prison before being released in 1990.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/04/world/africa/arthur-chaskalson-south-african-chief-justice-dies-at-81.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/04/world/africa/arthur-chaskalson-south-african-chief-justice-dies-at-81.html
Alf Kumalo
1930-2012
one of South Africa’s leading documentary
photographers.
He had no formal training with a camera and began using one in the 1950s
only because the newspaper he worked for as court reporter was so small
that he was expected to take the photographs for his own articles.
But he was soon captivated by the power of
still photography,
and after meeting and photographing Nelson Mandela, then a trial lawyer,
in courtrooms and elsewhere, Mr. Kumalo headed off in a new direction,
to become one of the indispensable chroniclers of the cruelties of apartheid
and South Africa’s eventual emergence as a multiracial democracy.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/15/world/africa/alf-kumalo-south-african-photographer-of-apartheid-dies-at-82.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/15/world/africa/alf-kumalo-south-african-photographer-of-apartheid-dies-at-82.html
Basil Lewis D'Oliveira, cricketer / batsman
1931-2011
Basil D’Oliveira,
who was classified as colored under South African apartheid,
wanted only to play at the highest levels of his sport, cricket.
His struggle to do that in a country of government-enforced racial segregation
became a powerful symbol in the ultimately successful fight against apartheid.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/27/sports/cricket/basil-doliveira-a-symbol-for-cricket-and-for-equality-dies-at-80.html
http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/basil-d-oliveira
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/27/sports/cricket/basil-doliveira-a-symbol-for-cricket-and-for-equality-dies-at-80.html
http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2011/nov/19/basil-doliveira
Arthur Goldreich
1929-2011
Arthur Goldreich lead the armed struggle against apartheid in
South Africa
and once posed as the operator of a farm where Nelson Mandela,
masquerading as his houseboy, plotted revolt
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/27/world/africa/27goldreich.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/27/world/africa/27goldreich.html
Magnus Malan / Magnus Andre De Merindol
1930-2011
South African general and defense minister
who in the 1980s
helped devise and carry out his nation’s last-ditch strategy
to preserve its system of rigid racial segregation,
including ordering raids into surrounding countries
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/19/world/africa/19malan.htm
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/19/world/africa/19malan.html
Eugene Ney Terre'Blanche, white supremacist
leader 1941-2010
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/eugene-terre-blanche
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/may/22/terreblanche-trial-end-south-africa
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/video/2012/may/22/terreblanche-verdict-reactions-video
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/may/22/eugene-terreblanche-murder-farmworker-guilty
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/oct/10/south-africa-murder-trial-terreblanche
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/apr/09/eugene-terreblanche-south-africa-funeral
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/apr/04/eugene-terreblanche-obituary
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/apr/03/south-african-white-supremacist-eugene-terreblanche-killed
Helen Suzman
1917-2009
campaigner who single-handedly carried the anti-racism banner
in South Africa's
apartheid parliament
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/jan/01/helen-suzman
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/02/world/africa/02suzman.html
David Hepburn Craighead, actuary and
anti-apartheid campaigner 1918-2008
David Craighead (...) was a South African
anti-apartheid campaigner
forced into exile by the Afrikaner nationalist government in the 1960s.
As an actuary, he later left his mark on the City of London
by devising the "Craighead curve",
a statistical tool used to estimate insurance claims.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/aug/27/southafrica
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/aug/27/southafrica
Zenzile Miriam Makeba
1932-2008
singer, songwriter and activist
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/
miriam-makeba-singer-banned-from-her-native-south-africa-for-fighting-apartheid-1009604.html
http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2008/nov/10/miriam-makeba-dies-76
http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2008/nov/10/miriam-makeba-obituary
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/11/world/africa/11makeba.html
Michael Denis Alastair Terry
1947-2008
anti-apartheid campaigner and teacher
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/dec/08/obituary-mike-terry-south-africa
Adelaide Frances Tambo
1929-2007
human rights campaigner
Adelaide Tambo,
the widow of the former ANC president Oliver Tambo (obituary, April 26 1993),
has died at her home in Johannesburg, aged 77.
One of the best known figures in South Africa's liberation struggle,
he worked as a nurse for much of her life.
"Ma Tambo", as she was known, was born Adelaide Tshukudu
outside the town of Vereeniging, south of Johannesburg.
Her introduction to politics was brutal;
at the age of 10, she witnessed her 82-year-old grandfather being publicly
whipped
until he collapsed in the town square.
As she was to recount later in life: "His brutal and humiliating treatment
at the hands of the police was the trigger, the deciding factor."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/2007/feb/02/guardianobituaries.southafrica
http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/2007/feb/02/guardianobituaries.southafrica
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2007/feb/01/southafrica.nelsonmandela
Ben Bousquet, political activist
1939-2006
Ben Bousquet (...) was a migrant from St
Lucia,
who became a Labour party local councillor
and parliamentary candidate in London's North Kensington,
as well as an internationally renowned campaigner against South African
apartheid.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/2006/jun/26/guardianobituaries.politics
http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/2006/jun/26/guardianobituaries.politics
http://politics.guardian.co.uk/politicsobituaries/story/0,,1805883,00.html
Pieter Willem Botha / P W Botha, politician
1916-2006
http://www.guardian.co.uk/obituaries/story/0,,1936843,00.html
http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,,1936455,00.html
http://www.theherald.co.za/herald/news/n01_01112006.htm
http://www.mg.co.za/articlePage.aspx?articleid=288645&area=/insight/insight__comment_and_analysis/
http://www.guardian.co.uk/southafrica/story/0,13262,1689693,00.html?gusrc=rss
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/special_report/1998/10/98/truth_and_reconciliation/203927.stm
Raymond Mhlaba, anti-apartheid campaigner
1920-2005
Raymond Mhlaba (...) dedicated his
formidable talents
to the struggle against apartheid.
A member of the Rivonia group with Nelson Mandela,
he was sentenced to life imprisonment,
but emerged to take office in 1994 after South Africa's first democratic
elections.
His kindly manner brought him the nickname "Oom Ray" - Uncle Ray in Afrikaans.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/2005/feb/25/guardianobituaries.southafrica
http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/2005/feb/25/guardianobituaries.southafrica
Allan Hendrickse, politician and minister
1927-2005
http://www.guardian.co.uk/southafrica/story/0,,1442366,00.html
Abdullah Mohammed Omar, lawyer and government
minister 1934-2004
The human rights lawyer Dullah Omar (...)
was an anti-apartheid activist and former political prisoner
who went on to serve in every South African government
since his country's first democratic election in 1994.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/2004/mar/16/guardianobituaries.southafrica
http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/2004/mar/16/guardianobituaries.southafrica
Walter Max Ulyate Sisulu
1912-2003
It is impossible for anyone who has not
shared the experience
to fathom the psychological suffering of those born
into the no-man's land of "coloured" status in apartheid South Africa.
But, whatever the hardship his mixed parentage brought to the life of Walter
Sisulu, (...)
South Africa can give thanks to the white foreman of black road workers
who came to the Encobo area of the Transkei
early in the last century and fathered
one of the undoubted heroes of the liberation struggle.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/2003/may/06/guardianobituaries.southafrica
http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/2003/may/06/guardianobituaries.southafrica
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2003/may/06/southafrica
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/walter-sisulu-730275.html
Steve Biko, murdered anti-apartheid leader
1946-1977
http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/december/2/newsid_2516000/2516663.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/september/12/newsid_3573000/3573054.stm
http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2005/mar/02/guardiansocietysupplement.southafrica
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/background/37448.stm
http://www.lyricsondemand.com/p/petergabriellyrics/bikolyrics.html
Oliver Reginald Tambo
1917-1993
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2007/oct/18/southafrica.world
Nico Smith, white Minister who fought apartheid
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/22/world/africa/22smith.html
Apartheid Legacy’s in South African Schools
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/20/world/africa/20safrica.html
Ernest Cole photographs
the beauty and the ugliness of segregated South Africa
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/nov/25/ernest-cole-david-goldblatt-apartheid-photography
Nelson Mandela (C)
walks free from prison
1990
http://www.jamati.com/online/wp-content/uploads/2008/06/nelson_mandela-fist_in_air.jpg
http://www.jamati.com/online/lifestyle/nelson-mandela-hitting-broadway/
added 2.1.2009
primary source
http://www.nelsonmandela.org/index.php/news/article/commemorating_18_years_of_freedom/
Related
http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/february/11/newsid_2539000/2539947.stm
Basil D’Oliveira,
a Symbol for Cricket and for Equality, Dies at 80
November 26, 2011
The New York Times
By DOUGLAS MARTIN
Just as Jesse Owens and Jackie Robinson pursued their athletic
dreams and developed superlative skills before altering history, Basil
D’Oliveira, who was classified as colored under South African apartheid, wanted
only to play at the highest levels of his sport, cricket. His struggle to do
that in a country of government-enforced racial segregation became a powerful
symbol in the ultimately successful fight against apartheid.
D’Oliveira had to move far from South Africa before his experience could shine a
light on its system of racial injustice. Unable to perform there in competition
commensurate with his skills, he moved to England, became a British citizen and
joined England’s national cricket team. He rose to international prominence
when, in 1968, South Africa canceled a much-anticipated visit by the English
team because it wanted to include him in the contests, against whites.
Because of its refusal, South Africa, long a cricket power, did not play another
international cricket match until 1994. Nelson Mandela, who led the fight
against apartheid, called the D’Oliveira episode decisive in his movement’s
eventual triumph.
D’Oliveira, who had Parkinson’s disease, died at 80 on Nov. 19 in England,
according to the governing organization Cricket South Africa. Because he may
have lied about his age, he may have been as many as three or four years older.
Cricket South Africa gave no other details.
D’Oliveira was an accomplished player for England, participating in 44 major
international competitions, or test matches. A powerful, focused batsman, he
scored 19,490 runs in the top English cricket league and 1,859 in test matches.
The numbers are considered impressive, but experts reckon that he could have
doubled them had he immigrated to England sooner.
Paul Yule, who made a 2006 documentary about the D’Oliveira episode, “Not
Cricket,” said in an interview on D’Oliveira’s Web site that his significance
came from his role in “a pivotal point in 20th-century politics,” not from his
sporting skills, though they were indisputable.
“Here was a man who didn’t look particularly dark-skinned,” Yule said, “but the
inequality of the South African system meant you were classified either white or
nonwhite, and since he was classified as nonwhite, he could play no part in the
national sporting life of his country.”
D’Oliveira, who was of Indian-Portuguese heritage was easily classified as
colored. Many other nonwhite cricketers were subjected to what was called the
pencil test to determine which segregated league they would play in. A pencil
was placed in a player’s hair, and if the pencil fell out, the player was called
colored and placed in the colored league. If it stayed put, he was judged black
and placed in the black league.
South Africa was ostracized in global sports beginning in the 1950s with table
tennis. By 1964 antiapartheid organizers had succeeded in getting the country
barred from that year’s Olympics, and in 1970 the International Olympic
Committee expelled the country from the Olympic movement.
The country’s absence from international sports rankled South Africans; by 1977
they ranked it in a poll as one of the three most damaging consequences of
apartheid.
South Africa had been selecting exclusively white cricket teams for test matches
since 1889. As the game blossomed in places like the Caribbean, India and
Pakistan, South Africa found itself playing only all-white teams from England,
Australia and New Zealand. Peter Osborne, in the 2004 book “Basil D’Oliveira,
Cricket and Conspiracy: The Untold Story,” said the cricket authorities
justified this by saying that cricket was a sport for whites, and that if blacks
or coloreds did take it up, they “played at an abysmally low level.”
Basil Lewis D’Oliveira, a tailor’s son, disproved this by excelling on the
cricket fields around Cape Town, where he was most often said to have been born
on Oct. 4, 1931. He went on to become a star performer on nonwhite teams, in one
year captaining a black team on a trip to Kenya.
But he was well into his 30s when he realized he had no hope of taking part in
top competition in South Africa. A vaunted West Indian team was scheduled to
tour the country in matches against a team composed of blacks and coloreds, of
which D’Oliveira was captain, but when antiapartheid forces protested that such
a high-profile sports event might give credibility to the regime, the trip was
canceled.
Deciding to leave the country, D’Oliveira wrote to John Arlott, a prominent
cricket commentator in England, asking for help. Arlott got him a contract with
a minor league team in the Lancashire League.
At first D’Oliveira was lonely and poverty-stricken. Having lived so long under
apartheid, he found himself searching in vain for playing-field entrances and
facilities for nonwhites. After a slow start, his play picked up, and his wife
and son, who survive him, joined him. He eventually earned a spot on England’s
national team.
When he sought to join the squad for the trip to South Africa, however, the
sport’s governing body in England, the Marylebone Cricket Club, turned him down.
Its officials said he had been passed over for athletic reasons, an assertion
British newspapers called outlandish. It later emerged that the president of
South Africa, John Vorster, had threatened to cancel the event if D’Oliveira was
part of the team.
Still, when another player was injured, the cricket club had a change of heart
and named D’Oliveira to replace him. D’Oliveira said the South African
government offered him a sizable bribe and a coaching job in South Africa if he
would withdraw. When he refused, it terminated the competition rather than
accept him.
Queen Elizabeth made D’Oliveira an officer of the Order of the British Empire in
1969 and promoted him to a commander in 2005. In 2000 he was named one of the 10
South African cricketers of the century, despite not having played for South
Africa. The trophy for the test series between England and South Africa is named
for him.
D’Oliveira played in the top division of English cricket into his late 40s. Most
cricketers retire in their early 30s. He just wished that he could have hit the
big stage sooner, say in his 20s, he said in 1980.
“I was some player then,” he said. “I was over the hill when I came to England.”
Basil D’Oliveira, a Symbol for Cricket and for Equality,
Dies at 80, NYT, 26.11.2011,
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/27/sports/cricket/basil-doliveira-a-symbol-for-cricket-
and-for-equality-dies-at-80.html
April 28 1994
Vote of the
century opens era of hope
From The Guardian archive
April 28 1994
The Guardian
As dawn broke over Zone 9 of Meadowlands, Soweto, yesterday, the Mwale family
was preparing for power.
First there was water to boil, since the rumour had spread that the rightwing
AWB might poison Meadowlands' main tank. Esther Mwale said "most people with
sense" in Zone 9 were boiling water. Then, there was the huge pot of mealies to
cook. Finally, there were the ID documents to find. No one could say the Mwales
were not ready for democracy.
As they set off at 7am, joining a stream of hundreds on the main road, it seemed
that all of Zone 9 had the same idea — first watch Nelson Mandela cast his vote
in Durban on the television and then get down to the polling station at
Maponyane school quickly to beat the rush.
The clientele of Johannes' shebeen had discussed this the night before. At the
beginning of the evening, Jacob's solution to avoiding Tuesday's chaos was to
get there early. A few beers later, the prospect of waking up at 5am and queuing
for two hours looked unattractive.
Johannes said he was voting ANC "for his children". But nobody else was prepared
to say. The talk was of logistics, not politics. Nevertheless, the sight of a
white woman, who had cast her vote abroad, saying tearfully on television, "I'm
just scared about the future", aroused fierce emotion.
"What are you scared of? That a black man will run the country," shouted
Mzimasi, slightly blowing his cover.
If Mzimasi was right about the woman's fears, the sight at Maponyane school
yesterday morning would have confirmed them. Long queues of black people were
waiting to have a say in their country's future. Many had dressed up for the
occasion as if they were going to church.
People queued for about two hours before they could vote. There was a keen sense
of relief. "It was easy. Just like they have been telling us on the television.
I feel good now it's over," said Esther.
By the time the Mwales had finished voting, the queue was twice as long. On the
way home we saw Jacob, looking the worse for wear and being ribbed by friends at
the bus stop. He had woken up late but was insisting he would make it to the
polling booths.
At the shebeen, Johannes had devised a plan to make sure Jacob kept his promise.
No beer would be served to people without the white, fluorescent strip on their
hand, which proved they had voted. With a smile, he said: "How can there be a
free and fair election if drunk people are going to vote?"
Gary Younge
From The Guardian
archive > April 28 1994 > Vote of the century opens era of hope, G,
Republished
28.4.2007, p. 34,
http://digital.guardian.co.uk/guardian/2007/04/28/pages/ber34.shtml
April 27 1994
The day apartheid
died
From The Guardian archive
April 27 1994
The Guardian
South Africans defied organisational chaos, personal hardship and long queues
to throng polling stations yesterday for the historic all-race election that
crowned their long march towards democracy.
While the authorities were under pressure last night to extend the three-day
poll after serious problems in the first day of voting, the momentum for freedom
looked unstoppable, with a new nation coming into effect at midnight when the
old flag was lowered and the new constitution took effect.
'Today is a day like no other before it … today marks the dawn of our freedom,'
said Nelson Mandela, the African National Congress leader who is expected to
become the country's first black president. Mr Mandela spent 27 of his 75 years
in jail for fighting apartheid.
'Years of imprisonment could not stamp out our determination to be free. Years
of intimidation and violence could not stop us and we will not be stopped now,'
he said.
President F. W. de Klerk, whose decision in 1990 to abandon apartheid opened the
way to the new South Africa, said: 'I wanted this election to take place … that
is what I have been working for.'
Around the country, the infirm, elderly and sick defied a rightwing bomb ing
campaign and problems at polling stations in an extraordinary demonstration of
hunger for the franchise.
The poll commission vice-chairman, Dikgang Moseneke, said [it] had hopelessly
underestimated the problems of running free and fair elections, particularly in
KwaZulu-Natal.
Problems with polling resulted largely from delays in the delivery of indelible
ink to mark voters' hands, ballot papers and even polling stations.
A member of the Inkatha central committee, Joe Matthews, said: 'In quite a large
number of polling stations the administration didn't turn up and the stations
were closed. Then we started getting reports that the IFP sticker wasn't there.
It affects other parties too, because if the sticker's not there it's a spoilt
paper.'
President De Klerk promised action to smooth the next days of voting. 'We dare
not deprive any South African of the right to vote,' he said. The Transkei
leader, Major General Bantu Holomisa, an ANC candidate, joined in appeals for an
extension to the election, reporting that 602 polling stations in the homeland
had no voting equipment.
But the ballot went on. In hospitals, patients clutching their saline drip bags
queued to vote. Nurses were seen holding patients upright.
Friday Mavuso, aged 45, crippled by a police bullet when he was 22, added: 'I
have said all my life we shall overcome, and we have.'
David Beresford
From The Guardian
archive > April 27 1994 > The day apartheid died, G, Republished 27.4.2007,
p.
34,
http://digital.guardian.co.uk/guardian/2007/04/27/pages/ber34.shtml
April 17 1970
Why I'm off the
air
From The Guardian Archive
April 17 1970
The Guardian
I shall not broadcast on the matches of the South African cricket tour of
England arranged for 1970. The B.B.C. has accepted my decision with
understanding and an undertaking that my standing with them will not be
affected.
This action has not been dictated by mass influences. Apartheid is detestable to
me, and I would always oppose it. On the other hand, I am not satisfied that the
cricket tour is the aspect which should have been selected as the major target.
It would have seemed to me more justifiable, and more effective, to mount a
trade embargo or to picket South Africa House. Surely the Nationalist South
African Ambassador is a thousand times more guilty of the inhuman crime of
apartheid than Graeme Pollock who, throughout the English summer of 1969, played
cricket for the International Cavaliers XI with eight or nine West Indians and,
before he went home said: "What great chaps — there couldn't have been a better
bunch to play with."
Jack Plimsoll, the manager of this touring team, was an intimate friend of mine
on the South African tour of England in 1947, before the election of the first —
Malan — Nationalist Government and the introduction of apartheid. Every South
African [player] of my acquaintance has already played with, and against,
non-white cricketers. Only a multi-racial match before the Vorster (Verwoerd)
Government banned such fixtures for ever, provided the expert assessment of
Basil D'Oliveira's ability which enabled me to persuade Middleton to give him a
contract to play in England. Not all South Africans are pro-apartheid
Crucially, though, a successful tour would offer comfort and confirmation to a
completely evil regime. The Cricket Council has failed fairly to represent those
British people — especially cricketers — who genuinely abominate apartheid. The
council might have determined — and been granted — terms which would have
demonstrated its declared disapproval of apartheid. It did not do so. To persist
with the tour seems to me a social, political and cricketing error. It is my
limitation and advantage that I can only broadcast as I feel. Commentary on any
game is pleasure; it can only be satisfactorily broadcast in terms of shared
enjoyment. This series cannot, to my mind, be enjoyable. It seems unfair for me
to broadcast about the tour in a manner uncritical of its major issues, while
retaining the right to be critical of them in this newspaper.
It is my hope to write and talk about cricket in which the minor issue of a game
is not overshadowed by the major issue of principle.
John Arlott
From The Guardian
Archive > April 17 1970 > Why I'm off the air, G, Republished 17.4.2007, p. 34,
http://digital.guardian.co.uk/guardian/2007/04/17/pages/ber34.shtml
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