Nelson Mandela and Apartheid

Apartheid - It is a term synonymous to segregation. In South Africa, it was the separation of the Bantu (black), mixed people, and whites.

Acrimony towards the Bantu, or Blacks, of South Africa has been a commonplace practice in the early 1900’s. That is, until the coming of Nelson Mandela. The Bantu suffered from the laws of Apartheid, a derogative set of laws that slimmed the rights of the native blacks to nearly nothing. Mandela, who had felt the effects of Apartheid first hand, became president of the African Nation Congress (ANC), who in synchronization with the United Democratic Front (the UDF), combated for the abolition of apartheid and free rights for the native people.

The Apartheid laws were created by the Prime Minister of South Africa, Daniel Francois Malan and his cabinet in 1948. Its purpose was to retain imperialistic European superiority in the region, which it did achieve. Except this achievement was not something the Blacks of South Africa were particularly proud of. From this first horrible policy stemmed more racist policies that segregated the blacks from the whites to a higher degree. For example, the Separate Amenities Act of 1953 divided transportation and public places into two divisions: nonwhite and white. Similar to what was done in the United States, blacks were bound by the law to go exclusively to black public areas and use black transportation; same for the whites. The British were so racist against the South Africans that they added a new act called the Bantu Education Act of 1953, which dumbed down the quality and amount of education that blacks would receive (likely a way to keep the blacks uninformed, so to not encourage any ideas that would set them against the whites).

Nelson Mandela was an active and key member of the ANC. He and his comrades lead non-violent protests and practiced civil disobedience. But this was to little avail. Though convicted in 1961 for treason, he became the leader of an underground ANC that utilized guerilla warfare to make the abolishment of apartheid happen. In 1962, he was finally arrested and sentenced to 27 years in prison on Robben Island. He remained here working in the quarry of the prison day after day. Though in prison, the number of pro-Nelson followers did not decrease. Actually, they increased. A lot. The imprisonment of Nelson actually enforced the people’s will to fight against apartheid. The whites realized the dilemma. They knew that if Mandela were to die in prison, they’d have to face an all out conflict against the Bantu. To avoid this theorized war, they released Mandela early in 1991.

Out of prison on February 11th, 1990, Nelson Mandela had control over all the people of Southern Africa. All he had to do was say the word, and he could have led a armed resistance to completely destroy the apartheid laws. But the point in fact is that he didn’t. He did not resort to violence, and one that could have wiped out all the whites from South Africa. Instead, he rejoined the ANC to negotiate with the white leaders to reach a peaceful conclusion. This is why the articles and authors of the links provided respect and honor Mandela so greatly: he had humble beginnings, sponsoring civil disobedience to gain independence for his people and country. Though he did give into using violence, he testifies that it was the only option, because they would never obtain their freedom if the whites remained in the stubborn stance. Arrested, and then freed in 1990, he was in the greatest position of power to completely change Africa. But he did not do it with a vengeance. He did it with an open heart to his opponents. On the 27th of April, 1994, the first democratic multiracial elections took place. Nelson Mandela, who gained the respect of all the people, had won for his people the independence from the apartheid laws.