South Africa and the Development Gap

Why did the Apartheid exist?

'Apartheid' = seperateness for Afrikaans caused by colonlisation from the Dutch and British. This was government policy between 1948-1994.
Due to the country being rich in resources such as diamonds and gold, the countries fought over the land.
Also, people were attracted to South Africa due to its position on the trading route.
There were 3 cateogories which were: white (Europeans); black (African) and coloured (of mixed descent and Asians)
Passbooks were needed to travel to different areas.
Links to theories
Social Darwinism

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All the black people suffered hugely due to the Apartheid
Couldn't vote
Couldn't have skilled jobs
Rural areas - reserves
Urban - townships
Poor conditions/land for farming - harming both subsistence and commerical farms
Services were segregated e.g. health, education and transport
Banned interracial marraiges
This led to a national development gap.

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Social unrests and protests
Soweto uprising in 1978, by black children protesting about their education rights = killed = police put down by force.
In 1948, the protests were originally peaceful
ANC = African National Congress - Nelson Mandela
Therefore, opposition parties were banned and imprisonment of anti-apartheid leaders
As unrest spread and became more violent (ANC armed resistance), state organisations responded with increasing repression and state-sponsered violence.
Pressure from international community.

Nelson Mandela information:

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INEQUALITIES STILL EXIST
Trade liberalism - whites got richer as they owned businesses
Unemployment - 28% of blacks and 4% of whites - New TNCs are capital intensive not labour intensive - unskilled
Young population - 50% of the black population are under 18
Cuts in government spending - HIV and AIDS have remained a problem
Electricity at home - 62% black and 99% white

(Figures from 2008)

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