South Africa

- White rule had ended in Angola & Mozambique in 1976. By 1980 it had also ended in Rhodesia.

- In 1980 the white population to black population ratio was 1/8 compared to 1/5 in 1950.

- Despite apartheid more than half of all blacks lived in towns.

P.W Botha managed to stay president in South Africa by doing these things...

1) Hold onto support of white voters -

-Tell the whites that blacks are threats

- Give whites rewards for voting you into power

2) Keep in with world leaders

-Help with the cold war

-Convince them what you're doing is right

3) Deal with black opposition in South Africa  

-Abolish the opposition parties

- Give them items to leave areas e.g. money, food

Total onslaught- South Africa was facing an onslaught by Communist forces supported by the USSR, operating both inside and outside of the country

Total Strategy- South Africa would fight this onslaught totally - in southern Africa and abroad by every possible means : military, economic, psychological and physical

Because of this Total Strategy...

State Security- A new security council which contained army generals and police cheifs who had more influences over the Prime Ministers than the politicians.

The Army- Was increased in size. Men had to do two years military service. Army cadet forces were hard not to join and South Africa had a standing army of 250,000 with 250,000 in reserve

Because of sanctions, South Africa started to make its own weapons, sometimes with parts supplied by countries who broke the boycott. Military spending rose from 700 to 3,000 million rand.

Result: Botha was at the head of a major military power

Botha planned to remove many aspects of 'petty apartheid'. This meant that many of the restrictions on black South Africans were lifted.

- Discriminatory signs were removed from public places

-Desegregation was permitted but not made compulsory

-Employers were allowed to employ skilled black workers and unions were legalised

-In 1985 the Mixed Marriages Act and laws preventing sesual relations between blacks and whites were repealed.

-In 1986 pass laws were abolished

These measures were designed to continue apartheid but make some concessions in the hope of staying in power.

In 1984 a parliament with 3 chambers - white, asian & coloured - was created

MP's were to sit in seperate chambers but any laws passes by asian or coloured had to be approved by the white chamber. However this change extended apartheid by dividing parliament on racial lines and excluding black Africans.

In August 1985, Botha gave his 'Rubicon speech to try and stop the violence. Botha was expected to announce major changes to the apartheid system and the world's media gathered to listen to him. However instead of making the changes, it showed that Botha had no intention of bringing about major reforms and dismissed majority rule. However because of this speech these effects occurred because of it...

-US Bankers had had enough

- The international value of the rand dropped by 33 per cent

- South Africa stock exchange was closed

- Botha had to pay huge Military taxes

- White South Africans income fell sharply

- They couldn't travel or buy good goods abroad easily

-Banks started to drop out of South Africa e.g. Barclays

The Vaal Civic Association organised the stayaway, school boycott and march for 3 September 1984, which led to clashes with both police and township councillors, and left thirty people dead. The marchers also looted shops, set fire to houses and killed 4 councillors. By the end of the year almost 150 people had been killed in political violence, which increased to 600 by September 1985 as the revolts spread across the country.

They demanded that ;

- Unqualified teachers are banned

- Access to free books and paper

- No corporal punishment

- End to sexual harrasement

This meant that the governement had new powers which included-

-Soldiers could arrest anyone

- Censored newspapers

- Children were not allowed outside

- They had sweeping powers with virtually military rule

As the state of emergency was called other forms of violence started to break out, this included...

- Necklacing

- Squatter homes were destroyed

- Gangs of black vigilantes were hired by white police to act as instant constables and attack anti government groups

At Natal the ANC supporters and those who supported inkatha fought against each other

The ANC then told its's members to make South Africa ungovernable. However there was deadlock in South Africa because the revolutionaries could not overthrow the government because the army was too strong. At this point the future of South Africa looked  a long and bloody war!

   The UDF (United Democratic Front) Came to fight the new constitution. Its aim was to unite all black resistance groups. It opposed Botha's National Party in 1980's and were a non violent group created from groups who were against apartheid these included the ANC and the MDM (Mass Democratic Movement)

. Botha's new deal created black local authorities in townships. Africans living in the townships would be allowed to vote for these authorities - but not for the national government in the Republic of South Africa. At the same time, black local authorities would be paid by, and remain under the control of, the national government’s Bantu Administration Board – white officials appointed by the whites-only government. The UDF took up all these issues and from November 1983 the UDF called for a boycott of elections for black local authorities.