World Directory of Minorities and Indigenous Peoples - South Africa

Last updated: May 2008

Environment

Covering the southern tip of the African Continent where the Indian and Atlantic oceans meet, South Africa borders six countries, including Lesotho, which it entirely surrounds. South Africa features tremendous diversity of climate and topography, and has considerable natural resources.

History

Khoisan hunter-gatherers were the first human inhabitants of today's South Africa, but were largely displaced by Bantu peoples migrating south in the fourth or fifth centuries. Some Khoisan descendants remained, some mixing with Bantu peoples, notably the Xhosa, whose language retains the influence.

The progressive dispossession of the black people of South Africa dates from the earliest years of European settlement in the seventeenth century, and had been achieved to a far greater extent than anywhere else on the continent long before the Union of South Africa was established in 1910.

Afrikaners

In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries European settlers in South Africa were predominantly Dutch-speaking. British take-over of the Cape Colony in 1806 led to an influx of English-speaking colonists. European migration increased greatly following the discovery of diamonds (1867) and gold (1886), notably including Jews from Eastern Europe. Conflicts between Afrikaner farmers who colonized the interior of South Africa, establishing the republics of the Transvaal and the Orange Free State, and British imperial interests, led to the Anglo-Boer Wars of 1899-1902 and a legacy of bitterness compounded by the comparative educational and economic disadvantages experienced by Afrikaners in relation to English-speaking Whites. The Afrikaner nationalist movement would later culminate in the victory of the National Party which ruled the country from 1948 to 1994, and mobilized Afrikaners against this imbalance as well as in support of white supremacy.

Apartheid

Over time, white South Africans would come to see themselves as distinct group, and often as a 'threatened minority'. But even the bitter Anglo-Boer conflict was eventually subsumed under efforts to maintain domination supported by the overwhelming majority of whites. The nineteenth-century wars of subjugation and the wholesale expropriation of black land lent support to a pervasive mythology, actively promoted by successive minority regimes, that the only alternative to white domination would be black retribution.

Legislation in 1913 and 1936 formally allocated 87 per cent of the land for settlement by whites. Apartheid, progressively introduced following the National Party victory in the white elections of 1948, was the culmination of such policies. All South Africans were categorized according to race and forced to live in their own 'group areas'. Additionally black South Africans were categorized according to 'tribe' and huge numbers were uprooted to the corresponding 'bantustans' or 'homelands', which roughly coincided with the land already reserved for black settlement. The bantustans were generally located away from the main centres of economic activity and functioned as labour reserves, and increasingly as dumping grounds for the homeless. Although economic requirements sometimes ran counter to the strict dictates of this ideology, and although apartheid was imposed on a country already heavily segregated on racial lines, over three million South Africans were forcibly removed from their homes in pursuit of these plans.

Sharpeville Massacre

The 1960 massacre of 69 black people at a protest in Sharpeville against pass laws proved a watershed in the struggle against apartheid. Mass protests and arrests followed the police shootings, and South Africa faced increased international scrutiny of its racist regime. The government banned the Pan Africanist Congress, which had organized the Sharpeville protest, as well as well as the African National Congress (ANC). The bans led to enhanced militarization of both liberation movements. In its heightened siege mentality, the government also cracked down on the labour union movement.

The government of Frederick de Klerk that came to power in 1989 realized that apartheid was no longer sustainable. Under mounting pressure, in 1990 the National Party government legalized the ANC and ended the 27-year jailing of its leader, Nelson Mandela. De Klerk set about negotiating with the ANC the end of minority rule at a time when the white government could still dictate some of the terms. The 1994 elections heralded the end of apartheid and the establishment of a Government of National Unity.

The new South Africa

However, political and economic factors severely constrained the ability of the new interim government to counteract the extreme inequalities of wealth and opportunity which had developed along racial lines. Indeed, whites' retention of economic gains made under apartheid was part of the grand bargain-if never clearly spelled out-that led to majority rule.

The status of the disadvantaged and marginalized - predominantly the black rural poor and urban unemployed, between them comprising a majority of the population - was a challenge that would continue to confront the government even after the full transition to majority rule. While whites kept their economic power and blacks gained political power, Coloured and Indian peoples remained in the middle-considered too black under apartheid, and too white in the post-apartheid era.

Complicating the challenge of widespread discontent was the HIV/AIDS pandemic that had begun a rapid spread across southern Africa by the time that the apartheid regime was coming to an end. Today, an estimated one-seventh of South Africa's population is HIV positive.

Peoples

Main languages: English, Afrikaans, Zulu, Xhosa, Northern Sotho, Southern Sotho, Tswana, Shangaan, Ndebele, Swazi, Venda (All eleven of these languages are official.)

Main religions: Christianity, indigenous beliefs, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism

Population groups include blacks 36 million (79.5%), whites 4.1 million (9.2%), Coloureds 4 million (8.9%), Indians 1.1 million (2.5%), Zulus 11 million (25%), Afrikaners 2.5 million (5.5%), San 5,700 and African immigrants 5 million. (data: 2001 census)

Black South Africans, defined as those whose mother tongue is an African language, comprise three-quarters of the population of the country and share the common experience of the gross disruptions and abuses of white domination and apartheid - notably their wholesale incorporation into a migrant labour system combined with banishment for most to overcrowded and unproductive 'homelands'. Linguistic and tribal divisions have been of less significance.

The first settlers, from the mid-seventeenth century onwards, were primarily from Holland and France, later followed by British, Eastern European Jews, southern Europeans, as well as whites arriving from Angola, Mozambique and Zimbabwe. Afrikaners, defined as those considering themselves white and speaking Afrikaans, a derivative of Dutch, still comprise the majority of the white population.

Perhaps five to ten million immigrants - estimates vary greatly - are currently living illegally in South Africa. The great majority are from other African countries, particularly Democratic Republic of Congo and Zimbabwe but increasingly from all parts of the continent.

Governance

South Africa can be considered a country of minorities, yet questions of minority rights take a distinctive form. Pervasive opposition to the enforced racial and tribal classifications of apartheid has led to considerable scepticism over calls for any defence of rights on a group basis.

Political conflict in South Africa has been primarily across the fault-line of white domination. Consequently the strenuous efforts of the apartheid regime to promote divisions among blacks on tribal lines had limited success, even by comparison with the efforts of many colonial regimes in Africa. (The promotion of Zulu-based Inkatha movement was an exception to this.) The primary apartheid division into whites, Coloureds, Indians and blacks left a more profound and immediate legacy.

The interim constitution agreed in 1994 by the National Party and the ANC put a high premium on individual rights as opposed to those of any particular grouping. Exceptions were last-minute concessions made to right-wing whites and the Zulu Inkatha, and substantial devolution of authority to provincial governments.

The compromise settlement limited the potential for fundamental change, with the land question in particular remaining unresolved. Clauses protecting property rights in the interim constitution made the redistribution of virtually all white-owned land impossible for the succeeding five years; and although possibilities existed for the restitution of land alienated since 1913, owned by the state, or through commercial mechanisms, the scope was decidedly limited.

The new constitution contained an extensive bill of rights consistent with international human rights standards. It also declared eleven official languages, while recognizing an additional eight non-official languages. Under the new constitution, in June 1999 the National Assembly elected fellow ANC veteran Thabo Mbeki to succeed Nelson Mandela as president. The ANC won nearly 70 per cent of the vote in the 2004 elections, and the National Assembly re-elected Mbeki to another term as president.

HIV/AIDS, the challenge of an unskilled work force and high unemployment rates have all burdened South Africa's economy since the end of apartheid. It has grown steadily at around three per cent each year, just enough to keep up with population growth. More blacks have gained access to running water, electricity and telephone service, but much of the growth has simply benefited a racially broadened elite.

Slow progress has caused the majority poor black population to agitate for faster land reform. In 1994, 13 per cent of the land belonged to blacks, who make up 80 per cent of the population. Over subsequent years, with the government committed to a 'willing-buyer, willing- seller' approach, only four per cent of white-owned land has shifted to blacks.

South Africa is home to perhaps five or even ten million illegal immigrants, in addition to around 30,000 refugees and 100,000 asylum seekers. They come largely from the Democratic Republic of Congo, Zimbabwe, Somalia, Ethiopia, and Angola. African immigrants have been subjected to growing harassment and resentment, principally on the grounds that as unregistered (as well as non-unionized) workers they are unfairly competing for jobs. Many have been resident for long periods, a significant number with South African spouses and children. In Cape Town in late 2005, 20-40 Somali shopkeepers were killed in targeted violence allegedly organized by competing South African shopkeepers. South African police and officials at the Department of Home Affairs have been regularly accused of abusing the rights of illegal immigrants and legitimate asylum seekers alike. Some 96,000 African immigrants were deported in 1993, mostly to Mozambique, and despite an amnesty in 1996 and reform of immigration law in 2003, this process has continued. Immigrants now form one of the country's largest and most marginalized groups, but with the implosion of neighbouring Zimbabwe's economy and instability elsewhere on the continent, incentives for immigration to relatively prosperous South Africa remain.

Minorities

• Coloureds
• Indians
• San
• Zulus

Resources

Minority based and advocacy organisations

General

African Centre for the Constructive Resolution of Disputes (ACCORD)
Tel: +27-31-820-2816
Email: [email protected]
Website: http://www.accord.org.za

Indigenous Peoples of Africa Co-ordinating Committee (IPACC)
Tel: +27-21-674-3260/61
Email: [email protected]
Website: www.ipacc.org.za

Legal Resource Centre
Tel: +27-11-836-9831, 838-6601, 403-0902
Website: http://www.lrc.org.za

National Consortium on Refugee Affairs
Tel: +27-12-322-7553
Email: mailto:[email protected]?subject=Query from the website
Website: http://www.ncra.org.za

San

South African San Institute
Tel: +27-21-686-0795
Email: [email protected]
Website: www.sanculture.org.za

Working Group of Indigenous Minorities in Southern Africa
Website: www.san.org.za

!Xu and Khwe Trust
Tel: +27-21-883-3189/8069

Sources and further reading

General

Adhikari, Mohamed, Between Black and White: Racial Identity in the South African Coloured Community, Ohio University Press, 2005

Bhana, Surendra, Gandhi's Legacy: The Natal Indian Congress 1894-1994, University of KwaZulu-Natal Press, 1998.

Chennells, Roger, The =Khomani San Land Claim, WIMSA, 2002.

Erasmus, Z., Coloured by History, Shaped by Place: Perspectives on Coloured Identities in the Cape, Kwela Books, 2001

Ginwala, F., Indian South Africans, London, MRG report, 1985.

James, W., Caliquire, D. and Cullinan, K. (eds.), Now That We Are Free: Coloured Communities in a Democratic South Africa, Lynne Rienner Publishers, 1996

International Crisis Group, Blood and Soil: Land, Politics and Conflict Prevention in Zimbabwe and South Africa, 2004.

Legal Assistance Centre, An Assessment of the Status of the San in South Africa, Angola, Zambia, and Zimbabwe, Windhoek, 2001

Mandela, Nelson, A Long Walk to Freedom: The Autobiography of Nelson Mandela, London, 1994.

Marks, S., 'Patriotism, patriarchy and purity: Natal and the politics of Zulu ethnic consciousness', in L. Vail (ed.), The Creation of Tribalism in Southern Africa, London, James Currey, 1989.

Parfitt, T., The Jews of Africa and Asia, London, MRG report, 1987.

Truth and Reconciliation Commission of South Africa, Final Report, 1998.

Coloureds

Adhikari, Mohamed, Between Black and White: Racial Identity in the South African Coloured Community, Ohio University Press, 2005

Erasmus, Z., Coloured by History, Shaped by Place: Perspectives on Coloured Identities in the Cape, Kwela Books, 2001

James, W., Caliquire, D. and Cullinan, K. (eds.), Now That We Are Free: Coloured Communities in a Democratic South Africa, Lynne Rienner Publishers, 1996

Indians

Ginwala, F., Indian South Africans, London, MRG report, 1985.

Zulu

Marks, S., 'Patriotism, patriarchy and purity: Natal and the politics of Zulu ethnic consciousness', in L. Vail (ed.), The Creation of Tribalism in Southern Africa, London, James Currey, 1989.

San

Chennells, Roger, The =Khomani San Land Claim, WIMSA, 2002.

Legal Assistance Centre, An Assessment of the Status of the San in South Africa, Angola, Zambia, and Zimbabwe, Windhoek, 2001