Why did opposition to apartheid increase during the years 1960-61? Flashcards
(23 cards)
Usual penalties for a pass offence by 1960? comparison to typical black wage?
How many pass law cases went through the courts per day?
£5-£8 fine, imprisonment for 5-8 weeks
More than 2 weeks’ wages
Roughly 1,000
How many days after Sharpeville had the ANC initially made plans for their own campaign?
10 days (31st March 1960)
What was the PAC’s strategy for Sharpeville?
To overwhelm the police and judiciary through overcrowding
What was the Vaal Triangle?
A heavily industrialised area in which Sharpeville was located
What happened in the nearby township of Evaton in 1956, how many died?
Where was Evaton?
Bus boycott, 15 people killed
A township in the industrial Vaal Triangle
How many people were forced into Sharpeville (1958) due to the Group Areas Act and how did this help to politicise the community?
10,000
little new housing in Sharpeville, rents increased
When was a PAC branch founded in Sharpeville?
How did this help to politicise the community?
1959
The local branch was able to respond to Sobukwe’s short notice through house-to-house visits and leaflets.
PAC membership in Sharpeville was low… how did their task force raise awareness for the campaign?
They threatened those who wanted to go to work (including bus drivers carrying commuters)
Events of the 20th of March 1960?
Youths stabbed a policeman. Police responded with baton charges and gunfire, with 2 protestors killed at a football stadium.
How many people gathered outside of the police station at Sharpeville?
What did they want to happen and what did they think that government reaction would be?
5,000
They all be arrested leading to overcrowding and suspension of the pass laws
Name three “groups” of people (other than the PAC) that were present in the Sharpeville crowd.
What did a reporter quote that the atmosphere was?
ANC members, people there out of curiosity, journalists/photographers
“relaxed and friendly”
By 1 pm how many white and black police reinforcements had arrived in Sharpeville?
What event (a few weeks prior) could have increased police nervousness?
What did police later claim about the event? (Numbers)
200 white- machine guns and 200 black- clubs
9 police killed at Cato Manor
They had faced an angry crowd of 20,000
What happened to Nyakane Tsolo when he refused to order the crowd to disperse?
What did this lead the crowd to do?
He was arrested
Surge forwards
What happened shortly before 2 pm at Sharpeville?
How many died? How many were injured?
Where were a lot of people shot?
One of the police shouted ‘fire’
69, 187
In the back, while running away.
What were the police accused of doing after the shooting of Sharpeville?
Why was Sharpeville so significant internationally?
Placing “thrown” stones, kicking/killing the wounded.
Many photographs; graphic evidence sent ripples globally.
Why did Sharpeville create a larger international reaction than other instances of police repression?
Many photos were taken which was quickly circulated in the national and international press
What did the United Nations Security Council pass on the 1st of April 1960?
How did Britain and France react but then later (Britain and US) later support?
A resolution condemning Sharpeville and calling for a reversal of apartheid and racial discrimination
They both abstained, supported a later resolution that declared apartheid to be a violation of the UN charter.
When did the ANC have their own pass protest?
Who burnt their own pass in front of the media, whilst in Pretoria for the treason trial?
What did the ANC call for at the end of March?
28th March
Albert Luthuli
A further stayaway and a day of mourning
What date did the government declare a state of emergency?
What did Africans in Cape Town do on the same day (and how many were there)?
Where did kgosana go?
30th March
30,000 Africans marched in a non-violent, orderly demonstration to the edge of central Cape Town.
To a police station
What did police promise the crowd if they would disperse? 30th March
How did Kgosana (leading the crowd) react to this and what happened to him as a result?
That the MoJ would meet a PAC delegation.
Persuaded the marchers to turn back …he was arrested later that day DOUBLE CROSSED
What did the state of emergency do?
What did it outlaw?
What 1953 act meant that police required no warrants for arrest?
Strengthened police powers
Public meetings
The Public Safety Act
Who was arrested despite still being involved in what?
Who was Joe Slovo (also arrested)?
Mandela, Treason Trial
Albert Luthuli, ANC president
A white communist lawyer, about to defend hundreds of black (and 6 white) families of miners who had died in a mine disaster.
What date was the Unlawful Organisations Act passed? What did it do?
What happened the next day and how was it resolved?
April 1960. Banned organisations such as ANC and PAC
A white English-speaking man shot Verwoerd, he was “unhappy with the conflict in South Africa.” Verwoerd survived.
