-
Black Land Act No. 27
Blacks in South Africa were prohibited from owning or renting land outside of the designated reserves, which made up only 7% of the total land in S. Africa. The act limited the ability of blacks to buy/own land outside of the reserves. This was a way for the whites to achieve territorial segregation, remove competition with black sharecroppers, and easily recruit black labor for the mines. Source -
Native Urban Areas Act No. 21
This act made it necessary for authorities to create different and separate living locations for the natives, and for them to have power over native immigration. This eventually created local governments on the segregated borders of white living space and black living space. Source -
Aliens Act No. 1
This act allowed for immigration to be strictly controlled, having set up an Immigrants Selection Board. They could refuse permits so that immigrants would not be allowed to enter the country. This was set in place because of the influx of Jewish people fleeing from Hitler's regime around this time. Source -
Prohibition of Mixed Marriages Act No. 55
This act prohibited relationships between European and non-European South Africans. This was passed due to a fear of poor, working-class white women wanting to marry "natives" and causing the racial boundaries to be blurred. This is an example of petty apartheid because the total amount of interracial relationships was only around 0.4% of marriages. Source -
Separate Representation of Voters Act No. 46
In Cape Province, "coloreds" were removed from the electoral roll had their voting rights essentially taken away. They had to meet the literacy+property qualifications to be eligible, and they had a separate election from whites to elect 4 white people to represent them in government. This was meant to further racial segregation and remove non-whites from the common electoral list. Source -
Black Laws Amendment Act No. 54
The criteria for blacks who could live permanently in towns was narrowed down even more. You had to be born in a town that you would live in for 15 years continuously, or work there for that period of time. This act made it even harder for black S. Africans to find a legal place to live or even be "mobile." Source -
Black Labor Relations Regulation Act No. 58
This established a formalized system for racial segregation in trade unions. Blacks were not allowed to have strikes and doing so would mean that they were committing a punishable criminal offence. Black workers would only be represented by a Central Black Labor Board with people that they could not elect. Source -
Blacks Resettlement Act No. 19
Africans were in and round Johannesburg were allowed to be moved forcibly by the S. African government. The passing of this act allowed for the government to also force the residents of Sophiatown out and into Meadowlands in Soweto through the use of security police. Source -
Urban Blacks Council Act No. 79
Advisory Boards were removed and replaced with new, democratically elected town/city councils made up of black S. African council members who were given certain administrative tasks. This act was meant to create councils for the Bantus (Native Africans,) and to establish community guards for some locations. Source -
General Law Amendment Act No. 37
This act allowed for police to detain people for 90 days without needing a warrant, especially those suspected of certain political crimes (helping communists, plotting government overthrow, etc.) This was abused and they would detain the prisoner immediately after they were released. This act was passed mainly to keep Robert Sobukwe, leader of the Pan African Congress, locked up. Source
