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Natives Land Act
Prohibited Africans, who made up over 2/3 of the population, from owning or renting land anywhere outside of certain parcels of territory designated as native reserves. This was only roughly 7.5% of the total land area in South Africa. This land given to Africans was notorious for being unfit for various uses, such as farming. -
Native (Black) Urban Areas Act
Made each local authority responsible for the blacks in its area. ‘Native advisory boards’ regulated influx control and removed people not employed in the area. The country was divided into urban (usually white) and non-urban (colored) areas, with movement between the two being strictly controlled. -
Representation of Blacks Act
This act removed black voters in the Cape Province from the common electoral roll; blacks throughout the union were now represented by four white senators. This greatly diminished their own rights and say in the government. -
The National Party comes to power
DF Malan ousts Jan Smuts and the United Party. This election allowed for Apartheid (Baaskap) to be put in place, which became known for the notoriously tedious nature of the regulations put into place. -
Immorality Act
This extension of the Prohibition of Mixed Marriages Act prohibited extramarital affairs between whites and non-whites. This act was used by the government to protect the "purity" of the white race; it was enforced by police raids acting on a "tip". The accused couple could face possible fines or even prison terms if convicted. -
Population Registration Act
This divided and classified racial groups in South Africa, a fundamental aspect of Apartheid. It created a population registry where an individual's race would be determined by biological instead of cultural factors. This legislation was neither scientific nor rigorous, and its definition of a white and a non-white person extremely vague. In some instances, two individuals of the same parents could be classified as different races based on their physical appearance. -
Natives Abolition of Passes and Coordination of Documents Act
Repealed laws relating to blacks carrying passes. Instead, a 96-page reference book was provided to all black persons in all provinces. This book included employment records, tax payments, and permits which needed to be stamped in order to allow a black person to travel to a city. This was heavily enforced by police, and served as a method of surveillance of Black Africans. -
Bantu Education Act
This act made it mandatory for schools to accept students from one racial group only. Separate school boards were created for whites and blacks; African education was now put under control of the Native Affairs Department, which now developed a curriculum focused on rudimentary technical skills, literacy, and numeracy for blacks. Christian Nationalism was also forced upon pupils of this system -
Reservation of Separate Amenities Act
This act allowed for strict segregation of all public amenities by race. Various establishments in city centers were instructed to refuse admittance to non-whites; this, in turn, led to ubiquitous "whites only" signage sprinkled throughout the civil landscape of South Africans. Members of non-white racial groups risked arrest if they used facilities designated only for Whites. -
Natives Resettlement Act
This authorized the removal of blacks in townships. Armed police often forcefully evicted blacks out of their homes, with bulldozers at the ready to destroy the buildings once they were forced out. In one case, 65,000 were forced to move from a neighborhood called Sophiatown into a crowded resettlement area. This act represented the ruthless, systemic nature of Apartheid, taking away people's homes and destroying communities. -
Black Labour Act
Consolidated the laws regulating the recruiting, employment, accommodation, feeding, and health conditions of black laborers. It prohibited Africans from seeking work in towns or for employers to accept them unless they went through the state labor bureau, thereby adding another means of surveillance by the government.
