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Masters and Servants Acts
This act made it illegal for servants to break their contract of employment. Contracts of employment were signed between a master and a servant. Along with breaches in contract, insolence, drunkenness, desertion, and strikes were also considered criminal offenses. This act applied to all people in South Africa although mostly unskilled workers who were mostly comprised of blacks. This act is significant because it was the one of the first official forms of discrimination by the government. -
Mines and Works Act
This act made it legal for mining companies to only give specific skilled occupations to whites or people of colour. This act is significant because it shows a governmental form of discrimination. Since only whites and coloured people were allowed to take skilled positions, the blacks had to take occupations which required a lower skill level and a lower pay. -
Black Land Act No 27
This act made it illegal for blacks to own or rent land that was outside of government designated reserves. The government designated reserves at the time were only 7 percent of the land available. This act is significant because it is a form of governmental discrimination. This act was is one of the first attempts by the apartheid government at an all-white South Africa. -
Native (Black) Urban Areas Act No 21
This act made local authorities to be responsible for the control of blacks in its respective area. National advisory boards were created and their job was to regulate and remove blacks who were not employed in the area. The significance of this act is that is divided the country into urban (cities) and non-urban areas (the rest of the country). -
Black (Native) Administration Act No 38
This act allowed the prime minister of South Africa to move any tribe or person in that tribe to a different location in the country if it was in the public interest. The prime minister could move the tribe or person without notice and without consent. The significance of this act is that it gave an extreme amount of power to the government and took almost all power away from the blacks. -
Black (Native) Laws Amendment Act No 46
This act prohibited blacks from purchasing land in the urban areas of South Africa from non-blacks. The exception to this law is that blacks could purchase land from non-blacks in urban areas with the Governor General’s consent. The significance of act is that it limited the ways that blacks could survive in the urban areas without the non-whites benefiting from them being there. -
Population Registration Act No 30
This act required people to be identified and registered as one of four distinct racial groups. This categorization based on skin colour had to be given at birth. This act is significant because it directly affects how the government of South Africa is going to discriminate against its residents. -
Black (Native) Laws Amendment Act No 54
This act stated that an undesirable person who is in a specific area could be removed by authorities and placed in a native homeland for up to two years without their consent. As passbook is required to be in possession of every resident of South Africa for identification purposes and for determining which colour group they are in. This act is significant because it gave the apartheid government even more control over its residents without their consent. -
Black Labour (Settlement of Disputes) Amendment Act No 59
This act made it necessary for separate industrial equipment to be applied to black workers. Separate industrial equipment was not needed for blacks employed in farming, domestic service, educational service, or mining industries. This act was important because it deprived the black community the tools they need to financially succeed and allowed the whites and South African government to succeed financially instead. -
General Law Amendment Act No 37
This law allowed any commissioned officer to be able to detain any person suspected of a crime for up to 90 days without access to a lawyer. Any person suspected of a political crime could be held for up to 12 months. The State President could declare any group formed after April 7th, 1960 to be unlawful and therefore disbanded. This act is significant because it gave a major amount of power to the government of South Africa over its residents.
