One of the aspects of
life in South Africa that is well known around the world is the years of
apartheid and we were keen to find out more about this during our visit. We knew this would not be an easy thing to do
but felt that it was important to learn some of the national history. I can’t hope to do it all justice in a short
blog but will give it my best shot!
We visited the Apartheid
Museum which was opened in 2001. The
museum was developed as a way of telling the story of apartheid in all its
complexity in a way that informed people about the history but also to bear
witness to suffering, heroism and tragedy.
It was also built in the hope it would serve as a warning of what
happens when people believe in the superiority of one group of people over
another. The museum took us on a dark
and difficult journey that ended in hopefulness for the future.
At the ticket office we
were randomly given tickets classifying us as either ‘white’ or ‘non-white’ and
we had to enter through different gates allocated to our race group. Mark and Rachel had ‘white’ tickets and mine
was ‘non-white’ so I had to enter separately.
In a very small way I experienced the uncertainty and vulnerability of
being separated from my group and wasn’t sure if that meant I would be spending
the day alone as it was not clear where and if we would meet up.
We saw many of the signs
that were used during the apartheid years to keep the races separate in all
aspects of life. Some of these shocking signs
are below.
We learned some of the
history of the nation of South Africa which is very long and complex! Here is a
bulleted summary!
• Originally
African people – Zulu, Xhosa and others
• 1487
– Portuguese settled
• 1647
– Dutch – settled – became known as Boers
• British
Rule – 1795 – 1803
• Dutch
Rule – 1803 – 1806
• British
Rule again – 1806 – became part of the British Empire and people began to move
there and colonize the country
• Diamonds
discovered 1867 and gold in 1884 – British determined to keep control of the
native people
• 1879
– Anglo-Zulu war – Zulus defeated
• Anglo-Boer
wars 1880-1881 and 1899-1902
• Union
of South Africa formed 1910
• Natives
Land Act 1913 – Gave 8% of land to the native Africans and 92% of the land to
the white people
• Apartheid
introduced in 1948 by the National Party who came to power in this year – they
set about creating laws that separated people in terms of race. We saw plaques listing 148 apartheid laws
that affected every aspect of people’s lives.
Hendrick Verwoed who was then minister of native affairs said that ‘the
effort to solve the ‘native problem’ lay at the heart of the apartheid project’
and spoke of the need to create ‘permanent solutions’. He called apartheid a ‘policy of good
neighbourliness.’ He also declared that ‘African education should be inferior
to that of other races’. He later went
on to become Prime Minister of South Africa in 1953 and was assassinated in
1966.
• Protests
within the country and from outside
• Nelson
Mandela imprisoned for anti-apartheid protests for 27 years – released in 1990
• Apartheid
ended in 1994 with fully democractic elections – Nelson Mandela voted as
President
• A
new South African flag was designed as a flag of union between the different
groups in the country
• A
new constitution was introduced in 1996 founded on equality, justice and
freedom for all.
Coming away from the
museum left me reflecting on how appalling injustice like this can be allowed
to take place but I remembered that this has happened time and again throughout
history and even good and well-meaning people have stood by and allowed their
fellow human beings to be treated in sub human ways – it still happens today
where there is oppression of people around the world. It made me wonder if there are ways in which
I am complicit in the oppression of others through my lifestyle or through
keeping silent where I ought to speak out.
I pray that if I am aware of the ill treatment of others I would have
the courage to speak out, act in their defense and be prepared to change my way
of life accordingly. Not an easy thing
to do.
The museum ended with a
feeling of hopefulness for the future and for the healing of hurts and division
and gave me a fresh impetus to pray for this wonderful nation.
‘South Africa so utterly
improbably is a beacon of hope in a dark and troubled world.’ Archbishop
Desmond Tutu
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| The Flame of Democracy |
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| The preamble from the South African Constitution |
Pray
for South Africa (some of this is based on information from Operation World)
• New
President Cyril Ramaphosa – that he will deal with corruption in the Government
and lead with integrity and wisdom.
• High
crime rates fuelled by poverty, desperation, lack of justice and illegal
firearms – pray for the police, those working with children and young people at
risk, the jobless, prisoners and the hopeless and desperate.
• Continued
legacy of apartheid – inequality, poverty, racism.
• For
the church to lead the way in unity and reconciliation.
• The
nation is 75% Christian so pray that the believers will unite to seek to
address injustice and poverty.
• Pray
for healing and unity – especially where some Christians were seen as slow to
denounce apartheid and divisions remain.
• Pray for the refugees and migrants living
in or travelling through South Africa and those who seek to help them.
