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South
Africa has a long and glorious tribal
history, replete with shining achievements
in art and culture. The earliest settlers
in the area now occupied by South Africa
were the San (otherwise known as
‘Bushmen’) and their close ethnic
cousins, the Khoi-Khoi (also known as the
Hottentots). By the 11th century, the
Bantu-speaking pastoral peoples from
neighboring parts of Africa had settled in
the northeast and east coast of the
country. They had spread all along the
eastern coast of southern Africa by the 15th
century.
By
the 16th century Africa came
under the full might of the European
colonial intervention as
the Europeans started succumbing to
their famous wanderlust. The Dutch arrived
in South Africa by 1652 and established
base in the Cape of Good Hope. The Dutch
rule led to the development of a most
significant cultural influence of the
Boers. The close-knit Dutch community
developed their own dialect the Afrikaans
and the Calvinist church. The Afrikaans is
still widely spoken in South Africa.
Like
everywhere else in Africa, the trail of
colonialism in South Africa was the
history of violent conflict between the
settlers and the native inhabitants. The
Khoi-San people were displaced by the
Dutch settlement around the area of Cape
Town. The Bantus offered spirited
resistance as the colonial power moved
northwards over the next century and a
half. They were met with brutal repression
by the Dutch. The first Bantu War in the
year 1779 was a landmark in the history of
tribal resistance in South Africa. The
Xhosa people resisted and defeated the
expansion of the Boers towards the east.
The British also entered the fray and the
interference of the two colonial powers in
the local affairs of the Bantus led to
unprecedented changes in their political
and social systems. The rise of the Zulu
leader Shaka was one of the immediate
consequences of the political changes.
Shaka turned out to be a tyrant. He
started attacking the neighboring tribes
indiscriminately and this caused mass
migration and general havoc. This period
is known as the difaqane (‘the
scattering’). The two competing colonial
armies finally managed to vanquish the
Zulus, but the relation between the
British and the Boers remained as tense
and strained as ever.
Much
to the dismay of the Boers, the British
annexed the Cape in 1806. The Boers were
forced to look for fresh pastures and they
started a two-year migratory journey
across the Orange River that became known
as the Great Trek. They established their
own independent republics – Orange Free
State and Transvaal. The new republics
turned out to be rich in gold and
diamonds. British pumped in money and men
in to the area culminating in the
Anglo-Boer War (1899-1902). The Boers were
overwhelmed and the entire South Africa
became the fiefdom of the British. They
ruled the country over many years with
brutal repression of the Afrikaners
including the massacre of over 25,000 Boer
men, women and children.
The
whites consolidated power and the Union of
South Africa was established in 1910.
‘Apartheid’ or the segregation of
whites and blacks with power in the hands
of the whites was the proclaimed policy of
the new state. There was great resistance
to the government in the form of non-
cooperation and strikes by the blacks but
the white government continued to impose
the system of apartheid. The security
forces unleashed a reign of terror and
repression against the blacks reached
unprecedently brutal levels. Some of the
notorious instances were: the Sharpeville
massacre of 1960, the torture and murder
of activist Steve Biko and the shooting of
schoolchildren in Soweto in 1976. The
blacks consolidated under the banner of
the African National Congress (ANC). The
ANC adopted all available means and
methods including guerilla warfare to
combat the apartheid regime. But the South
African government would not relent and
they resorted to deporting and arresting
the top leaders of ANC including Nelson
Mandela the leading light of the
resistance. The final tactic of the
government was to segregate the black
populations physically in what they called
the ‘Black Homelands’. This was
coupled with the denial of political and
economic rights to them.
This
period also saw the rise of Marxist and
socialist parties in neighboring republics
such as Mozambique and Angola. This meant
physical isolation of South Africa. But
what hurt more was the (belated)
imposition of economic sanctions by the
international community. Suffocated by the
economic and political exclusion, the
government tried to save the situation by
initiating some half-hearted reforms. But
this did not impress the world community.
By 1989 realization dawned upon the powers
that there was no escape from fundamental
changes. President FW de Klerk started a
far-reaching and comprehensive programme
that envisaged a complete dismantling of
apartheid and installing of democracy.
The
peace initiative with various black groups
including the ANC was cemented with the
freeing of political prisoners. The
release of Nelson Mandela on the 11th
of February 1990 was a historical event.
For the first time, popular elections were
held and Nelson Mandela assumed power in
1994. Post-apartheid governments in South
Africa face an enormous task of economic
and political reconstruction. President
Thabo Mbeki is in charge of this daunting
task at the present moment.
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