Apartheid and Racial Segregation in South Africa

This video discusses the history of apartheid and racial segregation in South Africa, how it has shaped the country's geography, and how it continues to impact people's lives today.

The Divide Between Strand and Nomzamo

• Strand, a majority white community in Cape Town, is separated from Nomzamo, a majority Black township, by only a few meters.

• People on each side live very different lives. Strand has backyards and driveways while Nomzamo is much more dense.

• The people in Nomzamo have fewer basic services such as piped water and internet access.

A Legacy of Racial Division

• The color of your skin often determines where you live and your quality of life in South Africa.

• Jobs and opportunities are primarily concentrated in areas where most of the city's Black people live - informal settlements called "townships" on the city's periphery.

• Apartheid was a system that wrote segregation into law. It was officially ended when a democratically elected government took power in 1994 but its legacy still persists.

The History of Cape Colony

• In the 1600s, the Dutch took over the southern tip of Africa to supply ships with food along the trade route to Asia.

• Britain seized Cape Colony 150 years later. Many Dutch colonists moved further inland to escape British rule and continue exploiting enslaved people.

• In order to get diamonds out of Cape Colony after they were discovered there, railways were built connecting mines to the coast. This allowed access to global diamond markets through Cape Town.

Reinforcing Racial Inequality Through Location

• Black regions of Cape Colony were largely left out of the railroad economy, reinforcing racial inequality.

• The Natives Land Act of 1913 pushed Black people into only eight percent of South Africa's land and restricted them from owning land everywhere else or relocated them to the edges of major cities to work for white people.

• These laws began to shape the region. Many migrants moved to Cape Town where they formed a neighborhood called District Six.

The Rise and Fall of District Six

• District Six was a thriving, integrated community that attracted former enslaved people, merchants, artists, and immigrants.

• In 1934, Britain's legal hold in what was now the Union of South Africa officially ended. The remaining white minority took control and built on the foundation left by Britain.

• Between 1949 and 1971, the all-white government passed 148 laws solidifying apartheid. In 1950, the Population Registration Act officially classified people by race: white, colored, native (or Black), and eventually Asian.

• Around the country, Black South Africans were moved into rural areas called homelands or "bantustans" with underdeveloped economies while being forced to carry "pass books" specifying where they were allowed to work or travel to.

The Forced Removal of District Six

This section discusses the forced removal of District Six, a non-white area in Cape Town, South Africa. Bulldozers drove into the district and razed it to the ground, forcing more than 60,000 people from their homes.

Apartheid Rule and Economic Migration

• Violence against non-white people was commonplace around the country.

• After decades of pressure, both from within South Africa and abroad, apartheid rule finally came to an end.

• Millions of people who had been excluded from economic development for centuries migrated to major cities looking for basic services and economic opportunity.

• They settled where there was empty land, creating townships on the peripheries of major cities like Cape Town.

Unintended Consequences of Public Housing Programs

This section discusses how public housing programs in South Africa unintentionally reproduced the same legacy they were trying to undo.

The Periphery as the Only Option

• The only land that could be used for public housing programs was on the periphery of the city.

• Brilliant intentions to overcome apartheid legacy unintentionally reproduced it.

Current State

• Today, 60% of Cape Town's mostly Black population lives in these townships at the edge of the city.

Private Development vs. District Six Preservation

This section discusses private development in Cape Town's City Center and preservation efforts by former residents of District Six.

Valuable Land Sold to Private Developers

• Because its location is valuable, Cape Town's City Center usually gets sold to private developers who build luxury apartments.

• Nearly a billion dollars worth are going up by the coast.

District Six Preservation

• Former residents of District Six have fought against private development and have actually succeeded.

• Some have even managed to return to houses built by the city.

Unresolved Claims

• However, there are still hundreds of claimants waiting to get back to District Six.

Confronting the Legacy of Colonialism and Apartheid

This section discusses the intergenerational consequences of colonialism and apartheid in South Africa.

Barriers Yet to be Dismantled

• Many of the barriers built by colonialism and apartheid have yet to be dismantled.

• The kind of psychic scars that's left on individuals and communities.

• We haven't begun the work of saying, How do we live together, in the face of that history?