Litnet

Hello, 

JM Coetzee het Elizabeth Costello, 'n dame wat nie sonder handskoene aangepak word nie. Ek het Lilly White en is Lilly aan die woord en aangesien sy Engels is, is die oordaad van Engels uit haar pen en het ek slegs hand bygesit met die minimale Afrikaans hier en daar en het ek die inleiding vir haar dikteer. Die res is alles Lilly en haar verwysings uit die boeke geleen by my. 

Die persoon wat agter die Engelse skuil en dan agter die naam Jan Rap is daardie soort Afrikaner waarvoor 'n mens net jou kop in skaamte kan laat sak en dan aan die hand van Jeanne Goosen vir die wat wil oordeel meedeel, 'ons almal is nie so nie', ons almal is nie 'n Jan Rap nie of Cornelius Henn nie. Ek het gewik en geweeg voor hierdie geplaas is, aangesien hierdie so 'n sinnelose gesprek is. Hierdie is erger as die ergste vergrype van die 'flat earth societies' of enige iets waarmee die regse gekkegrens vorendag kan kom, maar is dit ook tiperend van die broeders en susters van daardie gemeente. Ek put mildelik vanuit die boeke geleen by Wouter en verwys na groot dele daarvan in dit wat volg. 

Daar word begin met The Fall of Apartheid The Inside Story from Smuts to Mbeki deur Robert Harvey. Hierdie werk toon ooreenstemming met Endgame: Secret Talks and the End of Apartheid van Willie Esterhuyse. Dit is vreemd hoe iets kan eindig wat nie bestaan het nie. Die deel van Harvey se boek wat ek wil uitlig gaan soos volg en word die beskrywing van Hoofstuk Drie gevolg:

The history of modern South Africa might be said to have begun in May 1902, when a host of bedraggled Boer leaders converged on Vereeniging. The Boers, according to a witness, were, ‘starving, ragged men, clad in skins or sacking, their bodies covered with sores, from lack of salt and food ... their appearance was a great shock to us, who came from the better-conditioned forces in the Cape. The Boers’ corrupt and obscurantist government had sought to disenfranchise not just the blacks but the British on their territory, daring the colonial authorities to do nothing about it and the Boers formulated their own ideology for promoting their language should they  ever attain power over the English. Smuts and Botha now proceeded to press for a constitutional convention to set up a new basis for South Africa – something which was welcome to the British, who had always wanted a union. The Afrikaners believed they could dominate the new union and set it up on their terms – and they turned out to be right. The convention decided on a unitary constitution. When Cape leaders sought to entrench black voting rights in the new constitution, they accepted a compromise proposal by Smuts that would allow each province to retain its own method. Smuts thus secured a vital concession for the Afrikaners: a weighted voting system that would give around a third as many more seats to sparsely populated country areas than to urban areas. This was to entrench Afrikaner domination of white South African politics. Astonishingly, the British colonial authorities went along with this. The Liberal government in Britain lacked interest in South Africa, and certainly held no brief for black voters. Thus British Liberals were responsible for the fateful decision that first awarded power over South Africa to the Afrikaners and gave away the rights not just of English-speakers but of blacks. The colonial authorities, it seems, had not done their sums. Given the electoral bias towards the countryside, and with blacks disenfranchised in their provinces, the Afrikaners now secured a majority of seats in the white-dominated parliament. In May 1910 the constitution was promulgated and Botha became the first prime minister of a united South Africa. Eight years after the Boer defeat, their principal military commander was in charge not just of the voortrekker republics, but the whole country. It was a reversal of fortunes without precedent in history, and proof, if such were needed, that the British Empire was nothing if not magnanimous.

Hierdie maak belaglik die stelling van die persoon agter die masker van Jan Rap wat die volgende stelling teenoor Dirk Rigter gemaak het: 

Het jy dan nie gelees wat Tiens vir jou geskryf het nie, of die lys pre-48 apartheidswette wat ek vir jou gelys het nie?

Hierdie bevestig die Afrikaner aan die roer van sake vanaf 1910 en daarmee die mag om 'n spesifieke agenda te kan deurvoer. Die Afrikaner was daar van die begin af en om dit anders te probeer verwoord is om geen begrip van die geskiedenis te besit nie. Soos Henn en Rap al male sonder tal bevestig het. 

The Treaty of Vereeniging effectively put in place an important political underpinning of segregation. The Afrikaners took power and did not relinquish it for 84 years. 

The Union of South Africa was established it was under the predominantly Afrikaner leadership of the South African Party headed by Louis Botha, with the English-speaking Unionist Party in opposition.  

South African politics was now to be decided by internal feuding within the Afrikaner tribe, not by reasoned argument between the country’s main communities. What followed was a series of tribal bloodlettings within the Afrikaner community which resulted in the centre of gravity, already dangerously skewed towards the racist right, moving even more sharply towards the extremists in 1924, veering briefly back to moderation, Afrikaner-style, in 1934, and then returning to extreme right-wing rule under a conspiratorial, tribal-based volkstaat in 1948. This permitted a glimmer of reform only in 1966, and a little more in 1978, before disintegrating in 1990. 

Bogenoemde moet saamgelees word met Rethinking the Rise and Fall of Apartheid South Africa and World Politics van Adrian Guelke en dit wat volg: 

Apartheid was labeled a crime against humanity by the United Nations General Assembly as early as 1966. From 1910 to 1948, South Africa was led by three Afrikaner generals who had fought against the British during the Anglo-Boer war of 1899–1902. The three were Louis Botha, Jan Christiaan Smuts and J.B.M. Hertzog. They headed a variety of administrations, each of which enacted significant segregationist legislation. The transfer of power to the white minority in the defeated Boer republics followed, paving the way to the creation of the Union of South Africa as an independent white-ruled state within the British Empire. 

Voorbeelde van hierdie wetgewing: 

The Native Labour Regulation Act of 1911, one of the so-called Master and Servant laws, made a breach of contract by African mineworkers a criminal offence. 

The Mines and Works Act of the same year prevented the promotion of African workers to skilled work by denying Africans the possibility of acquiring blasting certificates that provided entry into positions of responsibility. 

The Natives Land Act of 1913 made it illegal for Africans to purchase land outside areas designated as native reserves, though this provision was not applied to the Cape because in that province there existed a non-racial property qualification for the exercise of the franchise. However, this came to an end in 1936 under the Native Trust and Land Act and the Representation of Natives Act, which removed Africans from the common roll in the Cape while adding land to the existing reserves so that they totalled 13 per cent of the country. 

Met bogenoemde wetgewing was die Afrikaner stewig in die stoel. 

Die tydperk wat volg behoort aan die Sappe: 

The Apprenticeship Act of 1922 provided that Africans could not be apprenticed. 

The report of the Transvaal Local Government Commission, the Stallard Commission, asserted that towns were ‘the White man’s creation’ and that ‘the masterless Native in urban areas is a source of danger and a cause of degradation to both Black and White’.

In its wake influx control was introduced under the Native Urban Areas Act of 1923. This provided for the removal from the urban areas of ‘idle’ or ‘undesirable’ Africans. 

Maar in 1924 verander die omstandighede weer: 

In 1924 this alliance was defeated by another combination, that of the National Party and the segregationist South African Labour Party. 

En is van die wette wat uitstaan soos volg: 

The Industrial Conciliation Act of 1924 prevented African workers from engaging in collective bargaining. It did so through the simple device of excluding them from the definition of employees under the Act. 

This was one of the first of the so-called ‘civilised labour’ measures intended to enhance the position of white workers, while protecting them against competition from African workers. 

The Immorality Act of 1927 outlawed extramarital sex between whites and Africans. In short, racial discrimination was deeply entrenched in the laws of South Africa well before 1948. 

Vyf jaar later is dit weer verkiesing tyd en is die resultate soos volg: 

The Pact government was re-elected with an increased majority in 1929, though the number of seats held by the South African Labour Party was halved. However, the government soon ran into severe economic difficulties as a result of the impact of the worldwide depression on South Africa. To meet this emergency the National Party and the South African Party formed a coalition. The two parties won an overwhelming victory in the general election that followed in 1933. A year later they agreed to fusion, forming the United National South African Party, which soon became known as the United Party. The white consensus on the policy of segregation helped to facilitate agreement and one consequence of fusion was the enactment of further segregationist legislation. 

Hierdie sukses word in 1938 herhaal: 

Thus, in the general election of May 1938, the United Party government was re-elected with a massive majority. 

Daar moet kop gehou word, want die hierdie bevestig die Afrikaner is nog die hele tyd in die regering en is van die suksesse die volgende net soos die ras beheptheid 'n konstante teenwoordigheid is: 

Much that the National Party of Hertzog had sought had been achieved. Afrikaans had been recognised as one of the country’s two official languages in 1925, South Africa had acquired its own flag in 1928 and South African sovereignty had been recognised through the Statute of Westminster in 1931. 

The prominence of what was called the colour question in elections made white preoccupation with racial issues very evident. A notorious example was a poster used by the gesuiwerdes during the 1938 general elections. They high- lighted their campaign for the prohibition of mixed marriages with the question: ‘How would you like your daughter to marry ...?’. The United Party’s response was to describe the poster as an insult to every white woman in South Africa. 

In 1948 is die 'gesuiwerde NP uiteindelik alleen aan bewind: 

The Nationalists themselves had no doubt that they had been given a mandate to put apartheid into practice. Further, they acted on this assumption so that a number of apartheid’s main legislative pillars were put into place during Malan’s first term of office. This was in contrast to segregation, the legislation of key aspects of which was enacted over a period of decades.  The National Party adopted apartheid as its official racial policy in 1945. In 1947 Malan appointed a commission under Paul Sauer to add flesh to the bare bones of the concept. As Giliomee notes, the policy called for the total separation of whites and Africans as the ultimate goal of policy for the future.  From the outset, the Nationalist government faced resistance to its policies and from the very start, the government took measures to suppress the opposition it faced. After the election, the Minister of Justice established a departmental committee to inquire into the question of Communist influence in South Africa. The outcome was the passage of the Suppression of Communism Act in 1950. In the light of the narrowness of their victory in the 1948 general election, a priority for Afrikaner nationalists was to strengthen their position ahead of the next general election. The HNP and the Afrikaner Party merged in 1951 to form the National Party. However, in spite of the protests the government increased its majority in the general election of April 1953. 

Vanaf 1948 tot 1994 het die NP nooit weer 'n verkiesing verloor nie. 

Soos al voorheen deur Wouter hier uitgelig in vorige briewe is dit hier waar die wetgewing spoed optel en word slegs 'n paar voorbeelde gegee: 

The Prohibition of Mixed Marriages Act of 1949 made marriages across the colour line illegal; a 1968 amendment extended the law to cover marriages contracted by South African citizens outside the country. 

The Immorality Act of 1950 made sex across the colour line illegal; a 1957 amendment increased the criminal penalties applicable to offenders. 

With the Group Areas Act (1950), Africans were confined to segregated areas within the urban areas, while the Prevention of Illegal Squatting Act (1951) prohibited Africans from squatting just outside municipal boundaries. 

The Reservation of Separate Amenities Act of 1953 reinforced the legal basis for segregation by removing any obligation on the government to ensure equality of provision to people of different races. 

In 1959 the Coloured category was sub-divided into seven sub-groups: Cape Coloured, Malay, Griqua, Chinese, Indian, Other Asiatic, and Other Coloured. Under the Act, an individual could appeal against his or her classification to the Race Relations Board. The results of these appeals provide a striking illustration of the racial hierarchy that prevailed under apartheid. 

The Extension of University Education Act of 1959 made it illegal for the University of Cape Town and the University of the Witwatersrand to admit ‘non-white’ students, except by government permit in individual cases. 

Whites-only buses, railway carriages, ambulances, park benches, beaches, swimming pools, libraries, toilets and even lifts in public buildings were a pervasive feature of public amenities in South Africa’s towns after 1948.

Africans taken off the common roll in the 1930s had their representation abolished under the Promotion of Bantu Self-Government Act of 1959. 

Hierdie was die grondslag van 'n Jan Rap se ware vergestalting van demokrasie, die tuislande. 

Daar word afgesluit met die wisselwerking tussen die idees van segregasie en apartheid en is die inleidende  paragraaf soos volg: (nog steeds uit 'Rethinking the Rise and Fall of Apartheid South Africa and World Politics van Adrian Guelke')

Where apartheid differed from segregation was in its much more systematic character. Segregation for many purposes depended on local custom and practice. That had permitted its erosion, a process the National Party was determined to reverse. An important pillar of apartheid was the Population Registration Act of 1950. This provided for the racial classification of the entire population, initially under three headings: Native (which subsequently became Bantu and then Black), White and Coloured. 

Daar word afgesluit met SEGREGATION AND APARTHEID IN TWENTIETH- CENTURY SOUTH Africa. Edited by William Beinart and Saul Dubow: 

Segregation was the name coined in early twentieth-century South Africa for the set of government policies and social practices which sought to regulate the relationship between white and black, colonizers and colonized. Many elements of segregation had precursors in the period of Dutch rule between 1652 and 1806, as well as in the nineteenth-century Boer republics and British colonies.

But it was only in the twentieth century that the ideology of segregation was refined and the reach of the system fully extended. This followed a lengthy historical process which saw the final conquest of African chiefdoms in the 1890s and the consolidation of the boundaries of the South African state in the aftermath of the 1899–1902 South African War. Modern segregation represented a response to the industrialization of the subcontinent, initiated by the discovery and exploitation of diamonds and gold from the 1860s. It arose out of the modernizing dynamics of a newly industrializing society and was therefore not, as some have suggested, a mere carryover into the twentieth century of older traditions of slavery, agrarian paternalism or frontier conflict. The distinction between segregation (from about 1900 to 1948) and apartheid (from 1948 to 1990) is a rough guide. Segregation in South Africa encompassed many different social relationships. It is often discussed as a series of legislative Acts which removed and restricted the rights of ‘non-whites’ in every possible sphere. Among the most important of these measures were the 1911 Mines and Works Act (segregation in employment),the 1913 Natives Land Act (segregation in the countryside and prohibitions on African land purchase), the 1923 Natives (Urban Areas) Act (urban residential segregation), the 1936 Representation of Natives Act (abolition of the remnant African franchise) and the 1936 Native Trust and Land Act (an elaboration of the 1913 Land Act). Segregation was, however, more than a panoply of restrictive legislation: it refers as well to a composite ideology and set of practices seeking to legitimize social difference and economic inequality in every aspect of life. In analysing the transition from segregation to apartheid some writers stress elements of continuity. They point out that much of the core apartheid legislation amounted to a mere elaboration of earlier segregationist measures. For others, apartheid represented so great an intensification of segregationist ideology and practices that it could be considered as qualitatively different. Afrikaner nationalism and apartheid has even been likened to fascism. Although some Afrikaners were profoundly influenced by fascist ideas and supported Germany during the Second World War, the analogy breaks down in crucial respects.

Nevertheless, it is true to say that apartheid purported to be a rigorous and totalizing ideology in a way that segregation had never been. The rhetoric of apartheid bore considerable similarities to white supremacist statements of the segregation era, but the central appeal to Afrikaner ethnic exclusivity was a distinctive aspect of apartheid. The context in which apartheid was introduced was also markedly different from the earlier segregationist period. In the era of European colonialism, segregation in South Africa did not appear exceptional. By contrast, in the democratizing postwar world and at the time of decolonization, apartheid began to stand out internationally as an immoral system in a way that its predecessor had not. By the 1960s, with the banning of the African National Congress and the Pan-Africanist Congress and the systematic jailing of the African nationalist leadership—most notably Nelson Mandela—South Africa came to be regarded as a pariah state. Internationally, apartheid came to embody the evils of racist exploitation, while the South African liberation struggle served to symbolize, along with the civil rights movement in the United States, the aspirations of all those who strove for common human dignity and freedom. 

Best Wishes (Kan werklike kwessies nou bespreek word?)

Lilly White