GROUP AREAS ACT (1950)

BY AYANDA BAPELA
 GROUP AREAS ACT (1950)

Being forcefully put into poverty was the reality of people with color during
apartheid. The Group Areas Act of 1950 (GAA) resulted in a rupture of violence
that still touches the souls of South Africans today, and that is why I have chosen to
inform you of this law.

On the 27th of April 1950, the Group Areas Act was passed by the Apartheid
government. It was implemented over a period of several years. This law was
amended by parliament in 1952, twice in 1955, 1956 and 1957. The policy goal of
segregated development allowed the National Party (which was elected in 1948) to
maintain the existing conditions of white supremacy as well as control the African
labor needed for brisk industrial development.

During the second World War, there was rapid urbanization by Africans. However,
the dearth of infrastructure in South African cities led to the occurrence of
overcrowding and squatting (unlawfully occupying an uninhabited area) by the
unemployed. Often, the scramble for housing brought about mixed neighborhoods.
The Apartheid government aimed to eliminate mixed neighborhoods because its
objective was to duress South Africans to develop separately, therefore at different
rates.
 When the Group Areas Act was passed in 1950, it imposed control over interracial
property transactions and property occupation across South Africa. The law
displaced hundreds of thousands of people, breaking up families, friends and
communities. Once a region was declared a group area, the government had the
power to demolish all the houses in that community and displace anyone who was
not of that designated group. Fear of cholera, small pox and plague epidemics were
used to justify the efforts to divide South Africa. The GAA added more curtailments
to the lives of Africans as it was one of the first substantial rights infringements for
the Indian and Black populations.

If people of color did not comply, they received either a fine of £60, imprisonment
for six months or both, as well as an additional fine of £5 for each day they failed to
comply with the eviction order. People tried to use the courts to overturn the GAA,
though they were unsuccessful each time.

It is not difficult to realize that Blacks, Indians and Colourds were not particularly
fond of the conditions they were forced to endure. Poverty riddled their lives like a
fungus. Garbage littered their streets, the scarcity of water was a growing concern
(and when available, was not clean), malnutrition was a norm and healthcare was
non-existent. People died like flies. They had no choice but to live their lives in fear
of not only the government, but also of death at any given time. Watching their
families suffer slow, excruciating deaths was nothing short of torture.
 So, to retaliate, people of color decided to stage protests and engage in civil
disobedience such as entering white-only bathrooms, restaurants and communities.
Many arrests were made. Others took to music to get their points across. “A Piece
of Ground” by Miriam Makeba (written in 1967) and “Group Areas Act” by Lucky
Dube (released in 1991) are both examples of resistance during apartheid.
Single cover for Group Areas Act by Lucky Dube Single cover for A Piece of Land by Miriam Makeba
 To summarize all the information that has been stated thus far, South Africa has
seen very grim adversities that played a major role in many of the structural and
societal issues faced by the country today, but I feel we’ve learnt so much about our
communities through apartheid. The apartheid government made morally
questionable decisions that put an entire nation in shambles. The communities that
were oppressed during the apartheid era did not conform to injustice despite the risk
and in doing so, paved a way for South Africans today to live in freedom.

The Group Areas Act shows us how and why South Africa was divided and that, to
me, sounds like the purpose of apartheid itself. The shackles of oppression lock the
mental way more than the physical. It frustrates you, molds you into something that
you are not then creates a void in your heart. The goal of segregation was to keep
our communities at war with ourselves thus avoiding unity to challenge the system.
This was the government’s plan to achieve a white supremacist’s “white South
Africa”.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

https://youtu.be/s4zOT-lTz2Ehttps://youtu.be/af0u9p8PJzU
https://www.sahistory.org.za/article/group-areas-act-1950
britanicca.com/topic/Group-Areas-Act-South-Africa-1950
Snow On Tha Bluff by J. Cole