South Africa 1960–1994: The People and the State

What South Africa 1960–1994: The People and the State covers

South Africa 1960–1994: The People and the State is examined in Paper 1, Period study with non-British depth study. It covers consolidating apartheid in the 1960s, the Bantustans, state control and Sharpeville; reasons for, methods of and impact of different types of resistance; the further development of resistance; the Anti-Apartheid Movement and the regime’s response in the 1970s; growing pressure on the regime; the State of Emergency and the failure of total strategy 1985–1990; negotiations between the government and the ANC; and the state and the South African people, 1960–1994.

The 8 subtopics

Each one has its own page.

• Consolidating apartheid in the 1960s: the Bantustans, state control and SharpevilleSeparate development and the Bantustans, the loss of citizenship, who backed apartheid and the white dissenters, the pass book, security laws, Bantu Education, and why the Sharpeville crowd gathered, the shootings and what followed.Open →
• Reasons for, methods of and impact of different types of resistanceThe Freedom Charter of 1955 and its lasting importance, why the ANC abandoned non-violence, Umkhonto we Sizwe and its targets, how Poqo differed, the Liliesleaf Farm raid, and the Rivonia Trial sentences and their consequences for resistance inside the country.Open →
• The further development of resistanceSteve Biko and Black Consciousness, SASO, Biko's death in detention, women's organisations, the Durban strike of 1973, the Soweto uprising and its consequences, and the ANC abroad under Oliver Tambo and the Morogoro conference.Open →
• The Anti-Apartheid Movement and the regime's response in the 1970sThe Boycott Movement in Britain, consumer, cultural and sporting boycotts, United Nations action, the economic cost of opposition, the regime's concessions and why they failed, the bans of 1977, total strategy and raids on exiles abroad.Open →
• Growing pressure on the regimeSanctions and the financial crisis of 1985, the United Democratic Front and how it operated, mass resistance in the townships, Inkatha and the civil war in Natal, the state's hidden part in the violence, and the 1983 constitution and the opposition to it.Open →
• The State of Emergency and the failure of total strategy 1985–1990Where emergency rule was imposed, the powers it gave the security forces, restrictions on journalists, what it achieved and at what price, verligte and verkrampte, the Conservative Party breakaway, the failure of total strategy and Cuito Cuanavale.Open →
• Negotiations between the government and the ANCThe parts played by de Klerk, Ramaphosa and Mandela, secret talks from 1985, CODESA and its collapse, violence in 1992 and 1993, the sunset clause, the unbanning of February 1990, the return of the ANC and the Communist Party, the 1994 election and the government of national unity.Open →
• The state and the South African people, 1960–1994Racial classification, residential segregation, influx control and migrant labour, job reservation and petty apartheid, the effects on African women and children and on Coloured, Indian and white South Africans, the churches, the homelands, white business and opinion, and the problems of the sources.Open →

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

Take South Africa 1960–1994: The People and the State further

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Commonly confused

Pairs that lose marks when they are blurred together.

• Umkhonto we Sizwe vs Poqo

  Umkhonto we Sizwe: ANC armed wing of December 1961 that sabotaged pylons and pass offices at night. Poqo: PAC armed wing seeking immediate mass uprising and attacking policemen and white civilians.

• Black Consciousness vs United Democratic Front

  Black Consciousness: Biko's argument that liberation begins in the mind and Africans must lead their own struggle. United Democratic Front: umbrella body of 1983 bringing together civic, church, student and union groups.

• Verligte vs Verkrampte

  Verligte: enlightened National Party wing ready to reform and eventually share power. Verkrampte: narrow National Party wing regarding any concession as surrender.

Questions from this topic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

1. 1

   What did the government mean by ‘separate development’?

   Model answer

   The policy, driven by Hendrik Verwoerd as Prime Minister from 1958, that each African ethnic group should exercise its political rights only in its own reserved territory and never in white South Africa.

2. 2

   What was a Bantustan?

   Model answer

   A reserved territory, also called a homeland, set aside for one African ethnic group and given its own administration under a chief loyal to Pretoria.

3. 3

   What did Africans lose when a homeland such as Transkei was declared independent in 1976?

   Model answer

   Their South African citizenship, which was replaced by citizenship of a state no other country in the world recognised.

4. 4

   Which groups gave the apartheid system its strongest backing?

   Model answer

   Afrikaner nationalist voters of the National Party, organised through the secret Broederbond, encouraged by the Dutch Reformed Church, and held together by fear of communism and of being outnumbered.

5. 5

   Was white opinion in the 1960s united behind the racial order?

   Model answer

   Overwhelmingly, though not completely: Helen Suzman of the Progressive Party sat for years as the single opposing voice in parliament, and some business leaders objected that racial job barriers wasted labour.

6. 6

   What was the pass book and what did it do?

   Model answer

   An identity document every African adult had to carry, recording where they were allowed to live and work, so that anyone found in a white area without permission could be arrested.

What is inside Levo

Six ways to work the same material.

South Africa 1960–1994: The People and the State revision questions

What does South Africa 1960–1994: The People and the State cover in OCR GCSE History A?

8 subtopics: consolidating apartheid in the 1960s: the bantustans, state control and sharpeville, reasons for, methods of and impact of different types of resistance, the further development of resistance, the anti-apartheid movement and the regime's response in the 1970s, growing pressure on the regime, the state of emergency and the failure of total strategy 1985–1990, negotiations between the government and the anc and the state and the south african people, 1960–1994. Each one has its own page with questions and model answers.

How is South Africa 1960–1994: The People and the State organised?

By the OCR J410 specification, subtopic by subtopic, so it matches the order you are taught it in.