Apartheid: Ancient, Past and Present

Literature › Works

Nisrccn Balliish; Anthony Ldwsledt (1999). Apartheid: Ancient, Past and Present. Paper for the conference 'The TRC: Commissioning the Past', History Workshop, University of the Witwatersrand, and Centre for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation, Johannesburg, 11-14 June 1999.

Type	conference paper
Scope	Comparative and methods
Method	synthesis review
Period studied	332 BC–1999
Regions	Graeco-Roman Egypt, South Africa, Israel and Palestine
Themes	comparative theory, origins segregation, agriculture land, labour markets wages, education human capital, politics ideology elections, inequality poverty unemployment
Citation key	balliish1999

Argument

The authors define an 'apartheid society' broadly, as one ruled by an oppressive, economically exploitative and ideologically racist minority with or without the rule of law. They apply this definition to Graeco-Roman Egypt, white-ruled South Africa since 1652, and Israel/Palestine since 1948. They compare the three cases under five headings: physical violence, land confiscation and removals, exploitation in production, differential access (education, health), and ideology. Their claim is that apartheid is historically unique but not structurally unique, and that a South African-style Truth and Reconciliation Commission, with a widened notion of gross human rights violations, could help in Israel/Palestine. The South African sections are a secondary-source summary and give only background economic material on land, wages, education and unemployment.

Evidence and method

Mostly secondary literature: Lester (1996), Thompson (1990), Iliffe (1995), Mandela's writings, classical historians (Walbank, Green, Lewis, Weber), and Fedderke et al. (1998) on education. Also Reuters news reports, Al Haq (1988), Palestinian Authority planning documents and TRC hearing reports. No archival or original data.

Findings

• The authors state a broad working definition of apartheid that extends beyond de jure segregation. (p. 3)

  Our working definition of an apartheid society is a society where an oppressive, economically exploitative and ideologically racist minority is in power, with or without the rule of law.

• Land legislation confined African ownership to a small share of the land (the 1913 Act is given as 7%). (p. 13)

  In 1913, a Land Act was established which limited Black land ownership to 7% of the entire land area, forcing many to leave their land and move into reserves

• Black-white wage gaps on the mines were persistent and very large over seven decades. (p. 16)

  From 1898 until 1971, Blacks on average earned a mere tenth of what White workers did.

• Gold-mine wage ratios between whites and Africans widened from 1941 to 1971. (p. 18)

  In 1971, the White annual real wage was 4,379 compared to the average African real wage of 209 (a ratio of 21 to I).

• African mine real wages stagnated over six decades, ending below their 1911 level in 1970. (p. 18)

  By 1970. the real wage of African mine workers was less than that of 1911.

• Black unemployment roughly doubled in the period 1960-1977. (p. 18)

  In real numbers. Black unemployment doubled between I960 (1.2 million) and 1977 (2.3 million)

• Agriculture became more commercial and mechanised after 1948 as demand for black farm labour fell, with surplus workers sent back to the reserves. (p. 17)

  Agriculture became more commercial and mechanized after 1948 as demand for Black labor decreased,

• Repressing African incomes constrained the domestic market and pushed the economy towards exports. (p. 18)

  By limiting African economic development. South Africa's market economy was harmed as well, because domestic consumption was limited.

• Technological change in the 1970s forced a relaxation of the job colour bar. (p. 18)

  In the 1970s, due to modernization and the development of technology (such as in the gold mines), skilled laborers were needed to handle the more sophisticated equipment.

• Education spending was racially skewed, which the authors link to Bantu Education and limits on human capital. (p. 21)

  The average ratio of state expenditure between White and Black students during the apartheid years was ten to one.

• In Ptolemaic Egypt, exploitation came through sharply raised taxation, the ancient analogue the authors set beside South African wage differentials. (p. 15)

  Under Macedonian rule, however, taxes rose to at least 50%, which in practice meant that almost the entire indigenous population now had to live close to minimum subsistence levels