yr13_ia_2007_wardle_b

= = =**Summary of Evidence (500-600) words**= = =

During the 1960’s it became more apparent that the apartheid regime in South Africa was mistreating its black and coloured citizens. In fact a racial segregation through politics began shortly after the National Party came to power in 1948 when the Prohibition of Mixed Marriages Act1 was enforced. This was seen merely as a formality as, "between 1946 and the enactment of the law, only 75 mixed marriages had been recorded, compared with some 28,000 white marriages."1 However most of these “apartheid laws” were enforced in the 1950’s like the Reservation of Separate Amenities Act2 which, "forced segregation in all public amenities, public buildings, and public transport with the aim of eliminating contact between whites and other races."2 From the beginning the National Party had stiff competition from the African National Congress (ANC) formed in 1912 to bring all Africans together and to defend their rights and freedoms. In 1944 Nelson Mandela helped to form the ANC Youth League so a new generation could build up non-violent opposition against the white minority supremacy.

There were several disturbing, disastrous and devastating events that widened the international eyes to the unethical apartheid regime. One of the most shocking of these was the Sharpeville massacre, "in which 69 Africans were killed during demostrations against the hated Pass Laws".6 This occurred when the, "ANC and PAC reacted with peaceful protests to the laws of segregation enforced by Hendrik Verwoerd"3and his apartheid party. The ANC decided to launch a campaign of protests against these laws these were pre-empted by the Pan Africanist Congress (PAC) by launching its own campaign 10 days earlier on the 21st March 1960. On that day between 5,000 and 7,000 coloured people gathered at a local police station offering to be arrested for not carrying their pass books, random shooting in the morning was said to provoke stoning of police cars by the protestors and eventually the Sharpeville massacre. During this 69 people were killed and 180 injured including many women and children, Sharpeville was marked by many as the turning point in South African history.

Between 1963 and 1964 the infamous, "Rivonia trial of the Spear of a Nation"5 took place harming the ANC by trying its leaders including Nelson Mandela, who was already serving 5 years for leaving the country without a passport. Walter Sisulu was also arrested an influential leader of the ANC and, "active member of the newly formed Umkhonto we Sizwe or Spear of the Nation." Naturally in the apartheid nation the coloured leaders of the ANC were found guilty and imprisoned for crimes connected with guerrilla warfare. Other leaders include Govan Mbeki the father of today’s South African prime minister and Dennis Goldberg leader of the Congress of Democrats.

The story of Basil D’Oliviera is very simple he was classified as a coloured South African and therefore not allowed to take part in the same recreational teams as whites. Meaning he wasn’t paid for playing cricket and probably playing at an inferior level. He was allowed to play for the Black South African team and captained them in tours against Kenya, Rhodesia and East Africa in the 1950’s. So he migrated to England in 1960 and by 1964 he had gained British citizenship and was playing professional cricket for Worcestershire, by 1966 he was playing for the England national team. In 1968 he, “sparked the furnace that was to become the “South African problem””4 as he was included in the English team to tour South Africa. "He was considered to be the best black cricketer of his time."4

1 “//Prohibition of Mixed Marriages Act//” Alistair Boddy-Evans http://africanhistory.about.com/library/bl/blsalaws.htm 2 “//Reservation of Separate Amenities Act//” Alistair Boddy-Evans http://africanhistory.about.com/library/bl/blsalaws.htm 3 “The Sharpeville Massacre” Time magazine Monday 4th April 1960 4 "The Politics of South Africa Cricket" Jon Gemmel 5 "Political Trials in History: From Antiquity to the Present" Ron Christenson 6 "Norway and National Liberation in Southern Africa" Tore Linné Eriksen