Group Areas Act

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The Group Areas Act , Act No. 41/1950 ( Afrikaans : Groepsgebiedewet ; German about: "Group Areas Act") of 1950 was a law of the Union of South Africa , which is a fundamental part of its policy of apartheid represented.

It was passed by the National Assembly of the South African Union in 1950 and assigned the various ethnic groups (whites, blacks, Asians and coloreds ) their own residential and business areas. In this way, the spatial segregation of the ethnic groups in each city was further consolidated and shaped . This law created generally applicable regulations for residence and housing rights, ownership and ownership as well as rights in connection with the activities of commercial enterprises in the respective areas.

Effects

Because many localities and districts of South African municipalities were characterized by an ethnically mixed population structure until the 1950s, a rapid implementation of the separation of all residents into "homogeneous" population groups according to the goals of racial segregation policy remained unrealistic. Therefore, the intended procedure has been divided into two main stages. For this purpose, the authorities of the proclamation served exactly defined urban areas, first to "controlled areas" ( controlled areas ) and in the second step to "group areas" ( Group Areas ). With the status controlled areas , a control and control authorization was created for the regionally responsible departments over property and housing rights of the resident population. This usually took the form of restrictive measures for certain population groups. The development of each of these affected areas was thus effectively “frozen”. Once demographic segregation had progressed significantly, the right to property and residence could be determined exclusively for a certain group. A distinction was again made between “group areas with exclusive property and possession rights” for a certain population group and “group areas with exclusive rights of residence and residence” for a certain population group. The persons to be resettled in the sense of these segregation measures were officially declared as “ disqualified persons ” and thereby lost their property rights and residence rights.

Violations of this law were punishable by fines (after 1961 up to 400 rand ) or imprisonment for up to two years in prison. This could already be used for a person classified as “unfit” when visiting a fast-food restaurant in the “white” urban area. Anyone who, as an “unfit person”, was not prepared to move to another residential or residence area assigned to them experienced in most cases a violent expulsion by the state authorities, in many cases through police operations with dog squadrons and the subsequent complete destruction of the previous residential area . Known cases of this practice have occurred in Pageview ( Johannesburg ), Sophiatown (Johannesburg), District Six ( Cape Town ) or parts of Cato Manor ( Durban ). In this way, the authorities also took targeted action against squatter settlements (settlers without legal title) in the areas designated for whites in many cities. In these cases, the term surplus people was established from the point of view of the relations of rule . The central responsibility for the measures lay in the hands of the Group Areas Board, which was set up according to this law .

The size of the population affected by this law has steadily increased. As early as 1947, the Department of Native Affairs for the government agency Directorate of Housing had identified a need to relocate and thus build houses for 154,000 black families and accommodation for 106,900 black individuals. Between 1960 and 1982, around 850,000 people had to leave their homes on the basis of group areas measures. The Group Areas Act triggered a large number of similar measures across the country. Forced relocations on the basis of other laws also existed in rural areas (for example when black spots were dissolved ) and according to other municipal policy considerations ( urban relocation ), according to which around 2.6 million people were affected in the same period. Even in homelands there were extensive forced resettlement campaigns as part of betterment programs (German for example: land improvement projects ).

Legislative consequences

The Group Areas Act was amended in 1957 with the Native Urban Areas Amendment Act No. 77 . This created a classification tool according to which people and companies were classified according to “racial” group characteristics in the original sense of the Eiselen Line policy (resettlement policy ). First by the Interior Minister, since 1962 the Minister of Community Development and from 1965 the Minister of Planning .

Another special authorization for the government was the Group Areas Development Amendment Act 1959 ( Act No. 81/1959 ). In areas where there was no local administration or where an existing one was not ready for the implementation of the Group Area Act, this enabled the state president to transfer powers, functions and tasks to development after consultation with a local administration in the vicinity and the administrator of the province Board (German about: Development Authority) for the affected area. In 1961 a new ministry, the Department of Community Development , was established to better implement government interests . The basis for this was the Proclamation No. 34 of 1961 in conjunction with Government Notice 386 of 1961 . The Group Areas Amendment Act 1962 ( Act No. 49/1962 ) specified the tasks of this new government agency . The responsibility for the Group Area Act was transferred from the Ministry of the Interior, which was previously responsible, to the new ministry. The minister of the new department stated that both the Group Areas Board and the Community Development Board as well as the Housing Commission (German: "Housing Commission") will fall under his area of ​​responsibility.

In 1965 the Group Areas Amendmend Act 1965 ( No. 56/1965 ) came into force. This law changed the responsibilities with regard to the population groups. The Minister of Planning was responsible within the Group Areas Board for the demarcation of the residential areas of the population of European descent, of the colored and of the population groups of Asian descent. For the black population, the determination of the demarcation lines remained the responsibility of the Minister of Bantu Administration and Development . The Community Development Act of 1966 (No. 3/1966) stipulated some adjustments.

In 1966 a new law with the same name ( Group Areas Act No. 36 of 1966 ) was passed to amend the previous authorization basis . It served together with the Community Development Act of 1966 ( No. 3/1966 ) and the Housing Act 1966 ( No. 4/1966 ) as a consolidation measure within the politically motivated resettlement campaigns across the country.

The Community Development Amendment Act 1968 ( No. 58/1968 ) expanded the tasks of the Community Development Board for areas in which there was a separate local administrative authority. It was able to transfer certain tasks to the local authorities. For the Community Development Board, there were now also more precisely defined options under building planning law in order to deal with planning conflicts that arise in the construction of township settlements with regard to the required area potential and the type of development .

With the end of apartheid in the period of social conversion from 1990-1994, the Group Areas Act was repealed in 1991 .

See also

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b c Christoph Sodemann: The laws of apartheid . edition southern afrika 17, Southern Africa Information Center , Bonn 1986 pp. 56–57
  2. ^ Gerry Maré: African Population Relocation in South Africa . South African Institute of Race Relations , Johannesburg 1980, p. 12 ISBN 0-86982-186-5
  3. ↑ Muriel Horrell (Ed.): Laws Affecting Race Relations in South Africa. (1948-1976) . South African Institute of Race Relations , Johannesburg 1978, pp. 71-72 ISBN 0-86982-168-7
  4. ^ SAIRR : A Survey of Race Relations 1948–1949 . Johannesburg 1949 pp. 37-38
  5. ^ Sodemann: Laws of Apartheid . 1986, pp. 75-77
  6. ↑ Muriel Horrell: Laws Affecting Race Relations . 1978, pp. 70-72
  7. ↑ Muriel Horrell: Laws Affecting Race Relations . 1978, pp. 72-74
  8. ↑ a b Muriel Horrell: Laws Affecting Race Relations . 1978, p. 74
  9. ^ SAIRR: A Survey of Race Relations in South Africa 1966 . Johannesburg 1967, p. 178
  10. ^ SAIRR: A Survey of Race Relations in South Africa 1968 . Johannesburg 1969, p. 191