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178-753: The End Conscription Campaign was an anti- apartheid organisation allied to the United Democratic Front and composed of conscientious objectors and their supporters in South Africa . It was formed in 1983 to oppose the conscription of all white South African men into military service in the South African Defence Force . The apartheid government had a policy of compulsory conscription for young white men who were expected to perform military service at regular intervals, starting with an extended training which began in
356-533: A 1969 law abolished those seats and stripped Coloureds of their right to vote. Since Indians had never been allowed to vote, this resulted in whites being the sole enfranchised group. Separate representatives for coloured voters were first elected in the general election of 1958 . Even this limited representation did not last, being ended from 1970 by the Separate Representation of Voters Amendment Act, 1968 . Instead, all coloured adults were given
534-587: A Communist. Since the law specifically stated that Communism aimed to disrupt racial harmony, it was frequently used to gag opposition to apartheid. Disorderly gatherings were banned, as were certain organisations that were deemed threatening to the government. It also empowered the Ministry of Justice to impose banning orders . After the Defiance Campaign , the government used the act for the mass arrests and banning of leaders of dissent groups such as
712-674: A Gun is Easy the End Conscription Campaign is referred to as the Campaign Against Conscription (CAC). The protagonist is a member of the CAC who attends the sentencing of a Jewish Conscientious Objector based on David Bruce who received a sentence of six years in prison. He escapes the country to live in Botswana after graduating. ' The Rising Tide , a song by the popular progressive band Bright Blue
890-663: A cartoon, an advertisement from War Resisters International , and "a report on 143 men who stated they would never serve in the South African Defence Force." As a result of the banning of the ECC and confiscation of the Weekly Mail , protests at the University of Cape Town and other campuses were held. According to Grassroots, a crowd of 3000 university students marched on campus after a meeting condemning
1068-633: A century. The National Party's election platform stressed that apartheid would preserve a market for white employment in which non-whites could not compete. On the issues of black urbanisation, the regulation of non-white labour, influx control, social security, farm tariffs and non-white taxation, the United Party's policy remained contradictory and confused. Its traditional bases of support not only took mutually exclusive positions, but found themselves increasingly at odds with each other. Smuts' reluctance to consider South African foreign policy against
1246-499: A conclusion on those people whose race was unclear. This caused difficulty, especially for Coloured people , separating their families when members were allocated different races. The second pillar of grand apartheid was the Group Areas Act of 1950. Until then, most settlements had people of different races living side by side. This Act put an end to diverse areas and determined where one lived according to race. Each race
1424-472: A criminal. Schwarz slammed the attempts to restrict press freedoms, and stated that "Society as a whole is not condemned because individuals transgress, and nor should the press as a whole be judges by the actions of individuals." Stating that press restrictions marked a "turning point" in South African politics, he also argued that press freedom was a "precious treasure" and a free and courageous press
1602-534: A different and independent legislative path from the rest of the British Empire. The United Kingdom's Slavery Abolition Act 1833 abolished slavery throughout the British Empire and overrode the Cape Articles of Capitulation. To comply with the act, the South African legislation was expanded to include Ordinance 1 in 1835, which effectively changed the status of slaves to indentured labourers . This
1780-413: A forum for the public with information and education on conscription and the alternatives. The ECC was founded in response to a resolution passed by Black Sash at their annual conference, which condemned South Africa's occupation of Namibia , then officially known as 'South West Africa', and charged the South African Defence Force with fighting a civil war. Conscientious objection was a serious choice as
1958-473: A further four times to introduce a Bill of Rights. The Bills' were effectively blocked by the National Party by placing them at the end of the order paper. The constitution of the new South Africa, signed into law in 1996, includes a Bill of Rights, which includes the same principles of the 1983 motion. While distinctly on the left of South African politics, he was perceived to be on the right-wing of
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#17327767557812136-459: A house in Kloof Street . Schwarz described how he was "lucky" as eventually he was able to sleep in a bathroom in a rusty bath. He spoke no Afrikaans or English at first and had strong memories of being taunted on the schoolyard for being different. Schwarz stated in an interview in 1991 that "I know what the word discrimination means, not because I've read it in a book, but because I've been
2314-405: A huge standing ovation from both English and Afrikaans members of the audience. In relation to apartheid, Schwarz argued that Judaism was fundamentally opposed to segregation, and that "If we rationalise or condone discrimination against one group, we have compromised our principles and we are then not true to our beliefs or our history". He also argued that violent change could ultimately lead to
2492-468: A lesser extent, to those of Indian and Coloured people. Further laws had the aim of suppressing resistance, especially armed resistance, to apartheid. The Suppression of Communism Act of 1950 banned the Communist Party of South Africa and any party subscribing to Communism . The act defined Communism and its aims so sweepingly that anyone who opposed government policy risked being labelled as
2670-647: A majority "no" vote in Natal . Later, some of them recognised the perceived need for white unity, convinced by the growing trend of decolonisation elsewhere in Africa, which concerned them. British Prime Minister Harold Macmillan's " Wind of Change " speech left the British faction feeling that the United Kingdom had abandoned them. The more conservative English speakers supported Verwoerd; others were troubled by
2848-704: A member of the End Conscription Campaign, was sentenced to 18 months' imprisonment in 1989 for refusing to serve in the South African Defence Force. After he had completed his sentence he later told the Truth and Reconciliation Commission that he wanted to apply for amnesty to clear his criminal record. Although he was proud to have been a conscientious objector, the record caused difficulties with visa applications for foreign countries. During September 1989, thirty Stellenbosch conscientious objectors joined more than 700 listed COs nationwide by publicly refusing to do military service. The National Registry of Conscientious Objectors
3026-467: A moral authority that is difficult to assail." The fact that Schwarz, a well known and respected anti-apartheid leader was willing to accept the post was widely acknowledged in South Africa as a further demonstration of President F. W de Klerk's determination to introduce a new democratic system. Schwarz has been credited as having played one of the leading roles in the renewal of relations between
3204-665: A non-discriminatory society had been outlined in the 'Act of Dedication' of 1973 that Schwarz had written, while Leader of the Opposition in the Transvaal . Schwarz had called for the Transvaal and South Africa to adopt and subscribe to the act. While the United Party Transvaal caucus unanimously adopted the initiative, the National Party refused for it to come to debate. The principles of the act were adopted at
3382-552: A nondemocratic government, incompatible with Jewish ethics and with the interests of the Jewish community. He emphasized that Jews needed not only a democratic society for all, but also "The right to follow [their] own religion and love for Israel freely." He was assured in private meetings by Israeli Prime Minister's Shimon Peres and Yitzhak Shamir that Jews in South Africa would not become isolated and links with Israel would be maintained. He played an increasingly important role on
3560-536: A pass from their master or a local official. Ordinance No. 49 of 1828 decreed that prospective Black immigrants were to be granted passes for the sole purpose of seeking work. These passes were to be issued for Coloureds and Khoikhoi but not for other Africans, who were still forced to carry passes. During the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars , the British Empire captured and annexed
3738-743: A permit. The Prohibition of Mixed Marriages Act of 1949 prohibited marriage between persons of different races, and the Immorality Act of 1950 made sexual relations between whites and other races a criminal offence . Under the Reservation of Separate Amenities Act of 1953, municipal grounds could be reserved for a particular race, creating, among other things, separate beaches, buses, hospitals, schools and universities. Signboards such as "whites only" applied to public areas, even including park benches. Black South Africans were provided with services greatly inferior to those of whites, and, to
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#17327767557813916-711: A predetermined age group in November 1984. The high number of non-reportees was due to many of these immigrants opting to return to their countries of origin rather than do military service, since this opportunity was easily available to them because of their dual citizenship. In 1987, a group of 23 conscientious objectors from the Universities of Cape Town and Stellenbosch, including Cameron Dugmore, then University of Cape Town Students Representative Council Chairperson and Jonathan Handler, South African Union of Jewish Students chairperson, refused to do military service in
4094-708: A question of whether Jews were "money and power grabbers" by asking "Is that anti-semitic or fact?". He also slammed the CP's supporters use of Nazi symbols and banners, and for burning the Israeli flags. While affirming that "the days of the Jews walking into the gas chambers are over", Schwarz also warned that the Jewish community should "not paint everybody with a broad brush", and that impulsive reactions should be avoided before "waging war". Furthermore, Schwarz would often use his access and relations with government ministers, police and
4272-503: A request from Mandela, visited him in prison. After his visit, Schwarz called for the "immediate and unconditional" release of Mandela, stating that this was "in the interest of all South Africans - black and white - that this should happen as soon as possible". Harry Schwarz was the first serving politician from the parliamentary opposition ranks to be appointed to a senior ambassadorial post in South African history as well as
4450-515: A result. We developed a mutual respect for one another. Schwarz was an extremely able MP with a good financial brain, and a hard worker who could devastate National Party members in Parliament, especially Ministers of Finance , who feared his vigorous attacks. Like me, he could be unpleasant both in and out of the House. The differences we had were not on racial policy, but on his hawkish support of
4628-714: A significant boost when at the 1983 Durban Conference of the National PFP Youth, its Western Cape Chairperson Stephen Drus (Stephen Darori) endorsed the ECC and proposed a motion calling for Alternative to Conscription. The motion was passed unanimously. He proposed the same motion at the Annual Conference of the PFP in Cape Town a few months later which passed with little opposition. Following intense backroom negotiations between Harry Schwarz and Philip Myburg,
4806-540: A single nation, but was made up of four distinct racial groups: white, black, Coloured and Indian. Such groups were split into 13 nations or racial federations. White people encompassed the English and Afrikaans language groups; the black populace was divided into ten such groups. The state passed laws that paved the way for "grand apartheid", which was centred on separating races on a large scale, by compelling people to live in separate places defined by race. This strategy
4984-635: A two-thirds majority in a joint sitting of both Houses of Parliament was needed to change the entrenched clauses of the Constitution . The government then introduced the High Court of Parliament Bill (1952), which gave Parliament the power to overrule decisions of the court. The Cape Supreme Court and the Appeal Court declared this invalid too. In 1955 the Strijdom government increased
5162-508: A veneer of intellectual respectability to the controversial policy of so-called baasskap . In total, 20 homelands were allocated to ethnic groups, ten in South Africa proper and ten in South West Africa. Of these 20 homelands, 19 were classified as black, while one, Basterland , was set aside for a sub-group of Coloureds known as Basters , who are closely related to Afrikaners. Four of the homelands were declared independent by
5340-645: Is automatically discharged from the SANDF. It is therefore no longer necessary to approach the Minister of Defence for such a dismissal or discharge, as the individual will effect their own discharge if absent thirty days without permission. Should a member wish to be reinstated in the SANDF, he or she should approach the Chief of the SANDF with sound reasons why he or she was absent without permission." In 1986, Shifty Records released Forces Favourites in conjunction with
5518-538: Is evidence that sentencing magistrates and even state prosecutors came to admire objectors for their stand. In order to get out of forced conscription into the South African Defence Force, many conscripts allowed themselves to be labeled as mentally ill, sick, or incapable of carrying a weapon. The price was incarceration in one of South Africa's psychiatric facilities. Instances of psychiatric abuse of conscripts who refused national service have also been recorded. The cases of conscripts who ended up in mental hospitals are in
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5696-506: Is not that they found files with evidence. Oh not, he says that 'we found files with nothing in them', not in Kantor's office, but in the office of Wolpe. Then my learned friend [held] that the practice had been ruined and liquidated Kantor's practice. My lord, it is not Kantor. It is not Kantor! Why I say it is so difficult to be restrained, is that my learned friend has thrown in everything that concerns every accused in this case, and says 'that
5874-496: Is why I don't want Kantor to get bail. ' " Harry Schwarz's political career started with his election to the Johannesburg City Council in 1951 for Booysens, which had been said to be an unwinnable seat against the National Party. Schwarz won the seat by 954 votes. Despite being the youngest person in the city council, he became chairman of the council's management committee - the most influential committee on
6052-601: The Landdrost and Heemraden , local officials, of Swellendam and Graaff-Reinet extended pass laws beyond slaves and ordained that all Khoikhoi (designated as Hottentots ) moving about the country for any purpose should carry passes. This was confirmed by the British Colonial government in 1809 by the Hottentot Proclamation , which decreed that if a Khoikhoi were to move they would need
6230-830: The African National Congress (ANC), the South African Indian Congress (SAIC), and the South African Congress of Trade Unions (SACTU). After the release of the Freedom Charter, 156 leaders of these groups were charged in the 1956 Treason Trial . It established censorship of film, literature, and the media under the Customs and Excise Act 1955 and the Official Secrets Act 1956. The same year,
6408-618: The African National Congress , and the Council of Non-European Trade Unions began demanding political rights, land reform, and the right to unionise. Whites reacted negatively to the changes, allowing the Herenigde Nasionale Party (or simply the National Party) to convince a large segment of the voting bloc that the impotence of the United Party in curtailing the evolving position of nonwhites indicated that
6586-730: The Asiatic Registration Act of the Transvaal Colony required all Indians to register and carry passes. Beginning in 1906 the South African Native Affairs Commission under Godfrey Lagden began implementing a more openly segregationist policy towards non-Whites. The latter was repealed by the British government but re-enacted in 1908. In 1910, the Union of South Africa was created as a self-governing dominion , which continued
6764-673: The Cape Colony , which previously had a liberal and multi-racial constitution and a system of Cape Qualified Franchise open to men of all races, the Franchise and Ballot Act of 1892 raised the property franchise qualification and added an educational element, disenfranchising a disproportionate number of the Cape's non-White voters, and the Glen Grey Act of 1894 instigated by the government of Prime Minister Cecil Rhodes limited
6942-545: The Conservative Party stated that the bill, based on a "leftist-liberal political philosophy", would jeopardise the freedom of the white man. New Republic Party leader Vause Raw said Schwarz "a master at platitudes" was seeking idealistic freedoms that did not exist anywhere in the world. Following the rejection of Schwarz's bill, fellow PFP MPs' Helen Suzman , Colin Eglin , Ray Swart and Dave Dalling attempted
7120-772: The Dutch East India Company 's establishment of a trading post in the Cape of Good Hope in 1652, which eventually expanded into the Dutch Cape Colony . The company began the Khoikhoi–Dutch Wars in which it displaced the local Khoikhoi people , replaced them with farms worked by White settlers , and imported Black slaves from across the Dutch Empire . In the days of slavery , slaves required passes to travel away from their masters. In 1797,
7298-647: The South African Ambassador to the United States during the country's transition to majority rule . Schwarz rose from the childhood poverty he experienced as a German-Jewish refugee to become a lawyer and a member of the Transvaal Provincial Council , where from 1963 to 1974, he was Leader of the Opposition . In the 1964 Rivonia Trial he was a defence lawyer. Advocating a more aggressive political opposition to
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7476-478: The South African Defence Force ." Schwarz was one of the founding members of the Democratic Party. During the late 1980s and early 1990s, as its Spokesman on Finance, formulated its social market policy. Given South Africa's complex character, Mr Schwarz supported a federal system similar to that of the United States, as well as a justiciable Bill of Rights to protect the rights of minorities as well as
7654-479: The 'Architect of Apartheid'. In addition, "petty apartheid" laws were passed. The principal apartheid laws were as follows. The first grand apartheid law was the Population Registration Act of 1950, which formalised racial classification and introduced an identity card for all persons over the age of 18, specifying their racial group. Official teams or boards were established to come to
7832-405: The 1948 election. However, as a result of the National Party victory, he was determined to become more active and was elected Chairman of the United Party branch at the university. He argued that the National Party's victory in 1948 was reversible and anyone who opposed them should concentrate on defeating them. In an interview in 1991, Schwarz said on the National Party victory that "To me, they were
8010-493: The 1950s, Schwarz co-founded the Torch Commando , an ex-soldiers' movement to protest against the disenfranchisement of coloured people in South Africa. Described as South Africa's "most feisty politician" and a political "maverick", he was known for his parliamentary clashes with the apartheid government over its racial and economic policies. In his political career spanning 43 years, in which he gained respect from across
8188-407: The 1973 National United Party Congress. The declaration was the first of such agreements by acknowledged black and white leaders in South Africa that affirmed to these principles. The commitment to the peaceful pursuit of political change was declared at a time when neither the National Party or African National Congress were looking for peaceful solutions or dialogue. The declaration was heralded by
8366-761: The 20th century. It was the target of frequent condemnation in the United Nations and brought about extensive international sanctions , including arms embargoes and economic sanctions on South Africa. During the 1970s and 1980s, internal resistance to apartheid became increasingly militant, prompting brutal crackdowns by the National Party ruling government and protracted sectarian violence that left thousands dead or in detention. The Truth and Reconciliation Commission found that there were 21,000 deaths from political violence, with 7,000 deaths between 1948 and 1989, and 14,000 deaths and 22,000 injuries in
8544-463: The Afrikaners. He claimed that the only difference was between those in favour of apartheid and those against it. The ethnic division would no longer be between Afrikaans and English speakers, but between blacks and whites. Most Afrikaners supported the notion of unanimity of white people to ensure their safety. White voters of British descent were divided. Many had opposed a republic, leading to
8722-496: The August 1994 moratorium on prosecutions for not responding to call-ups, several of those who did not respond to "camp" call-ups were fined. After the first multi-racial election in 1994, conscription has no longer applied in South Africa and the civilian draft has been exchanged for a professional standing army. However, conscripts who failed to report for duty, still faced prosecution under South Africa's Defence Act. An amendment to
8900-669: The British Empire cited racial exploitation of Blacks as a cause for its war against the Boer republics . However, the peace negotiations for the Treaty of Vereeniging demanded "the just predominance of the white race" in South Africa as a precondition for the Boer republics unifying with the British Empire. In 1905 the General Pass Regulations Act denied Black people the vote and limited them to fixed areas, and in 1906
9078-418: The Cape Province. The previous government had introduced the Separate Representation of Voters Bill into Parliament in 1951, turning it to be an Act on 18 June 1951; however, four voters, G Harris, W D Franklin, W D Collins and Edgar Deane, challenged its validity in court with support from the United Party. The Cape Supreme Court upheld the act, but reversed by the Appeal Court, finding the act invalid because
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#17327767557819256-503: The Defense Spokesmen of the PFP, the Nationalist Government passed an amendment that introduced a four-year Alternative to Conscription. 1452 people opted for the Alternative to Conscription between 1984 and the cancelling of Conscription in South Africa in 1993. January 1985 and July 1985 were the first so-called "immigrant intakes" after the involuntary nationalisation of white immigrant men (all foreign nationals (men and women) who had been resident in South Africa for an extended period) of
9434-425: The Dutch Cape Colony. Under the 1806 Cape Articles of Capitulation the new British colonial rulers were required to respect previous legislation enacted under Roman-Dutch law , and this led to a separation of the law in South Africa from English Common Law and a high degree of legislative autonomy. The governors and assemblies that governed the legal process in the various colonies of South Africa were launched on
9612-410: The ECC. Named after a radio programme for sending greetings to the troops fighting in the South African Border War . The ironically titled Forces Favourites compilation features some of the strongest political songs of the time. In Damon Galgut's novel The Promise a character does not return to the army after being given special leave to attend his mother's funeral. In the novel Getting Hold of
9790-446: The English speaking press as a breakthrough in race relations in South Africa. The declaration was endorsed by several chief ministers of the black homelands , including Cedric Phatudi ( Lebowa ), Lucas Mangope ( Bophuthatswana ) and Hudson Nisanwisi ( Gazankulu ). The declaration also received praise from liberal figures such as Alan Paton . The declaration drew much media interest from both inside and outside South Africa. However,
9968-442: The Hospital constituency. The constituency eventually was renamed Hillbrow . In 1963 he became Leader of the Opposition in the Transvaal Provincial Council, a post he would hold until 1974. He continued to practice law whilst serving in the Provincial Council and throughout his political career. However, he briefly withdrew from law between 1969 and 1974 to take up the position of Chief Executive of Merchant Bank. Schwarz's vision for
10146-400: The Jewish Board of Deputies from the 1970s, serving as chairman of its committee on international relations and often acting as spokesman for the board to Jewish agencies abroad. In 2005, he was made an honorary vice-president of the board, and remained active until his death. Schwarz's lifelong friendship with Nelson Mandela also helped to ensure Jews in South Africa did not feel isolated with
10324-450: The Ministry of Native Affairs and defunded most mission schools . The Promotion of Black Self-Government Act of 1959 entrenched the NP policy of nominally independent "homelands" for blacks. So-called "self–governing Bantu units" were proposed, which would have devolved administrative powers, with the promise later of autonomy and self-government. It also abolished the seats of white representatives of black South Africans and removed from
10502-524: The National Party and its leader to reconsider a bill that would, in the PFP's view, heavily restrict press freedom. He urged the Prime Minister: "I make this appeal to Mr Botha: Show this statesmanship, show that at this time you will not allow our unity of purpose to overcome the real problems to be threatened." In 1980, the National Party introduced the National Key Points Act that made those responsible for unauthorised reporting of incidents of sabotage or other attacks on declared national strategic targets
10680-412: The National Party's racial policies in the 1960s and 1970s, as Leader of the United Party in Transvaal and leader of the liberal "Young Turks", he clashed with the United Party establishment. He pioneered the call in white politics for a negotiated end to apartheid and in 1974 signed the Mahlabatini Declaration of Faith with Mangosuthu Buthelezi for a non-racial democratic society in South Africa. He
10858-423: The National Party. Schwarz's victory was a visible sign of strength from the liberals within the party. On 4 January 1974, Harry Schwarz met and had discussions with Gatsha (later Mangosuthu) Buthelezi , Chief Executive Councillor of the black homeland of KwaZulu . They agreed on a five-point plan for racial peace in South Africa that became known as the Mahlabatini Declaration of Faith . The declaration's purpose
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#173277675578111036-437: The Native Administration Act 1956 allowed the government to banish blacks. The Bantu Authorities Act of 1951 created separate government structures for blacks and whites and was the first piece of legislation to support the government's plan of separate development in the bantustans . The Bantu Education Act, 1953 established a separate education system for blacks emphasizing African culture and vocational training under
11214-426: The Opposition Helen Zille led tributes to Schwarz. She said Harry Schwarz will be remembered for his signal contribution to the development of our democracy. His piercing intellect, and long professional experience in banking, made him the most astute analyst in Parliament on economic and financial matters during his terms in office. He had strong leadership qualities and could inspire people to great achievements. He
11392-430: The PFP became the official opposition party in South Africa, following the 1977 General Election . Schwarz, as one of his party's co-founders, finance spokesman (1975–91), defence spokesman (1975–84) and Chairman of the Federal Executive (1975–79), was one of its foremost leaders and a prominent leader of the opposition. He was regarded the PFP's "star performer" in parliament. Along with others such as Colin Eglin , he
11570-563: The PFP mainly due to his favouring strong military defence and his insistence that political change must take place without the disruption of law and order, which earned him the nickname "Harry the Hawk". He often found himself in dispute with some members of the original Progressive Party, particularly Helen Suzman . Colleagues would often refer the clashes they had in the parliamentary caucus meetings as "the Helen and Harry show". Suzman wrote of her relations with Schwarz in her autobiography, In No Uncertain Terms: A South African Memoir : following
11748-412: The PFP's representative to the investigation commission. On several occasions, Schwarz received behind-the-scenes offers to take up a Cabinet position under a National Party government, which he refused every time. Schwarz was often involved in heated clashes in parliament with government figures. In June 1980, Prime Minister P.W. Botha said to Schwarz, "You're the last person who will dictate to me", who
11926-485: The Reform Party merged with the Progressive Party to form the Progressive Reform Party . Schwarz became the party's spokesman on finance, education and Chairman of the Federal Executive, while Colin Eglin , the former leader of the Progressives was elected leader of the newly merged party. In 1977 the party was renamed the Progressive Federal Party , when additional defectors from the United Party joined. This served to finally realign opposition politics in South Africa, as
12104-407: The South African Defense Force. Handlers' objection was based upon the notion of an "Unjust War" as opposed to the Pacifist position held by many Christian students. The organisation was banned on 24 August 1988 under emergency regulations. In a press statement Adriaan Vlok , then Minister of Law and Order said: "The changes posed by the activities of the End Conscription Campaign to the safety of
12282-494: The South African Parliament in November 2009 at a celebration of the fiftieth anniversary of the formation of the Progressive Party, in which he stated that "freedom is incomplete if it is exercised in poverty". Upon returning to South Africa, Schwarz and his wife set up a charity trust called the Schwarz Upliftment Trust. He lived in Johannesburg with his wife Annette, a trade unionist, artist and humanitarian who ran all of Schwarz's election campaigns. Annette died in February 2021 at
12460-421: The South African government or the newly elected democracy. In 1989, conscription was reduced from two years to one year, and during the negotiations to end apartheid from 1990 to 1994, it was less rigorously enforced. A Kairos campaign against conscription was the 1989 Campaign focussing on the End Conscription Campaign with participation of Alistair Teeling Smith, Rob Watson and Mandy Tailor. Saul Batzofin, 27,
12638-460: The South African government, which failed to accommodate the influx with parallel expansion in housing or social services. Overcrowding, increasing crime rates, and disillusionment resulted; urban blacks came to support a new generation of leaders influenced by the principles of self-determination and popular freedoms enshrined in such statements as the Atlantic Charter . Black political organisations and leaders such as Alfred Xuma , James Mpanza ,
12816-695: The South African government: Transkei in 1976, Bophuthatswana in 1977, Venda in 1979, and Ciskei in 1981 (known as the TBVC states). Once a homeland was granted its nominal independence, its designated citizens had their South African citizenship revoked and replaced with citizenship in their homeland. These people were then issued passports instead of passbooks. Citizens of the nominally autonomous homelands also had their South African citizenship circumscribed, meaning they were no longer legally considered South African. The South African government attempted to draw an equivalence between their view of black citizens of
12994-562: The TBVC states) were intended to be fully sovereign. In reality, they had no significant economic infrastructure and with few exceptions encompassed swaths of disconnected territory. This meant all the Bantustans were little more than puppet states controlled by South Africa. Harry Schwarz Harry Heinz Schwarz (13 May 1924 – 5 February 2010) was a South African lawyer, statesman, and long-time political opposition leader against apartheid in South Africa who eventually served as
13172-695: The Transvaal Provincial Council, which made it the official opposition party in the Transvaal Provincial Council, 14 out of the 36 Johannesburg City Councillors and four Randburg City Councillors. On the night of the expulsion, the Reform Party was launched, of which Schwarz was elected leader. The party's charter mainly incorporated the Mahlabatini Declaration 's principles and called for universal franchise and for equality to be extended to all. On 25 July 1975,
13350-512: The UP in the Transvaal, a post specially created for him. However, internal divisions in the party between liberals and conservatives came to a head in August 1973 when Schwarz ousted Marais Steyn as the leader of the United Party in the Transvaal. Steyn had been an MP for almost 25 years and for 15 years had been a close adviser to De Villiers Graaff . After Steyn lost the election he defected to
13528-403: The United Party by Sir De Villiers Graaff for "disloyalty". On 11 February 1975, when asked in Parliament by a National Party MP if he supported Enthoven's liberal positions, Schwarz replied "I make no secret of it. I am my brother's keeper". For not following the party line, Schwarz was expelled from the party. This led to the resignation of four other MPs, Senator Brian Bramford, ten members of
13706-628: The United States . At an event sponsored by the South African Jewish Board of Deputies in his honour, Schwarz urged the Jewish community to make the best of the changes taking place in South Africa and to contribute actively to the success of the country. Beginning in the mid-seventies, Schwarz emerged as one of the South African Jewish community's foremost leaders. Schwarz often led the opposition to anti-semitic comments and movements by prominent public figures, and
13884-760: The Urban Areas Act (1923) introduced residential segregation and provided cheap labour for industry led by White people; the Colour Bar Act (1926) prevented Black mine workers from practising skilled trades; the Native Administration Act (1927) made the British Crown rather than paramount chiefs the supreme head over all African affairs; the Native Land and Trust Act (1936) complemented the 1913 Native Land Act and, in
14062-592: The act promulgated in 2002 allows for absentee members of the SANDF to be regarded as discharged from official duty. 3 Section 59(3) of the Defence Act determines that: A member of the Regular Force absent from official duty without permission of their commanding officer for more than thirty days is regarded as having been dismissed if an officer, or discharged if of other rank, for misconduct with effect from
14240-541: The affluent and capitalist, the party also failed to appeal to its working class constituents. Populist rhetoric allowed the National Party to sweep eight constituencies in the mining and industrial centres of the Witwatersrand and five more in Pretoria . Barring the predominantly English-speaking landowner electorate of the Natal , the United Party was defeated in almost every rural district. Its urban losses in
14418-589: The age of 94. They were married for 57 years with three sons and four grandchildren. On the morning of 5 February 2010, the South African Jewish Board of Deputies announced that Schwarz had died, following a short illness, at the age of 85. He was buried on Sunday 7 February in the section of honor in the West Park Cemetery in Johannesburg; the funeral was attended by hundreds of guests and family members. Democratic Alliance leader and Leader of
14596-460: The aim of implementing the apartheid philosophy and silencing liberal opposition. When the National Party came to power in 1948, there were factional differences in the party about the implementation of systemic racial segregation. The " baasskap " (white domination or supremacist) faction, which was the dominant faction in the NP, and state institutions, favoured systematic segregation, but also favoured
14774-686: The amount of land Africans could hold. Similarly, in Natal , the Natal Legislative Assembly Bill of 1894 deprived Indians of the right to vote. In 1896 the South African Republic brought in two pass laws requiring Africans to carry a badge. Only those employed by a master were permitted to remain on the Rand , and those entering a "labour district" needed a special pass. During the Second Boer War ,
14952-641: The appointment of ambassador because of the government's commitment to the fundamental reforms that he had fought for, as well as on the terms that the National Party would not try to take his seat in Yeoville . In an interview with the New York Times Schwarz said that "He hasn't asked me to change my political convictions," speaking of State President F.W. de Klerk . "He knows that I'm implacably opposed to apartheid. Otherwise, there's no logic in asking me to do this job." Nor, Mr. Schwarz added,
15130-400: The banning. The paper said, "government fears losing control of white youth. This is the message sent by the banning of the ECC under emergency regulations...the ECC pointed out that there is a civil war in our country, and that the South African Defence Force is being used against fellow South Africans... ECC's growing influence, led PW Botha and Magnus Malan to close it down. They fear that
15308-420: The base of eligible white men who could be called up, and providing stringent sentences for those men who objected. Conscripts comprised a significant part of the South African Defence Force . The End Conscription Campaign (ECC) was formed in 1983, in protest against compulsory military service. It mobilised support for its campaigns, proposed service alternatives, supported conscientious objectors and provided
15486-414: The best way of uniting the people to meet such threats was to give them a real stake in society which they were asked to defend. Harry Schwarz played a key role in the realignment of the opposition in South Africa. In the 1974 general election , Schwarz was elected into Parliament for Yeoville , along with other liberal members of Schwarz's Young Turks. In February 1975, Dick Enthoven MP was expelled from
15664-415: The black population to ten designated "tribal homelands", also known as bantustans , four of which became nominally independent states. The government announced that relocated persons would lose their South African citizenship as they were absorbed into the bantustans. Apartheid sparked significant international and domestic opposition, resulting in some of the most influential global social movements of
15842-619: The borders of their homelands – hence this policy of separate development". Under the homelands system, blacks would no longer be citizens of South Africa, becoming citizens of the independent homelands who worked in South Africa as foreign migrant labourers on temporary work permits. In 1958 the Promotion of Black Self-Government Act was passed, and border industries and the Bantu Investment Corporation were established to promote economic development and
16020-472: The call-up applied to all white men after completing their schooling or further studies. Objections to military service were based on the role of the military and security forces in enforcing the policy of apartheid , as well as opposition to ongoing South African military commitments in South West Africa ( Namibia ) and Angola . Those who refused military service were subject to contempt from
16198-500: The call-ups as different from previous call-ups. However, as of 2015, an alliance led by the African National Congress has reportedly begun pushing for the return of military conscription to the country in a bid to contain youth unemployment and to instill discipline, patriotism and volunteerism into young people from the ages of 18. African National Congress Secretary General Gwede Mantashe stated he would support
16376-574: The common voters' roll in the Cape to a new Coloured voters' roll. Immediately after the vote, the Senate was restored to its original size. The Senate Act was contested in the Supreme Court, but the recently enlarged Appeal Court, packed with government-supporting judges, upheld the act, and also the Act to remove Coloured voters. The 1956 law allowed Coloureds to elect four people to Parliament, but
16554-503: The consequences were severe. The reasons for conscientious objection included political, ethical and religious reasons. Some religious organisations, parent groups and student organisations such as the National Union of South African Students also engaged in anti-conscription activities. At its peak, conscription in South Africa consisted of two years of mandatory military service, followed by camps at intervals. Under apartheid,
16732-475: The council and parliament. Schwarz pushed for the adoption of the act in the 1973 National UP Congress, in which he succeeded. In 1959, Schwarz remained in the United Party after 11 liberal United Party members broke away from the party to form the Progressive Party in 1959, opting instead to change the UP from within. By the early 1970s Schwarz had become known as the leader of the liberal faction of
16910-485: The council. While in the council, Schwarz focused on challenging forced evictions of black and coloured people in Johannesburg, and attempted to improve housing and education. Booysens had once been occupied by Labour Party politician Jimmy Green , who was his wife's uncle, who was first elected in 1920 to the City Council. In 1958 during a by-election Schwarz was elected into the Transvaal provincial council for
17088-464: The day immediately following the day of attendance to duty or last day of official leave, but the Chief of the Defence Force may, with good cause, authorise reinstatement of such conditions as they determine. According to a Department of Defence bulletin, dated 10 July 2003, "In essence, this means that if a member has absented himself or herself for a continuous period of thirty days, he or she
17266-620: The declaration provoked an angry response from the UP's 'Old Guard', including the party's leader De Villiers Graaff and led to Schwarz and other liberals being expelled from the United Party the following year. In March 1974 Chief Phatudi, Harry Schwarz and M. I. Mitchell (United Party MP), had discussions at Seshego . They issued a joint statement, endorsing the principles embodied in the Mahlabatini Declaration. It also stated that all South Africans must be united to meet any external threats, subversion, or terrorism, and that
17444-532: The disenfranchised. Before South Africa became a republic in 1961, politics among white South Africans was typified by the division between the mainly Afrikaner pro-republic conservative and the largely English anti-republican liberal sentiments, with the legacy of the Boer War still a factor for some people. Once South Africa became a republic, Prime Minister Hendrik Verwoerd called for improved relations and greater accord between people of British descent and
17622-475: The draft, promoted alternatives to military service, provided information about the situation in the townships and support to those brave enough to speak out against the war, as conscientious objectors. In 1985, the ECC held the "Troops out of the Townships" rally and were overwhelmingly successful in demonstrating the growing dissatisfaction within the white community, with the government of the day The rally
17800-553: The effects of the United Party's policies. The commission concluded that integration would bring about a "loss of personality" for all racial groups. The HNP incorporated the commission's findings into its campaign platform for the 1948 South African general election , which it won. South Africa had allowed social custom and law to govern the consideration of multiracial affairs and of the allocation, in racial terms, of access to economic, social, and political status. Most white South Africans, regardless of their own differences, accepted
17978-517: The famous Rivonia Trial . Harry Schwarz was one of the defence barristers in the trial defending Accused No. 8 Jimmy Kantor , who was a close friend of his. Kantor was Mandela's lawyer in the trial until he too was arrested and charged with the same crimes as Mandela. After being the subject of vicious taunting and many attempts to place him as a vital cog of MK by Percy Yutar , finally Judge Quartus de Wet discharged him, stating Accused No 8 has no case to answer. Kantor along with Rusty Bernstein were
18156-565: The first Jewish ambassador. He was also accredited as the first South African Ambassador to Barbados in 1993 when diplomatic relations opened, and became the first South African High Commissioner to Barbados as from 1 June 1994, when South Africa rejoined the Commonwealth . Schwarz had previously received behind-the-scenes offers to accept a Cabinet position, by State President P.W. Botha and Prime Minister B.J. Vorster , but refused every time due to his opposition to apartheid. He agreed to
18334-726: The first pieces of segregating legislation enacted by Smuts' government was the Asiatic Land Tenure Bill (1946) , which banned land sales to Indians and Indian descendent South Africans. The same year, the government established the Fagan Commission . Amid fears integration would eventually lead to racial assimilation, the Opposition Herenigde Nasionale Party (HNP) established the Sauer Commission to investigate
18512-465: The highest status, followed by Indians , Coloureds and black Africans , in that order. The economic legacy and social effects of apartheid continue to the present day, particularly inequality . Broadly speaking, apartheid was delineated into petty apartheid , which entailed the segregation of public facilities and social events, and grand apartheid , which strictly separated housing and employment opportunities by race. The first apartheid law
18690-424: The homeland structure as one of its cornerstones. Verwoerd came to believe in the granting of independence to these homelands. The government justified its plans on the ostensible basis that "(the) government's policy is, therefore, not a policy of discrimination on the grounds of race or colour, but a policy of differentiation on the ground of nationhood, of different nations, granting to each self-determination within
18868-412: The homeland system, the government attempted to divide South Africa and South West Africa into a number of separate states, each of which was supposed to develop into a separate nation-state for a different ethnic group. Territorial separation was hardly a new institution. There were, for example, the "reserves" created under the British government in the nineteenth century. Under apartheid, 13 percent of
19046-508: The homelands and the problems which other countries faced through entry of illegal immigrants. Bantustans within the borders of South Africa and South West Africa were classified by degree of nominal self-rule: 6 were "non-self-governing", 10 were "self-governing", and 4 were "independent". In theory, self-governing Bantustans had control over many aspects of their internal functioning but were not yet sovereign nations. Independent Bantustans (Transkei, Bophutatswana, Venda and Ciskei; also known as
19224-482: The immigration of blacks from other countries. To reside in a city, blacks had to be in employment there. Until 1956 women were for the most part excluded from these pass requirements, as attempts to introduce pass laws for women were met with fierce resistance. In 1950, D. F. Malan announced the NP's intention to create a Coloured Affairs Department. J.G. Strijdom , Malan's successor as prime minister, moved to strip voting rights from black and Coloured residents of
19402-569: The introduction of his State of the Nation address to Parliament on 11 February 2010, the 20th anniversary of Nelson Mandela's release from prison and the 35th anniversary of the founding of Schwarz's Reform Party. In a statement the Jewish Board of Deputies said of Schwarz: "One of the last of a generation of German Jewish refugees from Nazism who came to South Africa in the 1930s, he rendered sterling service to his adopted country, whether in
19580-454: The land was reserved for black homelands, a small amount relative to its total population, and generally in economically unproductive areas of the country. The Tomlinson Commission of 1954 justified apartheid and the homeland system, but stated that additional land ought to be given to the homelands, a recommendation that was not carried out. When Verwoerd became prime minister in 1958, the policy of "separate development" came into being, with
19758-404: The last two of which included several sub-classifications. Places of residence were determined by racial classification. Between 1960 and 1983, 3.5 million black Africans were removed from their homes and forced into segregated neighbourhoods as a result of apartheid legislation, in some of the largest mass evictions in modern history. Most of these targeted removals were intended to restrict
19936-674: The legislative program: the South Africa Act (1910) enfranchised White people, giving them complete political control over all other racial groups while removing the right of Black people to sit in parliament; the Native Land Act (1913) prevented Black people, except those in the Cape, from buying land outside "reserves"; the Natives in Urban Areas Bill (1918) was designed to force Black people into "locations";
20114-812: The lifting of US sanctions against South Africa, secured a $ 600 million aid package from President Bill Clinton , signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty in 1991 and hosted President Mandela's state visit to the US in October 1994. After the African National Congress victory in the 1994 General election, President Nelson Mandela requested Schwarz remain as ambassador until after his state visit in October of that year, to which Schwarz agreed. Schwarz resigned his post as ambassador and returned to South Africa in November 1994, following his three-and-a-half-year tenure as South African Ambassador to
20292-2532: The long term. A third faction, which included Hendrik Verwoerd , sympathised with the purists, but allowed for the use of black labour, while implementing the purist goal of vertical separation. Verwoerd would refer to this policy as a policy of "good neighbourliness" as a means of justifying such segregation. Glen Grey Act (1894) Natal Legislative Assembly Bill (1894) Transvaal Asiatic Registration Act (1906) South Africa Act (1909) Mines and Works Act (1911) Natives Land Act (1913) Natives (Urban Areas) Act (1923) Immorality Act (1927) Native Administration Act (1927) Women's Enfranchisement Act (1930) Franchise Laws Amendment Act (1931) Representation of Natives Act (1936) Native Trust and Land Act (1936) Native (Urban Areas) Consolidation Act (1945) Immorality Amendment Act † (1950) Population Registration Act (1950) Group Areas Act (1950) Suppression of Communism Act (1950) Native Building Workers Act (1951) Separate Representation of Voters Act (1951) Prevention of Illegal Squatting Act (1951) Bantu Authorities Act (1951) Native Laws Amendment Act † (1952) Pass Laws Act (1952) Public Safety Act (1953) Native Labour (Settlement of Disputes) Act (1953) Bantu Education Act (1953) Reservation of Separate Amenities Act (1953) Natives Resettlement Act (1954) Group Areas Development Act (1955) Riotous Assemblies Act (1956) Industrial Conciliation Act (1956) Natives (Prohibition of Interdicts) Act (1956) Immorality Act (1957) Bantu Investment Corporation Act (1959) Extension of University Education Act (1959) Promotion of Bantu Self-government Act (1959) Unlawful Organizations Act (1960) Indemnity Act (1961) Coloured Persons Communal Reserves Act (1961) Republic of South Africa Constitution Act (1961) Urban Bantu Councils Act (1961) General Law Amendment Act (1963) Separate Representation of Voters Amendment Act (1968) Prohibition of Political Interference Act (1968) Bantu Homelands Citizenship Act (1970) Bantu Homelands Constitution Act (1971) Aliens Control Act (1973) Indemnity Act (1977) National Key Points Act (1980) List of National Key Points Internal Security Act (1982) Black Local Authorities Act (1982) Interim Constitution (1993) Promotion of National Unity and Reconciliation Act (1995) NP leaders argued that South Africa did not comprise
20470-443: The majority. This was also longstanding policy of the former Progressive Party dating back to the report of their Molteno Commission of the early 1960s. His economic philosophy was summed up in a phrase he often used: "Freedom is incomplete if it is exercised in poverty". On 6 February 1991, he ended his career in parliament following his appointment as the South African ambassador to the United States. His farewell speech to parliament
20648-540: The merger between the PP and Schwarz's Reform Party "I stayed in the party, but relations between Harry Schwarz and myself were very strained for some time thereafter. They improved only in 1986 when Frederik van Zyl Slabbert resigned from Parliament and the Progressive Federal Party. Harry Schwarz and I were the two most outraged members of the caucus, and our other differences faded into insignificance as
20826-547: The message of the ECC will undermine apartheid's defence force." After the End Conscription Campaign was banned, hundreds of white South African war resisters refused the call-up, and conscription into the War in Angola and Civil War raging in South Africa's Black Townships continued. Some dodged the draft, others fled the country, some stood-up and faced the consequences for what they believed. None were ever given recognition by either
21004-413: The military establishment to investigate incidents of anti-semitism. In 1987, Schwarz was involved in a heated clash with Eugène Terre'Blanche , Leader of the far-right paramilitary Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging , after Schwarz confronted him during a speech over the organisation's racial policy towards non-Afrikaans and non-Christian citizens of South Africa. Following the confrontation Schwarz received
21182-440: The minority white community and left with the choice of either going underground (internal exile) fleeing the republic (external exile) or imprisonment of up to double the length of the allotted military service. Many conscripts simply went absent without leave, failed to report, or got lost in the system. The End Conscription Campaign, one of many anti-war movements alongside Congress of South African War Resistors mobilised against
21360-501: The mounting tensions of the Cold War also stirred up discontent, while the nationalists promised to purge the state and public service of communist sympathisers. First to desert the United Party were Afrikaner farmers, who wished to see a change in influx control due to problems with squatters, as well as higher prices for their maize and other produce in the face of the mineowners' demand for cheap food policies. Always identified with
21538-512: The nation's most populous province, the Transvaal , proved equally devastating. As the voting system was disproportionately weighted in favour of rural constituencies and the Transvaal in particular, the 1948 election catapulted the Herenigde Nasionale Party from a small minority party to a commanding position with an eight-vote parliamentary lead. Daniel François Malan became the first nationalist prime minister, with
21716-487: The number of judges in the Appeal Court from five to 11, and appointed pro-Nationalist judges to fill the new places. In the same year they introduced the Senate Act, which increased the Senate from 49 seats to 89. Adjustments were made such that the NP controlled 77 of these seats. The parliament met in a joint sitting and passed the Separate Representation of Voters Act in 1956, which transferred Coloured voters from
21894-471: The only accused who were acquitted. Kantor noted in his autobiography, A Healthy Grave, that Schwarz refused payment. Schwarz was refused access to Mandela while he was imprisoned on Robben Island , however he was granted access to visit him after 1988 when he was transferred to Victor Verster Prison . After the trial he left the Bar and became a solicitor so that he could concentrate on fighting apartheid. During
22072-505: The organisation had fallen under the influence of Western liberals. Many Afrikaners resented what they perceived as disempowerment by an underpaid black workforce and the superior economic power and prosperity of white English speakers. Smuts, as a strong advocate of the United Nations , lost domestic support when South Africa was criticised for its colour bar and the continued mandate of South West Africa by other UN member states. Afrikaner nationalists proclaimed that they offered
22250-538: The organisation was commonplace. Evidence in a Cape Town court in 1988 revealed that the South African Defence Force had been running a disinformation campaign against the ECC. Political and military figures adopted varying and sometimes contradictory methods and messages to try to contain the threat of conscientious objection. National Party politicians characterised ECC activists as naive, malevolent in intent, in league with 'communist revolutionaries' and also as sexually deviant (i.e. homosexual) and cowardly. However, there
22428-483: The participation of black Africans in the economy with black labour controlled to advance the economic gains of Afrikaners. A second faction were the "purists", who believed in "vertical segregation", in which blacks and whites would be entirely separated, with blacks living in native reserves, with separate political and economic structures, which, they believed, would entail severe short-term pain, but would also lead to independence of white South Africa from black labour in
22606-429: The party, dubbed the "Young Turks", who wanted the UP to adopt a more aggressive approach to the National Party and its policy of apartheid. Schwarz and his Young Turks faced fierce opposition and resistance from the party's national leader Sir De Villiers Graaff and other members of the UP's "Old Guard". Schwarz achieved prominence as a race relations and economic reformist in the party. In 1971 he became deputy leader of
22784-625: The people who had supported Germany during the war. As a young man, it was very objectionable to me that the very people I had been fighting against were the people that the National Party had supported." He was also president of the university's ex-servicemen's league and chair of the Law Students Council. He stood as a candidate for treasurer of the Students Representative Council and refrained from voting for himself which he considered to be unethical. When
22962-456: The political spectrum, he never lost an election. In 1988 he received the Order for Meritorious Service and received several Honorary Doctorates . He was also one of the South African Jewish community's foremost leaders and spoke out strongly against anti-semitism. Schwarz was described by the University of Stellenbosch as "one of the conceptual and moral fathers of the new South Africa" in
23140-400: The political, diplomatic, human rights, legal or Jewish communal fields." It stated that he was "amongst the most forthright and effective campaigners against apartheid" and said how he "remained actively involved in Jewish communal work to the very end." Zev Krengel, chairman of the South African Jewish Board of Deputies, said that "He was a man of formidable intellect and absolute integrity and
23318-487: The post-apartheid South Africa was embodied in a document named the "Act of Dedication", of which he presented to the provincial council in 1973. The document, written by him, called for the Transvaal and the rest of South Africa to adopt and subscribe to the principles of a non-discriminatory society. While the UP Transvaal caucus unanimously adopted the initiative, the National Party refused to allow it to be debated in
23496-403: The press, of association, peaceful assembly and movement, and freedom to pursue the gaining of a livelihood. It also included freedom from deprivation of life, liberty, security and property, except in accordance with the principles of fundamental justice. It would also guarantee equality before the law and equal protection and benefit of law. Schwarz argued that if included in the constitution of
23674-464: The prevailing pattern. Nevertheless, by 1948 it remained apparent that there were gaps in the social structure, whether legislated or otherwise, concerning the rights and opportunities of nonwhites. The rapid economic development of World War II attracted black migrant workers in large numbers to chief industrial centres, where they compensated for the wartime shortage of white labour. However, this escalated rate of black urbanisation went unrecognised by
23852-414: The process of being documented by groups such as MindFreedom International . Apartheid Apartheid ( / ə ˈ p ɑːr t ( h ) aɪ t / ə- PART -(h)yte , especially South African English : / ə ˈ p ɑːr t ( h ) eɪ t / ə- PART -(h)ayt , Afrikaans : [aˈpart(ɦ)ɛit] ; transl. "separateness" , lit. ' aparthood ' )
24030-431: The provision of employment in or near the homelands. Many black South Africans who had never resided in their identified homeland were forcibly removed from the cities to the homelands. The vision of a South Africa divided into multiple ethnostates appealed to the reform-minded Afrikaner intelligentsia, and it provided a more coherent philosophical and moral framework for the National Party's policies, while also providing
24208-550: The public, the maintenance of public order and the termination of the State of Emergency, leave no other choice than to act against the ECC and to prohibit the organisation from continuing any activities or acts." The same month, an issue of an alternative newspaper, the Weekly Mail , was confiscated by security police, "on the grounds that it had covered, and therefore promoted, opposition to conscription." News coverage included
24386-528: The reintroduction of conscription and said that the country had moved away from the system "too soon". Although reintroducing conscription may go against the spirit of the Constitution, Mantashe said that "the country must do what it needs to do for the country to work". The draft plan still needs to be approved, but if that occurs, young South Africans may be forced to attend a compulsory military programme as soon as 2016. As of 2023, it didn't happen. Until
24564-446: The republic, it would act as a "protector of rights many people had struggled to achieve in South Africa" as well as to "act as an inspiration" to the people of South Africa and would "be a unifying factor in a country in which unity of people is essential for survival". While virtually all MPs of the Progressive Federal Party supported the bill, no other party in Parliament supported it. Rejecting Schwarz's proposal, Daan van der Merwe of
24742-715: The right to vote for the Coloured Persons Representative Council , which had limited legislative powers. The council was in turn dissolved in 1980. In 1984 a new constitution introduced the Tricameral Parliament in which coloured voters elected the House of Representatives . A 2016 study in The Journal of Politics suggests that disenfranchisement in South Africa had a significant negative effect on basic service delivery to
24920-481: The rolls the few blacks still qualified to vote. The Bantu Investment Corporation Act of 1959 set up a mechanism to transfer capital to the homelands to create employment there. Legislation of 1967 allowed the government to stop industrial development in "white" cities and redirect such development to the "homelands". The Black Homeland Citizenship Act of 1970 marked a new phase in the Bantustan strategy. It changed
25098-476: The same year, the Representation of Natives Act removed previous Black voters from the Cape voters' roll and allowed them to elect three Whites to Parliament. The United Party government of Jan Smuts began to move away from the rigid enforcement of segregationist laws during World War II, but faced growing opposition from Afrikaner nationalists who wanted stricter segregation. Post-war, one of
25276-403: The sense that he had not only been one of apartheid's most prominent opponents, but his ideas and the initiatives he had taken had played a key role in the development of the concept of a negotiated democracy in South Africa, based on the principles of freedom and justice. Nelson Mandela , a friend of his whom he visited while in prison, described him as a "champion of the poor". Harry Schwarz
25454-521: The severing of ties with the UK and remained loyal to the Crown . They were displeased by having to choose between British and South African nationalities. Although Verwoerd tried to bond these different blocs, the subsequent voting illustrated only a minor swell of support, indicating that a great many English speakers remained apathetic and that Verwoerd had not succeeded in uniting the white population. Under
25632-399: The status of blacks to citizens of one of the ten autonomous territories. The aim was to ensure a demographic majority of white people within South Africa by having all ten Bantustans achieve full independence. Inter-racial contact in sport was frowned upon, but there were no segregatory sports laws. The government tightened pass laws compelling blacks to carry identity documents, to prevent
25810-444: The subject of it. And I know what it means to be hungry." The discrimination and financial difficulties of his family left a strong impression on Schwarz and helped shape his political philosophy with its emphasis on social justice and the rule of law. He attended Tamboerskloof School and South African College Schools in Cape Town and then Jeppe High School for Boys in Johannesburg. Following his graduation from school in 1943, he
25988-582: The transition period between 1990 and 1994. Some reforms of the apartheid system were undertaken, including allowing for Indian and Coloured political representation in parliament , but these measures failed to appease most activist groups. Between 1987 and 1993, the National Party entered into bilateral negotiations with the African National Congress (ANC), the leading anti-apartheid political movement, for ending segregation and introducing majority rule. In 1990, prominent ANC figures, such as Nelson Mandela , were released from prison. Apartheid legislation
26166-448: The trial he presented the case for Kantor as follows, "My Lord, it is difficult to reply in a restrained fashion. My learned friend must not use words such as 'Communist' lightly, when he refers to Kantor. Kantor is not a Communist. My learned friend has used the tactics of McCarthyism in an endeavour to smear him. I think, with respect, my learned friend is allowing himself to run away with facts that are not there. His complaint in count one
26344-434: The two nations. The Cape Times described Schwarz as having "engineered a state of US/South Africa relations better than it has ever been". The fact that Schwarz, for decades a well known anti-apartheid figurehead, was willing to accept the position was widely acknowledged as a highly symbolic demonstration of President F. W de Klerk's determination to introduce a new democratic system. During Schwarz's tenure, he negotiated
26522-805: The unbanning of the African National Congress , and the subsequent election of Mandela as president. While serving as a senior politician as well as practicing law, Harry Schwarz was also a prominent and respected business figure in South Africa. He held directorships of multiple companies, and served as Chief Executive of Merchant Bank between 1969 and 1974. Harry Schwarz retired from politics upon returning from Washington, and returned to law to practice in Schwarz-North in Johannesburg and continued to work until he died. His areas of legal practice were primarily corporate and commercial with special interests in banking, insurance, diplomacy and advocacy. He
26700-632: The voters a new policy to ensure continued white domination. This policy was initially expounded from a theory drafted by Hendrik Verwoerd and was presented to the National Party by the Sauer Commission . It called for a systematic effort to organise the relations, rights, and privileges of the races as officially defined through a series of parliamentary acts and administrative decrees. Segregation had thus far been pursued only in major matters, such as separate schools, and local society rather than law had been depended upon to enforce most separation; it should now be extended to everything. The commission's goal
26878-576: The votes were counted, it was announced that Schwarz had lost by one vote. He was awarded a BA, with distinctions in both history and economic history , and later an LLB . In 1949 he was admitted as a solicitor and, later, as a barrister (Member of Middle Temple ) in London, United Kingdom. In 1953, he became advocate at the South African Bar . In 1963, Nelson Mandela and many other political opponents were arrested and brought to court in
27056-563: The year immediately following the one in which they left school or as soon as they turned 16, whichever came last. Many were granted deferment, for example to attend University and complete an undergraduate degree first, but very few young men were exempted from conscription for any reason other than being medically unfit or for a race classification error. Valid reasons included conscientious objection based on religious beliefs, but these exceptions were tightened in 1974. Increasingly stringent laws were passed increasing periods of service, broadening
27234-682: Was a major weapon in South Africa's defence against external threats. In August 1983 during the Constitutional Reform Debate Harry Schwarz submitted a motion calling for a 'Bill of Rights' to be incorporated in the new constitution of South Africa, the first motion of its kind ever brought before Parliament. He stated that the Bill should guarantee freedom from discrimination on the ground of race, colour, sex or creed, freedom of conscience and religion, of thought, belief, opinion and expression, including freedom of
27412-463: Was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia ) from 1948 to the early 1990s. It was characterised by an authoritarian political culture based on baasskap ( lit. 'boss-ship' or 'boss-hood'), which ensured that South Africa was dominated politically, socially, and economically by the nation's minority white population . Under this minoritarian system, white citizens held
27590-507: Was allotted its own area, which was used in later years as a basis of forced removal. The Prevention of Illegal Squatting Act of 1951 allowed the government to demolish black shanty town slums and forced white employers to pay for the construction of housing for those black workers who were permitted to reside in cities otherwise reserved for whites. The Native Laws Amendment Act, 1952 centralised and tightened pass laws so that blacks could not stay in urban areas longer than 72 hours without
27768-457: Was also launched. The organisation was unbanned by the South African government on 2 February 1990, along with 33 other organisations. On 24 August 1993, Minister of Defence Kobie Coetsee announced the end of conscription. In 1994, there would be no more call-ups for the one-year initial training. Although conscription was suspended, it was not entirely abandoned. Indeed, in January 1994, there
27946-531: Was an iconic opposition figure. He was known nationwide for his sharp attacks on the National Party. According to veteran progressive MP Helen Suzman , Schwarz carried out his role so effectively as Shadow Finance Minister that National Party Finance Ministers lived in terror of him, particularly when the time came for delivering the annual budget speech. He served as deputy chairman of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Finance and
28124-537: Was an outstanding debater, both inside and outside Parliament. He could stand his ground against all-comers. His principled and steadfast resistance to racial nationalism was rooted in the key role he played in fighting Nazism during World War 2. He continued his resistance to racial nationalism through his long and distinguished career in South African opposition politics. He has engraved his place in South Africa's political history. We will always remember him. South African President Jacob Zuma paid tribute to Schwarz in
28302-872: Was born Heinz Schwarz to Fritz (1897–1969) and Alma Schwarz (1901–1999) in Cologne , Germany. His family belonged to the Glockengasse Synagogue . He arrived in South Africa as a Jewish refugee from Germany in 1934 with his mother and younger brother Kurt. His father Fritz, a Social Democratic Party activist, left for South Africa the night the Nazis came to power. They boarded the SS Giulio Cesare in Genoa , Italy which took them to South Africa. When they arrived in Cape Town they stayed in one room in
28480-448: Was composed in honour of Bruce and the lyrics deal with his stand against conscription into the apartheid military. Many ECC members were subject to persecution. During 1986, 98 members were detained, and others subjected to systematic harassment and intimidation. Meetings, publications and activities of the organisation were banned. Disinformation , death threats, fire-bombings, assaults, break-ins, and anonymous counter-propaganda against
28658-432: Was entitled "Look after my people while I'm gone". After the 1964 Rivonia Trial, where Schwarz had been on the defence team and where his university friend Nelson Mandela was imprisoned, Schwarz was barred from gaining access to Mandela. However, after Mandela was moved to Victor Verster Prison , various restrictions were lifted upon Mandela, including more lenient visitation rights. On 23 November 1989, Schwarz, following
28836-492: Was followed by Ordinance 3 in 1848, which introduced an indenture system for Xhosa that was little different from slavery. The various South African colonies passed legislation throughout the rest of the 19th century to limit the freedom of unskilled workers, to increase the restrictions on indentured workers and to regulate the relations between the races. The discoveries of diamonds and gold in South Africa also raised racial inequality between White people and Black people. In
29014-463: Was for the first time no call-up for initial training, but at the same time conscripts who had already undergone training could be subject to "camp" call-ups, as they were technically subject to military law , rather than civilian law. Actually, "camp" call-ups reached record proportions over the period of the April 1994 elections, and for the first time in history, the ECC called on conscripts to consider
29192-474: Was he bound for Washington to represent South Africa's five million whites. "I've made it clear that I want to be ambassador for 37 million people." A comment in the Boston Herald , typified the reaction among much of the US press: "When a man who has devoted most of his life to the struggle for a new South Africa tells you that apartheid is dead and that sanctions are holding up its burial, he speaks with
29370-815: Was highly critical of the Democratic Party 's decision to merge with the New National Party in 2000 and in 2008 stated that the DP (now the Democratic Alliance ) "should have sought an alliance with black political groups". He remained active in the Jewish community, notably serving as president of the South Africa-Israel Chamber of Commerce between 1999 and 2010 and vice-president of the South African Jewish Board of Deputies. Schwarz delivered his final public speech at
29548-430: Was in 15 Squadron and seconded to the RAF. In 1984 he was made an Honorary Colonel of the 15th Squadron. In 1946 he went to University of the Witwatersrand (more commonly known as Wits University) in Johannesburg with the help of a Government loan and grant, where he first befriended fellow students and future anti-apartheid political activists Nelson Mandela and Joe Slovo . He joined the United Party and assisted in
29726-428: Was in part adopted from "left-over" British rule that separated different racial groups after they took control of the Boer republics in the Anglo-Boer war . This created the black-only " townships " or "locations", where blacks were relocated to their own towns. As the NP government's minister of native affairs from 1950, Hendrik Verwoerd had a significant role in crafting such laws, which led to him being regarded as
29904-437: Was in the opposition for over 40 years and was a founding member of the Democratic Party . In light of his record, his appointment as South African Ambassador to the United States in 1990 was widely heralded as symbolic of the government's commitment to ending apartheid, and played a significant role in renewing the nation's image as the new democratic South Africa. As a South African Air Force World War II veteran during
30082-409: Was offered a job working for a stockbroker, as well as a university scholarship. However, Schwarz instead joined the South African Air Force during World War II in order to defeat Nazism. He served as a navigator and fought in North Africa, Crete and Italy. It was in the air force that he adopted the name Harry, as his Colonel said Heinz would not stand him in good stead if he were captured by Germans. He
30260-414: Was often involved in heated clashes in parliament. In April 1982, Schwarz was ordered out of the parliamentary chamber after he described Nationalist MP Andre Fourie as "vuilgoed' (rubbish), in response to Fourie saying that he was "enough to make a Jew anti-Semitic". In August 1986, he took up the issue of anti-semitism within the far-right Conservative Party after its leader Clive Derby-Lewis responded to
30438-454: Was on the Parliamentary Public Accounts Committee. During his 17 years in parliament Schwarz, along with other opposition leaders like Colin Eglin, Zach de Beer and Frederik van Zyl Slabbert forcefully denounced the government's racial policies, as well as its press restrictions and economic policies. Schwarz also played a key role exposing the Muldergate Scandal of 1979, that led to the resignation of Prime Minister B. J. Vorster , acting as
30616-507: Was preceded by a three-week fast by objectors Ivan Toms , Harold Winkler and Richard Steele. It was announced in parliament that 7 589 conscripts failed to report for national service in January 1985, as opposed to only 1 596 in the whole of 1984. As there were two intakes annually, in January and July, this would suggest a tenfold increase in non-reportees over the previous year. An estimated additional 7 000 "draft-dodgers" were also said to be living in Europe in 1985. This campaign received
30794-434: Was repealed on 17 June 1991, leading to multiracial elections in April 1994 . Apartheid is an Afrikaans word meaning "separateness", or "the state of being apart", literally " apart - hood " (from the Afrikaans suffix -heid ). Its first recorded use was in 1929. Racial discrimination and inequality against Black people in South Africa dates to the beginning of large-scale European colonisation of South Africa with
30972-437: Was responding to Schwarz's accusation that the PM would be failing in his duty to South Africa unless he publicly repudiated the Minister of Posts, Hennie Smit, for his 'slow-thinking' remarks on Schwarz. In August 1989, Schwarz debated with Minister of the Budget Kent Durr live on Television in the House of Assembly. Schwarz slammed the NP economic policies and was regarded to have won the debate. In 1979, Schwarz appealed to
31150-457: Was the Prohibition of Mixed Marriages Act, 1949 , followed closely by the Immorality Amendment Act of 1950, which made it illegal for most South African citizens to marry or pursue sexual relationships across racial lines . The Population Registration Act, 1950 classified all South Africans into one of four racial groups based on appearance, known ancestry, socioeconomic status, and cultural lifestyle: "Black", "White", "Coloured", and "Indian",
31328-411: Was throughout his life a brave, unyielding fighter for justice." Rabbi Mendel Rabinowitz, who conducted the funeral said "Those like Harry, who contribute to society in so many capacities for so many years never die. Their bodies are laid to rest but the memory of them continues to live on." Others such as former Leader of the Opposition Frederik van Zyl Slabbert , former Foreign Minister Pik Botha and
31506-405: Was to completely remove blacks from areas designated for whites, including cities, with the exception of temporary migrant labour. Blacks would then be encouraged to create their own political units in land reserved for them. The party gave this policy a name – apartheid . Apartheid was to be the basic ideological and practical foundation of Afrikaner politics for the next quarter of
31684-470: Was to provide a blueprint for government of South Africa for racial peace in South Africa. It called for negotiations involving all peoples, in order to draw up constitutional proposals stressing opportunity for all with a Bill of rights to safeguard these rights. It suggested that the federal concept was the appropriate framework for such changes to take place. It also first affirmed that political change must take place though non-violent means. The concept of
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