Prior to the apartheid, ever since before it independence, South Africa has had a long history involving racial/ethnic conflict. This would grow under the The Land Act of 1913 which would prove most catastrophic under the provisions that native Africans were prohibited from buying or hiring land in 93% of South Africa. Africans who made up the large majority of the population were confined to ownership of 7% South Africa’s land. The impact of the act had many increasingly negative social and economic repercussions for blacks and would be the beginning of a series of laws enacted that would legitimize a system of institutionalized racial discrimination known as apartheid.
The Apartheid in South Africa became legally official after the Afrikaner National Party came into power and established apartheid laws in 1948. This would establish a system of institutional racial discrimination within the country. Examples of the racial discrimination that presented itself in society would be the prohibition of mixed marriages or sanctioned discrimination in employment that created white only jobs and segregated neighborhoods. By 1953 the government passed the Bantu Education Act. this would further perpetuate the inequality that black south african students were receiving in the education system and promoted the conditioning of these students for discriminatory menial labour that the government saw “fit” for their race. This was intended to inculcate the idea that black people were to accept being subservient to white South Africans. The intended ramifications of hindering black South Africans through this discriminatory education policy led to many people protesting the conditions even more.One person specifically who would be motivated by the results of the Bantu Education Act would be Desmond Mpilo Tutu. This movement would be the catalyst for Tutu’s departure from his education career into his clerical calling and his apartheid activism.
Desmond Tutu was born October 7, 1931 in Klerksdorp, to Xhosa and Tswana parents. He was taught in missionary schools where his father was a teacher while his mother was a local housekeeper. Tutu had 3 siblings growing up one of which who died during infancy. When he was younger, Tutu was struck with polio which would lead to the atrophy of his right arm. While his parents both had jobs they had a humble lifestyle, that heavily involved the church.
Tutu’s original career plan was to become a doctor but due to the education being unaffordable for him and his family he decided to become a teacher. His call to the church would not come until 1953 when the Bantu Education Act would pass. This would be the final straw, where the already poor conditions of the school he was teaching at and the lives of his black students would be further exacerbated. Tutu began studying theology in 1958. By 1978 Tutu had been appointed dean of the anglican Church and Bishop of Lesotho, being the first black South African to do this. Tutu described the apartheid system as “evil and unchristian.” Desmond Tutu believed in the following points: the abolition of South Africa’s passport laws, a common system of education, the cessation of forced deportation from South Africa to the so-called “homelands” and equal rights. His views and criticisms received a lot of negativity from whites who felt like he was trying to tip the status quo, and he also received criticism from more radical blacks because they felt like he was to moderate with his non-violent approaches to the fight against apartheid. Despite this he became one of the most prominent figures of the country at the time rivaling Nelson Mandela. During this time protests against apartheid had increased. When thousands of Soweto students rallied to protest against an act that prohibited learning in their native language, police shot into the crowd at the students causing many deaths and injuries In response to this atrocity, Tutu used his platform to promoted the international economic boycott South Africa. In 1984 Tutu was awarded a Nobel Peace Prize in recognition of “the courage and heroism shown by black South Africans in their time with the peaceful method of struggle against apartheid.”
Desmond Tutu was and continues to be a prolific anti apartheid and civil rights activist, who continues to stay at the forefront of oppressed groups fights for equality. Today Tutu can be seen working on protecting LGBTQA+ rights and other issues pertaining to human rights for those in Africa. Tutu is also part of an NGO known as ther The Elders, where global leaders come together to promote peace and the preservation of human rights.
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