Keystone State Boychoir
A Program of Commonwealth Youthchoirs
| return to the South Africa 2011 Tour page |
South Africa lies on the Tropic of Capricorn in the Southern Hemisphere. It’s a parliamentary democracy. The government is divided into the same three branches as ours, but each branch is located in a different city, each of which the boys will see. The “administrative” branch (our executive branch) is in Pretoria, the legislative branch is in Capetown, and the judicial branch is in Bloemfontein. Each of these cities is in a different one of South Africa’s nine provinces. The boys will be visiting Gauteng Province (Pretoria, Johannesburg, and Soweto), Northern Cape Province (Kimberley), KwaZulu Natal (Drakensberg), Mpumalanga (Kruger), and Western Cape (Capetown).
| The southern part of the continent of South Africa quite possibly contains the earliest evidence of human society. Caves in the region surrounding Johannesburg (Jo’burg!) show evidence dating back 3 million years! While early groups of humans were either hunter/gatherers or herders, a highly organized civilization existed some 800-900 years ago: Mapungubwe. Artifacts discovered there come from as far away as China, showing a complex trading system existed. |  |
European influences in South Africa began humbly; with the creation of a vegetable garden! The Dutch East India Company wanted vegetables grown for the benefit of the sailors travelling the eastern trade routes to India. (Boys! Eat your veggies!) Jan van Riebeeck landed at the Cape of Good Hope in 1652 with 90 men. Within ten years there were at least 250 white settlers and they were beginning to argue with the local Khoisan population.
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Over the next hundred years, the South African colonies changed hands from the Dutch to the British and back again several times, as immigrants entered the land coming from the Netherlands, Germany, and France as well as Great Britain. The local Xhosa fought against the settlers claiming land.
A “Great Trek” of 12,000 Afrikaners (Boers) began to move north and east, away from the now British-controlled (and slave-banning) local government and toward the possibility of new and better lands. These “Voortrekkers” pushed their way into what they may have thought was vacant land, but ended up fighting against the Zulu and their kings Shaka and his successor Dingane. Piet Retief thought he had negotiated a land exchange with Dingane, but Dingane and his warriors slaughtered the settlers and their leader. The Voortrekkers took a stand at the Nacome River against an overwhelming Zulu force and won the “Battle of Blood River” in December of 1838. |
| By 1871, the discovery of several large diamonds set off a “New Rush” with thousands of men digging what became the Kimberley diamond mine. Conflicts between the Boer and British populations intensified leading to the “First Boer War” in 1880-1881 and the “Second Boer War” from 1899-1902. |
In 1931, the “Union of South Africa” was granted independence from British direct rule. At this point, several laws had already stratified the divisions between blacks, whites, and “coloureds” including the “1913 Land Act” which reserved 90% of the land for whites. In 1961, whites voted to leave the Commonwealth under Queen Elizabeth II and became an independent republic.
In an act of unified protest, the ANC – African National Congress – was formed in 1912. Despite delegations sent to Britain to protest unfair treatment of blacks (and other non-whites); strikes; and protests peaceful and not; in 1948 a Nationalist government actually affirmed and codified apartheid restrictions such as the types of jobs non-whites were permitted to hold, where they were allowed to live, and rules about buying and carrying weekly passes.
Over the next several decades, the official government policy of apartheid dug in with more and more restrictive rules. Organizers like Nelson Mandela joined in the 1952 “Defiance Campaign” and formed the multi-racial Congress Alliance. In 1962, Mandela was sentenced to three years in prison. He was pulled out to stand another trial with ANC colleagues and sentenced to life on Robben Island. In the meantime, the UN had started enforcing economic sanctions against South Africa.
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On the 16th of June, 1976 (while the US was gearing up for the summer bicentennial celebration) the school-children of Soweto organized to march in protest. The government had recently decided that half of their education should be conducted in English and the other in Afrikaans – which most of them and their teachers as well did not speak. In addition, schools for white children were funded at more than ten times the per-pupil expenditure than black children, and black children had to pay tuition, books, and supplies! The children gathered as they marched, with up to 15,000 participating. Government officials responded with live ammunition. A twelve year-old boy, Hector Pieterson, was the first to be killed. Conflicting reports number the dead from 20 to 200 from the next several days.
Over the succeeding years, the government both gave and took away. Blacks were allowed to become legal residents of cities and their teachers were trained. But police were allowed to stop them without cause. In 1989, Prime Minister P W Botha began talking to Mandela in jail. His successor, DeKlerk , continued in 1990. Nelson Mandela was released on February 11, 1990. |
The current government of South Africa was negotiated between 1991 and 1993 with new elections held in 1994. On May 10th, Mandela was sworn in as president with DeKlerk as one of his deputies.
A couple of interesting observations about the South African National anthem. First it starts in one key and transitions to another (okay music geeks?) and is sung in a total of five different languages (of the eleven official languages of South Africa).
Main resources for this page:
South Africa’s History and Heritage
A brief history of the African National Congress
Digital Innovation South Africa
SA Politics
South African History Online
Wendy Adventures – A VCU professor on Fulbright studies this year.
South African Trivia and Phrases
An education professor from the University of the Free State is presenting at ISTE in Philadelphia, 6/28/11. She says:
Students often walk 20km each way to school. High school students often need to go home to feed younger siblings and, due to household complications, they may not be able to return for the remainder of the day. Sometimes there are no parents due to the AIDS epidemic so that these older children are responsible for the rest of their siblings. Classes often have 60 students. Teachers frequently teach subjects outside of their own educational expertise. Technology is so rare that everything is used, including cell phones!