South Africa is a country located in the southern part of Africa. It is the leading country in Africa in terms of aspects considered as effective in the developed countries. These aspects include an established economy, a stable political framework, employment, education, and civilisation.
Other countries in Africa have not yet reached this level of standard that South Africa has attained because of various factors discussed later in detail in this essay. One of the things that contributed to the development of South Africa is the dominance of the whites in the country. The whites do dominate various sectors that are found in South Africa.
They are the ones that dominate the economy of the country, they hold key political seats in the country, and are the major investors in the country. These whites started settling in South Africa during the colonial periods when the Dutch and the British colonized the country. Even after independence, they did not vacate but instead opted to remain and settle in South Africa.
By then, the Blacks in South Africa were not civilized apart from a few and this is how the majority of the whites took the key areas in the affairs of the country. They took the advantage but with time, the blacks have now acquired education and exposure that has made them to be civilized. They have started to realize their capabilities, potentials, and rights (Adam & Giliomee 1983: 59).
This has led to the black people in South Africa desiring to be holding the key areas in the affairs of their country. They have realized how the white man has been enjoying the resources that belong to South Africa and want them back at all cost.
They are intending to send the whites out of these key positions but the whites are not willing because they do not have any place to go and they also have established themselves in such a way that letting it go is almost becoming impossible. This state has created tension in the entire country since the two parties’ whites and the blacks are now almost equal in terms of civilization, financial capabilities, and political influence and so on.
This situation may cause the Africa’s super power to fall rapidly if caution is not taken. The black people leaving in South Africa are aware of this fact but they are willing to lose their superiority and recover their country. The people that have political influence by holding key political seats are using this for their advantage. One of the people that used his political influence to support the black citizens in South Africa is Botha.
Botha was popularly known as P.W and he was the first prime minister of South Africa. He took the office of the prime minister for a period of 7 years from 1978 to 1984 after which he became the first state president for a period of six years from 1984 to 1989.
He was the head of a strong and popular party in South Africa known as the Afrikaners and in 1948 he was elected into parliament. When Botha was in power before he left presidency out of stroke, he used his seat of presidency to bring reforms to South Africa and especially to the black race in the country (Barrel 1990: 37).
Apartheid was a system of racial segregation enforced by the National Party government of South Africa. It was officially introduced after the general election in 1948. Before the year 1980, the Afrikaners were so much supporting the apartheid, which is a legal system that was indentified for racial separation in South Africa. The Afrikaners was established in 1915 and it was later renamed new national party.
Once the black citizens in South Africa got civilized, they started overlooking the stated views of the Afrikaners and this is when Botha and his national party started to recognize the inevitability of need to reform apartheid and safe guard racial segregation under white control.
As earlier discussed this move did not please the white that were in dominance in South Africa and they had to do what was possible to safe guard their individual interests. This is a valid statement because it is evident that the fall of Botha was greatly influenced by the white’s.
Each country in the world has to treat its citizens in one way without having favours to one race in the country. This apartheid was so much biased and it made the black people to be inferior (Klerk 1998: 64).
The stance that Botha took was a bold step and very effective because the development of a country cannot be archived only by one particular race. Botha did not care of his downfall but rather cared for the provision of equity to each citizen for the republic of South Africa. A leader is considered as a leader if he or she is in a position of redeeming and benefiting the people that he or she is leading.
Failure to that he is considered a failure. If Botha could not have taken a stance, South Africa could have remained under colonialism. The countries that were colonized by the whites in the continent of Africa took their full authority after they attained their freedom.
Even though they may seem to be lagging behind in terms of development, it is better because even after they attain the development they expect to benefit from it and not the whites. What these countries do is that they sign contacts with the whites after which the whites return to their home country after the contract. Finally, the two parties benefit and no one feels inferior to the other (Scott 1984: 34).
Africa and the entire world at large need leaders such as Botha who value equity than any other thing. Some leaders favour some key influential people in their governments because of the benefits that they derive from them after, which is unethical.
It is automatic that a nation that is divided cannot stand and this is what could have happened to the republic of South Africa if Botha and his national party could not have recognized the need to safe guard racial segregation. It is of vital importance that the black people in South Africa should be given that chance to run their economy to a level they desire under politics of their country.
This approach will ensure that equity and fairness is archived in the entire country. Although the whites are not being criticized, the suggestion is that they should not feel offended and insecure when the blacks unite and form parties that aim at confronting racial segregation because they are part of the citizens of South Africa and will eventually benefits (Barrel 1990: 51).
When the economy of a country is governed by one race, it risks falling because the country has mixed race. In addition, the political framework should ensure that it gives a right to each person of that particular country to exercise his or her political opinions regardless of his or her race and culture. For every positive thing, there has to be some critics that always develop.
The stance of Botha was greatly criticized and justification formulated to defend these critics but they amounted to nothing significant because Botha and his party had stood on their ground. A national leader is not the head of a family but rather the head of a country. If at the family level the head of that particular family favours one child then the other children will most likely hate the favoured child.
This is what happened in South Africa, black people started envying the white people and it was eventually turning to hatred between the two groups. That is why it was earlier discussed that this situation of apartheid and racial discrimination could have eventually led to wars.
Botha should be in the Guinness book of record or even could have been awarded as a Nobel Prize winner. South Africa government values the positive efforts made by their past leaders and they never try to make such mistakes again of racial segregation.
Apartheid is a system that those who advocate for it should be strongly criticized because it demonstrates how self-cantered them is above the interest of the majority. Anyone who does not mind the interest of the country at large is considered an enemy to that country.
Hence, this people should be noted as people who want to destroy the development of the country in terms of its economy and politics and other key factors that accrue to the countries’ growth in general.
Many people that are in power fear losing their power to other people and hence they try to protect themselves by developing systems such as apartheid. Mostly the whites were used in South Africa to safeguard the white’s minority. Countries that have people and systems as these take many years before they develop because even the people that hold on to power do lose their vision and focus (Pottinger 1988: 12).
It advisable that all political systems that govern countries ensure that they provide an equal opportunity to everyone that feels that he or she can take the mandate of leading the country and by so doing new skills, ideas, opinions, enthusiasm shall be developed and benefit the country at large in matters to do with development.
In addition, when all the races of the respective country have been involved in major things accruing to the country they feel part of the country, exhibit a sense of ownership, and hence can do anything to protect the national interest of their country.
This is happening in South Africa today because of the reforms to apartheid that took place in1980s. Therefore, the discussion above shows that the party of the government of Botha during the year 1980 had already realized the need to have reform and ensure there is no discrimination based on races.
The new legislation was classified into four racial groups namely; native, white, colored and Asian. During the year 1970, no black people were recognized and their citizenship was taken away, which made them to live as Bantustans after formation of the ten homelands. In addition, the government discriminated blacks by providing them with services that were not the same as the white people.
These included health services, recreational facilities and beaches that were of low quality. In 1950, opposition parties were brought to an end and the leaders imprisoned, which resulted to violence as the affected parties fought for their rights.
South Africa lunched further to the right in elections Wednesday, consolidating the Government of President P. W. Botha and apparently establishing the extreme right-wing Party as the official opposition in the white house of the segregated Parliament.
When two million whites casted their votes under tight security, nearly 1.5 million black workers and students observed a nationwide work stoppage to protest the whites-only vote. President Botha’s National Party was expected to increase its 127 parliamentary seats to 132. Its gains were at the expense of the relatively liberal
Progressive Federal Party, which was expected to win 19 seats, down from 26. Conservatives gained 6 seats of president Both, whose campaign stressed resistance to Western pressures for racial liberalization and resentment of American sanctions claimed a strong mandate for his brand of cautious change.
The four-year-old Conservative Party was projected to win 22 seats, all in Transvaal Province, a gain of 6, and it reduced the National Party majority sharply in 40 constituencies in all four provinces.
The party urges more rigid racial segregation and territorial partition. The changes in Apartheid system were opposed in 1980 and effort to end it was begun by President Frederic. The elections by different races in the year 1994 were won by Nelson Mandela, which aimed at ending apartheid.
The system of apartheid is still experienced in South Africa in the way the government as well as society operates. Mandela was very popular which made Botha refuse to recognize him as Marxist who helped in resolving conflicts.
However, to appease black opinion and nurture Mandela as a benevolent leader of blacks the government moved Mandela from Robin Island to a prison in a rural area outside Cape Town, Polls moor prison, where prison life was easier. Mandela was allowed to receive more visitors including interviews by people from foreign nations as a way of treating him with respect.
The homes, which were owned by blacks, were made states with the occupants having freedom of movement. The unions of black employees were legalized and the black people were allowed to live in urban centers permanently and owned properties there. People from different races were allowed to intermarry without fear of discrimination and everybody took it as a positive move.
There was increase in total amount of money spent in educating the children of the blacks in the year 1968 by over six per cent. In addition, the operation of the police was improved by providing them with improved apparatus.
The apartheids approach had become very serious in South Africa in such a way that the women in that particular country were not allowed to work but rather be involved in domestic work and the men were the ones that could go outside in the towns and work but with permits.
Both as national party brought the apartheids approach to this factor and the women in south Africa are now even going to the towns that are in that respective country to work.
This is becoming an advantage to the country as the government is benefiting economy at large because the South African government is getting additional revenue out of this stance. This is due to the Botha as national realization towards aphides and trying to safeguard the segregation under white control (Adam & Giliomee 1983: 26).
The Apartheid approach in South Africa also had influenced greatly the sports of that particular country because the sports groups were based on various races that were there. South Africans influenced every sport because sports such as the football had already been banned by fifa because of the apartheid approach even to the sports.
The government of both national party were the ones that came up to save this situation because they had recognized the effect of armadas approach in sports and they worked to ensure that sports in their particular country had become one in terms of racial belonging. This was when final gave the South African football another chance to participate in international soccer.
The apartheid approach in South Africa had become very effectual that the whites could not work in any other town that had been occupied by another race such as the blacks. The blacks had their own bus stops and the whites their own bus stops likewise.
This issue of apartheid approach to even the wellbeing of the citizens in south Africa was later solved by the government of both as national party in the 1980s and all the races started interacting with one another freely even in their respective society in general.
The other thing that government of both did to fight apartheid in South Africa was by developing government policies that would ensure the necessary reforms in South Africa to bring an end to racial segregation.
The formulated policies were to be implemented and dared to the intent because the government of Botha had all the seriousness to ensure That the racial segregation under white control had come to an end because of the great effects they had hand in hansom to achieve development of their country in large sets so as to ensure the affairs of the country run effectively.
There are so many races in South Africa that were once very distinct from one another due to the aphesis approach. These races included the blacks, the whites, the Asians and the Indians. Every race had its own structures, systems and administration.
They worked individually to strengthen their respective race and the South African government was not realizing its economic growth. Various sectors of an economy need to work together in harmony.
All the races in South Africa today are living and working in harmony so as to ensure that they do not suffer the negative effects of aphesis and ensure that the racial segregation under the white control is not there as it was in the past.
Apartheid and racial segregation are similar in their definition, when Bother national party was fighting the apiaries approach; it was on the other hand fighting racial segregation and that is the reason why we have discussed these two approaches hand in hand (Barrel 1990: 44).
References
Adam, H & Giliomee, H 1983, The rise and crises of Afrikaners power, David Philip, Cape Town.
Barrel, H 1990, The ANC’s armed struggle, Penguin, Johannesburg.
Klerk, F 1998, The last trek: A new beginning, Macmillan, London.
Pottinger, B 1988, The imperial presidency, southern book, Johannesburg.
Scott, J 1984, venture to the exterior, Acme Publication, Utah.