Imvubu Newsletter

Apartheid Legislation

Race has shaped South Africa’s very core. The system of racial segregation assigned superior and inferior statuses according to a person’s skin colour. It was enforced by a large body of legislation.

Population Registration

• Population Registration Act, 1950

• The Reservation of Separate Amenities Act, 1953

Job Reservation and Economic Apartheid

• Masters and Servants Act, 1856

• Mines and Works Act, 1911

• Class Areas Act, 1923

• Minimum Wages Act, 1925

• Colour Bar Act, 1926

• Liquor Act, 1927

• Old Age Pension Act, 1927

• Asiatic Immigration Amendment Act, 1931

• Native Service Contracts Act,1932

• Pegging Act, 1943

• Pensions Laws Amendment Act, 1944

• Native Building Workers Act, 1951

• Native Labour (Settlement of Disputes) Act, 1953

• Black Labour (Settlement of Disputes) Amendment Act, 1955

• Industrial Conciliation Act, 1956

• The Natives Taxation and Development Act, 1958

• Bantu Investment Corporation Act, 1959

• Environmental Planning Act, 1967

• Black Labour Relations Regulation Amendment Act 70 of 1973

Segregation in Education

• Bantu Education Act, 1953

• Extension of University Education Act, 1959

• Coloured Persons Education Act, 1963

• Extension of University Education Act no. 45 of 1959

• Indians Education Act, 1965

• Education Act, 1967

• Education and Training Act no. 9 of 1979

Sexual Apartheid

• Immorality Act, 1927

• Prohibition of Mixed Marriages Act, 1949

• Immorality Amendment Act, 1950

Land Tenure and Geographic Segregation

• The Natives Land Act, 1913

• Riotous Assemblies (Amendment) Act, 1930

• Native Trust and Land Act, 1936

• Asiatic Land Tenure and Indian Representation Act, 1946

• Group Areas Act, 1950 (re-enacted in 1957 and 1966)

• Prevention of Illegal Squatting Act, 1951

• Natives Laws Amendment Act, 1952

• Reservation of Separate Amenities Act, 1953

• Group Areas Development Act, 1955

• Coloured Persons Communal Reserves Act, 1961

• Rural Coloured Areas Act, 1963

• Preservation of Coloured Areas Act, Act no. 31 of 1961

• Bantu Homelands Citizens Act of 1970

• Aliens Control Act, 1973

Pass Laws and Influx Control

• Natives (Urban Areas) Act, 1923

• Natives (Urban Areas) Consolidation Act, 1945

• Prevention of Illegal Squatting Act, 1951

• Native Laws Amendment Act, 1952

• Natives (Abolition of Passes and Co-ordination of Documents) Act, 1952

• Natives Resettlement Act, 1954

• Natives (Prohibition of Interdicts) Act, 1956

• Urban Bantu Councils Act, 1961

• Black Local Authorities Act, 1982

Political Representation

• South Africa Act 1909

• Native Affairs Act, 1920

• Local Government Act, 1926

• Women’s Enfranchisement Act, 1930

• Representation of Natives Act, 1936

• Electoral Laws Amendment Act of 1940

• Asiatic Land Tenure and Indian Representation Act, 1946

• Suppression of Communism Act, Act no. 44 of 1950

• Separate Representation of Voters Act, 1951

• Public Safety Act of 1953

• Promotion of Bantu Self-government Act, 1959

• Unlawful Organisations Act, 1960

• Urban Bantu Councils, 1961

• Prohibition of Political Interference Act, 1968

• Separate Representation of Voters Amendment Act, 1968

• Coloured Persons Representative Council Amendment Act, 1968

• Prohibition of Political Interference Act, 1968

• Republic of South Africa Constitution Act, 1983

Separate Development and Bantustans

• Native Administration Act, 1927

• The Development Trust and Land Act, 1936

• Native Administration Amendment Act, 1937

• Factories, Machinery and Building Works Act of 1941

• Bantu Authorities Act, 1951

• Promotion of Bantu Self-government Act, 1959

• Bantu Investment Corporation Act, 1959

• Urban Blacks Council Act, 1961

• Transkei Constitution Act no. 48 of 1963

• Bantu Homelands Development Corporations Act, 1965

• Bantu Homelands Citizenship Act, 1970

• Bantu Homelands Constitution Act, 1971

• Status of Ciskei Act, 1981

Banning, Detention without Trial and State Security

• Suppression of Communism Act, 1950

• Public Safety Act, 1953

• Riotous Assemblies Act, 1956

• Unlawful Organizations Act, 1960

• Indemnity Act, 1961

• General Law Amendment Act, 1963

• Terrorism Act, 1967

• Security Intelligence and State Security Council Act no. 64 of 1972

• Indemnity Act, 1977

• Internal Security Act, 1982