History Grade 10 - Topic 6 Essay Questions and Answers

Impact of the 1913 Land Act

The Land Act of 1913 was the final nail in the coffin for Black South Africans in the 20th century and a step to Apartheid. Discuss this statement with reference to the social and economic impact of the Land Act and how it laid the foundation for the system of Apartheid.[1]

Author Unknown, “1913 Land Act”, Tshintsha Amakhaya, (Uploaded: Unknown), (Accessed: 26 October 2020), Image Source

Sol Plaatje, a member of the SANNC and an activist against the implementation of the 1913 Natives Land Act wrote in his book, Native Life in South Africa,  concerning the Act that: “Africans were born as pariahs in the land of their birth”.[2]  The 1913 Land Act stipulated that Africans were restricted to own 7% of the land in South Africa, while the remaining 93% of the land were allocated to white settlers.[3] The impact of this new law was far-reaching since it impoverished African communities, while enforcing racial segregation. The following essay will discuss the economic and social impact of the Natives Land Act and how it laid the foundation for the system of Apartheid.

Firstly, the Natives Land Act impoverished black South Africans, since they were not given enough land to become independent farmers.[4] The land allocated to them were also overused and infertile which lessened their agricultural production and their income. According to the law, Africans were also not allowed to rent land allocated to white settlers, which forced them to live in overpopulated and impoverished reserves.[5] Since Africans were not allowed to rent land, sharecropping also became illegal. Sharecropping refers to the practice where various farmers, regardless of race, could sow on the same land and split the profit. Under the Natives Land Act this practice was declared illegal and previous sharecroppers were destitute and impoverished without a source of income.[6] This forced many Africans to become cheap labour tentants or farm labourers, since they could not farm independently on the land allocated to them. Other Africans were forced into the mining industry and were given minimum wages.[7] Ultimately, the Native Land Act impoverished Africans, since they were left destitute without their land, roaming around without enough fertile soil to feed their cattle or themselves. This forced Africans to sell their livestock to survive or kill the livestock for meat while becoming cheap labour as labour tenants or miners.[8]

Secondly, the Natives Land Act had a vast social impact on Africans. The Act promoted the racial ideology that white settlers were superior to Africans and therefore the races had to be divided by law.[9] This enabled the Union of South Africa to pass legislation that gave 93% of the country, with its rich resources, to the white population, while forcing Africans into servitude. After this legislation was accepted, Africans were evicted from their land and were forced to wander around with their cattle and possessions in extremely hot and cold weather.[10] Those who pitied destitute Africans were also forbidden by law to give them a place to stay, since they would be fined 100 pounds or be imprisoned.[11] This forced Africans to live in overpopulated and infertile areas, where they were malnourished and sick.[12] Africans hardly had enough food to feed themselves and therefore it was no surprise that they were often forced to kill their livestock or sell them before they died of hunger.[13]

After the implementation of the Natives Land Act, the SANNC was established in 1913 to fight against the new law and to promote racial equality.[14] Members of the SANNC, which included Sol Plaatje, sent a delegation to Prime Minister, Louis Botha in 1914 which showed the impact of the Natives Land Act. This delegation failed, which resulted in the SANNC travelling abroad to Britain to ask for them to intervene[15]. However, since the delegation occurred at the start of the First World War, Britain did not want to lose the support of the white settlers in South Africa. After the South African War, Britain’s relationship with the Afrikaners were still fragile and they did not want to lose their support by intervening with their new racist policies. This led to Sol Plaatje writing his book, Native Life in South Africa, which documents the delegations sent to Louis Botha and to Britain, while portraying how Africans became “pariahs” in the land of their birth.[16]

While the SANNC actively fought against the Natives Land Act, they could not overturn it. The Natives Land Act became the precursor to Apartheid, since it led to the establishment of various other laws, such as the Urban Areas Act (1923), the Natives and Land Trust Act (1936), The Group Areas Act (1950) and the Natives Act (1952). These laws controlled the movement of employed Africans into the cities (Urban Areas Act)[17], while illegalizing ownership of land by Africans that are allocated to white settlers (Native Land Act, Land Trust Act, Group Areas Act)[18] and forced Africans to wear passes (Natives Act).[19]

In conclusion, the Natives Land Act impoverished Africans and forced them into destitution based on their race. This then made the Act a precursor to further racist legislation that segregated black and white South Africans based on the racial hierarchy where the white man was viewed as superior to the black man. Africans became pariahs in their home country and while they tried to oppose the Natives Land Act, Britain refused to intervene, which enabled the Union of South Africa to continue issuing racist legislation.

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