by Sammy Stein

Created on: January 24, 2008   Last Updated: September 17, 2009

An argument for the reasons behind why apartheid was established could be because the first white settlers in South Africa were from the class of people who genuinely thought they were above other races and colours.
These people were funded by royalty or institutions and their remit was to find new lands, and see what materials could be obtained and sold for profit.

Many of these organisations behind the first settlers were shipping companies who were trying to be the first to bring back goods like spices, gold and ivory to Europe -at huge profits for their owners.

The people were upper class in charge of the expeditions. Because the voyages were hard and they worked very hard , overcoming weather, illness and wars on the way , these people genuinely thought they were in the hands of God and that the lands discovered were theirs for the taking.
There was in their society no sense of social equality or rights for those less educated and with less advanced weaponry at their disposal, it was a case of 'if you are bigger and stronger, you take what is there'.

So, naturally, the first governors of South Africa and adjoining lands were white - they were Dutch and later English. It was not only commercial good which were exploited. Plants were much sought after and plant hunters were commissioned on voyages by institutions like Kew Gardens and Edinburgh Botanical gardens. Their remit was to find new plants and bring material back to Europe- notably the UK.
Their adventures make Livingstone seem tame but they were still part of that ilk of people who thought the new lands were theirs for the taking.
There was little thought to the people who lived there.

Then, of course, came the slave trade. Not only South Africa but many other parts of the great continent had a most valuable commodity -people. These people were uneducated savages in their eyes and were obvious candidates for trade.

It may seem simplistic but the long term effects of this attitude led to the apartheid system. Rich settlers took lands with little regard for original tribal territories. Nomadic lifestyles were not understood but wealth and the establishment of estates for growing commodities like fruit and commercial crops which could be shipped abroad was far more in their interest, so estates aware established and tribal people displaced.
Native people did not share in the wealth South Africa has to offer and neither were they educated or taught commercial skills to alleviate the poverty forced upon them. Because work was often on estates, nomadic lifestyles became distant memories and the native people were used and lived in poverty alongside the wealthy estate houses of the whites.

Much later, the native people began to demand rights and campaigns were launched against white settlers, making trade and life more uncomfortable. What to do about this? Segregate was the answer and so apartheid was born. Keep the races apart and introduce classes of person to make the problem go away, or at least remain hidden If natives cannot swim on the same beaches, travel on the same bus or go to the same school, contact is reduced and it makes life more comfortable. What they did not realise is that they were storing up more trouble for the future.
Apartheid was evil and made a mockery of the Christian beliefs these settlers were meant to possess. It meant thinking you were superior to your native brothers and sisters.
Luckily, it is disappearing but it will be many generations before natives and white are considered totally equal-by both sides.

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