INTRODUCTION

During the 1980's the apartheid government came under increasing internal pressure
apartheid it was a policy that discriminates people according to race, it was adopted
by National Party(NP) in 1948. The National Party attempted a political solution to the
crisis it faced creating the cosmetic tricameral parliament. This system of gorvernce
tampered with but did not challenge apartheid.
Popular protest by masses of ordinary South African against the apartheid regime
reached its height in the 1980s and the government responded with extreme brutality
and repression.

FACTORS RESULTING IN THE CRISIS

1. A global economic crisis:
In the 1980’s there was a global economic crisis as a result, the South African
currency lost value, the gold price dropped; unemployment and inflation rates
were high.
2. The resistance movement gains momentum:
The economic crisis, which ordinary people felt in the rising.
3. Chief Mangosuthu Buthelezi and the Zulu Nationalist movement called Inkatha :
The resistance issue was complicated by Chief Mangosuthu Buthelezi and the
Zulu Nationalist called Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) , I Katha resisted apartheid
to some extent, but also opposed the African National Congress (ANC). Inkatha
refused independence for KwaZulu which was offered to them by National Party
(NP) but also hostility between Inkatha and the UDF often became violent
confrontations.
4. Apartheid was becoming more expensive to defend and maintain:
For example, the government spent too much money on the military and it was
costing nearly R7 billion a years on defense. The bantustans and the
infrastructure of the complex bureaucracy of apartheid were also draining the
economy.
5. The skilled labour shortage:
There was a serious shortage of skilled labour which caused the economy to
suffer. There were not enough artisans and apprentices to service modern
industry. Racial colour bars meant that skilled labour was reserved for white
workers only. The shortage of skilled labour pushed up the wages of skilled
labour’s. A white immigration council was setup in 1960 to recruit and assist
skilled immigrants from England and Europe by the mid-1980s, civil protests
and the new laws forced foreign nationals to participate in the military call-up
meant that many skilled Whites began to emigrate.
6. The consumer population was too small:
Apartheid laws kept most black people poor and reduced their purchasing power.
The size of the white consumer population was too small to drive economic
growth.
7. Discontent because tax increases:
Too meet the high costs of apartheid, the regime increased sales tax from 4% to
13%. In the 1980’s the income tax increased mostly affected white middle income
earners. Thus created discontent among the supporters of the National Party. In
1982, for example, the conservative party broke from the National Party as it
wanted to tighten that apartheid laws.
8. The Apartheid regime wanted to force their neighboring states to co-operate with
them, therefore “ Total strategy” was extended beyond South Africa’s border
into other countries in Southern Africa:
The SADF was used brutally destabilize to weaken support for the banned ANC
and wreck the economies of black majority ruled governments. The Apartheid
regime wanted to force their neighboring states to co-operate with them.
Civic wars were fueled in Angola and Mozambique. UNITA was supported in
Angola, Renato in Mozambique and the South African Defense Force(SADF)
made occasionally direct attacks on Lesotho, Botswana and Zimbabwe. The
SADF sent its troops onto the Northern Namibian border to wipe out swapo
guerrilla bases in Southern Angola who opposed the South African occupation
of South West Africa (Namibia).

The SADF also want into Angola to aid unita against the MPLA government.
Cuban troops were sent to support the MPLA. In 1988 , a joint force of Cuban
troops and the MPLA defeated the sadf and unita in the famous battle of
customer Carnevale. This was also a turning point in the defeat of apartheid in
Namibia in 1989 although history is meant to be 100% factual, historian often
differ about actual dates and interpretation of events their interpretation are often
influenced by their backgrounds or their involvement/connection to the event to
read an example of an event that’s details are often contested click here
(Angola, the battle of customer carnevale) . The SADF also fought a war in
Mozambique and supported rename against samora machel’s frelimo
governments.

The challenge of black consciousness to the apartheid state :

The black consciousness movement heavily supported the protests, in policies
of the apartheid regime which led to the Soweto Uprising in June 1976. The
protests began when it was decreed that black students to be forced to learn
 Afrikaans, and that many secondary schools classes were to be taught in that
language.

9. The Nature and aim of black consciousness:

According to Biko, “ what black consciousness seeks to do is to produce at the
output end of the process, real black people who do not consider themselves
as appendages to white society “. In apartheid South Africa, black
consciousness aimed to unite citizens under the main cause of their oppression.
10. The Role of Steve Biko in black consciousness movement:
Born in 18 December 1946, Steve Biko was a South African activist who
pioneered the Philosophy of black consciousness in the late 1960s. He later
founded the South African Students Organisation(SASO) in 1968 to represent
the interests of black students in the university of Natal (Later KwaZulu Natal).

11. Black consciousness movement

A core idea within the black consciousness movement was the need for blacks
to change their mentality and free their minds from ideas of inferiority that
apartheid had long incouraged.

12. The Soweto Uprising

High School student-led protests in South Africa began on the morning of June
16 1976 , in response to the introduction of Afrikaans as the medium of
instruction in local schools known as the Soweto Uprising, an estimated 20 000
students took part in the protests.
13. Legacy of black consciousness on South African politics
The black consciousness movement gave rise to an enduring consciousness
among oppressed south african, who found political homes in different
organizations but shared a common commitment to end a crime against
humanity. Bantu Steve Biko led people, not parties.

14. The crisis of Apartheid in the 80s

During the 1980s apartheid government came under increasing internal
pressure. Botha constitution triggered an increase in unrest and the debt crisis
that brought growth to a halt. In the 1980’s, a time of population explosion, the
economy experienced only In the 1980’s, a time of population explosion, the
economy experienced only the three years of reasonably vigorou growth in
 1981, 1984 and 1988 for the decade it had grown at only 1.3 per cent a year by
late 1980s the South African economy was struggling with the effects of the
internal and external boycotts as well as the burden of its military commitment in
occupying Namibia defenders of the apartheid regime both inside and outside
south africa had promoted it as a bulwark against communism.

15. Government attempts to reform apartheid

Although the government had the power to suppress virtually all criticism of its
policies, there was always some opposition to apartheid within South Africa.
Black African groups with the support of some Whites, held demonstration and
strikes, and there were many instances of violent protests and sabotage.
During the 1980s, the government came under increasing internal pressure.

16. Internal Resistance to reforms

The NP made several attempts to reform the apartheid system beginning with
the constitutional referendum of 1983. Internal resistance to apartheid in South
Africa originated from several independent sectors of South African society
and took forms ranging from social movements and passive resistance to
guerrilla warfare.

17. International response to reform in the 1980s

In the 1980s the anti-Apartheid movement grew from a small but determined
pressure group into Britain ‘s biggest-ever mass movements on an international
issue. It mobilized hundreds of thousands of people all over Britain in
demonstrations for sanctions against South Africa and the release of Nelson
Mandela. One of the primary means for the international community to show
its aversion to apartheid was to boycotts South in a variety of spheres of
multinational life. Economic and military sanctions where are among these but
cultural and sporting point college also found their way in.

18. The end on 1980s apartheid

The apartheid (1948 to 1994) in South Africa was the racial segregation under
the all-white government of South Africa (Most of the population) were required
to live in separate areas from Whites and use separate public facilities and
contacts between the two groups.
Conclusion
To conclude, the years of violent internal protest, weakening Whites commitment,
international economic and struggles and the end of the cold war brought down white
minority rule in Pretoria the apartheid Era in South Africa history refers to the time that
the National Party led the country ‘s white minority government from 1948 to 1994.
In this research I have learned about activists, the factors contributing to the crisis of
Apartheid started and ended.
REFERENCES
Internet :: https//www.historyextra.com
Books : : History book Grade 12 New Generation