Apartheid Laws

Black Land Act No 27

Oct 14, 1913

This law in 1913 prohibited blacks from being able to own or rent any land outside of certain areas. The areas of land where they were able to own land only consisted of 7% of South African land.

Immorality Act No 5

Oct 14, 1927

Whites and blacks were no longer allowed to have extra-martial affairs. It was part of petty apartheid because it only effected a very small part of the population, yet the government felt the need to create legislation against it.

Natives (Urban Areas) Consolidation Act No 25

Oct 14, 1945

This law said that any male who was leading an idle life could be removed from an urban area. It only applied to black adult males.

Population Registration Act No 30

Oct 14, 1950

This law was more strict than previous racial laws. Every individual had to be identified and registered as either white, black, colored, or asiatic.

Black Building Workers Act No 27

Oct 14, 1951

This law prohibited all colored and blacks from working skilled jobs in the building industry in urban areas that were white areas.

Black (Native) Laws Amendment Act No 54:

Oct 14, 1952

This act specified that all black people over the age of 16 had to carry passes. Unless they had permission, no black was allowed to stay in a white urban area for over 72 hours. It permitted authorities to send black to their "homeland" if they were arrested.

Reservation of Separate Amenities Act No 49

Oct 14, 1953

This law allowed public amenities and facilities such as parks, beaches, bathrooms, water fountains, etc, to be seperated racially.

Black Education Act No 47

Oct 16, 1953

This act formally segregated not only blacks and whites, but blacks and coloreds. It effectively created the Bantu educational system.

Separate Representation of Voters Act

Oct 16, 1956

This act made it possible to begin removing coloreds from the voting process. Blacks and coloreds began to lose the right to vote.

Representation between Republic of South Africa and Self-Governing Territories Act No 46

Oct 16, 1959

This law permitted the tribal reserves to become actual Bantustans. Once they became Bantustans, they could self-govern. It also removed parliamentary representation of Blacks in the South-African government. Each tribal group was assigned a white Commissioner-General who oversaw the process of transitioning from a reservation to a self-governing state.