Prime Minister HF Verwoerd (1958-1966), aware of the ‘winds of change’ about to sweep through Africa, decided to implement what he regarded as South Africa’s own internal decolonisation process. South Africa’s 10 black ethnic groups would progress to “independence” in arbitrarily designated ‘homelands’.

Separate development deepened the repression experienced by non-white South Africans:

• Only 13.7% of land in South Africa was allocated to the 75% black majority.
• More than three million people were forcibly removed from their homes.
• Rigid segregation continued in 87,3% of the country and pass laws severely restricted freedom of movement and led to the arrest of more than 16 million people.
• It did not address the political rights of the growing black majority in the so-called white areas – or those of the “coloureds” and Indian minorities.
• It was vehemently rejected by a huge majority of South Africans and was increasingly castigated by the international community.