Movements in Africa · Part 2

crops. They set up internment camps for Boer women and children. Shortage of food, medical and sanitary facilities caused the death of , people. The British annexed the two Boer states. Boers were however promised self-government in due course. In , full responsible government was given to the Transvaal and the Orange Free State. The four states formed into a union and the South Africa Act passed by the British parliament in provided for a Union Parliament at Cape Town. The Union of South Africa came into being in May . The descendents of original Dutch settlers of South Africa, also known as Afrikaners, were called Boers. Their language is Afrikaans. Nationalist Politics in South Africa There were two main political parties: the Unionist Party which was mainly British, and the South Africa Party which had largely Afrikaners (Boers). The first Prime Minister, Botha belonged to the South Africa Party ruled in cooperation with the British. But a militant section of the South Africa Party formed the National Party under Herzog. In the elections the National Party gained forty- four seats. The South Africa Party, now led by Smuts, secured forty-one seats. At this juncture the British-dominated Unionist Party merged with the South Africa Party. This gave Smuts a majority over the militant Afrikaner-controlled National Party. Racist Policy against the Blacks The Afrikaners pursued a harsher, racist policy towards the blacks and the minority Indians. In , an Act was passed to confine the native residents to certain parts of towns. Already an Act of had segregated black and white farmers, which made it impossible for the blacks to acquire land in most parts of the country. The elections were won by the National Party with the support of the Labour movement, composed mainly of white miners. The Smuts Boer War The World between Two World Wars Act passed in prevented blacks from striking work and from joining trade unions. In the Cape Province the voting right to blacks was abolished. Native Blacks suffered