Joe Slovo

Apartheid in South Africa

The definition of an apartheid claims that is when a minority of a country, group, or race rules over the majority of a country, group or race. The word apartheid comes from the Afrikaan language and means separateness.

In South Africa, during the seventeenth century, England and Holland started to build colonies in South Africa because of the rich sources of the country. Over the next few years, the colonists gained power and lead the South African National Party. This was the the spark of the issues the country would have under racial discrimination. With a percentage of less than twenty percent, the white population, in 1948, controlled South Africa, and the Apartheid regime was ruling South Africa till 1994.

The white rulers were convinced that separate places to live, as well as separated education and amenities, were better for white and black people. But during this time, the new government deployed several disenfranchising laws that separated and oppressed the non-white people. They weren't allowed to live in the cities, enter beaches, get a good education, and live a free life. The whites took the rich land away and built homelands in the poor areas for the rest.

The black, colored, and Indians could not vote, which made it more difficult to end the regime. In 1950, the first uprising began and violence, protesting, and rebellion against the Apartheid started to become more and more popular. Violence was often the response from the official government. After years of protests, violence, and a trade embargo with the country, South Africa's president Frederik Willem de Klerk started to negotiate in 1990 with several countries to find a peaceful solution. Finally in 1994, Nelson Mandela was selected as the South African president, who officially reconciled Apartheid.

The Biography of Joe Slovo

Joe Slovo was born on May 23, 1926, in the village of Obelai, Lithuania.

When Slovo was eight, his family emigrated to South Africa from Lithuania because of the anti-Semitic climate. From 1935 to 1937, Slovo went to the Jewish Government School, and from there, he attended Observatory Junior from 1937 to 1939. From 1939 to 1940, he went to Yeoville Boys; soon there after, he attended Observatory Junior High School in 1940.

In 1942, Slovo worked as a dispatch clerk at SA Druggists. After he joined the National Union of Distributive Workers, he was involved in organising a strike, and in 1942, he joined the SACP (South African Communist Party). From 1946 to 1950, Slovo studied law at the University of the Witswatersrand, and graduated with a BA LLB at Wits. He wanted to become an advocate and defense lawyer. In 1966, Slovo completed his Master of Law, LLM, at the London School of Economics.

Slovo married the daughter of SACP treasurer Julius First, Ruth. Together, theyhad three kids, Shawn, Gillian, and Robyn. Ruth was killed in 1982 by a parcel bomb, killed at her office in Maputo, Mozambique. At first, Slovo was accused of being the one who murdered his wife, but was found not guilty. Soon afterwards in 1984, Slovo married Helena Dolny, who was also in the same building as the one where Ruth First was killed.

Slovo became ill in 1991, as he stepped down as general-secretary of SACP. He eventually died on January 6, 1995 from leukemia. At his funeral, President Nelson Mandela gave a speech praising the good work of Joe Slovo, and all that he had achieved in the fight against apartheid in South Africa.

Role in the fight against Apartheid

Joe Slovo was one of the most notable communists of his time. After leaving school and working as a Clerksman, he joined the National Union of Distributive Workers, and, after reaching a high placed position as the shop steward, organized several mass actions. During his first few years as one of the members of the communist party, he volunteered to join the South African Forces based in Egypt and Italy.

That same year he graduated, he was banned from government meetings and quotations due to the suppression of Communism Act. It didn't refrain him, however, from continuing his actions to support the anti-Apartheid groups.

In 1953, he joined the national consultative committee branch for the Congress Alliance as one of the founding members of the Congress of Democrats. In 1955, he helped draft the Freedom Charter, which proposed an equalized government which was unbiased and focused on democratic features. However, when he did so, he incidentally triggered the Treason Trial, and was arrested with Nelson Mandela and 155 others. Two months later, he was released, and the charged dropped in 1958, formally.  

Two years later, under the order of the SACP and ANC, Joe left South Africa and lived in exile for 23 years.

At one point, he moved to Mozambica, only to leave again around 1986 upon the request of the Mozambician Government due to the Nkomati Accord signing in South Africa. Thus, he moved to Zambia, where he was appointed the first white member of the ANC national executive counsel. From there, he because the general-secretary of the South African Communist Party.

In 1990, with the laws against ANC and SACP were taken away, Joe returned to his former home, Johannesburg, South Africa. There, he became a key role in the persuasion to get the Apartheid to end. He negotiated between many anti-Apartheid groups and the current ruling party, and was also known for being personally responsible for the 'sunset clause', a form of peace treaty that set the path for freedom of the blacks in South Africa. With that, he continued to play leadership roles in government and law until his untimely death in 1995.

" The whole of that part of Southern Africa which is controlled by racial minorities is experiencing either consistent and regular guerrilla activity or is faced with advanced preparation for its commencement."
by Joe Slovo