2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Review by John Stevens, September 14, 2011
Apartheid South Africa: An Insider's Overview of the Origin and Effects of Separate Development.
Review by John Stevens
Having lived in South Africa for many years I assumed I knew a lot about the country, but after reading this book I am shocked at my ignorance. For instance, I had always heard that apartheid was an Afrikaner invention, but apparently it's not. Neither was I aware of how criminally Kitchener behaved during the Boer War. And how many locals knew that we had 7 atomic devices before the ANC came into power?
Although packed with information the book is very readable, and except for a few places, the personal details are sufficiently important not to detract from the subject. The author speaks with authority, with an approach objective enough to be appreciated by any race group. This is fortunate, because no sector of the population is left untouched.
Neither does Allen spare other countries where apartheid exists. His chapter on the US, for example, reveals cracks in that country's handling of racial issues that go back as far as the Founding Fathers. It's quite an eye-opener and a must-read for Americans. Their system certainly isn't squeaky clean.
The book has many appendices and they work well, allowing extra reading material without interrupting the flow of the narrative. A few of them aren't (as far as I know) in any other work on the subject, like Nelson Mandela's Statement from the Dock and the ANC Freedom Charter. I found these two documents very helpful in understanding the political climate during that era of great turmoil.
It's a pity that Apartheid South Africa is published solely in America and not in South Africa as well. Those in the country could benefit enormously were this book more accessible. An inexpensive paperback would be most welcome, especially in the classroom. I notice that universities and colleges in the US are using this book as authoritative reference material, so why not South Africa's educational institutions? We ought to be first in promoting our country's history, not trailing behind.
As an overview of the origin and effects of separate development, Apartheid South Africa exceeded my expectations. I highly recommend it.
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3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
In-depth view of separate development (apartheid), June 2, 2009
This is an in-depth view of separate development (apartheid), that you won't usually get out of the main stream media. The author takes us on a tour of South Africa from his arrival as a child and his interaction with the Afrikaans culture all throughout adult hood. His firsthand experience gives us a better understanding of the social and political dynamics of the time.
The book starts with a much needed chronological list of the racial discrimination laws that most people are oblivious to, were actually initiated, implemented and reinforced by the British government in South Africa from 1892 until 1946 and continued by the Afrikaans National Party government in 1949 under the name of separate development mostly known by its Afrikaans translation as apartheid.
The author tries to give us a somewhat balanced description of the suffering of the black population both by their subjugation from the National Party government under apartheid and also by the lesser publicized barbaric and cruel acts committed by blacks on their fellow blacks. The latter actions were so savage and brutal that they can only be labeled as acts of terrorism, such as amputations of limbs, torture and the infamous necklacing where a gasoline soaked tire was slung around the victims neck and set alight by members and sympathizers of the Marxist ANC (African National Congress); they also planted bombs targeting innocent civilians. Their leader was none other than Nelson Mandela.
Even though the book is well balanced overall, I would like to critique three arguments presented by the author:
1-) He claims that the National Party government didn't want peace because they were fighting the Communists in Angola. I don't think the National Party had much of a choice than to fight the communist intervention in Angola. MPLA was allowing SWAPO to create military bases in Angola; they were trained and equipped by Cuba, East Germany and other communist countries, to launch incursions into South West Africa (Namibia). Plus, the South African government could clearly see the pattern of Marxist trained guerrillas destabilizing the African continent and installing one party communist dictatorship under the flag of "liberation". They saw the chaos, hunger and repression in neighbouring countries like Mozambique with Samora Machel, Zimbabwe with Robert Mugabe, and others like Ethiopia with Mengistu Haile Mariam. The South Africans and UNITA defeated militarily the Cubans-MAPLA in Angola with their Soviet logistical support. By doing so, they avoided the violent transition to majority rule, saving them selves from suffering the same fate as the rest their neighbouring countries.
2-) The author also alleges that the National Party used propaganda to create the perception that the ANC wanted to take down the National Party government by violence means. By doing so, the author is showing his naivete toward Mandela and the ANC's real agenda during this period. The ANC's main goal was to defeat the government by armed struggle, civil violence and disobedience. Consequently, the organization trained and equipped its fighters in neighbouring countries. Their Marxist instructors always kept their military training hand in hand with their ideology, but after many years without real results and the clear decline of the Soviet block in the early 90's, they finally came to the realization that they weren't able to defeat such a powerful and well-trained army as the SADF (South Africa Defence Forces); therefore, the ANC was resigned to the realization that the changes in South Africa were going to happen as an evolutionary process into a democratic society rather than as a violent revolutionary one leading to a Marxist totalitarian regime.
3-) He also makes reference to the trial of General Magnus Malan and other members of the Defence forces' top echelons of power, without giving the specifics of the fairness of the charges. The trial was proven to be nothing more than an ANC strategy to damage the image of the SADF. The ANC was trying to connect the SADF's leadership with an act of violence committed by some members of the Inkatha-aligned Zulus who were trained by the SADF to provide security to the Chief Minister of the KwaZulu homeland and other important persons - mostly members of the Inkatha. During this period, members of the Inkatha were being frequently assassinated by their political rival the ANC. The witnesses were proven by the court to have fabricated their stories and Magnus Malan and the rest of the officers were acquitted of all charges. Their then President Nelson Mandela didn't have other choice but to publicly accept the decision of the courts. In the same manner, I don't quite understand how the author interpreted Malan's words in the trial, "I'm a Christian, a Democrat and a reformist" as a sign of someone that is a racist and doesn't feel any remorse.
Further reading is needed to have an overall picture without falling victim to some of the author's naive dismissals of the seriousness of the communist threat that was hovering over South Africa during the cold war era and his understandable but sometimes unfounded prejudice with anything that belonged to the old regime.
Apartheid was an unsustainable and unjust practice; there is much misinformation and many misconceptions in the west about the reality of South Africa during that era and I recommend this book because it is well researched and provided a unique firsthand knowledge account, making it an important addition to any serious reader about Southern Africa.
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