South Africa After the Boer War: Baaskap and Segregation

After the Anglo-Boer war, the British decided to appease the defeated Boers by offering some concessions. In the Peace of Vereeniging (1902) white people in the Transvaal and Orange Free State were allowed to decide how they wanted to treat Africans. At the time there were 3 schools of thought about how Africans should be treated. First, in the liberal tradition of the Cape. Under the policy Africans would be treated as citizens if conformed to white standards. This applied to educated Africans who owned or leased property who were then afforded a right to vote. As a result, only about 4.7% of Africans could vote in the Cape.

The second was baaskap, which was practiced in the Transvaal and Orange Free State or thirdly, through the policy of protective segregation which had been used in Natal and parts of the Cape. In addition to finding a common policy for treating Africans, the British and Boers also tried to find common ground on how to treat Indians. There were about 100,000 Indians living in Natal and about 10,000 in the Transvaal at the time.

Some Africans who benefitted from the Cape system such as John Tengo Jabavu distanced themselves from other Africans as a way to preserve their crumbs they had received from their colonial powers. John Tengo Jabavu received financial to start a newspaper, Imvo Zabantsundu (African Opinion). Consequently, the newspaper hardly criticized any aspects of white rule. Jabavu died in 1921 having accomplished nothing in furthering the cause of Africans.

The Baaskap system adopted by Boers proclaimed, “There shall be no equality in State or Church between white and black.” Many colonialists adopted the baaskap system because it protected their high wages in the mines and in industries. Africans were not allowed to occupy high skilled labor jobs and therefore were limited in the income they could earn.

The British colonialists tried a system of separation but land was becoming an issue. They established protectorates in Basutoland, Bechuanaland and Swaziland. At the same time, the population of Indians in Natal was also growing. Indian contract laborers who worked on sugar plantations were thought to be disciplined and uncomplaining workers and some moved into trading and other service industries. Soon they were viewed as a threat to unskilled Dutch and British workers so the British and Boers passed legislation to control their migration.