How Racist attitudes in South Africa changed over time

White racism was not a concept unique to South Africa from the time of colonialism and after. It was common for Europeans throughout the world to feel their race was superior to the black or native race which justified conquest and black enslavement. However South Africa was a unique case in that while the rest of the world started to move towards equality and independence, South Africa moved in the opposite direction, developing “into a systematic and legalized discrimination shaping the economic, social and political structure of the whole country.” Racist attitudes certainly changed and were influenced throughout the centuries, but I believe that many of these attitudes were the result of situations that developed within South Africa, affecting relations between the white colonizers and the black colonized.

In 1652, Dutch settlers from the Dutch East India Company founded the settlement that they called the Cape of Good Hope. During their early settlement, they struggled to keep peace with the Khoikhoi natives. There was not enough land to keep the Dutch and the Khoikhoi happy and there was a constant tug of war for the land, cattle and access to water that did exist in the Cape. However, Van Riebeck, the founder of the settlement had been instructed to “treat the Khoikhoi with great gentleness” He remarked that “living in peace with the Khoikhoi was impossible, but killing them was barbarous and unchristian.” This gives us some insight into the earlier mindsets of the early Afrikaners, who are labelled as the antagonist in all South African narratives. Although it is true that their white superiority took over their early conscience, it is clear that they had good intentions in the early stages of their settlem...

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...s has been a natural change. I believe that events that have happened in the country have shaped the attitudes of white Africans towards their black neighbours and have influenced them to take action according to their beliefs. Ordinance 50 and the abolition of slavery for example enhanced their feeling of superiority by undermining the institutions that they had in place. Similarly, the rise of capitalism during the Mineral Revolution and need for fixed labour caused the Afrikaners to force black Africans to work in such appalling conditions for low wages. However it is interesting to note that despite the forever changing attitudes of the Afrikaners, Nelson Mandela’s attitude towards his white persecutors never changed. He remained convinced that despite a lifetime’s evidence to the contrary, behind Apartheid’s mask of brutality lurked an essential humanity.