Violence between African and Indian residents erupted amid poverty, racial segregation and labour competition. More than 140 people died, exposing divisions produced and manipulated by colonial rule.
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Resisters occupied land in Durban to defy the Asiatic Land Tenure and Indian Representation Act, known as the Ghetto Act. More than 2,000 people were eventually imprisoned.
African mineworkers launch a mass strike 12 August 1946
About 60,000 to 76,000 Black miners struck for higher wages and better conditions. Police and troops violently suppressed the week-long action, killing and injuring workers.
After India raised the treatment of people of Indian origin, the UN General Assembly declared that relations between the two countries should conform to international obligations and the UN Charter.
Alfred Xuma, Yusuf Dadoo and Monty Naicker signed a declaration of cooperation, committing their organizations to joint struggle for full democratic rights.
The National Party wins the general election 26 May 1948
The National Party came to power on an apartheid platform despite receiving fewer votes overall than its opponents. The Black majority had no national vote.
👉 The Durban riots begin Current 13 January 1949
Violence between African and Indian residents erupted amid poverty, racial segregation and labour competition. More than 140 people died, exposing divisions produced and manipulated by colonial rule.
The ANC adopts the Programme of Action 17 December 1949
The programme called for boycotts, strikes, civil disobedience and non-cooperation. It marked a shift from petitions toward mass mobilization against white minority rule.
The ANC, Communist Party and trade unions called workers to stay home for political rights and against repression. Police killed at least eighteen people in clashes on the Witwatersrand.
The Communist Party dissolves before it is banned 20 June 1950
Facing the Suppression of Communism Act, the CPSA dissolved publicly. Members later reorganized underground as the South African Communist Party.
The first national Freedom Day protest takes place 26 June 1950
The ANC and allied organizations organized a stay-at-home and day of mourning following the May Day killings and in protest against apartheid laws.
The Group Areas Act becomes law 7 July 1950
The act authorized compulsory residential and business segregation and became a major legal instrument for mass forced removals from multiracial neighbourhoods.