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Unlock This CourseBefore 1978 South Africa had already lost its place in world sport and could not legally buy weapons abroad. But its main trading partners still refused to stop trade. In the 1980s that began to change, for three reasons.
Key terms:
White South Africans loved rugby and cricket, so the sports boycott hurt their pride. When the Springbok rugby team toured New Zealand in 1981, huge protests followed it for 56 days, and protesters on the pitch stopped the match at Hamilton. After that, official tours dried up. South Africa paid large sums for rebel tours instead. The English cricketers who went in 1982, including Graham Gooch, were banned from playing for England for three years.
In December 1980 the UN General Assembly called for a cultural boycott, and from 1983 the UN published a list of entertainers who broke it. Many had played at Sun City, a resort in the homeland of Bophuthatswana. In 1985 the American musician Steven Van Zandt gathered stars to record the protest song 'Sun City'. In Britain 'Free Nelson Mandela' by The Special AKA was a hit in 1984. On 11 June 1988 a concert at Wembley Stadium in London for Mandela's 70th birthday was shown on television in more than 60 countries.
Sport and culture cost South Africa little money. Their impact was on minds: they told whites that the world saw them as outcasts, and they made Mandela the most famous prisoner on earth.
The pressure that hurt most came from money, and the crisis year was 1985.
South Africa could no longer borrow abroad, yet it had to keep repaying old loans, so money flowed out of the country every year. The weak rand made imports dearer and pushed prices up. Without new investment, factories were not modernised and too few jobs were created. For most of the 1980s the economy grew more slowly than the population, so on average South Africans were getting poorer.
Botha stayed defiant, and many white voters resented being lectured by foreigners. But the government was running short of money to pay for the army, the police and the homelands. Business leaders, who saw no future for an isolated economy, pressed for a political settlement. By 1989 many National Party leaders believed that apartheid could no longer be afforded. Where that led is covered in the lesson De Klerk's Reforms and the Repeal of Apartheid.
The limits of the pressure. Sanctions were never complete. Britain under Margaret Thatcher and the USA under Reagan opposed strong sanctions, arguing that they would cost black workers their jobs. Britain accepted only limited measures, and West Germany and Japan also kept trading. The world still bought South Africa's gold, diamonds and rare metals. Goods were slipped in and out through other countries. Many departing firms simply sold their factories cheaply to South African owners, who went on making the same products. Sanctions squeezed the government. They could not bring it down on their own.
Don't say sanctions began in the 1980s: sport and arms were cut off earlier. What was new was pressure on trade, loans and investment. And don't claim that the big trading governments led the way. The blow that hurt most came from the banks in 1985, for business reasons, and Congress had to force strong sanctions on Reagan.
'The main reason why the National Party government was in crisis by 1989 was the impact of international sanctions and boycotts.'
How far do you agree? Explain your answer.
You may use the following in your answer:
You must also use information of your own. [16 marks]
Sanctions and boycotts did great damage, but I only partly agree, because the pressure from abroad was itself caused by resistance inside South Africa.
Sanctions were a major reason for the crisis because they hit the government's money. In July 1985 Chase Manhattan refused to renew its loans, and after Botha's Rubicon speech in August the rand had lost more than a quarter of its value and the government had to declare a debt standstill. In 1986 the US Comprehensive Anti-Apartheid Act and European Community sanctions banned new investment, and firms such as Barclays and General Motors left. With no new loans, the economy grew more slowly than the population, so the government struggled to afford its army and police. Sports and cultural boycotts added to this by making white South Africans feel like outcasts.
However, township unrest was at least as important. From the Vaal Triangle rising of September 1984, rent, school and consumer boycotts made many townships ungovernable. Botha could only regain control through a State of Emergency, with about 25,000 people detained in the first year of the national one. This showed that the government could rule only by force. The unrest also caused the sanctions: the banks acted days after the first emergency was declared, because television pictures of the townships convinced them that South Africa was no longer safe for their money.
A third reason was the failure of Botha's own reforms. The 1983 constitution left Africans out, which led directly to the founding of the UDF. Legal trade unions gave black workers new power, shown when more than 300,000 miners went on strike in 1987. Reform also split white politics, as the Conservative Party became the official opposition in 1987. So the government was losing support on both sides.
Overall, sanctions were not the main reason. Judged by which factor set off the others, resistance inside South Africa mattered most: the unrest came first, and it triggered both the emergency and the flight of the banks. Sanctions then turned a political crisis into a financial one, which is why they were important, but without the townships there would have been little pressure from abroad.
What lifts this to the top level: it covers three aspects, including one that is not in the bullets, shows how the factors are linked, and reaches a judgement using a stated test (which factor set off the others).
An answer that uses only the two bullets cannot reach the top level, so plan a third factor, such as the failure of Botha's reforms, before you start writing. In the real exam you choose either (c)(i) or (c)(ii). For more help, see the Exam Skills lesson Paper 1 Question (c): The 16-Mark How Far Do You Agree Essay.