Y224: Apartheid and Reconciliation: South African Politics 1948-1999 | OCR A-Level History A (H505)

Y224: Apartheid and Reconciliation: South African Politics 1948-1999

80 questions
8 subtopics
Non-British period study, one of twenty-four
Y201 to Y224

Apartheid and Reconciliation: South African Politics 1948–1999 is unit Y224 of OCR History A, one of the twenty-four options in unit group 2, the non-British period study; a student sits one of them.

Its four key topics are Establishing Apartheid, the development of Apartheid and growing resistance, the collapse of Apartheid 1978–1989, A New South Africa 1989–1999. 80 recall questions across 8 subtopics.

Sample questions from Y224: Apartheid and Reconciliation: South African Politics 1948-1999

Answer each one closed book first, then open the answer.

Establishing Apartheid: South Africa before 1948, the 1948 election and racial classification

What did the Fagan report of 1948 and the Sauer report of 1947 recommend?

Show the answer
The Fagan report concluded that black urbanisation was permanent and should be managed, while the Sauer report for the Nationalists argued for reversing it through total separation.
Establishing Apartheid: the apartheid laws and early opposition

What role were the reserves meant to play in apartheid?

Show the answer
They were to be the only places where Africans held land and political rights, so that black workers in white cities could be treated as temporary migrants rather than citizens.
The development of Apartheid and growing resistance: Verwoerd, Vorster, the homelands and apartheid’s effects

State what the Bantu Self-Government Act of 1959 established.

Show the answer
It set up self-governing homelands for separate African ethnic groups, presenting them as future nations, and abolished the remaining white parliamentary representatives of Africans.
The development of Apartheid and growing resistance: Sharpeville, armed struggle, Black Consciousness and Soweto

How did the state suppress opposition in the 1960s?

Show the answer
New laws allowed banning, house arrest, detention without trial for lengthening periods and eventually indefinite detention of suspects, and the security police broke the underground networks of both movements.
The collapse of Apartheid 1978–1989: the state in 1978 and Botha’s Total Strategy

Define Total Onslaught.

Show the answer
It was the government's claim that South Africa faced a co-ordinated communist assault directed from Moscow through neighbouring states and internal opponents.
The collapse of Apartheid 1978–1989: nature and development of opposition, importance of FW de Klerk

What part did church leaders play in the struggle?

Show the answer
Figures such as Desmond Tutu and Allan Boesak gave the opposition a moral voice and international standing that the government could not easily silence, and church declarations denounced apartheid as a heresy.
A New South Africa 1989–1999: negotiations, the 1994 election and the Government of National Unity

How were the talks put back on track after 1992?

Show the answer
Mass protest and the shock of further killings pushed both sides back to the table, a record of understanding restored trust, and the ANC accepted sunset clauses guaranteeing power sharing and civil service jobs for a transitional period.
A New South Africa 1989–1999: the RDP, the 1996 constitution and the Truth and Reconciliation Commission

What were the key features of the constitution adopted in 1996?

Show the answer
It established a non-racial democracy with a justiciable bill of rights, an independent constitutional court, nine provinces and guarantees of equality that extended even to sexual orientation.

The 8 subtopics

One subtopic is one session. Work down the list.

Subtopic	What it covers	Questions
Establishing Apartheid: South Africa before 1948, the 1948 election and racial classification	Recall questions on black political rights and segregation before 1948, the Second World War, the Fagan and Sauer reports, the National Party’s 1948 victory, the meaning of apartheid and the Population Registration Act.	9
Establishing Apartheid: the apartheid laws and early opposition	Recall questions on laws on marriage and sex, the Group Areas Act, pass laws, the reserves, separate amenities, Bantu Education, state powers against opposition, the Defiance Campaign and white opposition.	11
The development of Apartheid and growing resistance: Verwoerd, Vorster, the homelands and apartheid’s effects	Recall questions on Verwoerd and Vorster, South Africa’s international position in 1960 and 1961, the Bantu Self-Government Act and homelands, the effects of apartheid on every group, the Freedom Charter and the founding of the PAC.	11
The development of Apartheid and growing resistance: Sharpeville, armed struggle, Black Consciousness and Soweto	Recall questions on Sharpeville, the ANC’s turn to armed struggle, the Rivonia Trial, state repression, Black Consciousness, women’s resistance, other forms of protest, the Soweto uprising and hardening international opinion.	9
The collapse of Apartheid 1978–1989: the state in 1978 and Botha’s Total Strategy	Recall questions on the apartheid state’s strengths and weaknesses in 1978, adapt or die, Total Onslaught and Total Strategy, Botha’s labour reforms and repeals, the tricameral constitution and the white right.	9
The collapse of Apartheid 1978–1989: nature and development of opposition, importance of FW de Klerk	Recall questions on nature and development of opposition in this period, international relations and international opposition to Apartheid, reasons for and consequences of the State of Emergency 1985–1990, reasons for, nature and consequences of de Klerk’s reforms, importance of FW de Klerk.	11
A New South Africa 1989–1999: negotiations, the 1994 election and the Government of National Unity	Recall questions on South Africa in 1989, the first steps to settlement, CODESA and its breakdown, the resumed talks, political violence, the white right, the 1994 election, the Government of National Unity and Mandela’s presidency.	9
A New South Africa 1989–1999: the RDP, the 1996 constitution and the Truth and Reconciliation Commission	Recall questions on the Reconstruction and Development Programme and its replacement, the 1996 constitution, the National Party’s exit, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and its critics, foreign relations, sport and problems by 1999.	11

Y224: Apartheid and Reconciliation: South African Politics 1948-1999 is 80 of the 6,240 questions in the guide.Get the guide, £8

How the guide is worked

Answering a question from memory stores it far better than reading the answer again. The guide runs that as a fixed procedure on one subtopic at a time, about twenty minutes a session.

Step 1 · Closed book
Cover the answers. Work through one subtopic and write down what you can. Leave blanks where you have nothing.
Step 2 · Open book
Go back to the top. Read each printed answer and write it out in full, including the ones you had right.
Step 3 · Closed book again
Same questions, same order, from memory. The gap between pass one and pass three is the session result.

Read the full method, the return schedule and the research behind it.