Support for segregationist policies gradually increased amongst white South Africans.

Mark scheme

Marking points from the official mark scheme (May/June 2021). The mark or mark type is shown in brackets.

1. [1] Agents recruited young men from their villages to work in mines.
2. [1] Black South Africans migrated from their villages to work in diamond and gold mines.
3. [1] Migrant workers were on short contracts.
4. [1] While at work, the workers lived in male-only compounds.
5. [1] The mining companies fed and housed the workers.
6. [1] The mining companies kept the wages low.
7. [1] The workers took their wages back to their home villages.
8. [1] The workers were treated harshly by their overseers.
9. [6] The Natives Land Act of 1913 was highly unpopular with black South Africans because it banned share-cropping, a system that allowed them to farm for themselves by giving a portion of their crop to white landowners. This ban meant they could no longer farm independently, forcing them into labor either as farm laborers for white farmers or as migrant workers in the mines. The Act also severely restricted their ability to own or rent land outside designated black reserves, leading to widespread evictions and homelessness, thereby disrupting their traditional agricultural way of life and creating an impoverished, landless class.
10. [1] It stopped them owning or renting land except in the black reserves.
11. [1] It led to black share-croppers being evicted and ending up homeless.
12. [1] It meant black South Africans could no longer be farmers except in the reserves.
13. [1] It forced black South Africans to become labourers for white farmers.
14. [10] The victory of the National Party in 1948 was significantly caused by the failings of the United Party. The United Party government under Smuts was unpopular, especially among Afrikaners, due to post-war economic problems. White workers, returning from war, found their jobs taken by black South Africans, fueling racial anxieties. The government's perceived inability to control black protests and strikes, and its tolerance of black workers in cities, contributed to fears of being 'overwhelmed.' Keeping food prices low also alienated white farmers. OR The National Party's victory was not primarily due to the United Party's failings but rather its own effective policies and ideas. The National Party promised a 'white South Africa' under Afrikaner rule, appealing to the majority of white South Africans who believed in white supremacy and feared losing their culture to black populations. Their policy of moving black South Africans to reserves and providing cheap black labor for white industrialists and farmers resonated strongly with their voter base, securing their victory.
15. [1] The policies of the National Party were very popular with Afrikaners.
16. [1] The National Party promised to move black South Africans to the reserves.
17. [1] The National party promised to keep South Africa under Afrikaner rule.
18. [1] The National Party promised to provide factory and mine owners with lots of cheap labour.
19. [1] The National Party promised to provide white farmers with lots of cheap labour.
20. [1] The United Party government was not sorting out South Africa's economic problems.
21. [1] The United Party government was not dealing with protests and strikes by black South Africans.
22. [1] Afrikaners did not like the flood of black workers to the cities which the United Party seemed to be allowing.
23. [1] The United Party government had kept food prices low which was not good for white farmers.