"In the 1960s a room in this building was the scene of hearings of the most bizarre and humiliating kind as ordinary people came before an appeal panel to argue about what 'race' they should be labelled. Between 1950 and 1991 apartheid's Population Registration Act classified every South African as belonging to one of at least seven 'races' - and accordingly granted or denied citizenship rights on a sliding scale from 'White' (full rights) to 'Bantu' (with the fewest). The classification was subjective, and families were split apart when paler or darker skinned children or parents - or those with curlier hair, or different features - were placed in separate categories."
- The Times
Don't you think the word "bizarre" describes this practice fairly accurately?
Stefan Jansson
Apartheid must have been one of the scariest systems the world has ever seen.
Firefly
Apartheid was really a case of South Africa living in a world of it’s own. Hard to understand the thinking if you look back.
Guinivea
So strange that white people were treated as supreme when all people are equal, thankfully that time is over. Thanks for the photo though…I have never seen these benches.
Emm
That is chilling. I wouldn’t have expected to see something like that outside of the Apartheid museum. I am glad it is there, to remind us how horrifying our past was.
A4D
Could just us well have been a bench in America
Paul
Post authorThanks for your comments. As Firefly implied, I’ve also always wondered how people could have thought that it was okay. Perhaps for much of the white populate it was like the old anecdote about boiling a frog.
Steve
You moved away too soon, this wonderful guy arrived later and talked him into this
http://www.pbase.com/mashona/image/115176339
Paul
Post authorSteve, thanks for the link. Did you purposely ask him to sit on that particular bench? Nice contrast. In case you missed it, I uploaded my photos to this album.
Steve
Paul, yes everybody had moved away when I saw the guy walking up to the bench, talked him into sitting down and posing, worked well
Little bit “miffed” to see Michelle post her black and white onto the Kelby site, there was a promise that because I had found him and asked him to pose,only my pics could be used.
He promised to make contact and get his pictures