[1][2][3] Examples of systematic racism over the course of South Africa's history include forced removals, racial inequality and segregation, uneven resource distribution, and disenfranchisement.
[2][3][4] The region that would become modern-day South Africa was located in a position of advantage for European merchants who were seeking to organize and carry out trade in the East Indies, primarily Portuguese and Dutch colonists.
[1] The purpose of the colony was to ensure that Dutch ships sailing to and from Batavia would have a source of fresh provisions, as death by starvation claimed a large number of passengers.
By the late 18th century, Arabs and European merchants traded beads, brass, cloth, alcohol, and firearms in exchange for slaves, ivory, gold, wax, cattle, and skins.
[10] The erosion of non-White voting rights would continue during the government of Cecil Rhodes culminating in the Glen Grey Act of 1894[11][12] before the Union of South Africa was formed in 1910.
By extension, the term is currently used for forms of systematic segregation established by the state authority in a country against the social and civil rights of a certain group of citizens due to ethnic prejudices.
In a protest of the Natives (Abolition of Passes and Coordination of Documents) Act of 1952, as mentioned above, and several other pieces of legislation, many women participated in movements against the government for the first time in the form of the Defiance campaign.
The movement itself involved thousands of black citizens doing nonviolent things that would normally be considered as civil disobedience, such as going into areas that only White people were allowed to go into or burning their pass books.
The idea behind the movement was that if enough black people flooded the South African prison and judicial systems, it would force the government to reform the apartheid laws.
[23] Milton Shain, emeritus professor in the Department of Historical Studies at the University of Cape Town, noted that Indian, colored, and white minorities are increasingly scapegoated by the ANC "in an attempt to cement cracks among the majority (insiders) and paper over class divisions.
He argues that because this "is a morally discomforting [idea] for outsiders", "as a result much Western analysis of South Africa [turns] a blind eye to the ... implementation of the ANC's historic racial nationalist agenda.
"[31] The South African Institute for Race Relations also considers the ANC to be pursuing a black nationalist agenda and believes that this pursuit endangers not only ethnic minorities but also immigrants.
[39][40] A 38-year-old man, Ron Rambebu, was attacked and called the slur Kaffir at a petrol station while he was sitting in his car on Kingfisher Road in Horizon Park, Roodepoort, on the West Rand.
[42][43][44] The South African Human Rights Commission found a public school guilty of hate speech toward black and mixed-race pupils.
The Free State Department of Education, responsible for the school, says it will study the report and conduct its own investigation before taking any potential disciplinary action.
On a Monday afternoon, while most Skierlik inhabitants were at work, Johan, dressed in camouflage fatigues, walked down a dirt road in an informal settlement and randomly started shooting at people with a hunting rifle while shouting racist invective.
[53] Two white men, Willem Oosthuizen and Theo Jackson, were put behind bars in 2016 for a racially motivated assault on a black man after they alleged he had trespassed.
[54][55][56] Vicki Momberg, a white woman, was sentenced to three years in prison and one suspended on four counts of crimen injuria for racist remarks she made to a black police officer in Johannesburg.
She responded by verbally abusing him, making racial remarks about the "low caliber of black people in Johannesburg," and using the slur Kaffir 48 times, which was recorded on video.
The foundation also said "an analysis of Facebook and Twitter messages shows that by far the most virulent and dangerous racism – expressed in the most extreme and violent language – has come from disaffected Black South Africans.
[65][66] A Gauteng government official, Velaphi Khumalo, stated on Facebook "White people in South Africa deserve to be hacked and killed like Jews.
Mohlala posted a comment on Facebook in reaction to Naude's murder, stating "It is your turn now, white people… [he] should have had his eyes and tongue cut out so that the faces of his attackers would be the last thing he sees".
[71] Subsequently, Ernst Roets of AfriForum contrasted Mohlala's punishment against that of convicted white racist Vicki Momberg, stating, "The inconsistency being applied in this country regarding minorities has reached the level of absurdity...
"[72] A photograph emerged of a University of Cape Town student who wore a shirt that read "Kill All Whites" in a residence dining hall during early 2016.
[76] Julius Malema, leader of the third-largest party, Economic Freedom Fighters, stated at a political rally in 2016 that "we [the EFF] are not calling for the slaughter of white people‚ at least for now".
[77] While still the ANCYL leader, Malema was taken to the Equality Court by AfriForum for repeatedly singing "dubul' ibhunu", which literally translates as "shoot the boer [white farmer]."
[79] In September 2018, Black First Land First (BLF) Spokesperson Lyndsay Maasdorp told The Citizen reporter Daniel Friedman that, as a white person, his existence is "a crime".
"[84] In March 2022, the Equality Court of South Africa ordered BLF members Lindsay Maasdorp and Zwelakhe Dubasi to pay R200,000 in damages and make a public apology for “celebrat[ing] the tragic deaths”[85] of four children on social media in statements that were judged to be hate speech.
Although an out-of-court settlement was eventually reached, the Supreme Court of Appeal found that that complaint had to be referred again to the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa.
[100] In 2009, South Africa's deputy foreign minister, Fatima Hajaig, claimed that "Jewish money controls America and most Western countries."