The 1948 Election That Brought Apartheid to Power
The Story of South Africa: Empire, Apartheid, and Transformation — Fexingo HistoryPlay episode
Show notes
In 1948, South Africa held a general election that reshaped its future. Against expectations, D.F. Malan's National Party defeated Jan Smuts's United Party on a platform of apartheid. This episode unpacks the election itself: the fears of white voters, the role of the Afrikaner Broederbond, the Sauer and Fagan commissions, and how a narrow victory led to decades of institutionalised racial segregation. We trace the immediate aftermath—the Prohibition of Mixed Marriages Act, the Population Registration Act, and the Group Areas Act—and the early resistance from the ANC and the Defiance Campaign. It's the story of how apartheid became law, one election at a time. #1948Election #Apartheid #DFMalan #JanSmuts #NationalParty #UnitedParty #AfrikanerBroederbond #SauerReport #FaganCommission #GroupAreasAct #PopulationRegistrationAct #SouthAfrica #History #FexingoHistory #PoliticalHistory #ElectionHistory #WhitePolitics #Segregation Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo
