the group areas act took place in south africa.
where did the group areas act take place?
south africa
after the 1948 general election, d.f. malan's administration commenced its policy of apartheid that sought to segregate the races in south africa. the government hoped to achieve this through 'separate development' of the races and this entailed passing laws that would ensure a distinction on social, economic, political and, in the case of the group areas act, geographical lines. the group areas act may be regarded as an extension of the asiatic land tenure act, 1946. nelson mandela stated in his book, the long walk to freedom that "the groups areas act was the foundation of residential apartheid. under it's regulations, each racial group could own land, occupy premises, and trade only in its own separate area. indians could henceforth only live in indian areas, africans in african, coloureds in coloured. if whites wanted the land or houses of the other groups, they could simply declare that land a white area and take them".
group areas act
the first group areas act, the "group areas act, 1950" was promulgated on 7 july 1950, and it was implemented over a period of several years. it was amended by parliament in 1952, 1955 (twice), 1956 and 1957. later in 1957 it was repealed and re-enacted in consolidated form as the "group areas act, 1957", which was amended in 1961, 1962, and 1965. in 1966 this version was in turn repealed and re-enacted as the "group areas act, 1966", which was subsequently amended in 1969, 1972, 1974, 1975, 1977, 1978, 1979, 1982, and 1984. it was repealed (along with many other discriminatory laws) on 30 june 1991 by the abolition of racially based land measures act, 1991.
group areas act