Murder was a frequent cause of death among Africans and Coloureds."?
South African society was very different from the benign picture produced
by the government's information services and presented by official guides
to foreign visitors.
Adaptation and Resistance to Apartheid
There were always some members of the enfranchised population
of
South Africa who sought to arouse the conscience of their fellow Whites
I
against apartheid. They focused on the gulf between the theory ofapartheid
(separate freedoms) and its practice (discrimination and inequality) and on
the brutality of the apartheid state-the
pass laws, forced removals, house
arrests, and detentions without trial."!
Soon after the election of 1948', leaders of all the white South African
churches except the Dutch Reformed churches issued statements criticizing
apartheid. In following years, many clergy came into conflict with the
government. In 1968, the South African Council of Churches labeled
apartheid a pseudo-gospel in conflict with Christian principles.f- Initially,
nearly all the Afrikaner clergy were united in support of apartheid. But in
1962, C. F. BeyersNaude, a leading Broederbonder and former moderator
of the principal Dutch Reformed church in the Transvaal, broke ranks and