The Group Areas Act was fashioned as the “cornerstone” of Apartheid policy and aimed to eliminate mixed neighbourhoods in favour of racially segregated ones which would allow South Africans to develop separately (South African Institute for Race Relations, 1950: 26). In many cases, the scramble for housing created mixed neighbourhoods (Marquard, 1969: 43). The lack of infrastructure in South African cities led to the phenomenon of overcrowding and squatting on empty land by those seeking employment. During the Second World War, there was rapid urbanization by Africans. Separate development was supposed to allow Africans to develop themselves under their own self-government, but the economic structure of South Africa made that impossible (Marquard, 1969: 256). The policy goal of separate development allowed the National Party to maintain the status quo of white supremacy as well as control the African labour needed for rapid industrial development (Baldwin, 1975: 218). ![]() ![]() This 'separateness' put South Africans of different racial groups on their own paths in a partitioned system of development. The National Party was elected in 1948 on the policy of Apartheid ('separateness').
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