South Africans of British ancestry like to place blame on Afrikaners. They do this to absolve themselves and their relatives of guilt for racism

But white South Africans who are not afrikaners were also perpetrators of racist tyranny, before and during apartheid

Thread /1

The British Empire's colonial oppression in southern Africa is well-known. So is its stunningly evil warfare tactics, including destruction of shelter and sources of food for whole communities, and use of concentration camps. Black people and white afrikaners were victims /2

In Natal, the British claimed enormous tracts of land for themselves. Then they charged black people rent to stay on that land

Until the 1870s, this was the main source of income for white people, who struggled to farm successfully without cheap labour to exploit /3

The British created many racist policies that apartheid later built upon. Here are a few key policies:

The Hut Tax was a tax on black households. Before this, black people had no need to make British currency in white economies. The tax forced them into labour to make money /4

Many black people traveled to Witwatersrand from Natal to seek work on the mines. This meant that there were fewer black people seeking work on farms in Natal. So the government made the Poll Tax, which taxed all black men over the age of 18. This forced more people into work /5

From the formation of the country of South Africa in 1910 until 1948, political parties that won elections and held power in government were largely voted for by british-descent South Africans

All of these parties created racist, exploitative policies /6

British-descent South Africans voted for the South African Party. In 1913, the party created the Land Act, which made it illegal for black people to own land outside of 'reserves'. 93% of the land in the country was made available for white ownership and use only /7

The Labour Party ruled with the National Party in coalition.
British-descent South Africans voted for Labour. In 1925 the coalition government made a minimum wage for white labourers, but not black labourers. The government made programs to create wealth for white people only /8

The United Party ruled from 1934-1948. It was supported by british-descent South Africans. It took away the vote from the small number of black South Africans in the Cape that had been allowed to vote

The party also limited the number of black people allowed in urban areas /9

At the start of apartheid, most afrikaners voted the National Party (NP) into power. But with every new election, more and more british-descent South Africans voted for the NP, or did not vote all all. They benefited hugely from racist NP policies, and so did not vote against /10

The Progressive Federal Party argued against apartheid. At best, In 1981 it won 19% of the vote

But in 1987, just seven years before the end of apartheid, it wasn't even the official opposition. It was beaten by the Conservative Party, which was even more racist than the NP /11

Clearly, white South Africans who were not afrikaners were largely either voting for continuing racist oppression, or not voting at all, which allowed racist oppression to continue during apartheid. Financially, they benefited enormously from apartheid and they were content /12

This thread highlights just a few pieces of evidence to show that it took much more than afrikaner white South Africans to create a superstructure of racist exploitation. And there is so much more damning evidence from the time of British colony and South African state /13