Population Registration Act, 1950 - Wikipedia Population Registration Act, 1950 This article may be in need of reorganization to comply with Wikipedia 's layout guidelines. Please help by editing the article to make improvements to the overall structure. ( May 2017 ) Population Registration Act, 1950 Act to make provision for the compilation of a Register of the Population of the Union ; for the issue of Identity Cards to persons whose names are included in the Register ; and for matters incidental thereto. Citation Act No. 30 of 1950 Enacted by Parliament of South Africa Date of Royal Assent 22 June 1950 Date commenced 7 July 1950 Date repealed 28 June 1991 Administered by Minister of the Interior Repealing legislation Population Registration Act Repeal Act, 1991 Status : Repealed The Population Registration Act of 1950 required that each inhabitant of South Africa be classified and registered in accordance with his or her racial characteristics as part of the system of apartheid. Race classification certificate issued in terms of the Population Registration Act Explanation of South African identity numbers in an identity document during apartheid in terms of official White, Coloured and Indian population subgroups Social rights, political rights, educational opportunities, and economic status were largely determined by the group to which an individual belonged. There were three basic racial classifications under the law : Black, White and Coloured ( mixed ). Indians ( that is, South Asians from the former British India, and their descendants ) were later added as a separate classification as they were seen as having `` no historical right to the country ''. An Office for Race Classification was set up to overview the classification process. Classification into groups was carried out using criteria such as outer appearance, general acceptance and social standing. For example, it defined a `` white person '' as one who `` in appearance is obviously a white person who is generally not accepted as a coloured person ; or is generally accepted as a white person and is not in appearance obviously a white person. '' Because some aspects of the profile were of a social nature, reclassification was not uncommon, and a board was established to conduct that process. For example, the following criteria were used for separating the coloureds from the whites : Characteristics of the person 's head hair Characteristics of the person 's other hair Skin colour Facial features Home language and especially the knowledge of Afrikaans Area where the person lives, the person 's friends and acquaintances Employment Socioeconomic status Eating and drinking habits This law worked in tandem with other laws passed as part of the apartheid system. Under the Prohibition of Mixed Marriages Act of 1949, it was illegal for a white person to marry a person of another race. With the enactment of the Immorality Amendment Act of 1950, it also became a crime for a white person and a person of another race to have sexual intercourse. Under the act, as amended, Coloureds and Indians were formally classified into various subgroups, including Cape Coloured, Malay, Griqua, Chinese, Indian, Other Asian and Other Coloured. The South African Parliament repealed the act on June 17, 1991. However, the racial categories defined in the act remain ingrained in South African culture and they still form the basis of some official policies and statistics aimed at redressing past economic imbalances ( Black Economic Empowerment and Employment Equity ). See also Demographics of South Africa Pencil test Urban apartheid References Jump up ^ `` South African Demographic Health Survey '' ( PDF ). Department of Health. 1998. Archived from the original ( PDF ) on 26 July 2011. Retrieved 9 March 2013. ^ Jump up to : Posel, Deborah ( 2001 ). `` What 's in a name ? Racial categorisations under apartheid and their afterlife '' ( PDF ). Michigan State University. Retrieved 4 April 2018. Jump up ^ `` South African activist teacher gets education doctorate ''. Stanford News Service. 1991. Retrieved 9 March 2013. Jump up ^ Valentine, Sue. `` An appalling ' science ' ''. Sunday Times Heritage Project. The Times. Archived from the original on 23 April 2012. Retrieved 9 March 2013. Jump up ^ Leach, Graham ( 1986 ). South Africa : no easy path to peace ( 1. publ. ed. ). London : Routledge & Kegan Paul. p. 70. ISBN 0710208480. Jump up ^ Rondganger, Lee ( 6 June 2006 ). `` Being an African makes me who I am ''. IOL. Retrieved 9 March 2013. Jump up ^ du Preez, Max ( 9 March 2011 ). `` Are we all ' coloured ' ? ''. News24. Retrieved 9 March 2013. Jump up ^ Lehohla, Pali ( 5 May 2005 ). `` Debate over race and censuses not peculiar to SA ''. Business Report. Archived from the original on 14 August 2007. Retrieved 25 August 2013. Others pointed out that the repeal of the Population Registration Act in 1991 removed any legal basis for specifying ' race '. The Identification Act of 1997 makes no mention of race. On the other hand, the Employment Equity Act speaks of ' designated groups ' being ' black people, women and people with disabilities '. The Act defines ' black ' as referring to ' Africans, coloureds and Indians '. Apartheid and the racial identification which underpinned it explicitly linked race with differential access to resources and power. If the post-apartheid order was committed to remedying this, race would have to be included in surveys and censuses, so that progress in eradicating the consequences of apartheid could be measured and monitored. This was the reasoning that led to a ' self - identifying ' question about ' race ' or ' population group ' in both the 1996 and 2001 population censuses, and in Statistics SA 's household survey programme. Jump up ^ Davis, Rebecca ( 25 November 2013 ). `` DA : We 're not over race, but united we stand ''. Daily Maverick. Retrieved 25 November 2013. External links The full text of Population Registration Act, 1950 at Wikisource Apartheid legislation in South Africa Precursors ( before 1948 ) Hut tax ( 1884 ) Franchise and Ballot Act ( 1892 ) Glen Grey Act ( 1894 ) Natal Legislative Assembly Bill ( 1894 ) Transvaal Asiatic Registration Act ( 1906 ) South Africa Act ( 1909 ) Mines and Works Act ( 1911 ) Natives Land Act ( 1913 ) Natives ( Urban Areas ) Act ( 1923 ) Immorality Act ( 1927 ) Native Administration Act ( 1927 ) Representation of Natives Act ( 1936 ) Native Trust and Land Act ( 1936 ) Native ( Urban Areas ) Consolidation Act ( 1945 ) Asiatic Land Tenure Act ( 1946 ) Malan to Verwoerd ( 1948 -- 1966 ) Prohibition of Mixed Marriages Act ( 1949 ) Immorality Amendment Act ( 1950 ) Population Registration Act ( 1950 ) Group Areas Act ( 1950 ) Suppression of Communism Act ( 1950 ) Native Building Workers Act ( 1951 ) Separate Representation of Voters Act ( 1951 ) Prevention of Illegal Squatting Act ( 1951 ) Bantu Authorities Act ( 1951 ) Native Laws Amendment Act ( 1952 ) Pass Laws Act ( 1952 ) Public Safety Act ( 1953 ) Native Labour ( Settlement of Disputes ) Act ( 1953 ) Bantu Education Act ( 1953 ) Reservation of Separate Amenities Act ( 1953 ) Natives Resettlement Act ( 1954 ) Group Areas Development Act ( 1955 ) Riotous Assemblies Act ( 1956 ) Industrial Conciliation Act ( 1956 ) Natives ( Prohibition of Interdicts ) Act ( 1956 ) Immorality Act ( 1957 ) Bantu Investment Corporation Act ( 1959 ) Extension of University Education Act ( 1959 ) Promotion of Bantu Self - government Act ( 1959 ) Unlawful Organizations Act ( 1960 ) Indemnity Act ( 1961 ) Coloured Persons Communal Reserves Act ( 1961 ) Republic of South Africa Constitution Act ( 1961 ) Urban Bantu Councils Act ( 1961 ) General Law Amendment Act ( 1963 ) Coloured Persons Representative Council Act ( 1964 ) Post-Verwoerd ( 1966 -- 1994 ) Terrorism Act ( 1967 ) Separate Representation of Voters Amendment Act ( 1968 ) Prohibition of Political Interference Act ( 1968 ) Bantu Homelands Citizenship Act ( 1970 ) Bantu Homelands Constitution Act ( 1971 ) Aliens Control Act ( 1973 ) Indemnity Act ( 1977 ) National Key Points Act ( 1980 ) - List of National Key Points Internal Security Act ( 1982 ) Black Local Authorities Act ( 1982 ) Republic of South Africa Constitution Act ( 1983 ) Retrieved from `` https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Population_Registration_Act,_1950&oldid=834222653 '' Categories : Apartheid laws in South Africa 1950 in South African law Hidden categories : Wikipedia articles needing reorganization from May 2017 Use South African English from May 2017 All Wikipedia articles written in South African English Talk About Wikipedia Afrikaans Deutsch Français Nederlands 日本 語 Suomi Edit links This page was last edited on 4 April 2018, at 15 : 32 ( UTC ). 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Question: what was the purpose of population registration act
Answer: each inhabitant of South Africa be classified and registered in accordance with his or her racial characteristics as part of the system of apartheid