The Population Registration Act, 1950 (Act No. 30 of 1950) required every inhabitant of South Africa to be classified and registered according to racial characteristics and culture as part of the system of apartheid. Introduced to the South African parliament by Eben Dönges, Minister of the Interior, on 20 February 1950, it received royal assent on 22 June 1950 and commenced on 7 July 1950. As amended, it formally classified Coloured and Indian South Africans into subgroups including Cape Coloured, Malay, Griqua, Chinese, Indian, Other Asian and Other Coloured. The South African Parliament repealed the act on 17 June 1991, with 178 members of the white parliament voting, 38 against and 11 abstaining, by the Population Registration Act Repeal Act, 1991.
Facts
Enacted Year Enacted Date Jurisdiction Enacted ByParliament of South Africa 1 Official Citation Legal StatusRepealed on 17 June 1991 by the Population Registration Act Repeal Act, 1991. 1 Legal Status
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Source Population Registration Act, 1950 (Wikipedia)Lead paragraph of the cited Wikipedia articletier 2Quote, Lead paragraph of the cited Wikipedia article
The Population Registration Act of 1950 required that each inhabitant of South Africa be classified and registered in accordance with their racial characteristics and culture as part of the system of apartheid.
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1. Population Registration Act, 1950 (Wikipedia)
WikipediaLede (opening sentence)
The Population Registration Act of 1950 required that each inhabitant of South Africa be classified and registered in accordance with their racial characteristics and culture as part of the system of apartheid.
After 1948 section
The Population Registration Amendment Act, No. 71 of 1956, ended the indefinite time period a person had to object to their classification by giving the person disagreeing only 30 days to state their objection in writing to the Director of Census. It also added the presumption, which had previously been stated in the 1950 Act, that those who appearance was obviously white were classified as white, for those people who appear to be of an African race, were assumed to be native African, unless otherwise proved.
Infobox: assented_by
Governor-General Gideon Brand van Zyl
After 1948 section
On 20 February 1950, Eben Dönges, Minister of the Interior, introduced the Population Registration Act to the South African parliament.
Repealed section
The South African Parliament repealed the act on 17 June 1991
In Group: Apartheid and Post-Apartheid Statutes of South Africa, Introduction, sentence 1
The Population Registration Act of 1950 required that each inhabitant of South Africa be classified and registered in accordance with their racial characteristics and culture as part of the system of apartheid.
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