Facing the 'Black Peril': The Politics of Population Control in South Africa

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Periodical article

Title:	Facing the 'Black Peril': The Politics of Population Control in South Africa
Author:	Brown, Barbara B.
Year:	1987
Periodical:	Journal of Southern African Studies
Volume:	13
Issue:	2
Period:	January
Pages:	256-273
Language:	English
Geographic term:	South Africa
Subjects:	population policy Politics and Government Miscellaneous (i.e. Demography, Refugees, Sports) Ethnic and Race Relations Fertility and Infertility Demographics
External link:	https://www.jstor.org/stable/2636860
Abstract:	A programme of national population control theoretically encompasses three distinct elements: limitation on women's fertility, change in human mortality rates and control of immigration. This article focuses on official policy of the South African government regarding the limitation of women's fertility in the wider context of population control. While the National Party, in power since 1948, has long been committed to limiting the growth of the black population, its efforts to curb such growth have varied in intensity. It was only in 1974, for example, that Pretoria announced an official 'family planning' policy and allocated sufficient funds to carry it out. This article therefore also explores the nature and cause of these policy shifts, placing the birth control programme in the context of South Africa's evolving political economy. Notes, ref.