The Buss Boycotts

The bus boycotts were a form of non-violent protest against the South African authorities and government. The boycotts tended to be economic rather than political and were responses to raised buss fares from the townships into the cities. A boycott could not be initiated by the liberation movement so they had to wait for the buss company to make a change they could protest, but they protested against against anything, however small the change was. A raised price of a penny could mean an unaffordable buss ticket for many.

The significance of the bus boycotts is in many ways large. They didn’t manage to change any of the apartheid laws but they almost always managed to get the buss companies to change its policies. At one point over 20000 people were engaged in the boycotts which the government saw as a threat. However the bus boycotts also managed to shine a light on the apartheid system and many white people sympathised with the victims of the system.

See Alexandra Bus Boycott