Where was the line?

How did Apartheid South Africa deal with black foreigners? Did a black African from Swaziland, Lesotho, Senegal or Mali have to carry a pass? I suppose not, but one never knows. Were these foreigners treated in the same way as black South Africans were? If so, how about African Americans -- how were they treated? And if not, where was the line and on what basis was it drawn? Passport? Language? Something else?

Has there ever been a diplomatic tussle in relation with a black foreigner being at the receiving end of Apartheid?

Comments

[Bronwyn]

Interesting question. Well as far as I can surmise, (because you must remember we lived under a propagandist government who tightly controlled the flow of news and information)black visitors were not exactly encouraged to come to SA and I would imagine that most black people wouldn't want to come to a country where they were going to be discriminiated against.

Black foreigners were subject to the laws of apartheid even if they came here on holiday. It might have been different if a black diplomat visited from the UK or the US - I don't remember or know if that ever happened.

The only foreign black people who were encouraged to come to South Africa were the migrant labourers who came mainly from Lesotho and Swaziland to work on the mines, and they were treated just as badly and harshly as their South African counterparts.

I would also think that the old govt wouldn't have granted visas to black visitors and kept them out of the country. All black people from other African countries would probably have been regarded as potential terrorists.

[someamoungus]

Kind of what you're looking for...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basil_D'Oliveira