Baasskap

Baasskap ([ˈbɑːskap]) was an Afrikaans language term which featured heavily in South African political phraseology during apartheid. The word may be translated literally as "boss-ship" or “boss-hood”; it was often used in a similar context as the English language terms “domination” or “white supremacy”.[1]

In the political context, ‘’baaskap’’ was evoked as a reference to the social, political, and economic domination of South Africa by that country’s minority white population.[2][3]

Proponents of baasskap (who constituted the largest faction of apartheid ideologues in the National Party and state institutions) applied racial segregation in a systematic way, in order to 'preserve racial purity', and to ensure economic and political spheres were dominated by Afrikaners. However, proponents of baasskap were not necessarily opposed to black South African participation in the economy, as long as black labour was controlled in a manner that preserved the economic domination of Afrikaners.[4]

Prominent proponents of baasskap included J.G. Strydom, Prime Minister from 1954 to 1958, and C.R. Swart, Minister of Justice.[4] Hendrik Verwoerd had sympathy for the "purist" faction of apartheid ideologues, which opposed economic integration of black South Africans (in contrast to supporters of baasskap who were more concerned with white domination in an integrated economy).[4] Nonetheless, Verwoerd provided the hitherto crude concept of baasskap with a veneer of intellectual respectability.[2]