The GAA was one of many pieces of legislation used to control the lives of Indians, Coloureds, and Africans, in this instance by limiting property rights. The GAA added more restrictions to the lives of Africans and it was one of the first drastic rights infringements for the Indian and Coloured populations (Marquard, 1969: 163). This was due in large part to the retroactive application of the law, meaning that once an area was declared a group area, the GAA had the power to demolish all the houses there and displace everyone who was not of the designated group (Mabin, 1992a: 422). The GAA displaced hundreds of thousands of people breaking up families, friends, and communities. The GAA created the legal framework for varying levels of government to establish particular neighbourhoods as 'group areas', where only people of a particular race were able to reside (South African Institute for Race Relations, 1952: 32). It was amended almost annually and was re-enacted in the Consolidation Acts of 19. When the Group Areas Act (GAA) was passed in 1950, it imposed control over interracial property transactions and property occupation throughout South Africa (Horrell, 1978: 71). The Group Areas Act was fashioned as the “cornerstone” of Apartheid policy and aimed to eliminate mixed neighbourhoods in favour of racially segregated ones which would allow South Africans to develop separately (South African Institute for Race Relations, 1950: 26). In many cases, the scramble for housing created mixed neighbourhoods (Marquard, 1969: 43).

The lack of infrastructure in South African cities led to the phenomenon of overcrowding and squatting on empty land by those seeking employment. During the Second World War, there was rapid urbanization by Africans. Separate development was supposed to allow Africans to develop themselves under their own self-government, but the economic structure of South Africa made that impossible (Marquard, 1969: 256).

The policy goal of separate development allowed the National Party to maintain the status quo of white supremacy as well as control the African labour needed for rapid industrial development (Baldwin, 1975: 218). This 'separateness' put South Africans of different racial groups on their own paths in a partitioned system of development. The National Party was elected in 1948 on the policy of Apartheid ('separateness').

Images of townships in south africa