Apartheid,

(Afrikaans:
“apartness” or
“separateness”) Policy
of racial segregation
and political and
economic
discrimination against
non-European groups
in South Africa. The
term was first used as
the name of the official
policy of the National
Party in 1948, though racial segregation, sanctioned by law, was
already widely practiced. The Group Areas Act of 1950 established
residential and business sectors in urban areas for each “race” and
strengthened the existing “pass” laws, which required nonwhites to
carry identification papers. Other laws forbade most social contacts
between those of European descent and others, authorized segregated
public facilities, established separate educational standards, restricted
each group to certain types of jobs, curtailed nonwhite labour unions,
denied nonwhite participation in the national government, and
established various black African “homelands,” partly self-governing
units that were
nevertheless
politically and
economically
dependent on
South Africa.
These so-
called
homelands
were not
recognized by
international
governments. Apartheid was always subject to internal criticism and
led to many violent protests, strikes, and acts of sabotage; it also
received international censure. In 1990–91 most apartheid legislation
was repealed, but segregation continued on a de facto basis. In 1993 a
new constitution enfranchised blacks and other racial groups, and all-
race national elections in 1994 produced a coalition government with
a black majority. These developments marked the end of legislated
apartheid, though not of its entrenched social and economic effects.

African National Congress (ANC), South African political party and

black nationalist organization. Founded in 1912 (as the South African
Native National Congress), the ANC was long dedicated to the
elimination of apartheid. In response to government massacres of
demonstrators at Sharpeville (1960) and Soweto (1976), it carried out
acts of sabotage and guerrilla warfare. The campaign was largely
ineffective because of stringent South African internal security
measures, including an official ban on the ANC between 1960 and
1990. In 1991, with the ban lifted, Nelson Mandela succeeded Oliver
Tambo as ANC president. In 1994 the party swept the country’s first
elections based on universal suffrage; the ANC led a coalition
government that initially included members of its longtime rival,
the National Party, and Mandela became South Africa’s president