The Collapse of Apartheid in South Africa. ACSC Quick-Look 05-11

Abstract

Abstract : South Africa's system of racial division, apartheid (separateness in Afrikaans) was instituted in the late 1940s by the White minority government. It was designed to preserve the economic, political and social advantages for South Africans of European heritage. Indigenous Blacks were denied the right to vote or to attain equal treatment in commonly recognized social goods like education, medicine and recreational facilities. While apartheid is mostly infamous for its oppression of the Black majority, Asians and Coloureds (those of mixed ancestry) were also persecuted. In the 1960s, the Black majority began to protest more forcefully against their inequality through acts of civil disobedience, rioting, and small scale terrorism. In response, the government ordered harsher methods to quell the unrest, such as widespread torture, summary executions and disappearances. With the success of Rhodesia/Zimbabwe's independence from Britain and the overthrow of its White minority government in 1980, Blacks in South Africa gained more hope for their own struggle against apartheid. More oppression followed and the international community began to take greater notice of conditions in South Africa. After a decade of international economic sanctions, economic and cultural boycotts, and business divestments aimed at South Africa, the two sides began negotiations to end both apartheid and White minority rule.