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Apartheid explained by Francesca human rights and equality, holding power to account, and amplifying
Fiorentini from AJ+. 2013 the voices of the powerless. It was launched in 2014.

Nelson Mandela became South Africa’s first democratically elected president in 1994. It was the official end
of white minority rule otherwise known as “apartheid”. Apartheid? You've heard of it. But what exactly was
it? I'm Francesca Fiorentini and this is AJ+.
Apartheid is an Afrikaans word that means “separateness”. It was a system of racial segregation that
governed South Africa for nearly 50 years. It specifically aimed to protect the domination of the white South
Africans over non-whites in every aspect of life. But it didn't just appear out of thin air.
During the colonial grab1 for the country between the Dutch descended Afrikaners and the British, the right
of native black South Africans were sidelined2. So, when apartheid was officially made law in 1948 by the
Afrikaner-led national party, it was a continuation of injustices already happening.
Afrikaners believed that South Africa was their God-given homeland3 and that the white race was superior.
The black majority was therefore seen as a threat4. There were 148 apartheid laws.
Blacks had to carry ID permits at all times and had to obey strict curfews5. Public facilities6 were separated
for white and non-white and marriages between whites and other races were banned. People were classified
into four racial categories: White, Black, Indian and Colored (people of mixed race) and they were all
separated into different residential areas. Blacks were divided into 10 so-called homelands7 based on tribal
groups. Homelands were rural, overcrowded8, and lack jobs, forcing blacks to seek work as migrant
laborers. Wages were low and it was illegal for workers to strike9.
See, apartheid was also economically motivated. A cheap workforce was needed, particularly to work in the
country's gold mines. Powerful mining magnates10 had a huge stake11 in apartheid policies since their
profits depended on keeping black wages low. Outside their designated homelands, non-whites had no
political rights. Since they were not technically citizens, they couldn't vote.
Education? Also divided. The state set up a separate education system for blacks. They received a fraction
of the funding12 that white schools did. Mandatory13 education ended at age 13 and was structured to
funnel14 blacks into menial15 (subaltern) migrant labor. Exploitation by design16.
Needless to say there was resistance to these insane laws. Protests were often led by black students and
youth and was met with severe repression. Out of these struggles17 came leaders like Nelson Mandela
Oliver Tambo and Walter Sisulu who would help bring an eventual end18 to apartheid.
So, now that you know what apartheid was, could you imagine living under it? Are there any similarly unjust
laws that still exist where you live? Leave us your comments below. Peace… and reconciliation.

1
A colonial grab is a fight of foreign people to appropriate the property of people living in this country.
2
Sidelined means “put aside”, “isolated”.
3
A homeland is a land that belongs to someone.
4
A threat is something that puts life into danger.
5
A curfew imposes the time at which you must return home at night under penalty of prosecution.
6
The facilities are the equipments you can find in a village or a city for citizens to use.
7
The Homelands, also called Bantoustans, were the territories attributed to the Black South African people under the apartheid
(until 1994).
8
Overcrowded: where there are too many inhabitants.
9
To strike is to refuse to work to show that you are not happy with the law.
10
A magnate is a very important personality from the business world, industry, finance.
11
A huge stake is an enormous (huge) interest (stake) in the policy put in place.
12
A founding is the money you get from the State to help you in your projects.
13
Mandatory is the opposite of optional.
14
To funnel is to orient people in the same direction. Here, to make the Blacks live in an area different from that of the Whites.
15
A menial person is a person who occupies a lower rank than on a workplace, for example.
16
By design: desired, intended, or wanted.
17
A struggle is a fight to get something.
18
An « eventual end » means a final point.