When Did Apartheid End?

South Africa, a country rich in natural resources, such as diamonds and gold; diverse in culture and with a wild natural beauty, has a shameful history. Apartheid, invented by the Afrikaner National Party in the 1940s, created racial discrimination and segregation. In 1948, under apartheid laws, racial discrimination was institutionalised and 'race laws' spanned the entire country. Suddenly "white-only' areas and jobs existed and all people of colour were made to carry "pass books", containing all their biometrics, when entering a non-black area. The situation got progressively worse and in the late 70's, due to a lot of internal pressure, riots errupted. Finally, in February of 1990 then president, FW de Klerk, announced the release of Nelson Mandela and began to dismantle the apartheid system. In 1994 the very first multiracial, democratic elections were held. Nelson Mandela won the presidency and former president, FW de Klerk, and Thabo Mbeki were appointed as deputy presidents.

1990

It was the worst period during South America, which lead to very shameful acts. The Apartheid, a legal system of racial segregation between blacks and whites, which was enforced by the National Party government, which had continued from 1948 until 1994. The blacks were deprived of their national citizenship and they were also segregated from the whites over public facilities like medical service, health services, education and even the usage of toilets. This troubling rule had sparked a lot of internal and external resistance, which led to many popular uprisings and demonstrations over human rights, which caused the banning of oppositions against the rule, and anti-apartheid protesters, which led to further outrage and fury. Unrest seeks in, which lead to more violence and the death toll increasing.

In 1990, Frederik Willem de Klerk, the president, began reforms and negotiations to end apartheid, which had penultimate in the multi-racial non-discrimination elections in the country was won by African National Congress led by Nelson Mandela. It then led to the end of apartheid.