Origin, Nature and Dismantling of Apartheid Policy in the Union of South Africa (1948-1994)

Abstract

The apartheid policy of racial discrimination and segregation against the
blacks in South Africa was officially introduced in 1948 by the all- white
government of Daniel F. Malan. It was abolished in April 1994. While it
lasted, blacks in South Africa suffered economic and political subjugation
and degradation that were better imagined than real. Resistance by blacks to
the obnoxious policies of the apartheid initially involved protests and
demonstrations between 1912 and 1950’s but became militant between 1960
and late 1970’s. This resulted in a number of imprisonments, deaths and loss
of property. By the 1980’s however, apartheid began to lose its potency in
South Africa. Liberal polices introduced by the government of F.W de Klerk
between 1989 and 1994 as well as growing international condemnation of
the policy paved way for its eradication. This paper attempts an exploration
of the features of apartheid policy in South Africa, the nature of African
resistance, signs of disintegration of the policy beginning from the early
1980’s and factors that led to its final collapse in April 1994.

Key Words: Apartheid, segregation, persistence, massacre, Bantustan.