South African political group led by Nelson Mandela, which led the fight against apartheid; they won the majority of legislative seats in the 1994 election and, at the time of writing, continue to lead the government of South Africa

The name for part of the white South African population; Afrikaner heritage derives from the colonists who broke away from the English controlled Cape Colony and moved into the interior of South Africa to set up their own republics in the 1800s; also known as Boers

The concept of Afrikaners forging their own cultural identity and language in South Africa and maintaining racial segregation based on the apartheid system

Founded in 1944 by Nelson Mandela and other young nationalist members of the ANC to steer the parent organisation towards a more militant mass-resistance agenda

From 1948-91, the white minority of South Africa used force to oppress the black majority by forcing them into segregated homelands and denying them equality; a system of segregation and discrimination in which different races were forced to live separately

(Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging or Afrikaner Resistance Movement) Right-wing extremist group

Term used by black South African workers to address white adult males

A term for the main linguistic and ethnic group to which most black Africans in Central and Southern Africa belong; the nationalist government used this term to identify black Africans and so it has some pejorative overtones

Areas set aside for black people within South Africa as independent ethnic tribal homelands

Founder of South Africa's Black Consciousness Movement and president of the South African Students' Organisation; banned by the government from political activity in 1973, he was killed while in police custody in 1977; Biko became an international symbol of the repression of the white government of South Africa

South African political movement led by Stephen Biko; stressed black pride and the rediscovery of black culture

A white South African of Dutch, German or Huguenot descent, especially one of the early settlers of the Transvaal and the Orange Free State

Commonly known as 'P. W.', he was the leader of South Africa from 1978 to 1989, serving as the last Prime Minister from 1978 to 1984 and the first executive State President from 1984 to 1989; he introduced the policy of total strategy to deal with the problems of apartheid and the township riots during the 1980s

Secret South African Police counter-insurgency unit which served the apartheid government; it captured political opponents and either 'turned' (converted) or executed them, including members of the ANC; the unit was commanded first by Dirk Coetzee and then Eugene de Kock, and headquartered at a farm known as Vlakplaas 20 km west of Pretoria

Convention for a Democratic South Africa

Those 'of mixed race', in apartheid terminology; usually referred to people with African and Dutch ancestry

Process by which colonies become independent of the colonising country

The last white minority president of South Africa; in 1989, de Klerk became president and began to dismantle the apartheid system; he freed Nelson Mandela in 1990 and negotiated with Mandela for a peaceful transfer of power and free elections; he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize along with Mandela in 1993

The policy of international corporations of removing capital and investment from South Africa to pressure the government to end apartheid

The Great Trek was a movement of Dutch-speaking colonists into the interior of southern Africa in search of land where they could establish their own homeland, independent of British rule

(also Bantustans) Ten mini-states designated by the white South African government under apartheid as self-governing black areas intended to segregate blacks and limit their contact with the minority white population; more than 80 per cent of the population was relegated to these 10 states, which represented approximately 13 per cent of the total land; the homelands were carved out of the least agriculturally and economically desirable land in the country

The apartheid-era policy of restricting the movement of black people into urban areas to live or work through the use of pass books

The IFP is a political party in South Africa; since its founding in 1975 after the banning of the ANC and PAC, it has been led by Mangosuthu Buthelezi in Kwazulu

Insulting term used to describe black Africans by white South Africans

(meaning instant constables) In the last days of apartheid, these men were unemployed blacks who were deputised into the South African security forces and then let loose on their own people with no restraint

(1936-2018) The second wife of Nelson Mandela, marrying him in 1958 and divorcing in 1996; she was a strong critic of apartheid, resulting in lengthy periods of imprisonment, torture, solitary confinement, internal exile and house arrest from the 1950s to 1990; member of parliament for the ANC from 2009 to 2018

A South African politician who served as Prime Minister of South Africa from 1948 to 1954; he was the leader of the National Party, which came to power in 1948 and laid the foundations for the apartheid state

The leader of the ANC who eventually became South Africa's first democratically elected black leader; imprisoned from 1962-90; leader of the anti-apartheid movement while in prison and was inspirational in bringing about a free and democratic South Africa after his release from prison; Mandela became an international statesmen and champion for equality and justice

(also Purified National Party or Nationalist Party) White minority party that came to power in 1948 and institutionalised the system of apartheid

(meaning 'bringing back what was lost') A plan of guerrilla-type activities against the apartheid government by the ANC's military wing MK, which was thwarted in 1963 during a police raid at Rivonia

Organisation of African nations created to promote continental peace, unity and cooperation; the group works to resolve conflicts between nations and to coordinate political, economic, cultural, scientific, medical and defence policies

A splinter group of the ANC that broke away in 1959; the organisation's beliefs differed to the ANC in that PAC was focused on liberation and self-government of black Africans

South African legislation controlling the movements of blacks and coloureds (people of mixed racial descent) under the apartheid system; the laws were created to control the movement of people between their homes and places of work, and between rural and urban areas; between 1952 and 1986, millions were punished by the courts for failing to carry their passes; the Pass Laws were abolished in 1986

Military wing of the PAC

An American politician and actor who served as the Governor of California and the 40th President of the United States from 1981 to 1989

trial of Nelson Mandela and ML members December 1963 - June 1964

island 7kms from Cape Town used as a prison

Economic or sporting bans placed on South Africa by the United Nations or other countries

Using third parties to defy international sanctions United Democratic Front (UDF) A multiracial party formed with the aim of uniting all resistance groups in the fight against apartheid

the policy of keeping one group of people apart from another and treating them differently, especially because of race, sex, or religion. In South Africa, apartheid was a policy of segregation

Under Hendrik Verwoerd, apartheid developed into a policy known as separate development, where each of the nine African (Bantu) groups was to become a nation with its own homeland, or Bantustan

site of the 21 March 1960 massacre

A prominent leader of the South African fight against apartheid; he was imprisoned on Robben Island from 1962-89

The SADF's main role was to defend and protect South Africa's territory and borders, but it was increasingly used to crush rebellion and riots during apartheid

A combination of the South African Defence Forces (SADF) and South African Police, used to enforce apartheid and repress opposition

A breakaway group from the National Union of Students, which demanded change and argued that whites in South Africa would not take the necessary steps to end apartheid

South African township near Johannesburg and one of the largest urban areas in southern Africa, it is notorious for its poverty, overcrowding and oppression, and from 1976 to 1991, Soweto became the centre of the student fight against apartheid

In 1986 the government declared South Africa to be in a general state of emergency; to protect the white minority and repress any actions against apartheid, townships were sealed off by the army, the military patrolled cities and suburban streets, and strict curfews were put in place; the policy was in place until 1990

South West African People's Organisation; a political party and former independence movement in Namibia

The idea proposed by P.W. Botha in 1985 that South Africa was under threat from both domestic and international pressures

Government-built towns in South Africa with minimal municipal services located near cities that were designated as living areas for members of specific racial groups in order to separate them from whites, such as Soweto (South Western Townships), a black township in the Johannesburg area

Truth and Reconciliation Commission

also known as MK, this was the military wing of the ANC co-formed by Nelson Mandela in 1960

A multiracial party formed with the aim of uniting all resistance groups in the fight against apartheid