From Apartheid to Democracy: the Struggle for Liberation in South Africa

Apartheid was a deliberate policy to deprive black South Africans of their freedoms. Apartheid was not a wholly new initiative, established in 1948, because since the mineral discoveries in the late 19th century, Africans had been increasingly deprived of their rights, and segregationist policies had been applied. However, with the implementation of apartheid, black people faced a more determined and systematic onslaught on their freedoms.

After so many years of suffering, on 27 April 1994, all South Africans were allowed to cast their vote in the first free and democratic elections in the country. It was a profound moment.

For the majority of South Africans it had been a ‘long walk to freedom’ in which black South Africans had struggled for many years, against enormous odds. After years of humiliating apartheid laws, and ongoing struggle against repression and violence, the South African people had triumphed.