Apartheid in South Africa: The African National Congress and Nelson Mandela

Apartheid was a dark time in the history of South Africa. The African National Congress played a major role in the breaking of Apartheid. Nelson Mandela played a critical role in bringing democracy to South Africa. This paper will show how the African National Congress was involved in the Anti-Apartheid movement and how the African National Congress and Nelson Mandela Changed the country as a whole.

To understand how South Africa changed, one must know the history of Apartheid and the effects it had on the country. Apartheid was a form segregation enforced by law in South Africa. The system was in effect from 1948 to 1993. During this time the majority black and other non-white population was unfairly discriminated against. Segregation in South Africa started during the country's colonial period. Apartheid began as a political movement after the elections in 1948. The government began writing laws that put the population in different racial groups. Since 1970, members of the black population had it's citizenship taken away, by the new written laws. They were put categorized into many different tribal groups that governed themselves. The tribes were called bantustans. [1]

The government separated everything that it could. It separated education, health care and many other public services. The white population got much better service and care than the majority of the population. Apartheid sparked many resistance groups in the country and violence was becoming more and more frequent. As countries around the world were becoming more democratic, they imposed an international trade embargo against South Africa. Starting in the 1950's, resistance and protesting began. The government treated these movements very cruelly by p...

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...ew democratic South Africa. [2]

After his election, Mandela worked hard to remove all the laws and damage the Apartheid had made. Mandela's fight affected the country dramatically. The trade bans imposed on the country were lifted and South Africa's economy recovered. New jobs were created and were available to all of the population. South Africa was also able to make sport's history as well. Last year South Africa became the first African nation to host the Fifa World Cup, which is a monumental event around the world. The World greatly boosted South Africa's image and increased its level of tourism. As explained before, Apartheid was a very dark time in the country's history. I believe that if the country had not had the African National Congress and the charisma of Nelson Mandela, South Africa would still be a third world country under Apartheid's rule.