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Image: Themba Hadebe/AP/dpa/picture allianceImage: Themba Hadebe/AP/dpa/picture alliance

Apartheid

Apartheid is an Afrikaans word, translating as "separateness", or "the state of being apart." It refers to the system of institutionalized racial segregation and discrimination in South Africa between 1948 and 1991.

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All Content on this topic

Südafrika Beerdigung von Ahmed Kathrada

Rallying against Zuma at anti-Apartheid legend's funeral

Ahmed Kathrada, who spent decades campaigning against South Africa's white minority rule, has been laid to rest.
PoliticsMarch 29, 2017
A recent picture of Ahmed Kathrada

Denis Goldberg: Ahmed Kathrada 'never gave up'

Anti-apartheid activist Denis Goldberg remembers Ahmed Kathrada who has just died, aged 87
PoliticsMarch 28, 2017
Ahmed Kathrada

Anti-apartheid icon Ahmed Kathrada dies

The close colleague of Nelson Mandela spent more than twenty-six years of his life in prison.
PoliticsMarch 28, 2017
White Slums - South Africa

World in Progress: White poverty in South Africa

More than two decades after the end of apartheit, thousands of families live in South Africa's white slums.
PoliticsMarch 15, 201710:14 min
Work by Robin Rhode (Hatje Cantz Verlag/Paolo Mussat Sartor)

Robin Rhode: Painting in black and white, but only in art

Renowned South African street art performer Robin Rhode employs his black-and-white paintings to lay down the marker aga
CultureMarch 10, 2017
Südafrika Nomarussia Bonase gewinnt Anne Klein Award

Activist battling for apartheid survivors picks up award

Anne Klein Women's Award goes to South African Nomarussia Bonase, who campaigns on behalf of apartheid victims
PoliticsMarch 2, 2017
Afrika moderne Landwirtschaft Eisbergsalat Ernte in Südafrika

SA's land reform - a never-ending story

Twenty-two years after the end of apartheid, South Africa is still grappling with land reform.
PoliticsNovember 23, 2016

The Soweto Youth Uprising

The Soweto uprising of 1976 marked the beginning of the end for Apartheid in South Africa.
HistoryNovember 21, 2016
Südafrika Johannesburg Oppoosition EFF Julius Malema

S African opposition leader calls for land grab

Left-wing politician Julius Malema has called on country’s black population to “occupy the land” owned by whites.
ConflictsNovember 10, 2016
Desmond Tutu Erzbischof Südarika

Tutu wants choice of assisted death

South Africa's anti-apartheid activist Tutu said he'd prefer assisted suicide if his health continued to deteriorate.
Human RightsOctober 7, 2016
India Mahatma Gandhi

Ghana academics call to remove Gandhi statue

A group of professors at the University of Ghana have demanded the removal of a Mahatma Gandhi memorial.
September 20, 2016
ANC rally

ANC faces worst South Africa municipal results

Partial results show falling support for the African National Congress, the party that ended apartheid.
August 4, 2016
Shacks in Munsieville squatter camp

Poverty becomes more inclusive in South Africa

Whites in a South African squatter camp grapple with poverty like many black township residents.
PoliticsJuly 23, 2016
A student raises his arms in anger during the protests (black and white)

Remembering Soweto: 40 years on, inequality remains

South Africa is celebrating four decades since the 1976 Soweto uprising, a turning point in the fight against apartheid.
June 15, 2016
Südafrika Straßenszene in Soweto

Soweto: transformation of a city

Once a symbol of apartheid oppression, Soweto has become a vibrant example of urban South Africa
PoliticsJune 15, 201610 images
Demonstrators in the streets during the Soweto uprising, South Africa, 21st June 1976. (Photo by Keystone/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

Soweto uprising, 40 years on

Forty years after the Soweto uprising, DW speaks with South African journalist Subry Govender who was there at the time.
June 10, 201605:50 min
Bildergalerie Leben Nelson Mandela

CIA involvement in Mandela arrest

Revelations from a former CIA operative indicate the American spy agency assisted in Nelson Mandela's arrest in 1962.
May 16, 2016
Südafrika Kapstadt Jacob Zuma Präsident

South Africa veteran calls for Zuma to quit

Lifelong rights activist Ahmed Kathrada has called for President Jacob Zuma to leave the government following a scandal.
April 2, 2016
Schweiz Volksabstimmung Anti-Ausländer-Initiative SVP

Switzerland rejects deportation of foreign criminals

Swiss voters in a referendum rejected a proposal to automatically deport foreign criminals.
February 28, 2016
Südafrika Der brennenden North-Western University in Mahikeng

Student protests in South Africa end in violence and flames

After violent clashes with police, students are going online to protest police brutality and racial discrimination.
February 25, 2016
Migrants at Greece's border with Macedonia

World in Progress

In this week's show: Europe responds to a new bottleneck of migrants along the so-called Balkan route, why Amnesty International is calling 2015 one of the bleakest years on record, and life and death under Venezuela's buckling health system. Plus, we visit the South African theater that's been pushing boundaries since 1976.
February 24, 201629:59 min
South Africa's Market Theater

South Africa's 'protest theater' turns 40

During apartheid, Johannesburg's Market Theater was one of the few places South Africans of all races could come together and perform. It challenged the government with its anti-apartheid plays, and made a name for itself as "the theater of the struggle." Four decades after its founding in 1976, the institution is still going strong.
CultureFebruary 24, 201607:04 min

AfricaLink on Air - 12 February 2016: 0705 UTC

Zuma's state of the nation address +++ Suicide attack kills 56 in Nigeria +++ S. Africa remembers District Six eviction
February 12, 201625:07 min
Symbol-Icon als Anklick-Button für die AfricaLink Webseite

AfricaLink on Air - 12 February 2016: 0405 UTC

Zuma's state of the nation address +++ Suicide attack kills 56 in Nigeria +++ S. Africa remembers District Six eviction
February 12, 201624:59 min
Südafrika Kapstadt - District Six

Cape Town's District Six

District Six was declared a white-only area under apartheid. Restitution for the evicted has been slow in coming.
February 10, 2016
A black South African boy in a red jumper behind a wire fence

Online racism sparks outrage, legal action in South Africa

South Africa’s ruling ANC party is pushing for stronger anti-racism laws after a spate of racist posts on social media
January 6, 2016
Südafrika Maia Marie

Pulse: Uniting black and white South Africans through 'living books'

Maia Marie wants to end the separation between black and white people in South Africa, even 20 years after the end of Apartheid. So she created "The Mobile Living Library," a project in which young South Africans become open books, telling their personal stories to strangers. She hopes that by swapping stories, South Africans can realize they are all part of one society.
December 15, 201506:08 min
Protestors carrying Israeli and Palestinian flags

Post-imperial fates from South Africa to North Korea

As Japan commemorates the end of its empire, DW looks at the war, famine and clashes that often follow imperialism.
August 15, 20158 images
A cork popping

WorldLink: South Africa's first inter-racial wedding

This is one anniversary not to forget... South Africa's first ever inter-racial marriage was conducted 30 years ago.
SocietyJune 19, 201507:57 min
Südafrika Fredrik Willem de Klerk Bekanntgabe Mandela Freilassung

Dismantling apartheid

25 years ago South Africa's parliament voted to scrap a law segregating public facilties
June 18, 2015
Statue of Cecil John Rhodes at the University of Cape Town

Grappling with history

University of Cape Town students have called for the statue of colonialist Cecil Rhodes to be removed from campus.
March 21, 2015
Jacob Zuma

Jacob Zuma's land holdings bill

South Africa's President Jacob Zuma has given details of his proposed land reform.
February 14, 2015
Eugene de Kock (AP Photo/Denis Farrell)

Apartheid assassin 'Prime Evil' wins parole

South Africa apartheid assassin Eugene de Kock has been granted parole after 20 years in prison.
January 30, 2015
Der französische Filmemacher

Anti-censorship French film-maker Vautier dies

Veteran French film-maker and anti-censorship campaigner Rene Vautier has died
January 4, 2015
Nadine Gordimer gestorben

Writer Nadine Gordimer dies

The Nobel laureate and South African author Nadine Gordimer has passed away, according to her family. The literary icon used her craft to shed light on the social and psychological tensions created by apartheid.
July 14, 2014
The South African flag

South Africa's white enclave

While South Africa celebrates two decades since the end of apartheid, one town in the center of the country is exclusively white. The Afrikaner community of Orania has grown to more than 1000 members.
PoliticsJune 13, 201407:09 min
The Brankenfamily atop a building in a black-and-white photograph from Johannesburg, South Africa

Life in the rainbow nation

The Branken family are the only whites in Hillbrow, a notorious Johannesburg urban slum.
June 11, 2014
Dancers on stage on Munich for Mandela Trilogy

Special harmony

The folk opera "Mandela Trilogy" brings a slice of South African life to Germany.
June 6, 2014
Südafrika Wahlen Schlange vor Wahllokal 07.05.2014

South Africa votes

South Africans queued for hours to cast their vote in the country’s fifth democratic election.
May 7, 2014
Südafrika Wahlen

South Africa votes

South Africans are voting in the country's general election. The polls mark 20 years since the end of white-minority rule in the country.
May 7, 2014
Young women on Camps Bay beach, Cape Town (photo: picture-alliance/Yadid Levy/Robert Harding)

South Africa's born free

Born after the end of apartheid, South Africa's youth pushes for a united rainbow nation.
April 29, 2014
Apartheid anniversary

Freedom Day in South Africa

South Africa is marking the 20th anniversary of post-apartheid democracy. The country still faces many challenges, among them corruption, racial inequality, poverty, rampant crime and a lack of basic services.
April 28, 2014

20 years without apartheid

South Africa is marking the 20th anniversary of the founding of its multiethnic democracy
April 25, 2014
The Johannesburg skyline

South Africa's changing suburbs

As South Africa marks 20 years since its first post-apartheid elections, the country's black middle class is growing steadily. DW visits a black family living in a former 'whites only' neighborhood.
CultureApril 25, 201407:11 min
Nelson Mandela und Desmond Tutu

Truth and Reconciliation in South Africa

South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commisssion has a better reputation abroad than at home.
April 24, 2014
Farmer on a field in KwaZulu-Natal (photo: DW/Subry Govender)

Poverty 20 years on

Many former homeland residents hoped things would change for the better after apartheid had ended.
April 24, 2014
- A bayside sign-post indicates a 'White Area' during Apartheid in South Africa, June 23, 1976 (photo: AP Photo)

Apartheid in South Africa

The history of racial segregation in South Africa
April 23, 2014
Zanele Muholi (photo: DW/Ulrike Sommer)

Photographing the struggle

South African photographers are documenting every step on the road to democracy.
April 23, 2014
Police building (photo: DW/Thomas Hasel)

Johannesburg aims for urban renewal

Johannesburg is seeking to reinvent itself as a modern city by refurbishing slum districts.
April 22, 201412 images
Two poets in South Africa (photo: DW)

Poets voicing their anger

South Africa's young generation is frustrated with the country's current situation.
April 22, 2014