The Boers wanted independence, but they were defeated by the British in two wars between 1899 and 1902. Within the white population they were the majority, but they were surrounded by much larger numbers of black people. Government by the whites only was their way of defending their Afrikaans culture and controlling South Africa.

In 1948, the Afrikaner National Party won the elections. "Today South Africa belongs to us once more," said the new Prime Minister, D.F. Malan. He began to impose the policy of apartheid. The word means separateness in Afrikaans. The original idea of apartheid was separate development of black and white communities. In reality it meant racism enforced by law. Non-white people had no rights. Opposition to the white government was illegal.

Black people were used as cheap labour. Pass Laws restricted their movement round the country. To earn a living, the men migrated from the country to work in the gold and diamond mines, while the women went to work as domestic servants in white households. This broke down the black people's tribal customs and close family unity.

Separate townships for Indians, black South Africans and coloureds (people of mixed race) developed around the white cities. Houses in the townships were often without electricity, water and sewerage. Black people were very poorly paid and had to travel long distances to work in white areas.

“In the English-speaking World”