Handout: Apartheid and South Africa

  1. What does "apartheid" mean?

  2. When did it become official policy in South Africa? Under which government?

  3. What were the racial categories used under apartheid?

  4. Black South Africans represent approximately what percentage of the population? How about White South Africans?

  5. What were separate "homelands" called? When was the first of these developed?

  6. What was the name of the prominent opposition party to the government and to apartheid?

  7. Who was this party's spokesperson?

  8. Name (any) three other prominent anti-apartheid activists.

  9. When did apartheid officially end?

  10. Who won the Nobel Peace Prize for their contributions to ending apartheid?

  11. What was the name of the commission that oversaw accounts of events during apartheid? Who headed it?

  12. Which of the following statements is true and which is false?

 Because of apartheid policies:

  • 71% of people over 20 years old have not completed secondary education.

  • In 2001, 60% of 9 year old children were unable to write.  

  • 70% of men aged 30-40 are unemployed. They are educated only for manual work. 

  • Only 3% of black South Africans who reach postsecondary education actually graduate from university.  

  • An estimated 70% of rural women still live in areas without clean water.