Apartheid

In news– Recently, Indian-origin South African anti-apartheid veteran Ebrahim Ismail Ebrahim, also known as “Ebie”, who was also the former deputy minister of international relations, died at the age of 85.

What is Apartheid?

It is the name of the policy that governed relations between the white minority and the non white majority of South Africa during the 20th century.
The apartheid name was first used in about 1948 to describe the racial segregation policies embraced by the white minority government.
It dictated where South Africans, on the basis of their race, could live and work, the type of education they could receive, and whether they could vote.
According to this system of social stratification, white citizens had the highest status, followed by Asians and Coloureds, then black Africans.
Under the administration of the South African president F.W. de Klerk, legislation supporting apartheid was repealed in the early 1990s, and a new constitution—one that enfranchised blacks and other racial groups was adopted in 1993.
The apartheid regime of South Africa ended in 1994, during which year democratic elections were held in the country for the first time.
All-race national elections held in 1994 resulted in a black majority government led by prominent anti-apartheid activist Nelson Mandela of the African National Congress party.

About Ebrahim Ismail-

He was born in 1937 to parents of Indian origin.
He belonged to the village of Chasa near Alipore and adopted the surname of the family he had accompanied to South Africa, which was Ebrahim.
He was influenced by the leaders of the African National Congress (ANC) and the Natal Indian Congress (NIC) at the age of 13.
By 1952, during the Defiance Campaign his political involvement grew and Ebrahim joined the NIC.
He became a member of the ANC, spent over 15 years in the Robben Island prison along with Nelson Mandela and Ahmed Kathrada for taking a position against the apartheid government.
In 1952, Ebrahim joined the liberation movement as a youth activist and participated in the Congress of the People Campaign through the NIC.
In 1961, he joined the armed wing of the ANC called the Umkhonto We Sizwe that was meant to carry out sabotage activities in the country.
For his political activities, he was sent to jail for several years.