The Apartheid system began to fall apart in the 1980s, as many South Africans finally realized something had to change. F.W. De Klerk, elected in 1989, promised to find a compromise between the minority and the majority. In 1990, he unbanned the ANC (African National Congress) and released Nelson Mandela from prison. Mandela was elected President by the new Parliament in 1994. Apartheid was over.

Apartheid- "the state of being apart", a system of racial segregation in South Africa enforced by the National Party (governed from 1948 to 1994)

Apartheid in SA