(C) Apartheid was a political and social system in South Africa while it was under white minority rule. This was used in the 20th century, from 1948 to the early 1990 s. The word apartheid means ‘a partness’ in Afrikaans. Racial segregation had been used for centuries but when the new policy started in 1948 it was strict and more systematic. In the system, the people of South Africa were divided by their race and the races were forced to live apart from each other.