Apartheid og overgangen til demokrati i Sydafrika

The Sharpeville Massacre in 1960 made people outside South Africa realise how Black people lived under Apartheid. There was more and more international pressure on the South African government to change the system. Anti-Apartheid groups were formed around the world. Some countries introduced economic sanctions

against South Africa. Many companies refused

to work in South Africa and a number of sporting events boycotted South Africa or excluded

South African participants.

By the mid-1970s, South Africa had less support from friendly White governments in other parts of southern Africa. In 1974, Angola and Mozambique gained

independence from Portugal. In 1980 in Zimbabwe, the White-dominated government was replaced by a Black majority government. South Africa was now isolated in the region.

In 1989, the communist system in the Soviet Union collapsed, and the Cold War between West and East ended. The Soviet Union had given arms

and money to violent anti-Apartheid movements. This meant that western governments had usually supported

the South African government against Soviet influence. After the Soviet Union collapsed, this was no longer seen as necessary. Instead, western governments began to support the democratic rights of Black South Africans.

Even within South Africa, attitudes gradually began to change in the 1970s and 1980s. The government was influenced