Apartheid was a racially motivated political, social, and economic system of segregation that was exercised by whites over blacks, particularly in pre-1994 South Africa. Apartheid and poverty are intertwined due to the fact that apartheid gave political and economic advantage to whites while ensuring that blacks remained in a perpetual state of deprivation, marginalization, and impoverishment.

The word apartheid means “separateness” in Afrikaans, while the Oxford English Dictionary defines it as a system of segregation or discrimination on the basis of race. The policy of apartheid was based on racial prejudice and discrimination, which formed the basis for governing all aspects of the relations between blacks and whites for [Page 72]over three centuries. Its nature was very specific to the South African context. Apartheid is often ...