The period of apartheid, being the separation of people in a society, in South Africa was a long struggle filled with many trials and tribulations. After making a close assessment of Nelson Mandela’s Long Walk to Freedom, it can be concluded that apartheid in South Africa ended when it did because of Zimbabwe’s battle against white minority rule, the partial unification of the PAC and ANC, and also because of the general anxiety and insecurity of all the people in South Africa. The advancing battle against white minority rule served as fuel for the ANC’s movement. “The ANC regarded the battle in Zimbabwe as an extension of [their] struggle at home.” (Mandela, pp. 383) They saw the actions in other countries against white minority rule as motivation for them to begin to dispute apartheid in their own country. “In Namibia (then South-West Africa), SWAPO was making its first incursions in the Caprivi Strip: in Mozambique and Angola, the guerilla movement was growing and spreading. In Zimbabwe (then Rhodesia), the battle against white minority rule was advancing. Ian Smith’s white government was bolstered by the South African Defense Force.”These events all fostered South African ideas against apartheid and subsequently started them to looking for their own freedom. The partial unification of the PAC and ANC was also a great contribution to the ending of apartheid. On Robben Island, Mandela saw the imprisonment of members of both organizations as an opportunity to “patch up the long and often bitter differences between the PAC and the ANC.” (Mandela, pp. 384) By uniting the two organizations on the island, Mandela set a precedent for uniting them in the liberation struggle as a whole. By doing this, both organizations were able to take “advantage of the benefits that resulted from negotiations.” (Mandela, pp. 384) The final reason that apartheid ended wh...
