ABSTRACT
South Africa is a multicultural population, encompassing more than 47 million people of diverse origins, including four major ethnic groups and 11 official languages. The country has had a long history of segregation and racial strife between the different racial groups, culminating in the segregationist laws collectively known as apartheid, which were instituted in 1948 by the National Party. During the late 1980s and early 1990s, the laws of apartheid were progressively relaxed, leading to the first free and fair democratic elections held in 1994.
