What was Apartheid? Apartheid was a form of racial segregation in South Africa. Apartheid means, "Separate" in Afrikaans. During the Apartheid in South Africa, blacks had few rights and were treated inferior to whites. In 1948, the Afrikaner National Party won the general election for Apartheid. Apartheid was made law, this went in affect to divide black South Africans along tribal lines in order to decrease their chances of political power.