Internal resistance to apartheid

Nelson Mandela burns his passbook in 1960 as part of a civil disobedience campaign.

Date	17 December 1950 – 27 April 1994 (43 years, 4 months, 1 week and 3 days)
Location	South Africa, South-West Africa
Result	Military stalemate between MK and South African security forces Bilateral negotiations to end apartheid Abolition of apartheid in 1991 Dissolution of the bantustans Multiracial elections under a universal franchise held Beginning of the Volkstaat movement
Territorial changes	Integration of the bantustans, change of provincial borders in South Africa.

Belligerents

UDF (passive resistance only)

Commanders and leaders

Casualties and losses

21,000 dead as a result of political violence (1948-94)

Military stalemate between MK and South African security forces
Bilateral negotiations to end apartheid

Internal resistance to apartheid in South Africa originated from several independent sectors of society and alternatively took the form of social movements, passive resistance, or guerrilla warfare. Mass action against the ruling National Party government, coupled with South Africa's growing international isolation and economic sanctions, were instrumental factors in ending racial segregation and discrimination. Both black and white South African activists such as Steve Biko, Desmond Tutu, Nelson Mandela, Harry Schwarz, and Joe Slovo were involved with various anti-apartheid causes. By the 1980s, there was continuous interplay between violent and non-violent action, and this interplay was a notable feature of resistance against apartheid from 1983 until South Africa's first multiracial elections under a universal franchise in 1994.