<h2 class=" eplus-wrapper" id="the-long-road-to-freedom">The long road to freedom</h2>

As Nelson Mandela lay critically close to death on Thursday morning, the streets surrounding his hospital were thronged with crowds of every race. In spite of their beloved hero's condition, many smiled broadly as they chanted prayers and songs of praise: although this is a time of national consternation, it is also a celebration of the radical changes that have transformed South Africa over the course of Mandela's life.

The man affectionately known as 'MadibaMandela's name in his native language of Xhosa. He is also known as Tata, meaning 'father'.' was born in 1918 into a society dominated by white people descended from British and European settlers. Black South Africans (the vast majority of the population) were poor, politically powerless and banned from owning land beyond designated reserves.

At a time when Europe's great empires were still at their height, this sort of racial inequality between colonisers and colonised could be found all over the world. But in 1948, white South Africans elected a party whose campaign was built around the promise to implement a system more discriminatory still: apartheidA system of legally-enshrined racial discrimination and oppression which existed in South Africa from 1948 until the 1990s. It denied non-white South Africans basic human rights..

The government proceeded to enact a series of laws which consolidated white power and banned different races from intermingling. Non-whiteUnder apartheid, all South Africans were separated into four racial categories: 'native', 'coloured', 'Asian' and 'white'. Dividing races so starkly is of course absurd: there are in fact an enormous number of different races and most people's ethnic heritage is to some extent mixed. Black (or 'native') people suffered the most extreme discrimination, but other non-whites were denied many rights and privileges too. people were forced to visit separate hospitals, send their children to different schools and even swim on different beaches. Every aspect of South African society was segregated by race.

White supremacists called this a 'policy of good neighbourliness'. Anti-apartheid activists called it what it was: a despicable and degrading system of oppression.

Led by Mandela, they embarked on a programme of peaceful protest and civil disobedience aimed at toppling apartheid and winning racial equality. But the government responded with brutal force, slaughtering 69 unarmed black demonstrators in the infamous Sharpeville Massacre.

With legal routes so viciously blocked, Mandela and his companions concluded that they had 'no alternative but violent resistance'. They embarked on a campaign of sabotage, but were caught and sentenced to life imprisonment with hard labour.

The imprisoned Mandela became a symbol of freedom. International pressure and domestic resistance grew until, in 994Mandela was freed and the apartheid laws officially abolished in 1990. But apartheid is usually said to have ended four years later with the first elections with universal suffrage for all races. apartheid finally collapsed. Mandela, whom most had expected to die in jail, became the first president of a multiracial South Africa.

'Never, never and never again,' Mandela said, 'shall this beautiful land experience the oppression of one by another.' Many share this powerful faith that the world - one painful step at a time - is becoming a better place.

But not everyone agrees. Progress is not inevitable, historians warn: flourishing societies can fall prey to corruption and chaos, and seemingly vanquished evils may return in other forms. Thank God that apartheid is gone - but there is no guarantee it is gone for good.

Madiba - Mandela's name in his native language of Xhosa. He is also known as Tata, meaning 'father'.

Apartheid - A system of legally-enshrined racial discrimination and oppression which existed in South Africa from 1948 until the 1990s. It denied non-white South Africans basic human rights.

Non-white - Under apartheid, all South Africans were separated into four racial categories: 'native', 'coloured', 'Asian' and 'white'. Dividing races so starkly is of course absurd: there are in fact an enormous number of different races and most people's ethnic heritage is to some extent mixed. Black (or 'native') people suffered the most extreme discrimination, but other non-whites were denied many rights and privileges too.

1994 - Mandela was freed and the apartheid laws officially abolished in 1990. But apartheid is usually said to have ended four years later with the first elections with universal suffrage for all races.