The first ever democratic elections in South Africa were won by Nelson Mandela in the year

The most vicious system of racial oppression was set up in South Africa. The system of racial segregation, called apartheid, was enforced in the country by the Government of the White minority led by Daniel Malan, who came to power in 1948, and by the successive governments. The non-Whites, over eighty percent of the population, were denied the right to vote, strikes were banned, Africans were deported from some specified areas, education was segregated, mixed marriages were declared illegal and immoral, and all dissent was banned under what was called the Suppression of Communism Act. Some of the greatest works of world literature, and not just political writings, were banned under the Suppression of Communism Act. Strict restrictions were imposed on the movement of Africans, and they were required to carry a pass permitting them to do so. South Africa left the Commonwealth when the policy of apartheid came under attack at the conference of the Prime Ministers of the Commonwealth countries.