Which political party was responsible for implementing apartheid?

• A. PLO
• B. Haganah
• C. Nelson Mandela
• D. Afrikaner National Party

Answer: (D)

Apartheid was institutionalized as state policy by the Afrikaner National Party after it won power in 1948, turning racial segregation into law. They built a broad legal framework that separated people by race—laws like the Population Registration Act, Group Areas Act, and Bantu Education Act—ensuring white minority rule over Black and other communities in almost every aspect of life, from where people could live to the schools they attended and the jobs they could hold. Nelson Mandela opposed and helped dismantle this system as a leader of the anti-apartheid movement, and he later became president after apartheid ended. The other two groups come from different historical contexts: the PLO is a Palestinian nationalist organization, and Haganah was a Jewish defense group in pre-state Israel. Therefore, the party responsible for implementing apartheid is the Afrikaner National Party.