What was apartheid and how did it restrict the rights of non-whites?

After the National Party gained power in South Africa in 1948, its all-white government immediately began enforcing existing policies of racial segregation under a system of legislation that it called apartheid ... de Klerk began to repeal most of the legislation that provided the basis for apartheid.

Apartheid was a system of legal racial segregation that happened in South Africa and South West Africa from 1948 until the early 90s. During Apartheid, Whites where given exclusive treatment. Non-Whites where given harder work, no right to vote, and treated worse than whites. Apartheid was enforced by european colonizers.