Modern and ancient Africa are two different time periods, with different people. Many people in the West like to think of these two time periods as the same, as is the nature of victors. Things are passed down through generations. Such as how the victors, whether it be pharohs or colonizers, treated natives as if they were dirt.

Cut to South Africa in 1948. The government that was voted in was composed of all white members. They began to enforce already existing policies of racial segregation. Nonwhite people were forced to live in other areas than white people and use different facilites. Depsite the fact that many South African's ppposed the laws, the laws stayed in effect for 50 or so years.

1948 wasn't the start of apartheid in South Africa. The year isn't specified, but there are events that led up to the climax that was 1948. In 1913, the very controversial Land Act was passed, which made it illegal for black Africans to live in reserves, along with making it illegal for them to work as sharecroppers. This marked the start of territorial segregation.