The African National Congress (ANC) is South Africa's governing party and has been in power since the transition to democracy in April 1994. The organisation was initially founded as the South African Native National Congress (SANNC) on 8 January 1912 in Bloemfontein, with the aim of fighting for the rights of black South Africans.
The first leader of the National Party (NP) became Prime Minister as part of the PACT government in 1924. The NP was the governing party of South Africa from 1948 until 1994, and was disbanded in 2005. Its policies included apartheid, the establishment of a South African Republic, and the promotion of Afrikaner culture. NP members were sometimes known as ‘Nationalists’ or ‘Nats’.
During the apartheid period, the legislative basis for racial classification during apartheid was the Population Registration Act No. 30 of 1950. This Act divided the South African population into three main racial groups: Whites, Natives (Blacks), Indians and Coloured people (people of mixed race).
On May 9, 1994, South Africa's newly elected parliament chose Nelson Mandela to be the first president of the post-apartheid era. Nelson Mandela was a leader in the African National Congress, an organization dedicated to protesting the South African government’s policy of apartheid. He spent 27 years in prison, during which time he became the central figure of the anti-apartheid movement as an international campaign fought for his release.