An Afrikaner is a member of a South African ethnic group descended primarily from the Dutch settlers who landed on the Cape in 1652. Afrikaners dominated the country’s commercial agriculture and political sectors until the end of apartheid and the election of Nelson Mandela as the country’s first Black president in 1994. Currently, Afrikaners make up about 5.2% of South Africa’s total population.

Apartheid was a system of racial segregation that existed in South Africa from 1948 until the early 1990s. Apartheid was an authoritarian system of governance developed and run by the country’s white minority. The system stratified citizens, placing white people at the top of the socioeconomic hierarchy and Black people on the bottom. The legacy of apartheid is evident in contemporary South African society, notably, in the economic disparities between Black and white people.

Azania is the name that Biko and other members of SASO wanted South Africa to adopt post-apartheid. Biko envisioned Azania as a non-racial, egalitarian society run by Black people, for Black people. Recognizing the importance of pluralism in South African society, however, Biko maintained that white people would be welcome in Azania, so long as they respected Black people and followed the terms laid out by the country’s Black leaders.