KEY POINTS:
Why are we asking this now?
Winston Peters, at New Zealand First's annual conference, accused the Maori Party and protesters marching against police terror raids of supporting apartheid.
What is apartheid?
Apartheid was a legally sanctioned system of racial segregation enforced in South Africa from 1948 and dismantled between 1990 and 1993.
The word is made up of the Dutch words "apart" (separate) and "heid" (hood), literally translating to mean separatehood. Homelands, or Bantustans, were set up for blacks where they lived apart from white South Africans, which led to nearly three million people being forced to move. The coloureds (mixed race) and the Indians occupied a middle ground in the law.
Education, medical care and other public services were segregated, and those available to black people were inferior. Blacks were also forbidden from voting.
How did apartheid start?
The term was introduced during the 1948 election campaign by D. F. Malan's Herenigde Nasionale Party. But racial segregation had unofficially been in force for many decades in South Africa.
In 1951 the HNP and Afrikaner Party merged to form the National Party.
Who fought against apartheid?
The most famous by far is Nelson Mandela, who became President of South Africa from 1994 to 1999 - the first to be elected in democratic elections.
Previously the African National Congress activist had spent 27 years in prison for leading the struggle against apartheid.
When he was released in 1990 he began a policy of reconciliation and negotiation which, with President F. W. de Klerk's help, led the transition to a multi-racial democracy in South Africa.
Mandela, now an elder statesman, has received more than 100 awards, including the Nobel Peace Prize in 1993.
Other leading anti-apartheid activists included Steve Biko, who founded the Black Consciousness Movement, which empowered the black population, and former ANC president Oliver Tambo.
How have New Zealanders interacted with apartheid South Africa?
Until 1970, South Africa refused to allow mixed-race sports teams to tour the country. In 1960 New Zealanders protested against an All Black tour of South Africa and used the slogan 'No Maoris, No Tour'. But it went ahead, with the All Blacks selecting white players only. The New Zealand Rugby Union cancelled a proposed tour in 1967 over the issue.
Halt All Racist Tours (Hart) was formed to protest against a 1970 tour. It went ahead, with Maori travelling as "honorary whites" after the South Africans agreed to accept a mixed-race team.
In 1973, Hart promised civil disruption if the Springboks toured New Zealand. Labour Prime Minister Norman Kirk cancelled the tour but rugby supporters said politics should not interfere in sport.
In the Gleneagles Agreement in 1977 Commonwealth prime ministers agreed to discourage competition with sporting organisations from South Africa as part of an international anti-apartheid campaign.
In 1981 thousands of New Zealanders invaded Rugby Park in Hamilton, trying to force the cancellation of the Springbok tour but it continued, causing huge social division across the country.
In 1986 an unofficial tour took place which included many All Black players. The team was known as the Cavaliers.
