What was the main basis of the apartheid system in South Africa?

Correct answer: Separation based on race

Correct answer: A, separation based on race. Apartheid was a system of institutionalised racial discrimination in South Africa. It classified people according to race and maintained separate social, residential and political arrangements, with unequal rights and opportunities. The key idea in the question is the basis of the system: race, not language, religion or age. A is correct because racial classification and separation were central to apartheid. B is wrong because language-based equality does not describe racial domination. C is wrong because apartheid was not primarily a religious voting system. D is wrong because age-based rule has nothing to do with the defining structure of apartheid. The system also involved political power being concentrated in the hands of the white minority. Memory cue: apartheid means racial separation and unequal treatment; connect the word with race, not religion or language.