What impact did apartheid have on the lives of South Africans?

Apartheid was a system championed by South Africa's National Party in 1948. It was designed to keep the racial groups separate and to subjugate the non-white people of South Africa.
Racism and racial discrimination was common to South Africa for centuries, but apartheid codified racist tradition into law.
The Prohibition of Mixed Marriages Act of 1949 made it illegal for black people and white people to be married. In 1950, the Population Registration Act was passed and required all people to register according to their racial group. The Promotion of Bantu Self-Government Act made it so that racial groups had to live separately.
Laws made it so that non-white people had to carry special passes to live and/or work in certain places. People fought for many years to end apartheid, and in the early nineties, old laws began to be repealed. Apartheid ended in 1994 with the election of Nelson Mandela.