[graeme]

Good article. However it doesn’t say the Soviet Union propped up South Africa.

Rather it says that the ANC (opposition) was supported by the Soviets. So the apartheid government argued that apartheid was necessary to keep out communism.

When the Soviets collapsed, this argument weakened and more people were convinced to dismantle apartheid.

[rchaud]

I think it's clear to most that the USSR were not friendly with apartheid SA.

[zo1]

There are some theories floating around that claim that one of the reasons Apartheid was instituted or started forming as an idea was because of a scare about Communism taking root in South Africa among the black population.