Black
South Africans were at times officially called "
Bantu" by the
apartheid regime. The term Bantu is derived from the word for "people" common to many of the
Bantu language Oxford Dictionary of
South African English describes its use in a racial context as
obsolescent and offensive because of its strong association with white minority rule and the apartheid system. However, "Bantu" is used without pejorative connotations in other parts of Africa.