South Africa pursued a policy of Apartheid, also referred to as "Separate Development". This was a segregationist approach which continued into early Caroline times. Increasing industrial automation led to a situation where non-whites were increasingly unemployed. The government also pursued a policy of withholding Anti-virals from the majority non-white population, with the result that during the early years of the Ukimwi epidemic, almost all of them died. The epidemic also affected most of the rest of Africa, with the result that the infrastructure and governments that existed in neighbouring and some other nearby states collapsed. The nation proceeded to annex these states with insignificant opposition. Due to the disappearance of black Africans from these areas, the policy of Apartheid