From the book: Book 6: Negotiation, Transition and Freedom commissioned by The Department of Education
- 1902
- Treaty of Vereeniging
- 1910
- 31 May, Adoption of South Africa’s first constitution
- 8 Jan 1912
- Formation of the ANC
- 1948
- National Party comes to power
- 1955
- 26 June, Adoption of the Freedom Charter
- 1960
- March, Sharpeville massacre
- 1975
- Mozambique and Angola gain independence
- 1980
- Zimbabwe gains independence
- 1983
- Formation of the United Democratic Front
- 1985
- P.W. Botha’s Rubicon speech
- 1985
- November, Kobie Coetsee meets Nelson Mandela in a Cape Town hospital
- 1987
- July, Dakar meeting between ANC and Afrikaans opinion makers
- 1989
- 5 July, Mandela meets Botha at Tuynhuys
- 1989
- 21 August, Harare Declaration
- 1989
- 12 September, First official meeting between exiled ANC leaders and NP, Lausanne
- 1989
- 14 September, F.W. de Klerk becomes State President
- 1989
- November, Fall of the Berlin Wall
- 1989
- 13 December, First meeting between Mandela and De Klerk
- 1990
- Namibia gains independence
- January, Harms Commission appointed to look into state-sponsored violence
- 1990
- 2 February, De Klerk opens Parliament; announces freeing of Mandela and other political prisoners
- 1990
- 5 May, Groote Schuur Minute
- 1991
- December, Beginning of negotiations at kempton Park
- 1992
- 17 March, Whites-only referendum
- 17 June, Boipatong massacre
- 1993
- 10 April, Assassination of Chris Hani
- 25 June, AWB invasion of multi-party negotiations
- December, Interim Constitution ratified by Parliament
- 1994
- March, Right-wing whites’ abortive military action in Bophuthatswana
- 1994
- 27 April, South Africa’s first democratic election
- 1994-1996
- Constitutional Assembly writes the new Constitution
- 1995
- TRC begins its work
- 1998
- Initial report of the TRC to the President
- 2003
- Final report of the TRC to the President