The United States, Netherlands, Great Britain, West Germany and Belgium all recalled their Ambassadors from South Africa for consultations. South Africa received worldwide criticism for its Apartheid policy which was introduced by the National Party government in 1948. The policy instituted racial segregation in the country.
21 October 1977
Five developed countries recall their Ambassadors from South Africa
- Updated
- 30 Sep 2019

How we know this
- 01O’Malley, P. ‘1977’, from Nelson Mandela Centre of Memory, [online], Available at www.nelsonmandela.org [Accessed: 18 October 2013]
- 02Kalley, J.A.; Schoeman, E. & Andor, L.E. (1999), Southern African Political History: a chronology of key political events from independence to mid-1997, (Westport: Greenwood) p. 431
Last updated · 30 Sep 2019
South African History Online. (2013, October 17). Five developed countries recall their Ambassadors from South Africa. South African History Online. https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0096532
South African History Online (2013) 'Five developed countries recall their Ambassadors from South Africa', South African History Online, 17 October. Available at: https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0096532 (Accessed: 6 November 2026).
South African History Online, Five developed countries recall their Ambassadors from South Africa [website], https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0096532, (accessed 6 November 2026).
"Five developed countries recall their Ambassadors from South Africa." South African History Online, 17 Oct. 2013, https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0096532. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.
South African History Online. "Five developed countries recall their Ambassadors from South Africa." South African History Online. October 17, 2013. https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0096532.
Also on 21 October
- 1899The New Zealand Mounted Rifles leave Wellington for the South African War
- 1968Archibald Campbell Mzoliza Jordan, Xhosa writer and linguist, dies
- 1973Government bans 20 Black leaders
- 1976Justice Minister, Jimmy Kruger, announces mass arrest
- 1986The company, IBM, re-forms in South Africa
- 1996Police head admits to Khotso House bombing
- 2003Vanessa Brereton, former human rights lawyer, admits that she was an Apartheid spy
- 2016Jacob Thabo Lengane is murdered in Soweto
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