Reconciliation talks between F.W de Klerk and Nelson Mandela are rescheduled due to violence in Sebokeng

Updated: 5 Apr 2026

FW de Klerk's 1990 address to Parliament: The day the apartheid president broke political deadlock

On 5 April 1990, at an informal meeting in Cape Town, President F.W. de Klerk and Nelson Mandela agreed to reschedule formal talks between the Government and the African National Congress (ANC). The purpose of these talks was to negotiate the adoption of a new democratic constitution for South Africa. The talks were set to take place on 11 April, however the ANC cancelled the talks after police shot and killed several anti-apartheid demonstrators in Sebokeng, a township in the southern Gauteng (then Transvaal) area, on 26 March 1990. After F.W de Klerk gave instructions for an in-depth investigation into the Sebokeng shootings, an agreement was reached between the government and the ANC. Therefore, the reconciliatory talks were rescheduled to take place from 2 to 4 May of the same year. This particular meeting was the first time de Klerk and Mandela had met since Mandela's release from prison in February 1990, and therefore a significant occasion in the negotiations that would lead to the creation of a "New South Africa".

How we know this

01Wren, C.S (1990) "Mandela and de Klerk Announce Agreement on New Date for Talks", from The New York Times, 6 April [online] Available at www.nytimes.com [Accessed: 4 April 2014]

Last updated · 5 Apr 2026

Cite this entry

South African History Online. (2011, March 16). Reconciliation talks between F.W de Klerk and Nelson Mandela are rescheduled due to violence in Sebokeng. South African History Online. https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0012882

South African History Online (2011) 'Reconciliation talks between F.W de Klerk and Nelson Mandela are rescheduled due to violence in Sebokeng', South African History Online, 16 March. Available at: https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0012882 (Accessed: 14 October 2026).

South African History Online, Reconciliation talks between F.W de Klerk and Nelson Mandela are rescheduled due to violence in Sebokeng [website], https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0012882, (accessed 14 October 2026).

"Reconciliation talks between F.W de Klerk and Nelson Mandela are rescheduled due to violence in Sebokeng." South African History Online, 16 Mar. 2011, https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0012882. Accessed 14 Oct. 2026.

South African History Online. "Reconciliation talks between F.W de Klerk and Nelson Mandela are rescheduled due to violence in Sebokeng." South African History Online. March 16, 2011. https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0012882.