P.W. Botha announces that all South Africans will take part in a constitutional conference

1984 saw P.W. Botha elected to the position of President, having abolished the position of Prime Minister in 1983. These two events were preceeded by the announcement by the future president in 1980 that all South African races would take part in a constitutional conference, consisting of a trichameral parliament. Notably absent in the proposed parliament, however, was any provision for equal representation amongst members of South Africa's majority Black population, who were instead entitled to a sham form of self-governance in the homelands.