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EventMethane gas explosion kills 68 mine workers
30 years today, sixty-eight mine workers were killed after an underground methane gas explosion at the Hlobane coal mine near Vryheid in Kwazulu-Natal . The…
EventSouth African refugees leave Lesotho
The Lesotho government announced that an undisclosed number of South African refugees have decided to leave Lesotho voluntarily. Most of the refugees belonged…
EventBomb explodes at Johannesburg synagogue
A limpet mine exploded outside the Temple of Israel synagogue in central Johannesburg, the mother 'shul' of the Johannesburg Jewish Reform Congregation. The…
EventTerre’Blanche and his associates to face terrorism charges
The Transvaal Attorney General announced that Eugène Terre'Blanche, leader of the far-right Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging (AWB) and three associates would face…
EventANC leader, James Arthur Calata, dies
African National Congress (ANC) leader and Anglican clergyman, James Arthur Calata, dies in Cradock, Eastern Cape. He joined the ANC in 1930 and rose to become…
EventJudgement is handed down in a landmark case
The Appeal Court handed down a landmark decision in the case Rikhoto v. East Rand Administration Board (ERAB), granting him the right to permanent urban status…
EventSouth African Air Force bombs ANC in Maputo
Following an African National Congress's 20 May 1983 car bombing of headquarters of the South African Defence Force in Pretoria, ANC bases in a suburb of…
EventThe first regional committee of the UDF is established in Natal
Anti-apartheid organisations united under the umbrella of the United Democratic Front. One of the first steps in creating the front was to establish regional…
EventCar bomb explodes outside Air Force headquarters
On the afternoon of 20 May 1983, two African National Congress (ANC) cadres, Freddie Shangwe and Ezekial Maseko, drove to Church Street in Pretoria and parked…
EventNon military national service for objectors
A Defence Amendment Bill provides for an alternative form of national service for conscientious objectors who oppose military service on religious grounds. The…
Cassim Mohammed Bassa dies
Cassim Mohammed Bassa, estate agent, community leader and sport activist, died in his sleep in a hotel in Johannesburg, where he had been attending a meeting…
EventThe Trial of strength between the Conservative Party and the National Party begins as three Members of Parliament resign
The reformist policies of P.W Botha may be considered one of the key factors that led to the resignation of Fanie Botha, Dr Treurnicht, and Tom Langley from…
EventZimbabwe’s interior minister Joshua Nkomo is dismissed
Joshua Nkomo, long time friend of Robert Mugabe, was dismissed as minister of the interior on the accusation of plotting a coup in Zimbabwe. This triggered…
EventCedric Mayson is charged with treason
Cedric Mayson, former Methodist Minister who was banned for five years in 1977 and detained on 27 November 1981, appeared before the Pretoria Supreme Court on…
EventDieter and Ruth Gerhard are detained
The South African government announced at a special press conference that a senior South African naval officer, Commodore Dieter Gerhardt and his second wife,…
SAIC decides on the 1983 Constitution
EventANC attacks Koeberg nuclear power station
In a well-planned attack on the Koeberg Nuclear Power Station in Cape Town, Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK) causes heavy damage with no injuries, reported.MK sabotaged…
EventPolice pounce on AWB members
Security Police arrested the leader, Eugene Terreblanche (Terre'Blanche), and eight other members of the right-wing group the Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging (AWB…
Breyten Breytenbach is released from prison
SA government fails to integrate KaNgwane into Swaziland
EventLesotho and Swaziland threatened with sanctions
The government of South Africa threatened Lesotho and Swaziland with economic sanctions if they continued to harbour African National Congress (ANC) insurgents…
EventPaul Biya becomes president of Cameroon
Ahmadou Ahidjo resigned as president of Cameroon, he was replaced by Paul Biya, the current Prime Minister. Ahidjo handpicked Biya to replace him after he had…
EventBeyers Naudé is served with his second banning order
Beyers Naudé was born into a family that was fully committed to the preservation of Afrikaner nationalism. His father was a minister of the Dutch Reformed…
EventPolitical Activist, Barbara Hogan, is sentenced for High Treason
Barbara Hogan is sentenced in the Rand Supreme Court to an effective ten years in prison for high treason and membership of the banned African National…
EventSwazi King Sobhuza II dies
In 1982, the small kingdom of Swaziland was shocked when His Majesty, King Sobhuza II, passed away at the age 83 at the Embo State House. The king died after a…
EventRuth First is assassinated in Mozambique
Ruth First, journalist, academic, anti-apartheid activist and member of the South African Communist Party, was brutally killed by a letter bomb in Maputo,…
EventSADF raid Southern Angola
The South African government has released details of a South African Defence Force (SADF) raid into Southern Angola. Between two and three hundred South West…
Ernest Dipale dies in detention
EventThree ANC members are sentenced to death
Three African National Congress members, Telle Simon Mogoerane, Jerry Semano Mosololi, and Marcus Thabo Motaung, were sentenced to death for separate attacks…
EventOne person killed by bomb meant for Chris Hani
An unnamed person was killed in a car bomb explosion at the home of Chris Hani, then Umkhonto We Sizwe (MK) commander in Lesotho. Eben Frederick Coetzee, a…