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EventSADF troops kill SWAPO guerrillas
81 South West African nationalist guerrilla fighters were killed by South African soldiers on 23 May 1980, during the protracted conflict for Namibian…
EventSA signs Convention on the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources
South Africa was one of the original twenty-two nations who signed the multilateral Convention on the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR…
EventThozamile Botha breaks banning order
Port Elizabeth Black Civic Organisation (PEBCO) activist Thozamile Botha broke his banning order and escaped to Lesotho. PEBCO was an affiliate of the banned…
EventPope John Paul II visits Africa
Pope John Paul II began his first tour of Africa, including visits to Zaire (presently known as the Democratic Republic of Congo), Congo, Kenya, Ghana, Upper…
EventIndian students join the Coloured schools boycott
The Coloured schools' boycott began as a result of students' dissatisfaction with the South African educational and political systems. Students from about 60…
EventZimbabawean Independence Day
Zimbabwe Independence Day On this day in 1980, Southern-Rhodesia gained independence from the British, taking the name Zimbabwe. The day marked the end of…
EventEnd of the road for the Union Jack in Africa
In a historic move, the Union Jack was lowered for the last time in Africa on this day when the embattled ex-British colony of Rhodesia was declared…
EventThe Black Consciousness Movement of Azania is formed in London
Following the waning of the influence of the Black Consciousness Movement (BCM), members of the movement formed new groups and some joined other liberation…
EventANC attack on Booysens Police Station
African National Congress (ANC) insurgents launched a rifle, rocket and grenade attack on Booysens Police Station Johannesburg. Pamphlets were scattered…
EventZANU-PF wins the first free elections in Zimbabwe
The Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF) won the first free elections in Zimbabwe. Robert Mugabe, president of ZANU since 1977, became the…
EventReverend David Russell sentenced for defying his banning order
Religious leaders were among the foremost and vocal opponents of the Apartheid regime. Acting out of conscience and under the banner of religion, however, did…
EventMakhwenkwe Harrison Butshingi, trade unionist and community leader, dies
On 28 February 1980, Makhwenkwe Harrison Butshingi died in Orlando West, Soweto. Butshingi was born in the Transkei in 1906, and moved to the Transvaal in…
EventFirst Multiracial Election is held in Zimbabwe
After a war of independence fought between members of various liberation organisations and the illegal Rhodesian government, with the liberation organisation…
EventEgypt Establishes Diplomatic Relations With Israel
Israel and Egypt, under the leadership of Anwar al Sadat, re-establish diplomatic relations. The move is resented by other Arab nations. Egypt's military…
EventSADF takes over security of Northern Natal from the SAP to prevent infiltration into SA by Liberation Movements
The deteriorating state of security that marked the eighties convinced the Apartheid government that a revision of its approach to infiltration by the…
The Quail Commission report is released
EventRobert Mugabe returns to Rhodesia after being in exile for five years
On 27 January 1980, the Rhodesian nationalist leader Robert Mugabe returned to Rhodesia after being in exile for five years. Mugabe had been trying to gather…
Three ANC guerrillas seize a bank and twenty–five hostages
EventCOSAS President is detained
The Security Police detained the president and six executive members of the recently formed Congress of South African Students (COSAS ), which had become one…
EventThe Prime Minister announces the appointment of a Commission of Inquiry into the reporting of defence matters, to be headed by Justice M.T. Steyn
More recent initiatives by the post 1994 SA government to establish a media tribunal have been condemned as an attempt to introduce 'apartheid style draconian…
EventRSA golf team is expelled from Greece
The Greek Government expelled the two-man South Africa team of Dale Hayes and Hugh Baiocchi from the World Cup international men's team golf championship…
EventAZAPO is re-launched in Roodepoort
The Azanian People's Organisation (AZAPO) was re-launched in Roodepoort for the second time. After the outbreak of the Student Uprising in 1976, the government…
EventWorldwide speculation begins that a bright flash detected over the southern Indian Ocean was a South African nuclear test
In the early hours of 22 September 1979, an American Vela satellite recorded a double flash of light over the southern Indian Ocean, near South Africa's Prince…
EventThe SA government grants ‘Independent’ status to Venda
Following South Africa's policies of racial segregation and the promulgation of the Promotion Bantu Self-Government Act,46 of 1959, the South African…
Van Zyl Slabbert is elected as the leader of the PFP
EventPrime Minister Botha visits Soweto
Premier P.W. Botha became the first South African prime minister to visit Soweto. His visit included talks with the Soweto Community Council during which he…
EventDr. Connie Mulder is acquitted and discharged on charges of contempt
Dr Connie Mulder was an Afrikaans professor who became a politician. In 1958, he became a member of the National Party (NP) and was the mayor of Randfontein…
EventThe apartheid government reportedly pays compensation for death of Steve Biko
Steve Biko was born in King Williams Town and began his political career as the co-founder of the all-black South African Student's Organization (SASO). It was…
EventDr. Rhoodie is arrested
Dr Eschel Rhoodie, former South African secretary of information, was initially tracked down by a journalist at Ecuador. Rhoodie had fled South Africa shortly…
EventMarais Viljoen is inaugurated as state president
Former minister of labour and a moderate member of the National Party, Marais Viljoen, was inaugurated as South Africa's fifth state president after he had…