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EventWinnie Mandela charged with kidnapping
Winnie Mandela was formally charged with four counts of kidnapping and of assault, and will stand trial with seven others for the events surrounding the murder…
EventANC and IFP to meet over violence
The African National Congress (ANC) and Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) announced that they would hold a meeting of the two parties in Durban, in an attempt to end…
EventThe government launches ‘Operation Iron Fist’ in townships
At the height of township violence in Transvaal, President F.W. de Klerk and Nelson Mandela held a series of meetings to discuss means of quelling the unrest…
EventANC government tension continues
On the day that the first serious talks between the Minister of Constitutional Development, Roelf Meyer, and Cyril Ramaphosa started, ANC's Deputy President…
EventMigrant workers ransack Phola Park
In the middle of the night, a group of migrant workers aligned with the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) ransacked the Phola Park squatter camp of East Rand leaving…
Political prisoners are released
EventElectricity cut off in Tumahole township
Electricity in Tumahole Township, Free State was cut off after the Transvaal provincial authority decided that it would no longer provide municipalities facing…
EventMandela threatens armed struggle
African National Congress (ANC) deputy president Nelson Mandela warned that if the South African government fail to take effective steps to end the current…
Event11 die when the South African Defence Force (SADF) opens fire on negotiators in Sebokeng
The unbanning of the South African liberation movements on 2 February 1990 was an important milestone, which signalled a shift from being covert underground…
EventGoldstone report on police shootings in Sebokeng is released
The report of the inquiry, led by Justice Richard Goldstone, into the shooting by the police of anti-Apartheid protesters in the township of Sebokeng on 26…
EventNP Natal Congress agrees to multiracial membership
With the wind of change powerfully blowing in South Africa, the National Party under the leadership of young but politically experienced F.W de Klerk, called…
EventSoweto agrees to pay rent
In a meeting between the Soweto People's Delegation (SPD) and,and the Transvaal Provincial Administration an agreement was reached bringing to an end a five…
EventProposal for a new constitution
Minister of Constitutional Development, Gerrit Viljoen on 27 August 1990 said that negotiations for a new South African constitution should begin in 1991 and…
EventRamaphosa and Motlatsi are arrested
First general secretary of the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM), Cyril Ramaphosa, and its president, James Motlatsi, were arrested in Newcastle, Natal. The…
EventState of emergency declared in 27 townships
The government imposed a state of emergency in 27 townships in the Vaal Reef area and banned the carrying of all weapons. The regulations introduced by…
EventMandela and De Klerk hold emergency talks
On 16 August 1990, President F. W. de Klerk and Nelson Mandela held emergency talks in Pretoria about increasing violence in Soweto. Fighting in Soweto started…
EventAt least 150 people die in clashes between the ANC and IFP
Between 1985 and 1990, political violence was a common occurrence in South Africa, with Black townships most affected. The violence took place under the State…
EventAllan Boesak resigns from the church
The Presbytery of South Africa announced that Dr Allan Boesak, reverend of the Nederduitse Gereformeerde Kerk (Dutch Reformed Church) and leading anti…
EventStompie Seipei’s murderer goes to jail
The Rand Supreme Court sentences Jerry Richardson to death for the murder 14-year-old Stompie Seipei. Stompie Seipei was a child activist and member of the…
EventThe Pretoria Minute is agreed upon
The government and the African National Congress (ANC) reaffirmed their commitment to the Groote Schuur Minute at discussions held at the Presidency in…
EventThe ANC and Government accept the Pretoria Minute
The Pretoria Minute is agreed upon by the government and the African National Congress (ANC), concerning release of political prisoners, return of exiles,…
EventAdelaide Tambo returns to South Africa after 30 years
Adelaide Tambo became politically active after her grandfather's arrest at the age of ten. While she attended high school, she started to work as a courier for…
EventGen. Jannie Geldenhuys announces that CCB will be disbanded
In February 1990, President F.W. de Klerk appointed Mr Justice Louis Harms, a Supreme Court judge, to investigate into alleged hit-squads. On 11 February 1990,…
EventSACP is legally re-launched
On 29 July 1990 the South African Communist Party(SACP), which had been unbanned in February 1990, was formally re-launched as a legal organisation at a mass…
EventMembers of the ANC and SACP are detained due to Operation Vula
On 25 July 1990 government security forces detained approximately forty members of the African National Congress (ANC) and South African Communist Party (SACP)…
EventFurther chaos in Liberian civil war
Liberian President Samuel Kanyon Doe became virtually a prisoner in the presidential mansion as rebels besieged Monrovia and Doe's 500-man security force…
EventInkatha becomes a political party
The Inkatha National Cultural Liberation Movement, founded on 21 March 1975, was transformed into the multi-racial Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) at a special…
EventDemonstrators strip to deter bulldozers
Shanty town women stripped to the waist and confronted bulldozers sent by authorities to demolish their homes at Dobsonville in Soweto. The women's protests…
EventUN investigative team visits SA
A United Nations (UN) team, led by Mr. Abdulrahim Abby Farah, under-secretary-general, visited South Africa from 9 to 10 June to meet representatives of the…
EventExecutive member of the Brits Action Committee (BAC),Abel Molokwane is murdered
Abel Molokwane (31), executive member of the Brits Action Committee (BAC), was shot dead in Oukasie, Western Transvaal by unknown gunmen. The BAC was formed to…