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EventZubeida Jaffer is detained, while pregnant, by the security police under Apartheid regulations
Zubeida Jaffer, former reporter from the Cape Times and her husband John Issel, were detained by the security police on 31 January 1986. Jaffer who was three…
EventYoweri Kaguta Moseveni becomes president of Uganda
Uganda experienced a number of changes of government since it attained its independence from British rule in 1962. In December 1980 Apollo Milton Obote, from…
EventBishop Tutu receives Martin Luther King Award
Bishop Desmond Tutu received the Martin Luther King Jr Award for Non-Violence for his commitment and role during the struggle against apartheid in 1986. …
EventA military coup deposes the Lesotho Government
On 15 January 1986, General Justin Lekhanya, the Head of the Lesotho Army, ousted Lesotho prime minister Chief Leabua Jonathan in a military coup. Jonathan had…
EventSouth Africa closes its borders with Lesotho
On 1 January 1986 the South African Government closed its borders with Lesotho, cutting off fundamental food and fuel supplies. The relationship of the South…
EventAmanzimtoti blast kills five
Five civilians were killed and forty injured in a bomb explosion in the Sanlam shopping centre in Amanzimtoti, Natal South Coast. Umkhonto we Siswe (MK) cadre…
EventANC claim responsibility for a land mine explosion which kills six
Six people, including three children aged between three and nine, were killed and three seriously injured in a landmine explosion on the fenced-in Chatsworth…
State withdraws charges against Archibald Gumede and 12 others
EventTutu and Mkhatshwa join solidarity fast
Bishop Desmond Tutu of the Anglican Church, and Father Smangaliso Mkhatshwa of the Catholic Church, held a morning-to-sunset hunger strike to support the…
EventTwo strategic saboteurs attack in Secunda
EventIFP proposes truce with ANC
The Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) proposed a truce with the African National Congress (ANC) as an effort to calm violent clashes between members of the two…
EventThe hijacking of an Egypt Air passenger jet to Malta ends in bloodshed.
The crisis began after gunmen took control of the passenger jet ten minutes after take off from Athens airport. The terrorists, calling themselves the Egypt…
EventCoup attempt on S Doe’s government in Liberia
A coup attempt headed by Brigadier-General Thomas Quiwonkpa, a faction of the Liberian military failed to take power from Samuel Doe. It was a third coup…
EventDr. J. S. Moroka dies
Dr. James Sebe Moroka, medical doctor, politician, and great-grandson of Chief Moroka I of the Barolong Boo Moroka in Thaba Nchu the then district of…
EventNigeria cuts its diplomatic missions
Faced with growing international debt, the Nigerian government announced that it would cut its international diplomatic missions by half. Nigeria hoped that…
EventSusanna Kok, SA medical missionary whose work led to the effective diagnosis and treatment of leprosy, dies
Susanna Helena Kok was born in 1911 in the Free State. She studied medicine at the Universities of Cape Town and the Witwatersrand and became a missionary…
Rosalie van der Gught dies
EventState of Emergency enters 100th day
Location: back to this day in history search archive The state of emergency entered its 100th day after it was announced on July 20. P W Botha in an attempt…
EventFamine anniversary in Ethiopia
Following major American television's first airing of the famine crisis in Ethiopia, the world celebrated the day as famine anniversary. The day was used to…
Event’Purple rain’ used on women protesters
The police in Adderley street, Cape Town used their new water cannons to suppress a Cape riot that had, for the third time, spread to White areas. The rioting…
EventSRC president Ngwako Ramalepe dies
Ngwako Ramalepe, president of the Student Representative Council (SRC) at Modjadji Teacher Training College, died in police custody after first being assaulted…
EventDelmas Treason Trial starts
The Delmas Treason Trial, up to that time the longest trial in the history of SA, started in Delmas, east of Pretoria. Twenty-two Transvaal United Democratic…
EventBophuthatswana drops squatting charges against Bosplaas residents
The 'homeland' government of Bophuthatswana under the presidency of Chief Lucas Mangope decides to withdraw its squatting charges against the Bosplaas…
EventNational Day of Prayer is observed peacefully
A National Day of Prayer was peacefully observed, despite fears of violence between youth and security forces in Soweto and other major townships. Called by…
Coloured schools closed by the Apartheid government re-open
EventPretoria disputes compensation for Gaborone raid
The government of South Africa disputed compensation claims from the government of Botswana for damages caused by the July 1985 South African Defence Force…
EventFormer Student Representative Council (SRC) Vice-President shot by Police
Twenty-two years old former Student Representative Council (SRC) Vice-president at the University of Transkei and staunch opponent of Transkei government,…
EventDeath sentence for Rapists
Two White men, Schalk Burger and George Scheepers, were sentenced in Klerksdorp to be hanged to death for the rape of a Black woman, Ginny Gotsoine in February…
EventSupreme Court changes ruling on forced removals, traditionally
From 1960 to 1983, the apartheid Government forcibly moved 3.5 million Black South Africans in one of the largest mass removals of people in modern history…
EventFrontline states call on RSA government to release Mandela and end Apartheid
The six frontline states of Angola , Botswana , Mozambique , Tanzania , Zambia and Zimbabwe called on the South African government to release Nelson Mandela …