Archive Day

Former South African Prime Minister, P.W Botha, dies

Ma Tambo dies in Johannesburg

Natal votes for the formation of the Union of South Africa

FIFA World Cup is staged in Africa for the first time

Erfdeel farm in Orange Free State becomes SA’s richest gold deposit

The State of Emergency is declared in thirty six magisterial districts.

Muhammad Ali knocks out George Foreman to regain his world heavyweight title

Fourteen people are killed when the SAP use violence to break up a township meeting in Queenstown, Eastern Cape.

Over 60 people are killed by RENAMO in Mozambique

J.J. Hadebe replies to Thabo Mbeki’s plea

Twelve people are killed in Mamelodi, Pretoria, when the police open fire on a crowd gathered in protest.

The President’s Council, mandated to consider South Africa’s constitutional future, releases its final report.

The non-governmental organisation Surplus People Project (SPP) says the department of land affairs should consider using expropriation

Ciskei becomes the fourth Black homeland to be granted independence

Jean-Bedel Bokassa, ruler of Central African Empire, crowns himself.

The first airmail in SA, consisting of 730 post cards, is flown eight kilometres by Evelyn Driver in his Bleriot plane from Ken

Zulu army defeat British Army at the Isandlwana Mountain

P.W. Botha, former South African State President, appears in court for refusing to testify at the TRC

At least twelve people are killed in the KwaMakhuta massacre at the home of the UDF activist Bheki Ntuli.

Bafana Bafana, SA’s National soccer team, wins the Africa Cup of Nations Final

Twenty-four people are killed in Operation Beanbag in Maputo, Mozambique.

A faction of the Bophuthatswana Defence Force, led by Rocky Malebana Metsing, attempts to overthrow the government of Chief Lucas Manyane Mangope.

The Alexandra ‘6-day war’ (15-21 February) starts. 

Prime Minister P.W. Botha and President Samora Machel of Mozambique sign the Nkomati Accord

Bram Fischer is released from prison on health grounds

Langa, Uitenhage Massacre: 20 killed by police on Sharpeville Commemoration Day

The passive resistance movement begins with a mass meeting of 2000 Africans

Scores of people, including a Chief, are killed in Lari, Kenya, following an attack by Mau Mau freedom fighters

Gerard Moerdijk, SA architect of several church buildings and the Voortrekker monument, dies

Robben Island is turned into a maximum security prison

Anton Hammerl, South African photographer, is killed in Libya

Construction of the Victoria Falls Bridge and the railway line are completed

The death of Andries Tatane

Blacks in South Africa protest against segregation

South Africa’s TRC begins its formal hearings into Human Rights Violations

Manne Dipico, former Premier of the Northern Cape, is born in Kimberley

President Kaunda of Zambia meets the Prime Minister, P.W. Botha on the Botswana border to discuss the political situation.

Winnie Nomzamo Madikizela-Mandela is sentenced to six years

A car bomb, placed outside the SAAF headquarters in Church Street, Pretoria, claims twenty-one lives.

Zuid-Afrikaansche Republiek decides that December 16 will be a public holiday called Dingaan’s Day