Former anti-apartheid activist, Allan Boesak accuses ANC

Steve Biko, Black Consciousness Movement Leader, is buried

'Viva Frelimo' rallies, organised by the BPC and SASO, take place even though they were banned by Government

First celebration of National Heritage Day

Winnie Mandela charged with kidnapping

The Congress of Traditional Leaders of South Africa (Contralesa) is launched

Murder trial of "Sharpeville Six" opens

Women protest against passes in the Free State

Goldstone Commission investigate the Bisho Massacre

Parliament convenes to consider the resignation of President Thabo Mbeki

Local government elections thrown in disarray

Teboho Mokgalagadi wins gold in the Paralympic Games

SA athlete Ernst van Dyk is hard done by at Paralympic games

Mandela and de Klerk agree to restart talks

COSATU conference prohibited and organisers restricted.

ANC and IFP to meet over violence

F.W. De Klerk is inaugurated

South African Prime Minister, John Vorster resigns

Supreme Court changes ruling on forced removals, traditionally

Dr Yusuf Dadoo, socialist movement activist and politician, dies in exile

Mafeking (Mafikeng) is surrendered to Bophuthatswana

South Africa win the most medals at the 7th All African Games

Mass funeral for the victims of Bisho massacre

National Party refuses to serve on Buthelezi Commission of Inquiry

Mbeki receives an Honorary Doctorate

Religious leaders hold talks with the ANC

Methane gas explosion kills 68 mine workers

President Mbeki opens the second sitting of PAP

Frontline states call on RSA government to release Mandela and end Apartheid

Mine disaster kills 177

The 2000 Summer Olympic Games or Millennium Games, hosted by Australia, were officially opened in the capital Sydney. Australia won the right to host the games in 1993 when it was selected over Beijing, Berlin, Istanbul and Manchester.

Mbanga James George Benjamin Molefe, clergyman and headmaster, was born in Mbulwana, Ladysmith, Natal. Molefe was one of the first black Presbyterian ministers to graduate at Fort Hare College in 1932.

Darwin's experience in the Galapagos would be the principle inspiration for his work, On The Origin of Species, one of those rare scientific works that fundamentally changed the people think about the world in which they live.

Fraud and Corruption on the rise in SA

Major political organisations sign the National Peace Accord calling for the laying down of arms to create an environment conducive for negotiations

Spanish Flue strikes South Africa, causing the death of 140 000

Mother Teresa is buried

Migrant workers ransack Phola Park

The SA government grants 'Independent' status to Venda

Ray Simons dies

Presidents of Mozambique and South Africa meet

Steve Biko dies in detention

Political prisoners are released

Indian campaigner, Mohandas Gandhi leads Satyagraha Passive Resistance Campaign

Workers embark on strike action

Newspaper editor John Tengo Jabavu dies

Bishop Ambrose Reeves returns to South Africa

Springboks lose to the Lions

F.W. de Klerk delivers his farewell address to Parliament

Protest by former liberation fighters

American President Ronald Reagan agrees to limited sanctions on SA

Mandela threatens armed struggle

Mpush Makambi wins IBO champion title

Diplomatic office of the ANC in Stockholm is bombed

Bhekisani Manyoni, artist, is born in Greytown

SA joins World War II

United Nations World Summit starts

Yusuf Dadoo, political activist, is born

Vorster appoints a Commission of Inquiry

Sir Abe Bailey, Rand mine magnate and politician, marries Mary Westenra, pioneer aviatrix

Bafana Bafana beats Madagascar

ANC rejects National Party proposal for a new constitution

Josiah Thugwane wins gold at Olympics

Tricameral Parliament inaugurated

Verwoerd becomes Prime Minister and NP leader

Smuts becomes Prime Minister

Heart specialist Dr. Chris Barnard dies

Hendrik Verwoerd becomes Prime Minister

Britain concludes peace with the Zulu nation

Independent Democrats benefits from floorcrossing rule

SASOL explodes again

Col. Muammar Gaddafi seizes power in Libya

Prime Minister Botha visits Soweto

World Conference on Racism starts in Durban

Soweto agrees to pay rent

First Fietas Festival to celebrate the legacy of the community

SA troops withdraw from Angola

Maluzi Gigaba is born

Olympic games end in Athens

South Africa signs SADC treaty

Students at Durban

Gifted writer and actor William Modisane is born

Black empowerment makes headway

RSA introduces more press restriction

Zola Budd breaks a world record

Ramaphosa and Motlatsi are arrested

State of emergency declared after Sharpeville Massacre is lifted

Kenneth David Kaunda wins Zambian elections

Zimbabwe becomes a member of the United Nations (UN)

Chief Mangosuthu Buthelezi calls for National Convention

The trial of Dr Allan Boesak on charges of theft and fraud starts

State of emergency declared in 27 townships

SA Police Commissioner, Lt. Gen. H.J. du Plooy to take drastic actions against police who call Africans “Kaffir”

Former South African Prime Minister Strijdom dies

The Motsuenyane Commission finds the African National Congress (ANC) guilty of torture in its camps

Verwoerd's grandson joins ANC

Student Activist Caiphus Nyoka is killed

Mahatma Gandhi is released from Indian jail

ANC makes submission to the TRC

Former Kenyan President, Jomo Kenyatta, dies

Natal Indian Congress is formed

Guilty verdict against PW Botha

Swazi King Sobhuza II dies

Kenyan political activist Jomo Kenyatta released from jail

Vuyani Bungu wins IBF World Boxing Title

The United Democratic Front (UDF) was formed in August 1983, and was one of the most prominent anti-apartheid movements, comprising of over 400 workers', church, civic and student organisations.

The Transvaal National Union is established

Archbishop Tutu snubs P. W. Botha

TRC releases documents revealing plot to kill UN Secretary

The Chinese Community in South Africa is granted 'White' status

P. W. Botha refutes possibility of Black majority rule

Stephen Bantu Biko is arrested

South Africa is banned from the Olympic Games

Ruth Perry is elected to lead Liberia and becomes Africa's first woman head of state

SADC treaty is signed in Namibia

Marcus Garvey's name is synonymous with Pan-Africanism and the Rastafari Movement. He was born in Jamaica on 17 August 1887, and as a young man developed a love for reading. At the age of 14, Garvey went left for Kingston to work in a printing house, where some years later he was elected vice president of the Kingston Union.

Marcus Garvey's name is synonymous with Pan-Africanism and the Rastafari Movement. He was born in Jamaica on 17 August 1887, and as a young man developed a love for reading. At the age of 14, Garvey went left for Kingston to work in a printing house, where some years later he was elected vice president of the Kingston Union.

The first radio licence in SA is issued to Dr J. van Rensburg of Carnarvon

Mandela and De Klerk hold emergency talks

The South African soccer team, Bafana Bafana registered a momentous victory against the national team of the Democratic Republic of the Congo

Winnie Mandela sued by the government

Students support the appointment of Archie Mafejeg

Cetshwayo, travels to London to request that he should be restored as a king of the Zulu Kingdom

Fidel Castro, president of Cuba from 1976 to 2008, is born

ANC revolutionary propaganda leaflets exploded in Cape Town, Johannesburg and Durban.

SA pledges support for a negotiated settlement in Rhodesia

Pres Mandela's testimony in SARFU affairs set aside

Walter Sisulu arrested under the Suppression of Communism Act.

Allan Boesak resigns from the church

SADF raid Southern Angola

3 students from Johannesburg are the first to climb 'Devil's Tooth'

ANC activists bribe warder and escape from prison

Gill Marcus, former Deputy Minister of Finance from 1996-1999, Manager of Spoornet and current Governor of the South African Reserve Bank, was born in Johannesburg.

Dr. Allan Boesak was arrested and appeared in court on charges of trying to enter a Black township without permit, but charges were subsequently dropped.

Karen Muir became the youngest official world record-holder in swimming history when she recorded 1min 8.7sec for the 110 yards backstroke at the Derby Baths, Blackpool, England.

Mbeki unveils Women's Monument at Union Buildings

The National Union of Mineworkers start South Africa's longest wage strike

20 000 women march to the Union Buildings in protest of Pass Laws

Four men were killed instantly when a car swerved to avoid a second, which was spinning on the Odi race track, and ploughed into spectators watching from the sidelines.

The Rand Supreme Court sentences Jerry Richardson to death for the murder 14-year-old Stompie Seipei.

69 Africans were killed when South African police opened fire on demonstrators

Mosibudi Mangena, the National Minister of Science and Technology and President of the opposition party Azanian People's Organisation (AZAPO) was born in Tzaneen, Limpopo Province.

Angola, Cuba and South Africa allegedly signed a cease fire treaty

The NNP joins the ANC

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 the African National Congress (ANC).

A limpet mine exploded outside the Temple of Israel synagogue in central Johannesburg, the mother 'shul' of the Johannesburg Jewish Reform Congregation.

The United Nations (UN) Secretary General, Mr Dag Hammarskjöld, asked the UN Security Council to lay down rules which would allow UN forces to enter Katanga without interfering with Congo’s internal affairs

Josiah Thugwane wins gold at Olympics

Work is stopped at the Kimberley mine

Military conscription for all white males in South Africa is enforced

In 1821, the British Government took control of the British trading forts. In 1844, Fanti chiefs on the Gold Coast (as Ghana was then known) signed an agreement with the British that led to the colonial status for the coastal area.

Ghana demands independence from Britain

In protest of the system of apartheid, economic sanctions against South Africa had been advocated from the 1960s onwards.

The University of the Western Cape had been a important site of student protest throughout the 1970s.

Mass Democratic Movement (MDM) begins their Defiance Campaign.

Former Colonial Prime Minister John Merriman dies

The Berlin Games are infamously known as Hitler's Olympics after he used the event for propaganda to promote his National Socialist German Workers' Party (Nazi) and white supremacist ideology.

The SABC is officially launched

The struggle for the emancipation of slaves throughout the British Empire was known as the abolitionist movement.

Chief Malaboch of the Bahananwa people refused to leave his traditional mountain kingdom of Blouberg as ordered by the Transvaal Republic (ZAR) Government

The first cable connection between SA and Europe, via Aden, was launched.

Don Mattera, widely known as Bra Zinga, announced that he was withdrawing from public performances.

Mary-Anne D'Oliveira Netto Serrano (21) was killed in a bomb explosion in the Wimpy Bar at the Benoni Plaza, Benoni on the East-Rand.

On 30 July 1987, a car bomb was detonated outside the headquarters of Witwatersrand Command army base in Quartz Street, Johannesburg

Emil Solomon "Solly" Sachs was born in Lithuania, and immigrated to South Africa with his family in 1914.

Xhosa author Samuel Mqhayi dies

Winnie Mandela's Soweto home reported burnt down

The apartheid government reportedly pays compensation for death of Steve Biko

The suspected mastermind of the bomb attacks in London on July 7 hid in South Africa for several weeks before being arrested in Zambia

Simon Mann pleads guilty in a Zimbabwean Court to attempting to purchase dangerous weapons

The four murderers of Amy Biehl, American Fullbright exchange student, are granted amnesty by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC).

The Natal Law Society has apologised posthumously to passive resistance icon, Mahatma Karamchand Gandhi, 105 years after a racist decision barred the young lawyer from practising.

The 1996 Atlanta Olympics marked the 100 year celebration of the Olympic Games. The event, unofficially known as the Centennial Olympics, was marred by a terrorist bomb explosion.

The undeclared Korean War ended after three years of fighting between North Korean and Chinese Communists against the United Nations (UN) forces (mainly South Korean and American).

Born in the predominantly Indian community of Cato Manor near Durban

Bantu Holomisa was dismissed as Deputy Environment and Tourism Minister after revealing that the African National Congress

The 'Committee of 10' formed by prominent Soweto residents, issued a programme for the election of a new community board to have total autonomy in Soweto, including powers to levy taxes and to control education, the police and local elections.

Summer Olympics opened in Barcelona, Spain.

On 25 July 1990 government security forces detained approximately forty members of the African National Congress (ANC) and South African Communist Party (SACP)

The body of Eric Mntonga, co-director of the Institute for a Democratic Alternative for South Africa (IDASA) in the border region, was found on a dirt road near King William's Town in the Eastern Cape

The biggest strike by the migrant municipal workers took place in Johannesburg, the largest and most industrialised city in South Africa.

Zambian President, Kenneth Kaunda publicly rebuked Britain's foreign secretary, Geoffrey Howe, accusing him and President Reagan of supporting South Africa’s apartheid government.

Benni McCarthy of Bafana Bafana, accepted a contract of R38, 5 million to play for the Spanish club Real Club Celta de Vigo.

Penelope Penny Heyns was born on 8 November 1974 in Springs, Gauteng Province. Heyns began swimming at a young age and displayed great skills.

On 23 July 1989 a blast occurred opposite the Athlone Magistrate's Court and police complex which took the lives of two African National Party (ANC) activists.

The then African National Congress (ANC) Secretary-General, Walter Sisulu, was served with two notifications in terms of the Suppression of Communism Act (Act 44 of 1950) .

A bloodless military coup occurred in Gambia when five junior military officers led by Lieutenant Yahya Jammeh overthrew the government of Sir Dawda Jawara.

The African National Congress (ANC), in an emergency meeting, called for the dismissal of Law and Order Minister Adriaan Vlok and Defence Minister Magnus Malan

On 22 July 1988 Zollie Malinga, Bulenani Ngcuka, Omar Badsha, Jonathan, Shapiro, Rehana Rossour, Veronica Simmers, Saleem Mowzer, Nconde Balfor and Nams Wessels were released from detention.

Chief Albert Luthuli, Nobel Peace Prize winner and former President of the ANC, is killed in Groutville

South African athlete, Sergio Motsoeneng, admits to cheating in Comrades Marathon

Umkhonto We Sizwe, military wing of the ANC, claims responsibility for power station blast

South African invention lands on the moon!

The First State of Emergency

SA Olympic team leaves for Barcelona

The sale of diamonds in some African countries has been linked to the funding of African rebel groups, which have in turn funded some of Africa's most vicious civil wars.

Liberian rebel leader Charles Taylor ascended to presidential power in a peaceful election following a seven-year civil war, launched from neighbouring Côte d'Ivoire in 1989.

In an interview with the New Nation, Felix Ndimene alleged that the Selous Scouts of Pietersburg and Five Reconnaissance Regiment (5RR)

Mandela's name resonates with the struggle for independence and social, economic, political and institutional rights of Black people.

Nelson Mandela first married in 1944. He and his wife Evelyn had 2 children and divorced in 1957

Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela was born on 18 July 1918 in the small village of Mvezo, in the district of Qunu near Umtata, Transkei

Former President Nelson Mandela, speaking in a meeting of international dignitaries in Bangkok, Thailand, said he could not receive a better birthday gift the next day than a commitment by the world to take action against Aids.

The paper 'Leader' announced that African National Congress (ANC) leader Nelson Mandela has been awarded the Joliot Curie Gold Medal for Peace the previous week.

The history of broadcasting in South Africa can be traced back to 1923, when the first wireless broadcast was made in Johannesburg.

Mluleki George, SA deputy defence minister, attended the 90th commemoration of the Battle of Delville Wood in France, which raged from 15 to 20 July 1916.

South Africa's largest labour federation, the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU), held its third annual congress from 12-16 July 1989.

On 16 July 1982 the first State President of the Republic of South Africa, Charles Robberts (Blackie) Swart,died in Bloemfontein.

On 26 July 1909, the SS Waratah, with 211 passengers and crew departed from Durban bound for Cape Town, and disappeared without a trace.

Ndazana Nathaniel Nat Nakasa was awarded the The Niemann Fellowship to study journalism at Harvard University in the US but the government rejected his application for a passport.

Paul Kruger (Stephanus Johannes Paulus) was born on 10 October 1825 in the Steynsburg district.

Commonwealth Games officials in London ruled that two South African born athletes, Zola Budd and Annette Cowley, could not participate in the Commonwealth Games as athletes for England.

Thembekile “Thembi” Mandela, the eldest son of Nelson Mandela and Evelyn Mase was killed in a car accident while his father was serving life sentence on Robben Island.

The government of India announced that it was cutting India's last remaining link with South Africa by refusing landing and passage facilities to South African aircraft.

The Star reported that two men, Elliot Nkuma and Joseph Mahlalela were sentenced to death for the necklace murder of M. Mpapne that took place in 1986.

On 9 July 1998 President Nelson Mandela visited England.

In 1954 the Minister of Justice C.R. Swart issued African National Congress (ANC) President Chief Albert Luthuli with two banning orders.

On 11 July 2007, South African actor Bill Flynn passed away, allegedly due to a heart attack.

Ashwell Prince was appointed as South Africa's first Black Test cricket captain to lead the Protea team in Sri Lanka.

Each year on 11 July, countries around the world commemorate World Population Day. This day was established by the Governing Council of the United Nations Development Programme in 1989.

The International Cricket Council (ICC) agreed to grant full membership to the United Cricket Board of South Africa (UCBSA), which would allow South African players to participate in test matches by the end of 1991.

The South African Police (SAP) and the South African Defence Force (SADF) ambushed and killed six alleged Umkhonto weSizwe (MK) members on the Breslau Road near Alldays.

Solomon Kalushi Mahlangu, soldier of Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK), armed wing of the African National Congress (ANC), who was executed by the state agents in Pretoria Central Prison, was born in Mamelodi, east of Pretoria

After five decades of unrest and civil war, South Sudan was granted independence on 9 July 2011 with the town of Juba as a capital.

Police fired tear gas at unruly fans during a World Cup qualifying soccer game between Zimbabwe and South Africa, setting off a stampede that killed twelve people.

A Venda schoolteacher, Mr Mkosi Mavhina, was found hanging from a tree 20km from his home.

SA to host future Pan African Parliament

Minister Kobie Coetsee on meeting between Botha and Mandela

Cape Colony Prime Minister opposes War

Brigadier Theuns Swanepoel ("Rooi Rus"), one of the most feared interrogators of the South African Security Police, dies in Roodepoort.

In South Africa's first ever FIFA sanctioned match, Bafana Bafana, South Africa's national soccer team, beat Cameroon 1-0 in an international friendly game

Dora Bloch, one of the elderly British hostages of hijacked Flight 139 (an Air France A-300B Airbus, hijacked from Athens on 26 June) was reported as still missing.

Dr. Federik van Zyl Slabbert leads a group of fifty-two mainly Afrikaans-speaking intellectuals, to meet with the banned African National Congress (ANC) in Dakar, Senegal.

Makhaya Ntini, South African cricket player, was born on 6 July 1977 in Mdingi, near King William's Town, in the Eastern Cape.

The minister of Bantu Education, M.C. Botha, announced that the South African Government had annulled the regulation that Black secondary school pupils be instructed equally in English and Afrikaans.

Poppie Bereng, who worked as a phlebotomist for the South African National Blood Service (SANBS) in Bloemfontein, was appointed permanently on this date, but refused to sign the offer of employment when she learned that the SANBS racially profiled blood donations

After a triumphant global tour Nelson Mandela was unanimously elected as president of the African National Congress (ANC) at the party's national conference held in Durban

On 5 July 1990, Teboho “Tsietsi” Mashinini died under strange circumstances in Conakry, Guinea.

The eldest person in South Africa and allegedly eldest in the world, Granny Moloko Temo, of Mogodi Village between Dendron and Bochum in Limpopo Province, celebrated her 130 th birthday with her community and well wishers.

The South African government introduced this bill in the wake of wide-spread labour unrest to set up a limited system of collective bargaining rights for Blacks.

Fearon Fallows, the first Astronomer Royal at the Cape, was born to John and Rebecca Fallows on 4 July 1789 in Cockermouth, Cumberland, in England.

Twelve Africans on trial at the Supreme Court in Grahamstown, accused of having conspired to take over a town and kill Whites, were acquitted on the charge.

Liberian President, Samuel Kanyon Doe offered to resign in response to rebel incursions in his country.

Thirty-one years after being expelled, South Africa had its membership of the Football International Federation Association (Fifa) reinstated on 3 July 1992.

On 2 July 2010 the Ghanaian soccer team’s dreams of becoming the first African team to reach the semi-finals of the FIFA World Cup came to an end after they were defeated by Uruguay on penalties.

On 2 July 2005, South African tennis player, Wesley Moodie, and Australian, Stephen Huss, won the Wimbledon Men's double title.

On 2 July 1988, Lester Dumakude, commander of an Umkhonto we Sizwe special operations unit, detonated a car bomb by remote control outside Ellis Park Stadium in Johannesburg.

South African Press Association is established

SA signs Nuclear Non

Democratic Republic of Somali is formed

National Arts Festival celebrates 37 years in Grahamstown

The South African athlete of international stature, Hezekiel Sepeng, was born in Potchefstroom. Sepeng's running talent was spotted in one of J.P. van der Merwe's coaching clinics in the township outside Potchestroom.

The South African Reserve Bank (SARB), established as the Central Bank of the Union of South Africa in terms of the Currency and Bank Act of 10 August 1920

On 28 June 2002 the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) and the Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) tabled a national HIV/AIDS treatment plan in the National Economic, Development and Labour Council (Nedlac).

After the first South Africa democratic election, the country was demarcated into nine provinces. Some of these provinces were given geographical names, like Northern Transvaal and Eastern Transvaal.

Martin Thembisile Hani (Chris), Chief of Staff of Umkhonto we Sizwe, military arm of the African National Congress (ANC) and General-Secretary of the South African Communist Party (SACP) since December 1991

The Supreme Court of Appeal refused to allow the Western Cape education MEC, Cameron Dugmore, to compel an Afrikaans-medium school, Mikro, in Kuils River, Cape Town, to change its language policy.

The Minister of Local Government in Kwazulu-Natal applied to the Supreme Court to have voting in four rural areas declared null and void and for polling to be repeated in those areas.

Djibouti is a very small country located on the horn of Africa. It is so small that it has an estimated population of less than a million, one of the least populous in Africa. France, which had colonized the country, named it French Somaliland.

Troops of the right-wing Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging (AWB), led by Eugene Terre'Blanche, stormed the World Trade Centre near Kempton Park where the Congress for a Democratic South Africa (Codesa) was in session.

Executives of the African National Congress (ANC), South African Indian Congress (SAIC), South African Congress of Trade Unions (SACTU), Coloured People's Congress (CPC) and the Congress of the Democrats (CoD) met in Tongaat on 23 June 1955.

Following the adoption of a Programme of Action in the 1949 annual congress, the ANC began the 1950s with mass action campaigns marked by boycotts, strikes and civil disobedience.

The Durban Supreme Court cancelled the state's announcement of 18 June 1982 that it has repossessed the Ingwavuma region of KwaZulu, on the grounds that the government did not meet its legal obligation to consult fully with the KwaZulu authorities before making its announcement.

The historic multi-racial convention called The Congress of the People started in Kliptown, near Johannesburg.

On 25 June 2003, the South African Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism approved the construction of a prototype pebble bed modular reactor (PBMR) at the Koeberg Nuclear Power Station in the Western Cape.

Springboks beat New Zealand in Rugby Wold Cup final match

SA player Thabo Mngomeni is born

Nyanga school Principal's office burnt

Confrontation inevitable if President's Council fails

Port Natal is renamed Durban

UN welcomes SA back

Banned PAC Leader, Robert Sobukwe, is refused an exit permit to leave SA

Gandhi demands end to White 'hooliganism'

Phumizile Mlambo-Ngcuka is appointed as SA Deputy President

African National Congress (ANC) President Nelson Mandela announced that he was suspending all talks with the Government in the wake of the killings in Boipatong.

Dr Essop Goolam Pahad, Minister in the Presidency of the Republic of South Africa since 17 June 1999, was born in Schweizer-Reneke, Western Transvaal (now North-West Province).

Afrikaner nationalists have rebelled against plans to have a Union Jack (the British flag) in the centre of the national flag.

On 4 December 2000, the United Nations High Commission on Refugees (UNHCR) declared the 20 June as World Refugee Day.

The United States (US) shut down its embassy in Nairobi, Kenya, after a terrorist threat. Following the threat, the US and British governments warned their citizens to postpone their travelling to East Africa, especially to Kenya.

Sam Kahn, leader of the Communist Party of South African (CPSA) and natives' representative in parliament, announced in parliament that the party has disbanded.

The South African government instructed its ambassador to The Hague to inform the Dutch government of its displeasure over a grant of 100,000 guilders being made to the Defence and Aid Fund for assistance to the victims of apartheid.

The African National Congress (ANC) activist, Mziwonke 'Pro' Jack was gunned down next to his home in Cape Town.

Three days after the 1976 Students' Revolt the Government banned 123 people for their involvement.

"I am an African. I owe my being to the hills and the valleys, the mountains and the glades, the rivers, the deserts, the trees, the flowers, the seas and the ever-changing seasons that define the face of our native land.

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 been elected on 4 June 1979.

President of South Africa and African National Congress president, Thabo Mvuyelwa Mbeki, was born in Idutywa in the Transkei to political activists Epainette and Govan Mbeki.

For almost 350 years, Black people in South Africa had been subject to exceedingly unjust laws designed to subjugate them and incorporate their lands into the British Empire

Following the 16 June 1976 Soweto protest and the killing and injuring of student protesters by the indiscriminate use of firearms by the police, the government was faced with a looming crisis.

Following the onset of the Soweto uprising the previous day, Parliament met in an Extraordinary Session at the request of the leader of opposition, Colin Eglin.

Soweto students march against government's language policy

The Day of the African Child

The first museum is opened in Soweto, and is named after Hector Pieterson, one of the first casualties of the 16 June 1976 Soweto uprising

President Thabo Mbeki sacks Deputy President Jacob Zuma. Mbeki makes the announcement during a special joint sitting of the two houses of parliament, almost two weeks after Zuma was implicated in corruption

In a long-anticipated move the recently appointed Minister of Finance, Trevor Manuel announced the government's macro-economic strategy, called Growth, Employment and Redistribution (GEAR)

Thamsaqa 'Thami' ka Mnyele was a talented graphic artist and a political activist. Due to his political activities, Mnyele was forced to leave his family in Alexander, becoming exiled in Botswana.

South African engineer, Nuno Gomes, entered the Guinness Book of Records for mankind’s deepest dive ever on 13 June 2005.

At a regional peace summit initiated by Church leaders and held in Durban, Zulu King Goodwill Zwelithini urged his followers to stop killing each other.

Robert Sobukwe, former leader of the banned Pan-Africanist Congress (PAC), although still under a banning order, was admitted to practice as an attorney in Kimberley.

On 12 June 2005, Rain Queen Makobo Modjadji VI died in a hospital in Polokwane, Limpopo Province.

Former Pan African Congress (PAC) director of Foreign Affairs and representative to the United Nations, David Sibeko, was murdered by a militant stance faction in the PAC.

The exceptionally cold stretch we have experienced in the country during the last days of May 2007, brings to mind 12 June 1963

The University of Stellenbosch announced that it was to open its doors to Black, Coloured and Asian students for all post-graduate degrees and would also accept non-White undergraduates for courses not offered at their own universities.

On 11 June 1988, the British Anti-Apartheid Movement (BAAM) held an 11-hour rock concert at Wembley Stadium in London to pay tribute to Nelson Mandela on his 70th birthday on 18 July.

For the first time in the history of the Federation of International Football Association (FIFA),the World Cup is staged in Africa.

Newspaper proprietors and editors of all the main South African newspapers, both English and Afrikaans

Following the outbreak of pandemonium in South Africa and the use of violence by security forces in dealing with the issues in suppressing the aspirations of the peopl

In June 1966, Ugandan Prime Minister, Milton Obotea nnounced the proposed division of the province of Buganda into four districts.

Students in Soweto on rampage

Military service becomes compulsory for White South African men.

UN Security Council urges SA government to end Rivonia Trial

The Oceans are the heart of planet earth as it moderates the weather, provides a potentially unlimited food supply and vast stores of dissolved metals.

The first meeting of the Student Wages Commission was held at the Bolton Hall, Durban.

The Portuguese ship São João went down near the mouth of the Mzimvubu River (at the present Port St. Johns) with 600 people on board.

A year after democratic elections, the newly set up Constitutional Court under presidency of Justice Arthur Chaskalson, abolished the death penalty.

The system of Black authorities and the reforms brought about in the agri­cultural sphere were not unreservedly accepted in the homelands.

Chief Magadu Bhambatha, who was held responsible for the Impi Yamakhanda (poll tax) uprising that was popularly known as the Bambatha rebellion became chief of the AmaZondi people.

At its Special Congress in May, the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) called for three days of national protest against the Labour Relations Amendment Bill (LRA) and restrictions on political organisations.

On 5 June 1981, the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (USA) reported that 5 gay men in California were suffering from a rare pneumonia (Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia or PCP)

On 5 June 1918 disaffected Afrikaners were brought together in a new organisation called Jong Suid-Afrika (Young South Africa). In 1919 the organisation changed its name to Afrikaner Broederbond (Afrikaner Brotherhood).

A year after the 1976 Soweto Student Uprising, the former Secretary of the South African Catholic Bishops' Conference (SACBC) and current Tshwane Metropolitan Council Mayor

The denial of South Africa's involvement in arms dealing with the former Rwandan Army came seven years into sanctions placed on South Africa by the United Nations.

The Iraq Foreign Minister, Hassim Jawad, announced that his country will not recognise the government of South Africa because of its apartheid policies.

Two brothers, Hendrik and Petrus du Preez appeared before Judge Faan Hanke in Bloemfontein High Court in connection with the murder of two soldiers, Michael Leisanyane and Gilmore van Wyk of Tempe military base near Bloemfontein.

Security Police Chief, Brigadier C.F. Zietsman, announced that about 4,000 South African exiles were undergoing guerrilla training in Mozambique

On 4 June 1940, the evacuation of Allied forces from Dunkirk ended as German forces captured the beach port.

Mandela meet De Klerk in Pretoria

The South African cricket team beats England for the first time on English soil

ANC leader Chief Albert Luthuli is banished by the Apartheid Government for five years

Former SA Cricket Captain, Hansie Cronje, dies

SASOL plant under attack

UN spokesman comments on Mugabe's eviction campaign

On 31 May 1994, the Secretary-General of the Commonwealth of Nations, Chief Emeka Anyaouku told reporters at the Commonwealth Headquarters in London.

Arguably the grandest marathon in the world, athletes flock to South Africa from all over the world every year to take part in the race.

Voortrekker leader Andries Pretorius after whom Pretoria was named, died in 1853 at his Magaliesburg home.

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.

On 30 May 1981, South Africa played its first rugby test match against Ireland at Newlands stadium in Cape Town.

The Minister of Justice, James Thomas (Jimmy) Kruger, declared the Christian Institute to be an affected organisation under the Affected Organisation's Act of 1974.

On 29 May 1976, the South African Electricity Supply Commission (ESKOM) announced its decision to order two nuclear power reactors from France.

Former South Africa Prime Minister, P.W Botha visited eight European countries, Portugal, Great Britain, West Germany, Belgium, France, Austria, Italy and Switzerland.

On 29 May 1976, the South African Electricity Supply Commission (ESKOM) announced its decision to order two nuclear power reactors from France.

Allegedly Zulu Paramount Chief Dinuzulu (Dinizulu) refused British instructions to take up arms against the Boer republics during the Second Anglo-Boer War.

Linguist, educationist and teacher, Ernest Sedumedi Moloto, who served as chairman of both the Tswana Language Committee of SA and the Botswana National Language Committee, died in Mamelodi, Pretoria.

Ebola Hemorrhagic Fever (EBF) or the Ebola virus as it is also known is a virus that kills its host by attacking the lining of the cells and coagulating the blood in the human body.

The South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) was plunged into a crisis when the Editor-in-chief of television news, Joe Thloloe, announced his resignation due to irreconcilable differences with Group Chief Executive, Zwelakhe Sisulu.

Jomo Kenyatta, leader of the Kenyan liberation movement and Mau Mau rebellion against British control was elected as first Prime Minister of a self-governing Kenya, he was inaugurated on 1 June 1963.

In May 1900, at the height of the South African War (1899-1902), Field Marshall Lord Roberts and his forces crossed the Vaal River heading to Pretoria.

President Nelson Mandela announces his intentions to promote national unity

South Africa is exonerated by the UN delegation

Zola Budd, former SA athlete and World Record holder, is born

Violent clashes about the Transkei territorial authorities continues

United Nations lifts arms embargo on South Africa

The Organisation of African Unity is formed and Africa Day is declared

The first Comrades Marathon was run by Vic Clapham, ex World War One veteran and his forty-seven friends, who initiated it as a reunion.

In 1921, in a battle lasting less than 30 minutes between police and Israelites, followers of prophet Enoch Mgijima, more than 180 people were killed.

On 24 May 1915, soon after it had been decided to establish a Dutch newspaper, the name of the newspaper, De Burger ("The Citizen"), was decided on.

After the first fully democratic elections, South Africa was officially admitted as 53rd member of the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) at a summit, held in Tunis, Tunisia.

The State theatre in Pretoria opened in 1981 as a non-profit government funded company. The Japanese- influenced building is actually a complex of theatres.

Sefako Mapogo Makgatho, a teacher, politician and journalist, who was born in Pietersburg (now Polokwane) district in 1861, died in Riverside, Pretoria.

South Africa national soccer team, Bafana Bafana played England star-studded team in a friendly international match at Absa Stadium in Durban. The match was to mark South Africa's campaign to host World Cup finals in 2010.

Former South African Defence Force (SADF) Chief Tienie Groenewald was acquitted by the Durban Supreme Court on all charges related to the 1987 KwaMakhuthu Massacre.

The South African Bureau of Standard (SABS) was established in terms of Act 24 of 1945. The Act was revised on several occasions and is currently effective as Act 29 of 1993.

On this day in history, and international conference was held to implement legislation to protect the African elephant and rhinoceros.

Moses Kotane, the South African Communist Party and African National Congress stalwart passed away in Moscow, Russia where he was hospitalised after a long illness he suffered since 1968.

During the raid on the Cabinda oil refinery, Angola, on the 21 May 1985, Capt. Wynand du Toit was taken captive, and two other South African commandoes were killed. The rest of the commando unit evacuated successfully.

Two bombs exploded at the Johannesburg magistrate's court. The first, a minor explosion that acted as a decoy, was followed by a second more powerful charge minutes later.

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 their vehicle in close vicinity of the building which housed the South African Air Force (SAAF) headquarters.

Within the old South Africa, 10 homelands were created. The 'separate development' policies (Apartheid) of H.F. Verwoerd resulted in the 'awarding' of 'self-government' to four of these 10 homelands including an area known as the Transkei in 1963.

Thabo Mbeki is honoured

The roots of White women's suffrage in South Africa began with the founding of the Women's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU) in 1899. The goal of this organisation was to campaign against the trade in alcohol, which they considered the greatest contributor to moral decay.

With the coming of the Dutch settlers, the Khoikhoi faced a stronger demand for their cattle. Trade disputes and charges of theft caused great tension between colonists and the Khoikhoi who feared that the settlement of free burghers

The ANC threatens to suspend constitutional talks

Milner proposes conditional voting rights for 'non-Whites' in SA

Walter Sisulu, co-founder of the ANCYL and Umkhonto we Sizwe, is born

The 17 May, is World Telecommunications Day (WTD). It commemorates the founding of the (ITU) International Telecommunications Union on 17 May 1865.

Present day Malawi became the British colony of Nyasaland in 1890, after aggressive diplomatic conflict with Germany. In 1964, Britain released the colony and it became Malawi, with Kamuzu Banda sworn is as the country's first president.

The South African parliament approved legislation to set up the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in 1995.

Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, former wife of Nelson Mandela, was banished to a dusty Afrikaner dominated town of Brandfort in the Free State where she was unceremoniously dumped at house 802 with her youngest daughter, Zinzi.

Pupils at Phefeni Secondary School started boycotting classes in protest against the use of Afrikaans as medium of instruction in certain subjects in schools.

The South African Prime Minister B.J. Vorster declared that if the positive signs of cooperation with the rest of Africa are interpreted accurately, South Africa could become the leading state in Southern Africa.

On 15 May 2004, the president of the Federation of International Football Association's (FIFA), Joseph "Sepp" Blatter, announced that South Africa would host the 2010 Soccer World Cup.

National Party (NP) leader F W de Klerk's failure to accept that the former NP government's policies had given security forces a licence to kill was devastating, according Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) chairman Archbishop Desmond Tutu.

South Africa suffered heavily in the international sports arena as result of its apartheid policy.

Patrick Laurence, journalist of the Star, was charged with contravening the Suppression of Communism Act of 1950 by publishing a statement made by Robert Sobukwe, the former president of the Pan Africanist Congress (PAC).

Speaking before the Truth and Reconciliation Commission for a second time, F.W. de Klerk repeats his assertion that murder and torture had never been part of government policy.

Winnie Nomzamo Mandela, ANC activist and later president of the African National Congress Women's League (1993) and deputy minister of arts and culture (1994) was sentenced to six years for her 'complicity' in the kidnapping and beating of four youths.

Dipuo Peters is born

President Mandela reshuffles Cabinet Ministers

Winnie Mandela is found guilty

Matamela Cyril Ramaphosa confirmed that he was resigning as African National Congress Secretary-General, as well as from Parliament. Speculation around Ramaphosa's resignation was because of a belief that he has been overlooked by Nelson Mandela

SASO adopts the Alice Declaration

Academic and ANC politician Z.K. Matthews dies

The Chairman of the Pan-Africanist Congress and disciplinary committee announces that former party President and Robben Island detainee Clarence Makwetu has been expelled party for three years

South Africa's longest serving White political prisoner, David Kitson, was released, seven months short of completing his twenty-year sentence for sabotage.

Professional soccer is introduced in SA when the National Football League is founded

Deputy President F.W. de Klerk announced that the National Party was to withdraw from the Government of National Unity on June 30.

When the apartheid government introduced the General Law Amendment Act, the South African Security Police, or Special Branch, were given the authority to arrest anyone they suspected of involvement in an act against the State.

Life Magazine was founded in in 1883 and was published for 53 years as a general interest light entertainment magazine.

Well-known SA musician, Brenda Fassie died at the Sunninghill Hospital, Johannesburg. The artist was hospitalized on April 26 and fell into a coma until she passed away thirteen days later.

Bram Fischer, the former political activist was arrested in 1964 for being a member of the illegal organisation Communist Party of South Africa (CPSA).

At a meeting of Commonwealth Heads' of Government, Commonwealth leaders discussed SA's apartheid policy.

Each year Red Cross and Red Crescent Day is celebrated on 8 May. This is to commemorate those who volunteer their time in assisting these organisations in caring for vulnerable communities.

The adoption of the South African Constitution on 8 May 1996 was one of the turning points in the history of the struggle for democracy in South Africa.

When the Union of South Africa was formed in 1910, it consisted of the Transvaal, the Orange Free State, Natal and the Cape Province.

International Conference on Women and Children under Apartheid starts

COSATU headquarters Johannesburg is sabotaged

British female pilot Amy Johnson lands in Cape Town and sets a new flight record

Church Square, which was initially called Market Square, was home to the first church built in Pretoria, which burnt down in 1882.

Margaret Rheeder, found guilty of poisoning her husband, Benjamin Fredenman, was hung in Pretoria.

The government announces that its aim, is to provide all Black children with free and compulsory education as soon as possible.

Sipho Mutsi dies in police custody

The RSA Constitution Bill goes before the House of Assembly

Afrikaans declared an official language of South Africa

Victor Sidney Norton, journalist and the first South African

Robert Sobukwe is sentenced to three years' imprisonment

Ruth First is born

World Press Freedom Day is observed on 3 May. This day was the culmination of a UNESCO seminar held in Windhoek, Namibia from 29 April 1991 to the 3 May 1991.

Representatives of South Africa, the United States (US), Angola and Cuba met in London (3-4 May) in search of a solution to the Angolan war and independence for Namibia.

Piet Retief was one of the leaders of the Great Trek that introduced Afrikaner settlement to the interior.

The Groote Schuur talks between the South African government and the African National Congress (ANC) were held on 2, 3 and 4 May 1990.

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 Volta (now Burkina Faso ) and the Ivory Coast.

Bulelani Ngcuka, born in Middledrift, Eastern Cape on 2 May 1954, is a former African National Congress political activist and a lawyer.

Nelson Mandela is escorted out of Umlazi stadium

First celebration of May Day in South Africa

Anti-apartheid activist Dr. David Webster is assassinated

Josiah Gumede is succeeded by Pixley ka Isaka Seme as ANC president

Mbhazima Shilowa, former premier of Gauteng, is born

P.W. Botha and Kenneth Kaunda in a historic meeting

First democratic election results for SA

Freedom of press is established at the Cape

Nelson Mandela is acquitted of high treason.

IEC extends election dates

The Azanian People's Organisation is formed

Father Michael Lapsley, an Anglican priest, is injured by a letter-bomb

The first democratic election is held in South Africa

Freedom Day is celebrated in South Africa

Sierra Leone gains independence from Britain

The Castle of Good Hope is the oldest surviving colonial building in South Africa.

The Chernobyl computer virus, perhaps the most destructive so far, damages hundreds of thousands of computers around the world.

Four years after the unbanning of the liberation movements and release of political prisoners, SA held its first multi-racial elections.

The South African government for the first time allowed twenty local journalists, five correspondents of international news agencies and two official photographers to visit the prison on Robben Island where 370 men, convicted under security legislation, were held.

Political parties in parliament tabled more than 300 amendments to the constitutional legislation

The Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe, who arrived in Pretoria for the 10th anniversary

Benjamin Tyamzashe receives an honorary degree

Jacob Zuma launches the CIDB

Oliver Tambo dies in Johannesburg

Mugabe announces the merging of ZANU and ZAPU

AWB leader, Eugene TerreBlanche, is convicted of attempted murder and assault

Discovery of the AIDS virus is publicly announced

1 575 people are detained under a state of emergency

Sathyandranath Ragunanan (Mac) Maharaj, political activist and first SA Minister of Transport in the democratically elected government in 1994, was born in Newcastle, Natal

The nine Frontier or Xhosa Wars re-shaped and dominated 19th Century South African History, and took place in the Eastern Cape between the Xhosa and European settlers

The Coloured schools' boycott began as result of students' dissatisfaction with the South African educational and political systems.

A Group Areas Amendment Bill, introduced on 7 March 1982 and enacted on 21 April, maintained the existing commitment to the principle of separate residential areas, schools and amenities for different races, but excluded sports venues from its provisions.

Benjamin Mzimkulu (Ben) Macala was born in Bloemfontein, Orange Free State. As a young boy he tended cattle on a farm in the Free State and drew on rocks with stones. He was largely self-taught, although he studied for a few months under Cecil Skotnes at Jubilee Art Centre in 1964.

South African Judge Edwin Cameron reveals his HIV status

The State President F.W. de Klerk issues a proclamation adopting the new national flag and National Anthem of SA

The Federation of South African Trade Unions is founded

On 19 April 1963, African National Congress (ANC) leader Walter Sisulu forfeited R6000 bail and went underground.

The South West African People's Organisation (SWAPO) was founded in Windhoek, South West Africa (presently Namibia) on 19 April 1960 by Herman Toivo ja Toivo.

The Bambatha Rebellion took place near Greytown in KwaZulu-Natal.

On 18 April 1658, six years after the Dutch East India Company established its colony at the Cape, the first formal school was opened.

On 18 April 1658, six years after the Dutch East India Company established its colony at the Cape, the first formal school was opened.

Rhodesia gained independence after ninety years as a British colony, taking the new name Zimbabwe.

The S. A government seizes the passport of Bishop Desmond Tutu

The last general election of the Union of South Africa

Nelson Mandela says "thank you" to the world

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission begins

Walter Sisulu acts against Sophiatown forced removals

First victim of the land invasions in Zimbabwe, David Stevens, is murdered

South Africa held its third democratic elections on 14 April 2004. A total of 20.6 million People were registered to vote

Nelson Mandela admits to the torture of dissident guerrillas

Desmond Tutu is elected Archbishop

The death of Andries Tatane in service delivery protest in the Free State sparks national outrage

Ramaphosa announces his decision to leave parliament

Mass funeral for those killed at Sharpeville commemoration

Thousands protest the killing of Chris Hani

Lucas Radebe is born

Jacob Zuma, President of South Africa and of the ANC, is born.

Ellis Park soccer stampede kills 43

Nigeria imposes sanctions on South Africa, and implements a total trade boycott

Manilal Gandhi leads a resistance group across the Natal

Chris Hani, the SACP secretary-general, is assassinated

Transkei breaks all diplomatic ties with the Republic of South Africa

Bafana Bafana loses to Gabon at Odi Stadium

Emily Hobhouse, humanitarian and pacifist during the Anglo

First census conducted at the Cape

Assassination attempt on Verwoerd

Peace talks between ANC and IFP are called off

South African poet Vincent Oliphant is born

Three people are killed in a cross

The TRC refuses amnesty to Hani's killers

The ANC leader in the KwaZulu Natal midlands, Sifiso Nkabinde, is expelled from the ANC

The PAC is formed

ANC dismisses proposals to postpone elections

MK hero cadre Solomon Kalushi (Khala) Mahlangu is executed

President Nelson Mandela earned worldwide praise for his role in persuading Libya to hand over two suspects accused of placing a bomb on Pan Am Flight 103, which exploded over Lockerbie in Scotland in 1988, killing altogether 270 people

Lucky Kutumela, journalist and member of the Azanian Peoples Organisation (AZAPO) and Media Workers association of South Africa (MWASA) succumbed to his injuries at Pietersburg (now Polokwane) hospital after being severely assaulted

The formation of the Pan African Congress (PAC) came as a result of indifferences within the ranks of the African National Congress.

ANC attack on Booysens Police Station

Hugh Masekela, South African musician, is born

On 3 April 1968, South Africa Prime Minister B.J. Vorster announced that five ‘non-White’ South African University Colleges will be released from their association with the University of South Africa (UNISA).

The basic concept of cellular phones began in 1947, when researchers began to examine crude mobile (car) phones. These researchers realized that by using small cells (range of service area) with frequency reuse they could increase the traffic capacity of mobile phones substantially.

Born in 1891(some sources say 1894), Tafari Makonnen, or Haile Selassie, as he was later known, was born the son of Ras Makonnen Wolde Michael, the Governor of the region of Harrar. He is credited for modernising Ethiopia

Nnoseng Ellen Kate Kuzwayo made history when she became the first black woman to receive an honorary degree from the University of the Witwatersrand on 2 April 1987.

In December 1863 about 30 leading inhabitants of Stellenbosch gathered in the Reading Room in Dorp Street to discuss the provision of advanced education.

The Anglo-Zulu War Battle of Gingindlovu takes place. The Battle of Gingindlovu took place shortly after the Battle of Kambula and Rorkes drift.

ANC launches mass boycott of Bantu Education

ANC member, Henry Fazzie sentenced to 20 years in jail under the Sabotage Act

Robben Island is turned into a prison

Robben Island is turned into a prison

The South African Naval Service is founded

First Tramway Company in Cape Town commences operations, with a horse

Indians march in Durban to protest against the Ghetto Act

President de Klerk warns General Bantu Holomisa

Sheik Yusuf arrives at the Cape of Good Hope

National Party wins general election

State of Emergency follows Sharpeville massacre

The Group Areas Act comes into effect

ANC and IFP joint peace rally is called off

Dr Stanley Mogoba is born in Polokwane

Journalist and political activist Selby Msimang dies

Natives are making bonfires of their "passes" in Johannesburg

Mandela reshuffles the cabinet

IFP commemorates Shell House shootings.

The Cape Times appears for the first time

Beyers Naudé and Allan Boesak arrested for leading a protest march

Winnie Mandela is dismissed from government

Cecil John Rhodes (48) dies in Muizenberg

NP government abandons segregated education

US President Bill Clinton arrives in Cape Town

The ANC leads a march through central Durban, attended by up to 100,000 people, to demand their voting rights.

Former Chief Justice Pius Nkonzo Langa is born

Nelson Mandela is appointed the Secretary of the National Action Council.

Twelve people are killed in Daveyton

De Klerk calls for stringent safety measures

The Santo Alberto is wrecked

Conservationist and entrepreneur Rufus Maruma is born

South African Communist Party leader Abram Fischer is sentenced to life imprisonment on charges of communism

Dorothy Nyembe is released from jail

Martin Luther King is arrested for his role in a bus boycott

President Vorster challenges Dr Rhoodie

S.A. beats New Zealand by 3

The killing of eleven people at Donnybrook, Kwazulu-Natal on the 21 March 1996 can be considered as part of the ongoing rivalry between supporters of the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) and the African National Congress (ANC).

This day was proclaimed by the United Nations Organisation's General Assembly in 1966. It came about as a result of the Sharpeville Massacre, which took place on this day in 1960.

On 21 March, 1960, a breakaway organisation from the African National Congress (ANC), the Pan Africanist Congress (PAC) staged an anti-pass demonstration outside Sharpeville police station near Vereeniging.

The Conservative Party is formed

South African artist, Gerard Sekoto, dies

The Azanian People's Liberation Army (APLA) disbands

The Labour Party holds the majority on the Coloured Persons' Representative Council

Three people murdered at Eikenhof

Makhaya Ntini represents South Africa at Newlands

Connie Mulder announces banning off WCC officials from SA

Government admits responsibility for Mdluli's death

The Rand Revolt Ends

F.W. de Klerk announces Whites-only referendum results

Allan Boesak guilty on charges of fraud

The first 1820 British Settlers arrive in South Africa.

Tito Mboweni, Head of the Reserve Bank is born

The Riotous Assemblies Act Commences

James Sebe Moroka is born

The Rand Revolt strikers' stronghold at Fordsburg Square falls to the government

The Asiatic Land Tenure and Indian Representation Act is introduced

Department of Transport launches Be Legal campaign

A bomb blast rocks the ANC London office

A prison warder is killed in Groote Schuur Hospital

SA struggles to fight HIV/AIDS pandemic

Lillian Ngoyi dies

The Angolan government announces a unilateral ceasefire

Former Cabinet Minister Dullah Omar dies

Basutoland (now Lesotho) becomes British territory

Mandela and Tambo meet in Sweden

Pioneer tomato farmer Bertie van Zyl is buried in Mooketsi

Gen. Magnus Malan appears in court

The apartheid government agrees to eliminate racial segregation in theatres but not in cinemas

King Moshoeshoe dies

South African artist Michael Zondi is born

ANC mounts a sabotage attack on fuel depot in Ermelo

Lucas Mangope leaves Mmabatho due to uprising

The French Foreign Legion is founded

COSATU withdraws from Parliamentary session on budget

Robert McBride is arrested in Mozambique

First celebration of International Women's Day

Moses Mabhida dies in Maputo

15 suspected mercenaries, many of them South African, are arrested in Equatorial Guinea

Gen. De la Rey captures Lord Methuen

WW2 veteran Job Masego dies

Minister of Posts and Telegraphs, Dr Albert Hertzog, confirms that television would not be introduced in South Africa

Gold Coast (Ghana) gains independence

F.W. de Klerk, Minister of Mineral and Energy Affairs, elected as new leader of the Transvaal National Party

Tsotsi, directed by Gavin Woods, becomes the first South African film to receive an Oscar

Enoch Mgijima dies

South Africa sends troops to Ciskei

SA troops invade East Africa in their confrontation with German forces in World War I

The release of Nelson Mandela on 11 February 1990 was a catalyst that sped up the change in the political dispensation in South Africa. On 4 March 1990 343 political prisoners on Robben Island went on a hunger strike demanding their release in order to strengthen the bargaining positions of the ANC.

The Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF) won the first free elections in Zimbabwe. Robert Mugabe, president of ZANU since 1977, became prime minister

Former secretary-general of the African National Congress (ANC), Walter Sisulu, was convicted of having incited a stay-at-home of African workers in protest of the Republic of South Africa Constitution Act of 1961.

Angered by the manner in which Haiti's President Jean-Bertrand Aristide was allegedly forced to flee his country, the fifteen-nation Caribbean Community said it would not provide troops for the United Nations (UN) Peacekeeping Force in Haiti

South Africa signs CITES treaty on international trade in endangered species of wild flora and fauna

The ‘Timeless Test’ starts in Durban

The Stellenbosch Gymnasium is founded

Ladysmith Black Mambazo wins a Grammy

IFP agrees to participate in 1994 elections

The Cape Agulhas lighthouse begins operating

Wits attains full University status

Walvis Bay is handed over to Namibia

Archbishop Desmond Tutu is arrested

Hattie McDaniels Wins An Academy Award

Prussian Nobility Establishes Berlin Missionary Society

Separate Representation of Coloured Voters Act is passed

SA signs diplomatic relations with Russia

SA team loses to its Egyptian counterpart

Agreement to reincorporate Ciskei is reached

Robert Sobukwe, first PAC president, dies

Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma welcomes Cuban doctors

Western countries continue to provide arms to South Africa despite UN sanctions

Gandhi supports APO's Day of Mourning

Adriaan Vlok applies for amnesty

Mandela addresses ANC rally in Durban

The Women's National Coalition Conference starts

SA artist, Daniel Sefundi Rakgoathe is born

De Klerk announces referendum date

ANC promulgates its constitutional proposals

The first indications of protest over Afrikaans in Soweto schools

Allan Boesak is born

Dispute over SA military integration

Botha pleads not guilty to contempt charges

Baden Powell is Born

Black pupils arrive at school escorted by Police Officers

New ANC National Working Committee is elected

Walter Benson Rubusana, founding member of the ANC, is born

Inkatha Freedom Party boycotts parliament

Miriam Makeba is nominated for a Grammy

President F. W. de Klerk ring cabinet changes

SA poet Sydney Vernon Peterson dies

The Population Registration Bill is read for the first time

Nelson Mandela was issued with his first passport after being released from prison

African National Congress (ANC) and government decided to go ahead with the necessary reforms paving a way for a multiparty democratic election to be held in April 1994.

Head of the Bureau of State Security (BOSS) General H. Van Den Bergh,, briefly appeared on Rhodesian (now known as Zimbabwe) TV, telling viewers that anti-apartheid protests overseas were cautiously planned by communists linked to the South African Communist Party (SACP) and leftists in exile.

A Xhosa film wins Golden Bear award

Outrage at the kidnapping of student leader Lengene

Jeff Radebe is born

Tony Johnstone wins Alfred Dunhill PGA golf tournament.

Tony Johnstone wins Alfred Dunhill PGA golf tournament

Zim's interior minister Joshua Nkomo is dismissed

Patricia de Lille Born in Beaufort West

UDF Disowns Winnie Mandela

Chris Heunis meets Enos Mabuza of KaNgwane

Fidel Castro becomes Premier of Cuba

International Olympic Committee re-admit South Africa

Mafeking is established

Third Voortrekker Town Established

Official inauguration of the Constitutional Court

Zulu King Zwelithini threatens to establish a separate Zulu state

Hertzog and Smuts to form a coalition

Madikizela Mandela is accused of misuse of funds

Patrice Lumumba, former Prime Minister of the Democratic Republic of Congo, is shot

Smallpox Epidemic Strikes the Cape

The Quail Commission report is released

Ermelo is founded

Kwame Nkrumah is released from jail

TUKS is 100 years old

Over 17 million arrested under pass laws

Shift in US Foreign Policy Toward Apartheid State

Princess Margaret dies

Winnie Mandela receives a 6 months' sentence

The Star Condemns Forced Removals In Sophiatown

Mozambique stresses its continued support for the ANC

Drum Magazine calls for the release of all political prisoners

Boers defeat British in the battle of Ingogo (Anglo-Boer War 1)

Dr Frederik van Zyl Slabbert resigns from parliament

Cedric Mayson is charged with treason

White entrepreneurs to be given contracts in the 'homelands'

San involvement in the Battle of Chrissiesmeer

P.W. Botha offers to resign

Zulu King Dingane orders the killing of Piet Retief's men

President Nelson Mandela delivered his last major address to parliament at the opening of the ultimate session of the first democratically elected parliament.

A disciplined and perfect off-spinner, John Traicos one of international cricket's most unusual members, made his Test debut - for South Africa vs Australia at Durban in their final series before their banishment from Test cricket.

In an attempt to destabilise the country and cause an uprising against the Apartheid government, members of Poqo, the Pan Africanist Congress of Azania's military wing kill a White family in their caravan while they camp on the Bashee River

The New South African Constitution takes effect.

Abram Onkgopotse Tiro, founder of the South African Student Organisation is killed by a parcel bomb in Botswana.

The first air flight from England to South Africa takes place.

De Klerk and Mandela receive UNESCO peace prize

Macmillan's winds of change' speech in Parliament

Britain annexes territory between the Orange and Vaal Rivers

The Harms Commission terms of reference are laid out

First National Bank (FNB) cancels its R20 million anti-crime initiative.

South Africa's President F.W. de Klerk promises to free Nelson Mandela and legalizes ANC and 60 other political organisations

President F.W. de Klerk promises repeal of apartheid laws

SASO leader, Abram Tiro is assassinated

The South African Air Force is established

Ma Tambo dies in Johannesburg

President P W Botha offers Nelson Mandela conditional release from prison

The University of Port Elizabeth is founded

Carte Blanche is denied permission to quote Oliver Tambo

Mohandas (aka Mahatma) Karamchand Gandhi is assassinated by a Hindu nationalist in New Delhi, India

Dr Max Theiler, SA's First Nobel Laureate is born

A summit meeting was held in Durban between the African National Congress (ANC) and the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP). The meeting was addressed by Zulu Chief Mangosuthu Gatsha Buthelezi and ANC Deputy President Nelson Mandela

Yoweri Moseveni after five years in the bush, was sworn in as the new Ugandan Head of State. He ruled the country for a decade without having been elected to power.

The Durban College of Education is founded

Gift Of The Givers Foundation logo Dr Imtiaz Sooliman, national co-ordinator of the Gift Of The Givers Foundation, announced in Johannesburg that the foundation would fly forty tons of food, medical supplies and water into Somalia immediately after getting a go-ahead from the United Nations

Four apartheid-era police officers, including police Colonel Gideon Nieuwoudt who appeared before the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) admitted their role in the 1977 killing of Steve Biko

Five power stations are blown up by pro-Axis saboteurs in an attempt to destabilise the Rand gold mines.

Robert Mugabe returns to Rhodesia after being in exile for five years

Arrests in Pondoland

Women Draw up a Petition against Pass Laws

Rebels overrun the Somalian capital of Mogadishu

Chairman of the IEC resigns

Cape High Court suspends pebble bed modular reactor at Koeberg

Durban mass meeting endorses Smuts and Gandhi agreement

Three ANC guerrillas seize a bank and twenty–five hostages

Abram Fischer fails to arrive in court

Riots erupt in Cato Manor

SA Government spoil Chief Albert Luthuli's chance of Rectorship

Dr Connie Mulder resigns as a result of his involvement in the Information Scandal

The British successfully thwart the Zulu attack at Rorke's Drift

P.W. Botha appears in court

Presley Chweneyagae, star of the Oscar winning movie Tsotsi, is arrested for fraud in Pretoria

Nelson Mandela and F.W. de Klerk are awarded the Unesco Peace Prize

Percy Qoboza, editor of the Post, states that it is difficult to see how a credible newspaper for Blacks can be created in South Africa

Founder of South African Library for the Blind (SALB), Josephine Wood is born

Nelson Mandela condemns the Lockerbie bombing

Coalbrook mine disaster kills more than 400

Tshwane Metro's 5th anniversary celebrations held at Church Square

British troops establish their camp at Isandlwana

The highest temperature in the shade is recorded in the Cape

Bishop Tutu receives Martin Luther King Award

Colin Chauke is captured

Devastating storm hits Mount Ayliff, Eastern Cape.

Former Finance Minister Barend du Plessis is born

Lesotho addresses political exiles in the country

Gideon Scheepers executed

President P.W. Botha suffers a stroke.

The Sand River Convention, under which Britain renounces all claims to authority beyond the Vaal River, is signed.

Percy Qoboza dies

Patrice Lumumba is killed

Clarence Makwetu announces the PAC's suspension of its armed struggle

Paedophile Gert van Rooyen and mistress die in Pretoria

The first Cape to Rio yacht race takes place

Martin Luther King, Junior, an African-American clergyman who orchestrated social change through non-violent methods is born

Judges of the Black Circuit return to Cape Town

The first Afrikaans newspaper, 'Die Afrikaanse Patriot', is published in Paarl.

Albert Nzula dies in Moscow

Benny Lategan is shot dead

Britain proposes the sale of arms to South Africa

Derek Hanekom is born

The South African Non-Racial Olympic Committee is founded

Eschel Rhoodie's assets frozen

P.W. Botha is born

Sithembele Zokwe is assassinated

The first battle of the Anglo-Zulu war takes place

Alan Paton is born

First sextuplets in the world to survive their infancy are born in Cape Town

Thabo Mbeki announces judicial inquiry

Obed Amon Mwanza of Zimbabwe is killed

Bafana Bafana wins against Botswana

Lord Roberts arrives at the Cape

The African National Congress (ANC) National Executive Committee (NEC) presents five demands to be met during the year in order to facilitate South Africa's first democratic elections.

Around 2 000 workers in the Coronation Brick and Tile factory in Durban downed tools after the employers rejected their demand for a wage increase from R8,97 to R30 per week.

The international peace keeping body, the United Nations (UN), which had replaced the League of Nations in 1945, opened its headquaters two years after construction work at UN Plaza in New York, USA, had started.

The Battle of Blaauwberg takes place

The SANNC (later ANC) is founded in Bloemfontein

Harry Gwala is awarded Isitwalandwe/Seaparakoe

Peter Mokaba is born in Polokwane

Industrial and Commercial Workers Union is founded under Clements Kadalie

Bantu Women's League protests against pass laws

Cecil John Rhodes is forced to resign

Joe Slovo dies of cancer at the age of 68

Makgatho Mandela dies

Mac Maharaj, Laloo Chiba, Raymond Nyanda and Andrew Masondo arrive on Robben Island prison

Start of daily television transmissions

US Senator Edward Kennedy visits SA

Daniel Arap Moi is elected President of Kenya

Protest against pass laws in Langa

The Flag of the Union of South Africa is hoisted on Prince Edward Island

JRR Tolkien born in Bloemfontein

Rev Allan Hendrikse and 150 Supporters Swim at a Whites Only Beach in Port Elizabeth.

Joseph Skosana is killed

Moses Josiah Madiba, author, educationist and first Black chancellor of the University of the North, died in Seshego, Pietersburg (now Polokwane) district.

Renowned surgeon, Dr Chris Barnard, performed his second heart transplant operation at Groote Schuur Hospital a month after his first transplant. Hamilton Naki was part of the team that assisted him.

Voortrekker leaders Andries Hendrik Potgieter and Gerrit (Gert) Maritz, both Potgieter and Maritz led their troops to Western Transvaal where they attacked Mzilikazi for the Matabele (Ndebele) on the Voortrekkers at Vechtkop (Vegkop)

South African Government closed its borders with Lesotho, cutting off fundamental food and fuel supplies. The relationship of the South African and Lesotho in the 1970s and early 1980s was fraught with friction.

For the first time in the history of the South African Police (SAP), policewomen were enlisted as 'full members of the force'.

Transvaal coal miners embarked on a strike because of a wage cut of 5/- per shift. On 10 January 1922 White mine workers on the Rand gold mines followed their example, because they rejected a proposal that a regulation concerning the ratio of Whites to Blacks

Eight British tourists, five men and three women, were killed on their way to the Royal Natal National Park when their bus swerved to avoid a pedestrian on the R74 between Harrismith and Bergville and crashed.

On 31 December 1989, ex-mutineers in exile considered resigning from the African National Congress (ANC). This came after the suppression of political and cultural renewal by the ANC and the banishment of nine members of the ANC

Forced removals from Sophiatown had started in 1955 and by 1963 the demolition of the existing houses started.

The American oil company Exxon became the first major international oil company to withdraw its investment from South Africa because of the country's Apartheid policy.

The International Monetary Fund announces that it will agree to purchase gold from South Africa, subject to certain conditions.

The Gramstown Journal, one of South Africa's important and influential early newspapers, ran from 1831- 1920. From its early days its editorial slant voiced the interests of English settlers in the Eastern Cape.

In the Rand Supreme Court, Justice Coetzee, refused to lift the banning order on four Black newspapers

Rev. Allan Hendrickse was elected leader of the Coloured Labour Party of South Africa at its thirteenth Congress in Bloemfontein.

The Minister of Bantu Education M.C. Botha announced that the government moved towards the introduction of free and compulsory education for Black pupils.

On 28 December 1989, a document officially banning nine members of the African National Congress (ANC) was circulated at Dakawa in Tanzania. The nine members were from different ANC communities in Dakawa.

Political activist and civil rights campaigner widely respected by Blacks, Molly Blackburn, was killed in a car accident near Humansdorp, Eastern Cape.

Politician and businessman Oscar Dhlomo was born at Putellos, Umbumbulu, Natal. Dhlomo served in the homeland government of Kwa-Zulu under the leadership of Mangosuthu Buthelezi as Minister of Education and Culture.

South Africa abandons the Gold Standard, sparking a period of economic expansion

Dr Joosub Ebrahim is born

Voortrekker commando is ambushed by the Zulu army in the Battle of the White Umfolozi

Prime Minister of Transkei George Matanzima is born

Paul Adams becomes SA's youngest Test Cricket player

Hundreds of thousands of people killed as tsunamis devastate large swathes of South and Southeast Asia, coming as far as South Africa

Struggle icon Makana drowns

Helen Joseph dies

Christmas Day Massacre

Charles Taylor enters Liberia to unseat President Samuel K Doe.

Richard Maponya is born in Lenyenye in the then Northern Transvaal (now Limpopo)

The three ships, Drommedaris, Reijger and Goede Hoop, carrying Jan van Riebeeck and his party, leave Texel in the Netherlands on their way to the Cape.

Zinzi Mandela is born

Kwame Nkrumah orders release of political prisoners

SA experiences a monetary crisis due to the heavy drain of gold from the country during the Great Depression

SA signs diplomatic relations with Vietnam

Trade unionist, Barend Erasmus dies

Twenty-four Kikuyu tribesmen are sentenced to death for the Lari massacre in Kenya

Trial of nine BPC and SASO leaders ends

Miners strike at the Van Rhyn Deep mines

SA signs treaty with Great Britain on the supply of military equipment to South Africa

Amichand Rajbansi is fired from Parliament

CODESA 1 convenes in Johannesburg

Arthur Elias Letele, medical doctor and prominent ANC leader who went into exile in Basutoland, dies

SADF officers dismissed

ANC attacks Koeberg nuclear power station

Sugarboy Malinga wins the WBC title

Steve Biko, a pioneer of the Black Consciousness Movement, is born

SA painter Frederick Timpson I'Ons (85) dies

Buthelezi boycotts first session of CODESA

United Nations appoints Kofi Annan as secretary

ANC adopts the Programme of Action

First aeroplane flight takes place

Women's Memorial is unveiled in Bloemfontein

Pirates win the African Champions Cup

ANC Consultative Conference comes to an end

Walter Sisulu's appeal is dismissed

Six people are killed in an ANC landmine explosion

Donald James Wood journalist and Anti apartheid activists is born

Prime Minister Louis Botha resigns because of conflict with Hertzog

Clarence Mlokoti is shot dead by hijackers

The last Apollo Moon mission returns to Earth

Simon Petros Matseke, prominent in African social and political life, dies in Pretoria

The Trust Feed Massacre

Oliver Tambo returns from exile

UDF leaders are charged with treason

Organisations forward applicants for amnesty to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission

King Mswati III buys another luxury car

Matthews Mapumolo, an ANC member, dies in police custody after he had been confronted at home in Swaziland by a group of armed men.

The first of the 'Bantustans' or 'homelands' came into existence when the Minister of Bantu Administration and Development, De Wet Nel, opened the Transkei Legislative Assembly at Umtata. Chief Kaiser Matanzima was installed as Chief Minister.

Albert Luthuli delivers his Nobel Lecture after receiving the Peace Prize the previous day. Luthuli was the first South African to receive the Nobel Prize for Peace.

Archbishop Mpilo Desmond Tutu, world renowned preacher and strident voice against apartheid, first Black Secretary General of the South African Council of Churches, first Black Archbishop of the Anglican Church in South Africa, Archbishop Emeritus of Cape Town, and chair of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, is awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

Albert John Mvumbi Luthuli, president of the then banned African National Congress (ANC), was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1960 for advocating non-violent resistance to racial discrimination in South Africa.

The UN adopts and proclaims the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The day is recognised and celebrated as International Human Rights Day.

South African artist Gerard Sekoto is born

Tanzania gains independence

Francois Botha wins International Boxing Federation (IBF) title

Chris Hani is elected SACP Secretary

The South African Football Association (SAFA) is founded

Winnie Mandela is elected ANCWL president

Japanese attack American Naval Forces at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii

Mandela is moved to Victor Verster prison

The Erasmus Commission's report implicates Rhoodie, Mulder and van den Bergh in SA's infamous 'Information Scandal'

Self government is granted to the Transvaal

Clarence Mlami Makwetu is born

ANC stage marches in major cities

Italy invades Ethiopia

Police swoop down on the homes of Congress of the People leaders across the country, the arrests led to the Treason Trial

Ernie Els wins the Nedbank Golf Tournament

The Constitution of the Republic of South Africa is approved

Lesotho's Foreign Affairs Minister reveals details of agreement with Pik Botha

Allison Wessels George (Mhlongo) Champion is born

Bruce Fordyce is born

King Goodwill Zwelithini is installed

Dr Chris Barnard performs the world's first human heart transplant

Mandela and Tshwete go to Constitutional Court

Britain refuses Uganda's request for independence

International Day for the Abolition of Slavery

Slavery is abolished at the Cape

World Aids Day is internationally observed for the first time

Dr Ribeiro and his wife are gunned down

Dr Robert Broom, SA paleontologist who discovered the "Mrs Ples" skull, is born

D.F. Malan retires as Prime Minister

Patricia de Lille testifies at Schabir Shaik's trial

Pretoria branch of Transvaal University College becomes Pretoria University

P W Botha proposes a constellation of States

Desmond Tutu is appointed TRC chairperson

The first woman to be executed in South Africa

Rajbansi threatens not to co-operate with the James Commission

South Africa receives top honors from the International Rugby Board

Anti-Apartheid demonstration held outside the South African embassy in Washington, USA

UDF distances itself from Madikizela

Three Delmas trialist released

SA government fails to integrate KaNgwane into Swaziland

ANC Constitutional proposals are disclosed

Mining Magnate Oppenheimer dies

Carl Niehaus is sentenced to 15 years in prison for high treason having worked for the ANC underground

TRC gathers evidence against Winnie Madikizela-Mandela

South African President Thabo Mbeki hails Liberian President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf for making history by becoming Africa's first elected woman president in post-war elections

Lesotho and Swaziland threatened with sanctions

P. W. Botha grants reprieve to the "Sharpeville Six"

Tutu issues warning against BEE and Government policies

Violence erupts in Paarl

South Africa signs agreement with Switzerland to support the Reconstruction and Development Programme (RDP)

The First Draft of the Constitution is published

SA President P.W Botha meets with leaders of independent homelands

PW Botha refuses to testify before the TRC

Millions of Zim refugees cross into SA

Trial of South African Communist party members begins

UN passes resolutions on South Africa

SA author, Nadine Godimer, is born

The Big Three are convicted of treason

Multi-party delegates endorses the Interim constitution

African Statistics Day is observed

Cyril Ramaphosa is born

The Democratic Party is founded

Restitution of Land Rights Act is signed

David Livingstone reaches the Victoria Falls

Beyers Naude refuses to testify before the Schlebusch Commission

SA beaches are opened to all racial groups

Ronnie Kasrils is born

Bafana Bafana loses to Germany

Sculptor Lucas Sithole is born in KwaThema

Mk soldiers threaten armed struggle

New Afrikaner Political Party

Magnus Malan and Constand Viljoen deny knowledge of mass graves

Zimbabwe's Agriculture Minister Kumbirai Kangai issues orders for the seizure of 841 White-owned farms as part of the government's controversial programme to resettle thousands of Black peasant farmers.

Medical Association agrees to investigate Steve Biko's death

Bishop Desmond Tutu resigns as Bishop of Lesotho Anglican Church

A memorandum of understanding between RSA and Malaysia

Minister announces compulsory education for Black children

Steve Tshwete is born

Abolition of Internal Security Act

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) heard three days of testimony concerning the role of the business sector during the apartheid era

Rhodesian Prime Minister, Ian Smith, issues a Unilateral Declaration of Independence

Three White members of the African National Congress (ANC) are sentenced to long prison terms

The SA Cricket team is re-admitted to international cricket

Constructors make mass grave finding in Namibia

Carel Boshoff, former chairman of the Afrikaner Broederbond, is born

Homeland leader Qqozo stands trial

Mbeki and his entourage arrive in Abidjan, Ivory Coast

Dr. Chris Barnard, medical practioner who performed the first heart transplant, is born

Penny Heyns, South African swimming star, is born.

Mandela meets PAC leader Jeff Masemola

Helen Suzman is born

National Party wins two-horse-race by-election in Randburg

Former MK members are dismissed from SANDF

General Motors (GM), the American owned automobile industry in South Africa, pulled out of the country amidst a series of disputes and strikes from workers fearing for their future.

Vuyisile Mini a trade unionist and Mkhonto we Sizwe (MK) activist was hanged for his role in the MK and anti-apartheid resistance. He was responsible for the organisation of metal workers at a time when the government had increased its repressive measures against Black trade unions

On his journey to South Africa in 1893, Mohandas Gandhi had first -hand experience of the discrimination faced by people of colour. His response to this was the establishment of the Natal Indian Congress (NIC) in 1894. Within three years of his arrival in South Africa, Gandhi had become a political leader

The Congress Of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) called a two-day nation-wide strike to demonstrate their opposition to the government's intention to impose Value Added Tax (VAT) on basic foodstuffs, health care and essential services

Thelma Gutsche a South African scholar, historian and film critic dies in the Cape. Thelma Gutsche was born to Dr and Mrs J Gutsche in Somerset West in the Cape Province in 1915.

A stay-away by Black workers in the industrial areas of the Witwatersrand and the Vaal Triangle is called by Black unions and civic groups in protest over increases in rent and utility charges and over the unlawful arrests of Black leaders.

Battle of Bushman's Pass takes place

UN Security Council bans arms sales to South Africa

Anti-smoking legislation is passed

First Black-owned newspaper is published

South African pop queen, Brenda Fassie, is born

President Thabo Mbeki congratulates his US counterpart

Selassie becomes emperor

A South African spy is released from jail

Former Minister of Defence and others are charged with murder

Golfing legend Gary Player is born

Four Indian leaders are sentenced under Terrorism Act

ANC wins local elections

Draft laws are gazetted

Tutu threatens to quit TRC

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

Date is set for constitutional talks

SA judge jails former state assassin Eugene de Kock for more than 200 years

Presidential Job Summit is held

The Reverend Abraham Faure is born

South Africa signs SADC treaty

Prime Minister Vorster in June 16 admission

State of Emergency enters 100th day

Beyers Naudé is served with his second banning order

Walter Sisulu and others are arrested for attending a party

COSATU delegates are left at Beitbridge

The ANC Youth League is re-established at Orlando stadium in Soweto

Salman Rushdie's visit is still on

F.W de Klerk challenges TRC findings

Transkei announces plans to unban ANC and PAC

Transkei gains complete independence

J.M. Coetzee wins the Booker Prize

South Africa is invited to rejoin Commonwealth of Nations

IFP declares attacks on UDF self defence

Report on Steve Biko's death

UN condemns the evil policy of apartheid

The New York Stock exchange collapse

SADF seals off Vaal townships

The apartheid government establishes a Department for Coloured Affairs' (CAD)

Mandela confirms the appointment of first Black Chief Justice

South African boxers win two world titles

Dr Ben Ngubane is born

Thomas Titus Nkobi is born

Vanessa Brereton, former human rights lawyer, admits that she was an Apartheid spy

Barbara Hogan sentenced for High Treason

The New Zealand Mounted Rifles leave Wellington for the South African War

Jackie Selebi is set to lead SAPS

Nuclear weapons allegations

Cape of Good Hope Royal Observatory is founded

The NPA does not pursue charges against Wouter Basson, former chemical weapons expert of the SADF

Samora Machel, president of Mozambique, dies in a plane crash

Apartheid Government declares 19 organisations unlawful

Nomsa Mapongwana is assassinated

Rand Afrikaans University is established

Violence erupts during Defiance Campaign

United Front launch in jeopardy

Egyptian and Israeli forces in fierce fights

Graça Machel is born

ANC agrees to facilitate SA rugby's return to international games

Archbishop Desmond Tutu is awarded the Nobel Peace Prize

Albert Luthuli is elected president

Waluz and Derby-Lewis are sentenced to death

SA Parliament repeals The Separate Amenities Act of 1953

Five ANC leaders are released from prison

Appearance of former ministers before the TRC

Renewal of land acquisition programme in Zimbabwe

Moses Mabhida receives awards

Helen Joseph is put under house arrest

Thambi Naidoo mobilises the Indians

Diamonds are discovered in South Africa

Local elections receive go- ahead

Nelson Mandela announces intentions on nationalisation policy

ANC's economic plans

Magnus Malan's trial ends

The second Anglo-Boer war, also known as the South African war, breaks out

Standard Bank becomes the first bank to opens its doors on the Witwatersrand

F.W. de Klerk announces the release of political prisoners

New Prime Minister P.W. Botha appoints cabinet ministers

Elizabeth Taylor remarries Richard Burton in Botswana

6th Partnership Against AIDS anniversary is celebrated. The keynote address was presented by former Deputy President Jacob Zuma.

A National Day of Prayer was peacefully observed, despite fears of violence between youth and security forces in Soweto and other major townships.

The Rivonia Trialists are charged with sabotage and attempting to violently overthrow the state

De Klerk and Mandela issues a statement regarding violence

On 8 October 1962, Solomon Linda, the singer and composer of Mbube, which became the pop hit as 'The Lion Sleeps Tonight', died without receiving royalties for his work.

Kadera Asmal, political activist, human rights lawyer, former Minister of Education (1999-2004) and of Water Affairs and Forestry (1994-1999); is born in Stanger, Natal (now Kwa-Dukuza).

US invasion of Afghanistan

Mourners are shot at Ntuli's funeral in Thokoza

Archbishop Mpilo Desmond Tutu, chairman of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, is born in Klerksdorp, Transvaal

Train commuters set trains on fire in Germiston

The SA Agricultural Union changes its name to Agri SA

SANDF soldiers strike

White SA citizens hold referendum to decide if SA should become a republic

Buthelezi snubs ANC and homeland leaders

Winnie Mandela speaks out against Terrorism Act

Oliver Kgadime Matsepe, Northern Sotho novelist and poet, dies

Lobbying against SA debt rescheduling unsuccessful

European Community lifts sanctions against SA

Nadine Gordimer wins Nobel Prize for Literature

Vorster supports changes to Black labour

WW2: Italy invades Ethiopia

Mahatma Gandhi, pioneer of the SA Passive Resistance movement and leader who led India to Independence is born

Writer J.M. Coetzee is awarded the 2003 Nobel Prize for Literature

Pik Botha visits Beijing to strengthen relations with China

A blaze destroys Wanderers

First Black US ambassador is sent to South Africa

Winnie Mandela released from banning order and house arrest

Evidence found at Barberton confirms theory of life on earth as early as about 3.4 billion years ago

SABC personality Nic Swanepoel dies

B.J Vorster steps down as Prime Minster

150 political prisoners including McBride and Nondula are released

Pope John Paul II appoints 31 cardinals, three from Africa

P.W. Botha becomes Prime Minister

Brett Kebble is shot dead

Buthelezi says Zulus would continue carrying cultural weapons

South African multi-title holder, Brian Mitchell wins the WBA title

Nelson Mandela is voted the greatest South African

Winnie Mandela is born

Albert Einstein publishes Special Theory of Relativity

Former anti-Apartheid activist Allan Boesak accuses ANC

Steve Biko, Black Consciousness Movement Leader, is buried

The railway line between Cape Town and George is opened.

Enoch Sontonga is honoured posthumously

Winnie Mandela charged with kidnapping

The Congress of Traditional Leaders of South Africa (Contralesa) is launched

International Day of Peace Vigil is observed

Mandela and de Klerk agree to restart talks

F.W. De Klerk is inaugurated

South African Prime Minister, John Vorster resigns

First mines are proclaimed in Johannesburg

The Progressive Teachers' Congress is secretly launched

Dr Yusuf Dadoo, socialist movement activist and politician, dies in exile

Ian Smith of Rhodesia and Henry Kissinger meet in Pretoria

South Africa win the most medals at the 7th All African Games

Mass funeral for the victims of Bisho massacre

UN Secretary General is killed in a plane crash

Religious leaders hold talks with the ANC

Pope John Paul II celebrates a papal mass in South Africa

Mbeki receives an Honorary Doctorate

President Mbeki opens the second sitting of PAP

Col Eugene de Kock testifies in Court

The UN Special Committee on Apartheid reports on SA

The Opening Ceremony of 2000 Olympic Games takes place

Botha appoints Hendrikse and Rajbansi into his Cabinet

De la Rey is shot dead

The Sunday Times political journalist is suspended

McBride is conditionally released from prison

The Pope arrives in Lesotho

Mother Teresa is buried

Yitzhak Rabin and Yasser Arafat, shake hands after concluding the Declaration of Principles for Peace between Palestinian Arabs and Israelis

Charles Nqakula , Minister of Safety and Security and Chairperson of the SACP, is born

Steve Biko dies in detention

Presidents of Mozambique and South Africa meet

Mining agreement on wages and working conditions is signed

General J.C. Smuts (80), former prime minister of SA, dies

Indian campaigner, Mohandas Gandhi leads Satyagraha Passive Resistance Campaign

Detention orders issued to 7 UDF members

Newspaper editor John Tengo Jabavu dies

Springboks lose to the Lions

AZAPO, SOPA, and BPC announce a merger agreement

South Africa mourns the passing of Beyers Naudé, apartheid struggle stalwart and Afrikaner cleric

Cleric and anti-apartheid activist, Mpilo Desmond Tutu is ordained as Archbishop of Cape Town

United Nations World Summit starts

SA Prime Minister H. F. Verwoerd stabbed to death

SA joins World War II

Putin visits South Africa

P.W. Botha becomes SA's first Executive President

Yusuf Dadoo, political activist, is born

Bafana Bafana beats Madagascar in the African Cup of Nations Qualifying Group 5 match

The Deputy Mayor of Sharpeville, Sam Dlamini was hacked to death by a mob of youth, and doused in petrol and burned. The riots were in protest against rent increases and poor education facilities.

Christoffel Coetzee de Villiers (37), compiler of South African genealogical registers, dies

Members of Parliament convened in Cape Town to promulgate a new South African constitution with a three tier parliament.

Boipatong, Bophelong, Evaton, Sebokeng and Sharpeville, five Black townships in the area known as the Vaal Triangle explodes into what some have described as a 'smouldering human rage'.

Johannes Nkosi, martyr for the Communist Party of South Africa, is born.

Zimbabwe becomes a member of the United Nations (UN)

Chief Mangosuthu Buthelezi calls for National Convention

The African National Congress is found guilty

State of emergency declared in 27 townships

Former South African Prime Minister Strijdom dies

Report on rape in Khayelitsha

The Motsuenyane Commission finds the(ANC) guilty of torture in its camps

Verwoerd's grandson joins ANC

ANC makes submission to the TRC

Tri-cameral elections boycotted

Natal Indian Congress is formed

Swazi King Sobhuza II dies

Kenyan political activist Jomo Kenyatta released from jail

Guilty verdict against PW Botha

Anti-SAIC political rally ends in Lenasia