Timeline

 

1902 Treaty of Vereeniging

31 May 1910 adoption of South Africa’s first constitution

8 Jan 1912 formation of the ANC

1948 National Party comes to power

26 June 1955 adoption of the Freedom Charter

March 1960 Sharpeville massacre

1975 Mozambique and Angola gain independence

1980 Zimbabwe gains independence

1983 formation of the United Democratic Front

1985 P.W. Botha’s Rubicon speech

November 1985 Kobie Coetsee meets Nelson Mandela in a Cape Town hospital

July 1987 Dakar meeting between ANC and Afrikaans opinion makers

5 July 1989 Mandela meets Botha at Tuynhuys

21 August 1989 Harare Declaration

12 Sept 1989 first official meeting between exiled ANC leaders and NP, Lausanne

14 Sept 1989 F.W. de Klerk becomes State President

November 1989 fall of the Berlin Wall

13 Dec 1989 first meeting between Mandela and De Klerk

1990 Namibia gains independence

January 1990 Harms Commission appointed to look into state-sponsored violence

2 Feb 1990 De Klerk opens Parliament; announces freeing of Mandela and other political prisoners

5 May 1990 Groote Schuur Minute

December 1991 beginning of negotiations at kempton Park

17 March 1992 whites-only referendum

17 June 1992 Boipatong massacre

10 April 1993 assassination of Chris Hani

25 June 1993 AWB invasion of multi-party negotiations

December 1993 Interim Constitution ratified by Parliament

March 1994 right-wing whites’ abortive military action in Bophuthatswana

27 April 1994 South Africa’s first democratic election

1994-1996 Constitutional Assembly writes the new Constitution

1995 TRC begins its work

1998 initial report of the TRC to the President

2003 final report of the TRC to the President

 

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