Book 6: Negotiation, Transition and Freedom - Timeline

From the book: Book 6: Negotiation, Transition and Freedom commissioned by The Department of Education

1902

Treaty of Vereeniging

1910

31 May, Adoption of South Africa’s first constitution

8 Jan 1912

Formation of the ANC

1948

National Party comes to power

1955

26 June, Adoption of the Freedom Charter

1960

March, 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

1985

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

1987

July, Dakar meeting between ANC and Afrikaans opinion makers

1989

5 July, Mandela meets Botha at Tuynhuys

1989

21 August, Harare Declaration

1989

12 September, First official meeting between exiled ANC leaders and NP, Lausanne

1989

14 September, F.W. de Klerk becomes State President

1989

November, Fall of the Berlin Wall

1989

13 December, First meeting between Mandela and De Klerk

1990

Namibia gains independence

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

1990

2 February, De Klerk opens Parliament; announces freeing of Mandela and other political prisoners

1990

5 May, Groote Schuur Minute

1991

December, Beginning of negotiations at kempton Park

1992

17 March, Whites-only referendum

17 June, Boipatong massacre

1993

10 April, Assassination of Chris Hani

25 June, AWB invasion of multi-party negotiations

December, Interim Constitution ratified by Parliament

1994

March, Right-wing whites’ abortive military action in Bophuthatswana

1994

27 April, 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