|
1910 |
Foundation of the Union
of South Africa (Cape, Natal, Transvaal
and the Orange Free State); former conventions and customs associated with
the segregation policy enter South Africa's statute. The
foundations for the segregation of the nation's population according to
race are established during this period; this includes spatial separation
as well as the social, economic and
political discrimination of non-whites. |
|
1948 |
Election victory for the National
Party (NP);
Intensification and a more radical edge given to the apartheid policy |
|
1949 |
Prohibition of Mixed Marriages Act;
mixed marriages are banned |
|
1950 |
Population Registration Act;
all citizens must be classified according to race
Group Areas Act; residential areas in
the cities allocated to particular racial groups
Suppression of Communism Act; the
government is allowed to ban organizations that it regards as "communist" |
|
1953 |
Reservation of Separate Amenities Act;
the "small" apartheid: Public amenities and facilities are segregated
according to race
Black Education Act; the black
education system is detached from the Education ministry |
|
1956 |
Mines and Work Act;
intensification and expansion of the color bar in the job market |
|
1958 |
Promotion of Black Self-Government Act;
expansion of the homelands' rights to self-government; aggressive forced resettlement
of the nation's black majority begins |
|
1960 |
Sharpeville Massacre;
69 unarmed protesters killed during demonstration against passport law;
unrest spreads across the country for the first time, but the government
manages to break resistance |
|
1971 |
Black Homeland Citizenship Act;
blacks become citizens of the homelands, losing their South African
citizenship and all the rights that go along with it; four of the ten
homelands are declared independent nations in this year |
|
1976 |
Uprising in Soweto;
unrest breaks out among students and school children, first in Soweto and
then nationwide following an attempt by the government to introduce Afrikaans
as the language of the classroom into schools. The leader of the South
Africa Student Organization (SASO) and one of the leaders of the Black
Consciousness Movement, Steve Biko, dies in police custody - apparently
while on hunger strike |
|
1984 |
New South African
constitution with a three-chamber parliament;
the nation's black majority is still excluded from the political process;
the pressure on South Africa grows internationally. Apartheid ideology is
increasingly in decline. Apartheid laws, albeit the less fundamental ones,
are scrapped to a greater extent. |
|
1989 |
De Klerk replaces Botha
as state president |
|
2. February 1990 |
De Klerk declares
apartheid as having failed |
|
11. February 1990 |
Mandela released;
banned political organizations are legalized, the main apartheid laws are
abolished, the ANC declares a non-aggression policy. The road to the
discussion table is cleared. |
|
1994 |
South Africa's first
general election held;
Nelson Mandela becomes the first president of the "new" South
Africa |
|
1997 |
The new constitution is
adopted |
|
1999 |
Second general election;
the ANC forms the government for a second term; Thabo Mbeki, Mandela's
successor, becomes South Africa's new state president |
