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Apartheid put into action by national party
Although many of the segregationist policies dated back to the early decades of the twentieth century, it was the election of the Nationalist Party in 1948 that marked the beginning of legalized racism's harshest features called Apartheid. The Cold War then was in its early stages. -
Mixed Marriages Act
On July 1949,the Prohibition of Mixed Marriages Act, Act No 55 of 1949 that prohibited marriage or a sexual relationship between White people and people of other race groups in South Africa is passed. The law was introduced by the apartheid government and part of its overall policy of separateness. -
Population Registration Act
The Population Registration Act of 1950 required that each inhabitant of South Africa be classified and registered in accordance with their racial characteristics as part of the system of apartheid. -
Sharpeville Massacre
The Sharpeville massacre occurred on 21 March 1960 at the police station in the township of Sharpeville in the then Transvaal Province of the then Union of South Africa (today part of Gauteng). After demonstrating against anti-black pass laws, a crowd of about 7,000 black protesters went to the police station. -
Rivonia Trial
The Rivonia Trial was a trial that took place in apartheid-era South Africa between 9 October 1963 and 12 June 1964, after a group of anti-apartheid activists were arrested on Liliesleaf Farm in Rivonia. The farm had been the secret location for meetings of uMkhonto we Sizwe (MK), the newly-formed armed wing of the African National Congress. -
Prime Minister Hendrik Verwood is Assassinated
On 6 September 1966, Verwoerd was stabbed several times by parliamentary aide Dimitri Tsafendas. -
Bantu Homeland Citizenship Act
Thus, the 1970 Bantu Homelands Citizenship Act ruled that all Blacks would assume the nationality of one of the homelands, even if they had never set foot in it. This would ensure that, in the long run, there would be no Black South Africans. -
Township Upspring
On 3 September the Tricameral Parliament opened in Cape Town while protest demonstrations began in the Transvaal, marking the start of the longest and most widespread period of black resistance to white rule. The Lekoa and Evaton Town Councils' idea to raise tariffs for municipal services caused the demonstrations and stayaways in the Vaal Triangle. The Vaal Civic Association organised the stayaway, school boycott and march for 3 September 1984, which led to clashes with both police -
Nelson Mandela Released from prison
On 11 February 1990, at 16:14 local time, Nelson Mandela, once South Africa's most wanted man, walked out of Victor Verster Prison hand-in-hand with his then wife Winnie, after spending 27 years behind bars. Huge crowds had waited for hours in the sweltering heat in anticipation of catching sight of him -
Nelson Mandela becoming president
The presidency of Nelson Mandela began on 10 May 1994, when Nelson Mandela, an anti-apartheid activist, leader of uMkhonto we Sizwe, lawyer, and former political prisoner, was inaugurated as President of South Africa, and ended on 14 June 1999.