1960-1969 1960
1963
January 1. Black students are prevented from attending formerly “open” universities.
May 1. The Minister of Justice announces that Robert Sobukwe has been taken to Robben Island where he will be interned indefinitely under the General Laws Amendment Act. The section of the Act allowing a prisoner’s incarceration to be renewed annually at the discretion of the Minister of Justice becomes known as the “Sobukwe Clause.” He is released in 1969 and allowed to live under house arrest in Kimberley. When he is hospitalized with lung cancer in 1977, his request for freedom of movement on humanitarian grounds is refused indefinitely. He dies in February 1978.
February 3. In his “Winds of Change” speech to parliament in Cape Town, British prime minister Harold Macmillan declares that Britain cannot support South Africa’s racial policies. March 21. The Sharpeville Massacre: Police kill 69 people marching on the Sharpeville police station to protest the pass laws. The pass laws are temporarily lifted in an attempt to defuse the situation, but Chief Albert Luthuli takes it as an opportunity to burn his pass book, prompting a wave of similar burnings. The pass laws are reinstated on April 6. March 30. The government declares a state of emergency and arrests more than 2,000 people. The state of emergency is not lifted until August 31. April 1. The U.N. Security Council adopts Resolution 134, deploring the Sharpeville Massacre. It calls on the South African government to abandon apartheid and racial discrimination. April 8. The ANC and Pan-African Congress (PAC) are immediately banned following the speedy passage of the Unlawful Organisations Act on April 7. April 9. A white farmer at the Rand Easter show, an annual agricultural festival held in Johannesburg, attempts but fails to assassinate Prime Minister Verwoerd. May 4. Robert Sobukwe, leader of the PAC, is sentenced to three years imprisonment for his role in organizing the Sharpeville protest. June 6. Police open fire on rural black farmers in Pondoland, killing 11 people protesting the increasingly restrictive agricultural reforms and ineffective tribal authorities. In November, as protests escalate, a state of emergency is declared in the area; by the same time the following year, 30 Pondo have been sentenced to death for their involvement in the revolt. October 5. In a referendum, white voters narrowly approve South Africa becoming a Republic (850,000 to 776,000).
May 2. The 90-day detention-without-trial law is introduced, with detainees having no access to a lawyer, doctor, or family members. More than 70 people die in detention following the introduction of this law.
Alf Kumalo, South Africa Goes on Trial: Police and crowd outside the Palace of Justice, Pretoria, during the Rivonia Trial, 1963
1961 March 15. Prime Minister Verwoerd announces the withdrawal of South Africa from the Commonwealth.
substation. On December 21, Robert Strachen is arrested in connection with the bombings; he is sentenced to three years imprisonment in May 1962.
March 29. The remaining 30 Treason Trialists are acquitted of all charges.
1962
April 1. Robben Island is turned into a maximum security prison for political prisoners. May 19. The 12-day detention-without-trial law is introduced. May 31. South Africa withdraws from the Commonwealth and becomes a Republic. July 5. The Indemnity Act No. 61 indemnifies government officials and those acting on behalf of government in respect of action undertaken to uphold law and order in South Africa.
June 27. Sabotage Act No. 76 outlines those actions for which one can be tried for sabotage. August 5. Nelson Mandela is arrested outside Durban for leaving the country without a passport, and is sentenced to five years in prison. While serving this sentence, he becomes a defendant in the Rivonia Trial and receives a life sentence. September 7. The Congress of Democrats is banned under the Suppression of Communism Act.
December 10. Albert Luthuli, retrospectively awarded the 1960 Nobel Peace Prize, accepts the prize in Oslo.
October 13. Helen Joseph is the first person placed under house arrest under the newly introduced Sabotage Act, and is confined to her home in Norwood, Johannesburg, for five years.
December 16. On the Day of the Covenant, a semi-religious holiday celebrated by Afrikaners, Umkhonto we Sizwe (Spear of the Nation), the armed wing of the ANC, launches its campaign of sabotage by setting off ten bombs; targets include a post office and an electricity
December 10. Albert Luthuli and Martin Luther King Jr. issue a joint statement, “Appeal for Action Against Apartheid,” one of the first major acts of solidarity between the South African anti-apartheid movement and the U.S. Civil Rights movement.
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July 11. The Rivonia Trialists are arrested at Liliesleaf Farm in Rivonia. August 7. The U.N. Security Council adopts Resolution 181, calling upon all states to participate in an arms embargo against South Africa. The arms embargo only becomes mandatory on November 4, 1977. August 11. Harold Wolpe, Arthur Goldreich, Mosie Moola, and Abdulhay Jassat escape from Marshall Square police station, with the help of policeman Johan Greeff, and flee the country. October 9. The Rivonia Trial opens at the Palace of Justice in Pretoria and lasts until June 11, 1964, when all the defendants (except Lionel “Rusty” Bernstein) are found guilty of treason.
September 4. Prime Minister Verwoerd declares that no Maoris will be allowed to visit South Africa as part of any New Zealand rugby team.
1966 March 18. The Defence and Aid Fund, an internationally funded South African organization that provides legal aid to people accused of political offenses and financial support to their families, is banned under the Suppression of Communism Act. May 9. Bram Fischer, who led Nelson Mandela’s legal defense at the Rivonia Trial, is sentenced to life imprisonment for conspiring to commit sabotage and for his association with the Communist Party. Fischer was arrested in November 1965 after spending 290 days in hiding. May 31. South Africa celebrates its fifth anniversary as a Republic with a massive show of military force, witnessed by a crowd of 500,000 people. June. U.S. Senator Robert Kennedy arrives in South Africa for a short visit. He meets with Ian Robertson, president of the banned National Union of South African Students (NUSAS), in Cape Town, and Chief Albert Luthuli in Groutville, but not with any member of the South African government. September 6. H. F. Verwoerd is stabbed by Dimitri Tsafendas, a parliamentary messenger, and is declared dead on arrival at Groote Schuur Hospital. September 30. Neighboring country Botswana becomes an independent state.
1967
May 23. Chief Albert Luthuli’s first banning order expires, but he is immediately served with a second, stricter order.
June 27. The Terrorism Act No. 83 allows for indefinite detention without trial.
June 12. Nelson Mandela and his co-accused are sentenced to life imprisonment in the Rivonia Trial. On June 13, Mandela is transferred to Robben Island to begin his sentence.
1965 June 25. The 180-day detention-without-trial law is introduced.
September 22. The South African Council of Churches publishes a report condemning apartheid as antithetical to Christian belief. December 2. The U.N. General Assembly requests all states and organizations to suspend cultural, educational, and sporting ties with South Africa.
1969 April 1. The Public Service Amendment Act allows for the establishment of the soon to be notorious Bureau of State Security (BOSS). BOSS involvement in the use of state funds to establish a pro-government English-language newspaper, The Citizen, leads to a public scandal and, in 1980, the agency is replaced by the National Intelligence Service (NIS). May. Winnie Mandela is arrested under the Suppression of Terrorism Act and spends 17 months in solitary confinement.
1964
June 9. U.N. Security Council Resolution 190 urges the South African government to end the Rivonia Trial.
September 17. South African prime minister John Vorster announces the cancellation of Britain’s cricket tour to South Africa, following the inclusion of black South African Basil D’Oliveira on the British side. To an ovation at Bloemfontein City Hall, Vorster declares: “the team with Basil D’Oliveira was not a team of the MCC but a team of the Anti-Apartheid Movement, the team of SANROC, and the team of Bishop Reeves. . . . We are not prepared to accept a team thrust upon us by people whose interests are not the game, but to gain certain political ojbectives which they do not even attempt to hide. It is the team of the antiapartheid movement. They are not welcome.” D’Oliveira, a South African of Indian and Portuguese descent, left the country shortly after the events at Sharpeville in 1960.
1968 March 27. An amendment to the Prohibition of Mixed Marriages Act invalidates mixed race marriages entered into outside South Africa. Nonracial political parties are prohibited, and political parties are no longer allowed to receive foreign funding under the terms of the Prohibition of Political Interference Act No. 51. May. The International Olympic Committee announces an indefinite ban on South Africa’s participation in the games.
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May. The South African Students’ Organisation (SASO) is founded at Turfloop University. Led by Steve Biko and aligned with the Black Consciousness movement, SASO advocates a black student identity separate from the multiracial but predominantly white National Union of South African Students (NUSAS). In 1974, as a result of their political actions, nine SASO leaders are arrested for conspiring to overthrow the state, and imprisoned at Robben Island for between five and ten years.