| 1991
| In the Christopher Nangalembe night vigil killings in January, forty-five people are killed when a night vigil is attacked with automatic weapons in Sebokeng, Transvaal.
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Ciskei rebels, Colonel Onward Mangwane Guzana and former General Charles Sebe are shot dead at a roadblock in Ciskei on 27 January, following an apparent ambush on their coup attempt against Brigadier Oupa Gqozo’s government.
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Thirteen die and twenty-nine are injured when police open fire on Daveyton residents holding an illegal meeting on 14 January. Lawyer Bheki Mlangeni is killed in February by a Vlakplaas parcel bomb meant for Dirk Coetzee.
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The UDF National General Council decides in March to disband the organisation later that year. In the Alexandra night vigil killings on 26 March 1991, fifteen people are shot dead and at least eighteen are injured in an attack on a funeral vigil for an ANC member who died in fighting in Alexandra which raged for three days.
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Political prisoners engage in hunger strikes in April and May to protest the slow pace of releases.
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Winnie Mandela is found guilty in May of kidnapping and being an accessory to assault after the fact.
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The ANC National Executive Committee writes an open letter as an ultimatum to the State President in April concerning the pattern of political violence and making a number of demands. The ANC subsequently suspends constitutional talks with the government in May.
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A group of about eight hundred alleged IFP supporters attack the squatter settlement of Swanieville on the East Rand on 12 May. Twenty-nine people are killed and over thirty injured.
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The Group Areas Act and the Land Acts of 1913 and 1936 are repealed in June.
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In the ‘Battle of the Forest’ in June, twenty-three people are killed in fighting between IFP and ANC supporters in the Richmond townships of Ndaleni and Magoda, Natal. The ‘Inkathagate’ scandal breaks in July and government funding of, inter alia, Inkatha and its union UWUSA for anti-ANC activities is revealed. De Klerk establishes the Kahn Committee to examine secret projects.
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The African Democratic Movement (ADM) is launched by Ciskei’s Brigadier Oupa Gqozo in July. The ADM is subsequently involved in violent clashes with ANC supporters. Nelson Mandela is elected president of the ANC in July and Oliver Tambo elected chairperson.
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The Patriotic Front is launched to oppose the government — it includes the ANC, the PAC and ninety other organisations. The National Peace Accord is signed on 14 September by the government, the ANC, the IFP and twenty-four other organisations. The government, the ANC and Inkatha reach an agreement, which opens the door to negotiations and leads to the establishment of the Goldstone Commission.
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The Goldstone Commission is established in October to investigate public violence and intimidation. The government and eighteen other parties (excluding the CP and the PAC), making up the Convention for a Democratic South Africa (CODESA ), sign a Declaration of Intent in December.
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The Esikhaweni IFP hit squad is active in areas of Zululand, killing UDF/ANC and union supporters and leaders until 1993. From 1991, Khayelitsha and other Cape Town townships see the emergence of anonymous (‘balaclava’) attacks on people aligned with the ANC. Intense competition between taxi operators for ranking facilities and routes escalates from 1991 and acquires a political character in certain areas (over 200 lives are lost in 1992 alone).
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| 1992 | In Umlazi on 13 March, eighteen people are killed (including fifteen women and three children). Twenty-eight are injured in an attack on the Uganda squatter settlement.
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A whites-only referendum on 17 March gives the government firm support for negotiations – a 68.6% vote for the continuation of the negotiations process.
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In the Phola Park killings on 8 April, the SADF’s 32 Battalion shoots dead two women and injures more than a hundred other people during a raid on the Phola Park informal settlement.
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In the Boipatong killings on 17 June, two hundred IFP supporters from KwaMadala hostel attack residents of Slovo Park squatter camp, killing over forty-five people. The ANC withdraws from CODESA in protest against the killing and launches a mass action campaign.
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The ANC calls a strike on 3-4 August, estimated to have cost business R250 million. The Skweyiya Commission of Enquiry, an internal ANC commission, reveals details in August of human rights violations in ANC detention camps. Nelson Mandela accepts collective responsibility for the leadership of the ANC. In the Bisho killings on 7 September, Ciskei Defence Force troops open fire on ANC protesters demanding free political activity in Ciskei at Bisho. Twenty-nine protesters and one soldier are killed and about 200 are wounded. (This follows months of violent conflicts between homeland government supporters and ANC supporters).
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On the Natal South Coast, twelve IFP supporters are killed at Bomela in September and twenty at Folweni in October. The state and the ANC sign the Record of Understanding in September.
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APLA attacks the King William’s Town golf club in the Eastern Cape in October, killing four and injuring seventeen. The first major attack by APLA, it is followed by other attacks resulting in at least ten deaths in Eastern Cape bars, restaurants and churches.
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A Goldstone Commission raid in November uncovers a campaign waged by the Directorate of Covert Collection (DCC) to discredit the ANC. General Pierre Steyn is appointed to investigate Military Intelligence structures and functions.
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Project Echo and Operation Thunderstorm, two extensive SADF projects aimed at undermining the ANC, are exposed.
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The Internal Stability Unit is created by the SAP to relieve ordinary police of riot duties. |
| The KwaZulu legislative assembly adopts a constitution for a future state of KwaZulu-Natal as an autonomous state within a federation.
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APLA continues armed attacks, including the killing of white farmers.
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