1958- 66
1959
1960
1966- 68
1976- 81
1977
1978- 84
1979
CHRONOLOGY
156 members of Congress Alliance charged with high
treason
Coloured parliamentary
voters placed on a separate roll
Verwoerd.is prime minister
Pan-Africanist Congress (PAC) founded
African and Coloured representation in Parliament (by
Whites) terminated
Police kill 67 African anti-pass-Iaw
demonstrators
at
Sharpeville; the government bans African political organ-
izations
South Africa becomes a republic and leaves the British
Commonwealth
Nelson Mandela
and other ANC and
PAC leaders sen-
tenced to life imprisonment
Lesotho, Botswana, and Swaziland become independent
states
Mozambique and Angola become independent states
At least 575 people die in confrontations
between Af-
ricans and police in Soweto and other African townships
South Africa grants
"independence"
to the Transkei,
Bophuthatswana,
Venda, and the Ciskei Homelands, but
they are not recognized abroad
The U.N. Security Council imposes a mandatory embar-
go on the supply of arms to South Africa
Botha is prime minister
African trade unions can register and gain access to the
industrial court and the right to strike
Zimbabwe (previously Rhodesia) becomes independent
South African forces invade Angola and make hit-and-
run raids into Lesotho, Mozambique,