De Klerk takes power
1989 · Event
A cautious party insider succeeds the stroke-felled Botha — and stuns his own movement by concluding the game is up: the Wall is falling, the economy is dying, and time favours the majority. Within five months he has unbanned the ANC and ordered Mandela's release; he shares the Nobel Prize with the man he freed.
On these timelines: The Fall of Apartheid, Sub-Saharan Africa, Master
More from The Fall of Apartheid
- Apartheid (1948)
- Soweto uprising (1976)
- Sharpeville massacre (1960)
- Mandela imprisoned (Rivonia Trial) (1964)
- The National Party wins on apartheid (1948)
- Mandela inaugurated as President (1994)
- The Freedom Charter (1955)
- The assassination of Chris Hani (1993)
Around 1989
- Yugoslav Wars (1991)
- Dissolution of the Soviet Union (1991)
- Chernobyl disaster (1986)
- Gulf War (1990)
- (Everything I Do) I Do It for You (Bryan Adams) (1991)
- Invention of the World Wide Web (1989)
- Another Brick in the Wall (Part II) (Pink Floyd) (1979)
- That's The Way Love Goes (Janet Jackson) (1993)
- Pop music: the 1980s (1980)
- Pop music: the 1990s (1990)