Tuesday, 2 July 1968
The only successful hijacking of an El Al Israeli airliner takes place. The plane, bound for Tel Aviv, Israel, from Rome, Italy, with ten crew members and thirty-eight passengers was hijacked and diverted to Algeria by three armed members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), calling themselves the PFLP General Command, landed in Algiers. The Algerian government released 19 non-Israeli passengers, who were flown to Paris, France, the next day. Ten Israelis were released and flown to Geneva before going on to Tel Aviv. The Algerian government continued to hold the plane with seven crew members and five Israeli male passengers. The PFLP officials said that they had asked the International Red Cross to supervise the exchange of the Israeli crew and passengers in Algiers for captured Palestinian guerrillas in prison in Israel. The Israeli government denounced the hijacking as “airborne piracy,” and asked the Algerian authorities to release the plane and the Israeli passengers and crew. Both the hostages and hijackers eventually went free after 40 days of negotiations.
Friday, 2 July 1982
The Internal Security Act gave massive powers to the authorities to investigate any organisation or publication. This prompted opposition parties to oppose this provision of the Internal Security Act. Sections 19(1) and 20 dealt with the banning of people, including confinement to a particular district, prohibition from attending any kind of meeting and prevention from being quoted. It also provided for house arrest.
Saturday, 2 July 1988
On 2 July 1988, Lester Dumakude, commander of an Umkhonto we Sizwe special operations unit, detonated a car bomb by remote control outside Ellis Park Stadium in Johannesburg. The detonation occurred directly after a Free State – Transvaal rugby game. Two spectators were killed in the blast with thirty seven others injured.
The deceased were Clive Clucas and Linus Marais. At the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, Dumakude, who applied for amnesty for this attack, testified that he assumed the two civilians who perished in the blast were security guards at the stadium. Dumakude, also testified that the act was intended to send a message to the White community regarding the futility of Apartheid as a system. Ellis Park was chosen as a target as it was in a predominantly White area.
Saturday, 2 July 2005
On 2 July 2005, South African tennis player, Wesley Moodie, and Australian, Stephen Huss, won the Wimbledon Men’s double title. They beat twins Bob and Mike Bryan 7-6, 6-3, 6-7, and 6-3.
Huss and Moodie had never played together in a tour level event before this tournament.
Before this, the last time a South African had won a title at Wimbledon was in 1982.
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