Thursday, 7 February 1901
Britain sends 30 000 additional troops to South Africa in the Anglo-Boer War (now called the South African War).
Initially, the British government thought that the war would last only weeks.
This was largely because they underestimated the resilience of the Boers to defend their autonomy from being usurped by the British government. Instead of lasting for a few weeks the war dragged on for four years.
Friday, 7 February 1969
Prime Minister B J Vorster announces that white entrepreneurs will be given long-standing contracts in the ‘homelands’ to speed up economic development.
This effectively further disadvantages the many already disenfranchised blacks who had their South African citizenship cancelled, by actively encouraging economic exploitation of them, based on their race and their need for work while restricted to a labour pool ‘homeland’.
Monday, 7 February 1983
Cedric Mayson, former Methodist Minister who was banned for five years in 1977 and detained on 27 November 1981, appeared before the Pretoria Supreme Court on charges including treason and being a member or an active supporter of the African National Congress (ANC).
He was released on bail, fled the country and arrived in Britain the day before his case was due to resume on 18 April 1983.
Friday, 7 February 1986
Dr Frederik van Zyl Slabbert, a staunch opponent of ‘separate development’ (Apartheid) and leader of the opposition Progressive Federal Party (PFP), resigned as leader of the PFP and as a MP.
In his dramatic announcement he stated that he came to the conclusion that Parliament was incapable of bringing about the desired reforms.
Slabbert came from an Afrikaner family and studied sociology at the University of Stellenbosch.
Wednesday, 7 February 1990
The Transkei leader, Gen. Bantu Holomisa, announced the unbanning of the African National Congress (ANC), the Pan African Congress (PAC), the South African Communist Party (SACP), the South African Students’ Organisation (SASO), the Marxist Front, COSATU and the Azanian Liberation Movement.
The unbanning allowed all political organisations to resume their political activities in Transkei.
In the same speech Holomisa announced the release of Ndibulele Ndzamela, Phumzile Mayaphi, Teko Mokhou, Tandisile Jada, Mcebisi Waqu and Sindiso Sigcu, all of them political prisoners.
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