Saturday, 30 July 1870
The discovery of diamonds in South Africa in 1866 resulted in a flood of treasure hunters, especially from England, streaming to the interior of the country. Ownership of the diamond fields was contested by the Boer republics of the Orange Free State and the Transvaal, as well as various other groups like the KhoiKhoi, Koranas under Andries Waterboer, and the Batlhaping under Chief Mankuroane.
In 1870, Transvaal President Andries Pretorius declared the diamond fields as Boer property. Immigrant miners were enraged and a former British sailor called Stafford Parker organised his fellow countrymen and drove all the Transvaal officials out of the area. On 30 July 1870 he declared the Klipdrift Republic and by December of the same year about 10 000 British settlers made their home in the new republic. Parker was also chosen as President It was also called the Digger’s Republic and the Republic of Griqualand West.
The republic sat next to the Vaal River, but existed for an extremely short time. During the following year Boer forces attempted to regain the territory through negotiation, but were unsuccessful, and on 27 October 1871 British forces marched in and occupied the small country. It became the Griqualand West colony and eventually was incorporated into the Orange Free State.
Monday, 30 July 1962
Under the provisions of the General Law Amendment Act of 1962 a list of 102 persons prohibited from attending gatherings was published in the Government Gazette. Amongst those prohibited from attending public meetings were African National Congress (ANC) leaders. They included Albert Luthuli, Oliver Tambo, Walter Sisulu, Duma Nokwe, Ronald Segal, and Benjamin Turok. Patrick Duncan, linked to the Pan Africanist Congress (PAC) was also named.
At the time of its publication liberation movements like ANC, South African Communist Party(SACP), PAC and other liberation movements were banned under the Unlawful Organisations Act.
Friday, 30 July 1982
The Federal Congress of the National Party (NP) supported a set of constitutional reforms outlined by Prime Minister P.W. Botha, and explained to the Congress by the Minister of Constitutional Affairs, Chris Heunis. If enacted, Parliamentary rule, based on the Westminster model, would be replaced by a Presidential system. These ‘reforms’ made provision for the creation of the Tri-cameral parliament which catering Coloured and Indian people with real power still concentrated in white hands. The tri-cameral structure was specifically planned to maintain NP control of legislation. At a United Democratic Front (UDF) conference held on 23 January, 1983 in Johannesburg Allen Boesak called for the formation of a ‘united front’ of various organisations to oppose the state constitutional ‘reforms’.
Thursday, 30 July 1987
On 30 July 1987, a car bomb was detonated outside the headquarters of Witwatersrand Command army base in Quartz Street, Johannesburg. The attack was executed by Heinrich Grosskopf, under the instructions of the African National Congress (ANC).
Grosskopf had joined the ANC in Swaziland in January 1986, and the attack on the army headquarters was in response to the apartheid government deploying troops in the townships to stifle resistance. On 30 July, a car with explosives in it blew up in front of the Witwatersrand Command army base, shattering all the windows in the vicinity and damaging buildings.
The bomb was set to go off at a time when most children would be at school and people at work. It was set up to deliberately target those guarding and staffing the military buildings. The eventual costs of the attack is disputed, as some sources claim 30 injured with no fatalities and others claim 68 injured and 1 fatality.
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