A Chronology of Key Events
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A CHRONOLOGY OF KEY EVENTS 4th century Bantu speaking groups settle, joining the indigenous San and Khoikhoi people. 1480s Portuguese navigator Bartholomeu Dias is the first European to travel round the southern tip of Africa. 1497 Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama lands on Natal coast. 1652 Jan van Riebeeck, representing the Dutch East India Company, founds the Cape Colony at Table Bay. 1795 British forces seize Cape Colony from the Netherlands. Territory is returned to the Dutch in 1803; ceded to the British in 1806. 1816-1826 Shaka Zulu founds and expands the Zulu empire, creates a formidable fighting force. 1835-1840 Boers leave Cape Colony in the 'Great Trek' and found the Orange Free State and the Transvaal. 1852 British grant limited self-government to the Transvaal. 1856 Natal separates from the Cape Colony. Late 1850s Boers proclaim the Transvaal a republic. 1867 Diamonds discovered at Kimberley. 1877 Britain annexes the Transvaal. 1878 - 79 British lose to and then defeat the Zulus 1880-81 Boers rebel against the British, sparking the first Anglo-Boer War. Conflict ends with a negotiated peace. Transvaal is restored as a republic. Mid 1880s Gold is discovered in the Transvaal, triggering the gold rush. 1890 Cecil John Rhodes elected as Prime Minister of the Cape 1893 - 1915 Mahatma Gandhi visits South Africa 1899 - 1902 South African (Boer) War British troops gather on the Transvaal border and ignore an ultimatum to disperse. The second Anglo-Boer War begins. 1902 Treaty of Vereeniging ends the second Anglo-Boer War. The Transvaal and Orange Free State are made self-governing colonies of the British Empire. 1909 South Africa Act 1910 Formation of Union of South Africa by former British colonies of the Cape and Natal, and the Boer republics of Transvaal, and Orange Free State. 1911 Mines and Works Act 1912 After the Anglo-Boer, the South African Act of Union is passed in 1910. The Act denies political rights to the black population, other than those rights already granted to a small number of blacks in the former Cape Colony. A welter of legislative measures are promulgated, designed to control freedom of movement (pass laws), and to force black people to work as labourers (poll taxes) in the white-owned economy, particularly in the burgeoning gold and diamond mines. In response African intellectual leaders come together on January 8 in Bloemfontein and elect John Langalibalele Dube President of the South African Native National Congress. The two men most involved in bringing this to fruition, Solomon Plaatje and Pixley ka Isaka Seme are elected Secretary-General and Treasurer-General respectively. (The organisation changed its name in 1923 to the African National Congress.) 1913 The Native Land Act is passed under which the white population of one and half million is allotted 87% of the land of South Africa while the remaining 13% is put in trust for the use of the black population of five and half million in the designated 'Reserves'. Land Act introduced to prevent blacks, except those living in Cape Province, from buying land outside reserves. 1914 Delegation from the South African Native National Congress (forerunner of the ANC) that went to England in 1914 to convey the objections of the African people to the 1913 Land Act. Back Row (L-R) - Walter Rubusana; Saul Nsane Front Row - Thomas Mapikela; John Dube; Sol T Plaatje In July moves to extend the pass laws to include women are met with determined resistance. Six hundred women march to the municipal offices in Bloemfontein and deposit a bag containing their passes. They politely inform the Deputy Mayor that they will no longer buy or carry passes. In Winburg, Charlotte Maxeke, one of the organisers and spokeswomen of the anti-pass campaign, is arrested with 800 women on a march to the town hall, singing hymns. They refuse to pay their fines and say they will never carry a pass.. 1914 National Party founded. 1914 - 18 World War I 1915 Foundation of the International Socialist League (ISL), a breakaway section of the Labour Party. They are anti-war and campaigners for equal rights for all irrespective of colour or class. December 21 Strike of 2800 black miners at Van Rhyn Deep mines. 1916 The Beaumont Commission tours The Union of South Africa, trying to find areas that could be incorporated into the reserves, without disturbing white farming. At a meeting in Pietersburg, the ANC describes the report of the Beaumont commission as unsatisfactory. Native Life in South Africa by Solomon Plaatje is published A devastating critique of the Land Act, it remains a rare classic used by scholars, researchers, students. He wrote "Awakening on Friday morning, June 20, 1913, the South African native found himself.a pariah in the land of his birth." Fort Hare University founded as South African Native College. 1917 Native Administration Act First industrial African trade union is formed - the Industrial Workers of Africa (IWA), by the International Socialist League in Johannesburg. Sefako Mapogo Makgahto elected ANC President 1917-1924. 1918 Secret Broederbond (brotherhood) established to advance the Afrikaner cause. Women's struggle against the extension of the pass laws succeeds, and the State ceased temporarily in its efforts to force passes on women. Charlotte Maxeke a prominent leader of the campaigns founded the Bantu Women's League and was elected president. The Bucket Strike: Sanitary workers in Johannesburg demand a six pence rise. 152 strikers are sentenced to two months hard labour under the Masters and Servants Act. The ANC launches a successful campaign for their release and an increase of one shilling a day. 1919 South West Africa (Namibia) comes under South African administration. 70,000 African miners strike. The well-organised and disciplined strike alarms the government. Troops with bayonets break through barricades killing three and wounding 40 strikers. Police and armed whites attack a solidarity meeting, killing 8 and wounding 80. In January the Industrial and Commercial Workers Union (ICU) is formed in Cape Town soon to take off across the country and to become the largest black union ever existing in South Africa, known as 'ICU White Man!' (Meli, 1988 p 63) ANC delegation visits Britain to protest the Land Act for the second time. 1921 The Bulhoek Massacre occurs near Queenstown. 163 members of the Israelite sect are killed by a 719 man police-force, armed with a machine gun and artillery, led by Police Commissioner Truter. A further 129 are wounded and 113 are taken prisoner. One policeman is wounded in the stomach and a police horse is killed. The sect was forced to leave the land they regarded as that of their prophet Enoch Mgijima. The Communist Party of South Africa (CPSA) is formed on 30 July. 1922 White miners strike to prevent Chamber of Mines opening semiskilled and skilled jobs to African miners. The white mineworkers shut down the mines for two months and the strike is only ended by full-scale military action ordered by Prime Minister J.C. Smuts. Though the strike is beaten, white workers win their demand for a white labour policy. 1923 Natives (Urban Areas) Act SANNC changes its name to African National Congress SANNC becomes the African National Congress with Revd. Zaccheus Mahabane as President 1924-1927 and again 1937-1940. 1926 Mines and Works Amendment Act Balfour Declaration 1927 Native Administration Act ANC President J. T. Gumede goes to the Anti-Imperialist Conference in Brussels with J. A. La Guma and D. Coltraine. In Brussels they meet humanists and freedom fighters from Africa, Asia, Latin America, the Caribbean and the West. Gumede takes the opportunity of visiting the Soviet Union where he is impressed with the peasants of Georgia. He returns to South Africa more sympathetic to the ideas of communism saying: "I have been to the new Jerusalem" His discussions in the Soviet Union were instrumental in the formulation of the 'Black Republic' resolution which split the CPSA. 1930 Sol Plaatje's Mhudi published, 1st known novel written by a black South African. Women's Enfranchisement Bill The ANC works closely with the CPSA against Minister of Justice Pirow (a self-proclaimed Nazi) who wants to amend the Riotous Assemblies Act to give him the power to banish militants without trial. The ANC and CPSA also prepare for a conference to fight the Hertzog Bills which sought to remove Africans from the Cape voter's roll. At the same time they begin to organise a mass anti-pass campaign. In Durban the young communist Johannes Nkosi leads a successful pass burning. He is brutally killed by the police there. 1931 Franchise Laws Amendment Act 1935 National Liberation League for Equality, Land and Freedom launched. Zaibunisa Cissy Gool is President and Jimmy La Guma General Secretary. (Ms Gool was later a member of the Cape Town City Council). The League wants unity in the face of white minority power. 1936 Native Trust and Land Act; Native Representation Act AAC (All-African National Convention) meeting of 400 delegates in Bloemfontein to oppose the Hertzog Bills to remove qualified Africans from the voter's roll. Despite widespread opposition the Act is passed. Hertzog Bills proposed but not passed as law aimed at limiting black South African rights even further; the proposal was for a return of some land to black South Africans in return for exclusion from the franchise. 1937 Z.R. Mahabane 2nd term ANC President 1937-1940 Native Laws Amendment Act Launch of the Cape Guardian ANC Conference in Bloemfontein, issues statement demanding full democratic and citizenship rights before advising Africans to participate in newspaper, supporter of ANC and CPSA.