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| 2. South of the Limpopo |
| 1948 |
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| The Afrikaner National Party, under the leadership of D. F. Malan, won the white general election under an ill-defined slogan of apartheid (separateness), an intensification of existing structures of segregation. | 1 |
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| 1950 |
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| The Population Registration Act in South Africa required classification of all South Africans on racial lines, especially for the purpose of dividing white and mixed-race (coloured) populations, but more generally as the basis of strategy of Grand Apartheid, involving rigid political, territorial, and economic segregation by race in order to entrench white domination and Afrikaner nationalist power. The Groups Areas Act furthered this concept by rigidifying urban segregation and excluding black traders from central business districts. The Suppression of Communism Act gave the government broad powers to ban and detain opposition leaders; it drove the Communist Party of South Africa to underground reformation as the South African Communist Party (SACP) in 1952. | 2 |
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| 1953 |
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| The Bantu Education Act placed the Department of Native Affairs in charge of African education (in place of mission churches and provincial administrations) and adopted a syllabus that emphasized training for servitude and downplayed academics. | 3 |
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| 1955 |
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| The Congress of the People, led by the African National Congress, the Indian Congresses, and white liberal and leftist groups, adopted the Freedom Charter as a consensus statement of opposition to denial of political freedom and wealth to the majority. | 4 |
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| 1956 |
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| One hundred fifty-six Freedom Charter proponents were charged with treason, leading to dismissals and acquittals after a four-year trial. | 5 |
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| 1957 |
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| Herman Toivo ja Tovio founded the Ovamboland People's Organization. | 6 |
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| 1959, Dec. 10 |
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| Police fired on unarmed demonstrators in Katatura, outside Windhoek, Namibia, killing 11. This event led to the transformation of the Ovamboland People's Organization into a broad nationalist alliance known as South West African People's Organization (SWAPO), under the leadership of Sam Nujoma, who established SWAPO's headquarters in exile in Dar es Salaam. | 7 |
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| 1998, Feb. 23 |
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| Former South African leaders P. W. Botha and F. W. de Klerk appeared before the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission created by Pres. Nelson Mandela to review the apartheid system (See 1998, Feb. 23). | 8 |
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| Oct. 21 |
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| Namibia entered the Congo civil war in support of Pres. Laurent Kabila's regime. | 9 |
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