This Day in History: September 20, 1989
Additional Date: September 20, 1989
After the September general election, F.W. De Klerk was inaugurated as the new State President at the Union Buildings in Pretoria. De Klerk had been Acting State President since 15 August 1989, following the abdication of President P.W. Botha in August. President De Klerk started South Africa on the road to full democracy. In February,1990, he freed Nelson Mandela and unbanned the African National Congress (ANC) and other liberation movements. He released their leaders and held talks with the ANC and other groups. De Klerk also succeeded in gaining the support of the White electorate in the referendum on 17 March, 1992, which, as he said "closed the book on apartheid" and paved the way to a new dispensation for all the people of South Africa. De Klerk served in this position until the first democratic elections were held in 1994.