1881 - Anglo-Boer War 1: The British forces are defeated and 83 British soldiers under Sir George Colley are killed and 111 wounded in the battle of Laings Nek in the Anglo-Transvaal War, caused by the refusal of the Transvaal Boers to submit to British authority as proclaimed by Shepstone in 1877. 
References: SESA, vol. 1 p. 381 | Wallis, F. (2000). Nuusdagboek: feite en fratse oor 1000 jaar, Kaapstad: Human & Rousseau | Pakenham, T. (1991). The Scramble for Africa, Johannesburg: Jonathan Ball

1885 - British relief force reaches Khartoum, and the Sudan is evacuated.
References: http://www.news24.com

1905 - Gen. J.C. Smuts and Gen. Louis Botha establish "Het Volk" (The People), an Afrikaner political organisation.
References: Wallis, F. (2000). Nuusdagboek: feite en fratse oor 1000 jaar, Kaapstad: Human & Rousseau

1942 - WW2: Five power stations are blown up by pro-Axis saboteurs in an attempt to destabilise the Rand gold mines.
References: http://africanhistory.about.com/

1961 - Rwanda's provisional government proclaims republic.
References: http://www.news24.com

1964 - Mlungisi Hlongwane, national president of the SA National Civic Association (SANCO) and director of SANCO Investment Holdings since 1996, is born.
References: Hayes, S. (ed)(2000).  Who's Who of Southern Africa 2001..., Graighall: Jonathan Ball.

1964 - Riots break out in Salisbury, Southern Rhodesia.
References: http://www.news24.com

1970 - Cairo suburbs are attacked by Israeli jet fighters.
References: http://africanhistory.about.com/

1971 - A newspaper reports that the South African government told the World Court in a letter that it is prepared to hold a plebiscite so that the people of SWA may decide whether South Africa or the United Nations should administer the territory.
References: Joyce: The rise and fall of Apartheid

1981 - Prime Minister Botha announces that general elections to the House of Assembly and the Provincial Councils will be held on 29 April 1981, on the grounds that seventeen parliamentary and thirteen provincial by-elections are due in the near future. They are to be held eighteen months earlier than is necessary under the Constitution.
References: Kalley, J.A.; Schoeman, E. & Andor, L.E. (eds) (1999). Southern African Political History: a chronology of key political events from independence to mid-1997, Westport: Greenwood.

1981 - The Security Police arrest Major A.M. Kozlov, a senior officer in the Soviet KGB, during his third visit to South Africa in 1980, on charges of spying in South Africa.
References: Kalley, J.A.; Schoeman, E. & Andor, L.E. (eds) (1999). Southern African Political History: a chronology of key political events from independence to mid-1997, Westport: Greenwood.

1981 - SA signs loan agreement with Lesotho.
References: Kalley, J.A.; Schoeman, E. & Andor, L.E. (eds) (1999). Southern African Political History: a chronology of key political events from independence to mid-1997, Westport: Greenwood.

1985 - John Koenakeefe Mohl, SA artist and founder member of Artists under the Sun, dies in Soweto.
References: Sack, S. (1988). The Neglected Tradition, Johannesburg: Johannesburg Art Gallery, p. 116.

1987 - United States Secretary of State, George Shultz, meets ANC leader, Oliver Tambo, in Washington, D.C.
References: Kalley, J.A.; Schoeman, E. & Andor, L.E. (eds) (1999). Southern African Political History: a chronology of key political events from independence to mid-1997, Westport: Greenwood.

1989 - A group of dissatisfied members of the AWB (Afrikaner-Weerstandsbeweging) break away and start the BVB (Boere-Vryheidsbeweging) in Pretoria.
References: Wallis, F. (2000). Nuusdagboek: feite en fratse oor 1000 jaar, Kaapstad: Human & Rousseau

1991 - Farmers march in protest through Pretoria streets and disrupt traffic.
References: ---, (2005). 'Pretoria 1855-2005: Chronologie 1798-1935', Bylaag tot Rekord.

1991 - Mthunzi Njakazi, ANC member of Durban, is shot dead on street.
References: http://www.standford.edu/ | http://www.doj.gov.za/

1991 - The ANC announces that it has given President de Klerk a list of police officers believed to have participated in township violence, and whose removal it demands.
References: Kalley, J.A.; Schoeman, E. & Andor, L.E. (eds)(1999). Southern African Political History: a chronology of key political events from independence to mid-1997, Westport: Greenwood.

1992 - Eugene Terre Blanche, leader of the Afrikaner-Weerstandsbeweging (AWB) and nine other members are arrested for staging a riot on 9 August 1991 when President F.W. de Klerk was addressing a meeting in Ventersdorp.
References: Kalley, J.A.; Schoeman, E. & Andor, L.E. (eds)(1999). Southern African Political History: a chronology of key political events from independence to mid-1997, Westport: Greenwood.

1992 - Leadership of National Liberation Front, which won Algeria's independence and ruled for three decades, resigns.
References: http://www.news24.com

1993 - Troops in Zaire run riot, killing the French Ambassador.
References: http://africanhistory.about.com/ | http://www.news24.com

1994 - SA signs joint communiqué concerning the development of bilateral relations with Jordan.
References: Kalley, J.A.; Schoeman, E. & Andor, L.E. (eds)(1999). Southern African Political History: a chronology of key political events from independence to mid-1997, Westport: Greenwood.

1995 - In the bloodiest day so far in Egypt's Islamic insurgency, police shoot to death fourteen suspected militants, and extremists kill two policemen and two civilians.
References: http://www.news24.com

1996 - President Mandela meets United States black Muslim leader Louis Farrakhan, head of the Nation of Islam. Both state their opposition to racism and sexism. The media, religious leaders and opposition criticize the reception of Farrakhan.
References: Kalley, J.A.; Schoeman, E. & Andor, L.E. (eds)(1999). Southern African Political History: a chronology of key political events from independence to mid-1997, Westport: Greenwood.

1997 - The Truth and Reconciliation Commission confirms newspaper reports that five former security police officers have confessed to the 1977 murder of Black Consciousness leader Steve Biko, and have made a formal amnesty application.
References: Kalley, J.A.; Schoeman, E. & Andor, L.E. (eds)(1999). Southern African Political History: a chronology of key political events from independence to mid-1997, Westport: Greenwood.

1997 - In Algiers, an assassin shoots and kills the leader of Algeria's largest labour union a key presidential ally and an opponent of the Islamic insurgency. 
References: http://www.news24.com

1999 - Nine people are hurt in an explosion in front of the Cape-Central police offices (previously Caledon Plain).
References: Wallis, F. (2000). Nuusdagboek: feite en fratse oor 1000 jaar, Kaapstad: Human & Rousseau

2000 - A plane brings nineteen sick and weak-looking adolescents home to Uganda after months or possibly years -of captivity under Ugandan rebels based in southern Sudan. Some 5 000 children are believed to have been kidnapped by the rebels over the past decade according to Unicef.
References: http://www.news24.com

2005 - Dr Imtiaz Sooliman, national co-ordinator of The Gift Of The Givers Foundation, announces in Johannesburg that the foundation is to undertake a mercy flight to tsunami victims in Somalia on 30 January. It is the first flight from the African continent directly to Somalia, carrying 35 tons of aid supplies valued at R3-million. Around 54 000 people have been affected by the December 26 disaster.
References: http://www.iol.co.za/