Security officials report that levels of political violence have dropped significantly in SA

Updated: 30 Sep 2019

Two days after the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) agreed to participate in South Africa's first non-racial elections, security officials and independent monitoring groups reported that political violence had dropped significantly in South Africa. The most remarkable incident of political violence took place in February 1990 after South African President F.W. de Klerk made a speech at the opening of Parliament, announcing among other measures, the lifting of a 30-year ban on the African National Congress (ANC), the Pan Africanist Congress (PAC) and other anti-apartheid organisations. The extreme right reacted with anger to the reforms by Mr. de Klerk. One black was killed in the town of Klerksdorp and the United Kingdom Embassy in Pretoria was attacked. The violence continued countrywide and affected places like Boipatong, Bisho, to mention just a few. Some of this violence continued even after the Convention for a Democratic South Africa's (CODESA) had been initiated.

How we know this

01O’Malley, P. ‘1990’, from Nelson Mandela Centre of Memory, [online], Available at www.nelsonmandela.org [Accessed: 16 April 2014)
02South African History Online, ‘Boipatong massacre - 17 June 1992’, [online], Available at www.sahistory.org.za [Accessed:16 April 2014)
03South African History Online, ‘South African Constitution 1996’, [online], Available at www.sahistory.org.za [Accessed: 16 April 2014]

Last updated · 30 Sep 2019

Cite this entry

South African History Online. (2013, April 19). Security officials report that levels of political violence have dropped significantly in SA. South African History Online. https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0095489

South African History Online (2013) 'Security officials report that levels of political violence have dropped significantly in SA', South African History Online, 19 April. Available at: https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0095489 (Accessed: 13 October 2026).

South African History Online, Security officials report that levels of political violence have dropped significantly in SA [website], https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0095489, (accessed 13 October 2026).

"Security officials report that levels of political violence have dropped significantly in SA." South African History Online, 19 Apr. 2013, https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0095489. Accessed 13 Oct. 2026.

South African History Online. "Security officials report that levels of political violence have dropped significantly in SA." South African History Online. April 19, 2013. https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0095489.