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See also: 1988 in South Africa, other events of 1989, 1990 in South Africa and the Timeline of South African history.

Events

January

• A Eskom sub-station in Glenwood, Durban is damaged by explosion, later police defuse a second bomb found nearby
• Explosion at an Eskom sub-station in Sandhurst, Johannesburg
• A limpit mine explodes at home of the chair of the Ministers Council in the House of Delegates in Benoni
• An explosion at aircraft factory in Ciskei
• Two municipal police are killed in grenade attack on Katlehong's Municipal Police Station
• 8 January - The African National Congress announces that it will start dismantling its guerrilla camps in Angola in support of the peace process
• 18 January - State President of South Africa P.W. Botha has a mild stroke
• 19 January - Chris Heunis, Minister of Constitutional Development and Planning, is appointed Acting State President

February

• An ailing State President Pieter Willem Botha steps down from the presidency
• Trevor Manuel is released from detention under stringent restriction orders
• An explosion at a municipal police barracks in Soweto, injures four policemen
• An explosion next to a police parade in Katlehong kills a municipal constable and injures nine others
• A limpet explodes at the home of the commander of Katlehong Police Station, Col. D. Dlamini

March

• An explosion outside the Natal Command HQ on Durban's beachfront
• 15 - 21 March - A conference of African National Congress' chief representatives and regional treasurers is held in Gran, Norway

there was an explosion on the 10 of march in Durban at the blazer company for school kinds

May

• The South African Air Force's Klippan Radar Station in the Western Transvaal comes under mortar attack
• 5 May - 3 South African Embassy staff are ordered to leave Britain within 7 days because of the attempted smuggling of a Blowpipe missile

June

• Four bystanders are injured when a limpet mine explodes under police vehicle in Duduza
• A limpet place under a vehicle parked outside a policeman's home in Tsakane explodes
• A grenade is thrown at a police patrol in Tsakane
• A limpet mine explodes in rubbish bin outside the home of policeman in Soweto
• A bomb shatters the windows of KwaThema Police station's dining hall
• A limpet mine explodes at the Police single quarters in Ratanda
• A limpet mine explodes at the home of Boetie Abramjee, a Labour Party MP

July

• 5 July - PW Botha, State President of South Africa, and Nelson Mandela (in prison at the time) meet for the first time

August

• A grenade is thrown into a Labour Party polling station in Bishop Lavis
• The Brixton Flying Squad HQ is attacked with hand grenades and AK-47s
• Lt-Col. Frank Zwane, a former liaison officer for the police and his two sons are injured in a grenade attack in Soweto
• An explosion at the Athlone Police Station

September

• FW de Klerk becomes the 9th State President of South Africa
• A police patrol is ambushed by terrorist or freedom fighters in Katlehong
• A mini-limpet explodes outside the Mamelodi Police station
• Purple Rain Protest, rioters in Greenmarket Square, Cape Town are sprayed with a purple dye. The resulting graffiti, "The purple shall govern" graces the pages of newspapers worldwide.
• 100 000 people attend a peace march called by Cape Town city mayor, Gordon Oliver, in conjunction with religious leaders.

October

• Bomb explodes outside the BP centre in Cape Town and at a Woodstock garage a few minutes later

Unknown date

• The Hluhluwe and Umfolozi Game Reserves are joined through the Corridor Reserve as the Hluhluwe-Umfolozi Game Reserve
• The government starts dismantling six nuclear fission devices that were built during the apartheid era

Sport

Athletics

• 25 February – Willie Mtolo wins his second national title in the men's marathon, clocking 2:13:13 in Port Elizabeth.

Births

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Deaths

• 1 May - David Webster, an academic at the University of the Witwatersrand and an anti-apartheid activist, was shot dead outside his home in Eleanor Street, Troyeville, Johannesburg
• 12 September - Anton Lubowski, advocate and secretary-general of the South West Africa People's Organization is shot dead outside his home in Windhoek, South West Africa