1989 in South Africa

Decades:	1960s; 1970s; 1980s; 1990s; 2000s;
See also:	; List of years in South Africa;

Incumbents

State President: P. W. Botha (until 15 August), F. W. de Klerk (starting 15 August)

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

2 – An ailing State President Pieter Willem Botha steps down from the leadership of the National Party, but remains state president.
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 mine explodes at the home of the commander of the Katlehong Police Station, Col. D. Dlamini.

15–21 – A conference of African National Congress chief representatives and regional treasurers takes place in Gran, Norway.
An explosion occurs outside the Natal Command HQ on Durban's beachfront.

5 – Three South African Embassy staff are ordered to leave Britain within 7 days because of the attempted smuggling of a Blowpipe missile.
17 – Tumelo Faith Sindane is born at Zebediela.
The South African Air Force's Klippan Radar Station in the Western Transvaal comes under mortar attack.

Four bystanders are injured when a limpet mine explodes under a police vehicle in Duduza.
A limpet mine explodes under a vehicle parked outside a policeman's home in Tsakane.
A grenade is thrown at a police patrol in Tsakane.
A limpet mine explodes in a rubbish bin outside the home of a 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 National Party MP.

5 – PW Botha, State President of South Africa, and Nelson Mandela, in prison at the time, meet for the first time.
23 – A explosive device planted at Athlone Magistrate's Court and police complex, detonated prematurely killing two African National Congress members ^[1]

10 – The Cabinet prevails on P.W. Botha to resign as state president and FW de Klerk becomes acting State President of South Africa.
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 occurs at the Athlone Police Station.

2 – "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.
20 – Acting state president FW de Klerk becomes the 9th State President of South Africa.

A police patrol is ambushed by cadres in Katlehong.
A mini-limpet mine explodes outside the Mamelodi Police station.
Parliamentary elections are held and the National Party wins again.
100,000 people attend a peace march called by Cape Town city mayor Gordon Oliver in conjunction with religious leaders.

A bomb explodes outside the BP centre in Cape Town and at Woodstock minutes later.

27 – The Hex River Tunnels system is officially opened. The system's longest tunnel is 13.5 kilometres (8.4 miles) long, the longest railway tunnel in Africa.^[2]^[3]

The Hluhluwe and Umfolozi Game Reserves are joined through the Corridor Reserve as the Hluhluwe-Umfolozi Game Reserve.
The government starts dismantling its six nuclear fission devices.

1 May – David Webster, an academic at the University of the Witwatersrand and an anti-apartheid activist, is 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.

A Class NG G16 2-6-2+2-6-2 Garratt articulated steam locomotive is rebuilt to Class NG G16A by the Alfred County Railway.^[4]^[5]^{: 109–110}
The South African Railways places the first of twenty-five Class 10E2 electric locomotives with a Co-Co wheel arrangement in mainline service.^[6]^[7]

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

^ http://www.sahistory.org.za/dated-event/blast-opposite-athlone-magistrate039s-court-and-police-complex-kills-two-people
^ South African Panorama, October 1989, p. 25
^ The World's longest Railway Tunnels
^ Information supplied by Phil Girdlestone
^ Paxton, Leith; Bourne, David (1985). Locomotives of the South African Railways (1st ed.). Cape Town: Struik. ISBN 0869772112.
^ South African Railways Index and Diagrams Electric and Diesel Locomotives, 610mm and 1065mm Gauges, Ref LXD 14/1/100/20, 28 January 1975, as amended
^ Middleton, John N. (2002). Railways of Southern Africa Locomotive Guide - 2002 (as amended by Combined Amendment List 4, January 2009) (2nd, Dec 2002 ed.). Herts, England: Beyer-Garratt Publications. pp. 49–52, 60.

v t e 1989 in Africa
Sovereign states	Algeria Angola Benin Botswana Burkina Faso Burundi Cameroon Cape Verde Central African Republic Chad Comoros Democratic Republic of the Congo Republic of the Congo Djibouti Egypt Equatorial Guinea Eritrea Eswatini Ethiopia Gabon The Gambia Ghana Guinea Guinea-Bissau Ivory Coast Kenya Lesotho Liberia Libya Madagascar Malawi Mali Mauritania Mauritius Morocco Mozambique Namibia Niger Nigeria Rwanda São Tomé and Príncipe Senegal Seychelles Sierra Leone Somalia South Africa South Sudan Sudan Tanzania Togo Tunisia Uganda Zambia Zimbabwe
States with limited recognition	Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic Somaliland
Dependencies and other territories	Canary Islands / Ceuta / Melilla (Spain) Madeira (Portugal) Mayotte / Réunion (France) Saint Helena / Ascension Island / Tristan da Cunha (United Kingdom)