1992 150 political prisoners are released
Robert McBride, Barend Hendrik Strydom, Mahetheleli Mncube and Mzondeleli Nondula were among 150 political prisoners released by the government. McBride’s and Strydom’s release was an attempt to reach a negotiated political settlement between the government and the African National Congress (ANC). McBride was sentenced to death for his part in the bombing of Magoo’s Bar in 1984 which killed three and wounded 69, while Strydom was sentenced for having shot dead eight Black people and wounded sixteen at the Strijdom Square in Pretoria in 1988.
1978 P.W. Botha becomes Prime Minister
Following the sudden resignation by Prime Minister B.J. Vorster, the National Party caucus elected Pieter Willem Botha, the Minister of Defence and leader of the National Party in the Cape Province as new Prime Minister and Party leader. His elevation to the new position was boosted by the qualities that he earned as a Minister of Defence and the well publicised Information Scandal that had rocked the Department of Information.
1945 Pieter-Dirk Uys, SA activist, satirist, playwright and novelist, is born in Cape Town –
Pieter Dirk Uys was born in Cape Town in 1945. He studied drama at UCT from 1965 to 1965 before going to study at the London Film School. During the 1970s and 1980s he was associated with the Space Theatre in Cape Town and the Johannesburg Market Theatre. He has become an award winning novelist and playwright and has written more than 20 plays and over 30 revues in the 40 years that he has been in the theatre industry. Uys writes, directs, performs and produces his own work.
