1990 — De Klerk Unbans the ANC

On February 2, 1990, President F. W. de Klerk stood before South Africa's all-white Parliament and unbanned the ANC, the Pan Africanist Congress, and the Communist Party. The chamber audibly gasped. He also suspended the death penalty, eased the state of emergency, and promised to free Nelson Mandela.

Mandela had spent twenty-seven years in prison, and his release was now promised in public, before the very institution that had upheld apartheid. Nine days later, Mandela walked free from Victor Verster Prison. A single speech had turned a banned movement into a negotiating partner and set South Africa on the road out of apartheid rule.