Netherlands–South Africa relations South African nationals visiting the Netherlands. In February 1990, Nelson Mandela was released from prison after serving 27 years. In June 1990, Nelson Mandela paid his first visit to the Netherlands. In October 1990, South African President F. W. de Klerk paid a visit to the Netherlands. Apartheid legislation was abolished in mid-1991 and on 27 April 1994, South Africa held its first fully democratic election and Nelson Mandela was elected as President. In September 1996, Dutch Queen Beatrix paid an official visit to South Africa and met with President Mandela. In 1999, President Mandela paid an official visit to
Zimbabweans in South Africa was that of white people in Zimbabwe who left the country soon after the Lancaster House Agreement ended the Zimbabwe Rhodesia government; the second, still ongoing, was that of ethnic Zimbabweans beginning in the 1990s. In both cases, South Africa was again their primary destination. From 1994 onwards, the South African government displayed increasing hostility to skilled immigration from the rest of Africa. However, this has not served to limit the number of immigrants; Zimbabwean migration to South Africa since 2000 has been described as the "largest concentrated flow" in the country's history. Migrants previously consisted of young people arriving