Chris Hani is born

Thembisile 'Chris' Hani, Chief of Staff of Umkhonto we Sizwe, military arm of the African National Congress (ANC) and General-Secretary of the South African Communist Party (SACP) since December 1991. Chris Hani was born in the rural village of Sabalele, in the Cofimvaba region of the former Transkei. He was the sixth of seven children of Gilbert and Mary Hani. Chris Hani grew up looking after the livestock like other children. When he enrolled at the Catholic School, he had a desire to enter priesthood, but because of the disapproval of his father he was moved to study in Matanzima Secondary School in Cala, Eastern Cape. Hani’s political ideas started when his school teachers at Matanzima Secondary school lost their jobs for protesting against Bantu Education in 1954. He later moved to Lovadale Institution in King William’s Town, Eastern Cape where he matriculated in 1958.