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Navanethem (Navi) Pillay

Navanethem (Navi) Pillay was born on 23 September 1941 in Clairwood, Durban, Natal (now KwaZulu-Natal). She attended the University of Natal (now University of KwaZulu-Natal - UKZN) where she graduated with BA in 1963 and then a LLB degree in 1965. At University she joined the…

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This day in history · 9 October

1962Uganda gains independence1953Reservation of Separate Amenities Act No 49 commences
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Featured biographies

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Navanethem (Navi) Pillay

Feature biographies

Navanethem (Navi) Pillay

23 September 1941

Navanethem (Navi) Pillay was born on 23 September 1941 in Clairwood, Durban, Natal (now KwaZulu-Natal). She attended the University of Natal (now…

Breyten Breytenbach

Arts & Humanities

Breyten Breytenbach

16 September 1939 – 24 November 2024

Breytenbach was an opponent of the apartheid regime, whose work represented a milestone in the development of Afrikaans poetry, formally and…

Stephen Bantu Biko

Feature biographies

Stephen Bantu Biko

18 December 1946 – 12 September 1977

IntroductionStephen (Steve) Bantu Biko was a popular voice of Black liberation in South Africa between the mid 1960s and his death in police…

Sunny Girja Singh

Feature biographies

Sunny Girja Singh

1939 – 20 November 2025

Sunny Girja Singh was born in Cato Manor (uMkhumbane), Durban, Natal (now KwaZulu-Natal), in 1939 to a working-class family. His father, Girjabaksh,…

Rajes Pillay

Feature biographies

Rajes Pillay

4 August 1944 – 29 December 2020

Rajaluxmi Pillay (also known as Rajes) was born on 4 August 1944 in Pietermaritzburg, Natal (now KwaZulu-Natal – KZN). Her parents were from…

Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela

Feature biographies

Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela

18 July 1918 – 5 December 2013

Childhood in the Eastern CapeNelson Rolihlahla Mandela was the son of Nonqaphi Nosekeni and Henry Mgadla Mandela, a chief and chief councillor to the…

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