Bafana Mkhize

He was born in Lamontville, Durban. He is a wood sculptor who was taught and encouraged by the Durban artist, George Msimang.

He mainly uses railway sleepers for his sculpture. 

He has participated in many group exhibitions, including Spiritual Art of Natal, 1993 and he is represented in public and private collections in SA.

Paul Mokabe

Mokabe was one of the students who stood up against the introduction of Afrikaans as a medium of instruction in African schools in 1976. In 1977, Mokabe skipped the country to go into exile to the USA, where he lived until he met his death in 2007. Mokabe did not return home when most exiles did in the early 1990s.

Iqbal Shaik Mohammed

Mohammed Iqbal Shaik was born in Vrededorp, Johannesburg on 26 August 1958. He became politically active when he was a student leader at the M.L. Sultan Technical College. During 1982 he, together with Mohammed Ismail, travelled to Swaziland where he met Aboobaker Ismail who he had known since his youth. He joined Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK) and received training in the use of and maintenance of firearms and limpet mines. He and Ismail were established as the Dolphin Unit.

Aubrey Mokoena

Mokoena was born in Orlando West, Johannesburg during World War II. He grew up in the township, but due to his mother’s bad health was brought up by Anna Khomo. He was still in contact with his family, and they made trips back to the Free State to visit the graves of his relatives almost every year. His parents were unhappy at needing to move to Johannesburg, but were forced to look for work.

John Mtini

Born in 1887, John Mtini was the 'Grand Old Man' of the trial who took part in the 1929 anti-pass campaigns, the struggles of the unemployed of 1931-2, the formation of a Railway Workers' Union in 1936 and many subsequent campaigns. He was a veteran African Congressman, and he was over seventy years old at the time of the trial.

S .G. Sekano Ntoane

S.G. Sekano Ntoane was born on 14 April 1904 in Hebron, Pretoria. He was the second of the six children of Levy Ntoane, a minister of the Berlin Lutheran Church near Pretoria, and his wife, Hanna. Ntoane received his primary education at Hebron near Pretoria and qualified as a teacher at Adam's College in Amanzimtoti and at the Stofberg Memorial School at Viljoensdrif in the former Orange Free State. For a number of years Ntoane taught at various schools in this province.

Gary Jim Player

Please note: This biography is a modified extract from the following source: Laubscher, L. (1999) “Gary Player” from They Shaped our Century: The Most Influential South Africans of the Twentieth Century. Published by Human and Rousseau. p. 42- 44. 

Percy Peter Qoboza

Qoboza was born on 17 January 1938. He grew up in Sophiatown, which was a hybrid township of cinemas, shebeens, jazz dens, political meetings and “tsotsi” gangsters. He initially went to Lesotho and studied in the field of theology, but became involved in journalism after joining the staff of The World and Weekend World in 1963.