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Published 26 August 2019Updated 26 August 2019

Personal Information

Ernest Singqokwana Malgas
Born: 8 August 1937 in Port Elizabeth,Eastern Cape,South Africa
Died: 7 April 1998

Ernest Singqokwana Malgas was born August 8th,1937 in Port Elizabeth. Malgas never attended school.He became politicized as a result ,he spend six weeks in jail as a teenager because of misidentification by police,who were looking for a neighbor.he joined the African National Congress Youth League (ANCYL),and in 1962 left South Africa for military training in Ethopia.

Published 23 August 2019Updated 30 November 2025
This Day in History: 8 July 2002

On this day, approximately 600 Itsekiri women began a peaceful occupation of ChevronTexaco's Escravos oil terminal in the Niger Delta, demanding jobs for their sons, electricity, water, and investment in their communities. The women, aged between 30 and 90, used a traditional and powerful form of protest - threatening to disrobe - which in Nigerian culture brings deep shame upon those who witness it.

The occupation marked the beginning of a sustained period of resistance by Niger Delta communities against the international oil industry. For decades, oil extraction had devastated the Delta's environment, destroying the fishing and farming that sustained local communities, while the wealth flowed out to multinational corporations and corrupt officials. The women who occupied Escravos were defending their subsistence - their ability to feed their families and maintain their communities.

The action inspired a wave of similar occupations across the Delta. Within weeks, women had seized other ChevronTexaco and Shell facilities, and by September 2003, insurgent action had shut down some 40 percent of Nigerian crude oil production capacity. Village and clan-based organisations assumed oversight of their own communities and coordinated regional defence networks.

The Niger Delta women's resistance demonstrated the power of collective action by those most affected by resource extraction, and linked local subsistence struggles to global movements against corporate exploitation.

Published 23 August 2019Updated 30 November 2025
This Day in History: 18 March 2017
On 18 March 2017, legendary actor Joe Mafela passed away on his way home from Soweto, after he was involved in a car accident in Johannesburg. According to Edna Mamonyane, Metro police spokesperson, the accident occurred at around 10pm on the M1 North, a road between Oxford and Houghton Drive. Joe Mafela was born in  Sibasa, Limpopo in 1942. Mafela’ s acting career started in 1964, when he featured in a film  by Peter Hunt, ‘Real News’. His popularity increased after he starred in Zulu language sitcom, “Sgudi  ‘Snaysi”.In this film, he played the leading character, named ‘Sdumo’. Joe Mafela  worked as a producer in the South African film industry twenty years amongst other creative pursuits such as releasing his own album, “Shebeleza”. 
Published 23 August 2019
On 2nd April 2018, Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, also known as the mother of the nation, passed away at the age of 81, at Milpark hospital in Johannesburg.  She passed away in the morning surrounded by her family and loved ones.  Winnie is widely-known for the significant role she  played in the history of South Africa, particularly in the struggle against apartheid. She is also known as the ex-wife of the former president, Nelson Mandela. Winnie grew an  interest in politics at a young age, due to her experience of the oppression of black people during the apartheid era. Her interest in politics  was influenced by her involvement  in research done in the Alexandra township, where she discovered that there were 10 deaths for every 1,000 births while  trying to establish the rate of infantile mortality.   Winnie spent his life trying to build a better South Africa. She will be remembered for her actions and the part she had played during the women’s struggle in South Africa, along  with others.  
Published 23 August 2019
Rugby player, Mahlatse Chiliboy Ralepelle was born in Tzaneen on 11 September 1986. Ralepelle moved to Pretoria and attended Pretoria Boys High School, where he joined the rugby team. He was selected for the under- 15 squad in 2001 and the under-19 squad in 2004. Ralepelle made history in 2006 when he became the first Black rugby player to captain the Springboks. In 2010, his reputation was tainted when he was suspended following a drug test that proved positive. It was later discovered though that an energy drink contained a banned substance. Ralepelle was cleared. Currently, Ralepelle plays for the Sharks and has recently (April 2019) been tested positive by the South African Institute for Drug-Free Sport for the banned drug Zeranol. In public response to these results, he maintains that he did not take any drugs.  
Published 23 August 2019
Sharlto Copley was born in Pretoria on 27 November 1973. While still in high school, Copley began producing amateur theatre and film. He met his business partner Simon Hansen during his high school years at a Johannesburg private school. After completing high school, Copley and Hansen moved to Cape Town to start a production company. Their first production was Alive in Johannesburg, which was the basis for their 2009 sci-fi film, District 9. District 9, in which Copley also plays a lead role, earned itself an Oscar nomination and garnered Copley praise for his portrayal of the character Wikus. In 2010 he portrayed the character Murdoch in a film adaptation of the eighties series, the A Team.  
Published 23 August 2019
Business Day reports that minister of law and order, Adriaan Vlok, said that apartheid has become an albatross around the country's neck. 'If you ask a black South African what apartheid has done, he will say it has caused nothing but grief... If we do not get rid of it, it will crucify us all.'
Published 23 August 2019
Father Frans Claerhout, acclaimed South African painter of Belgian descent, dies in his sleep at a Bloemfontein hospital after being admitted with pneumonia two weeks prior. Claerhout (87) continued to paint daily during the last few years of his life at a home for retired Catholic priests.
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