Born in the late 1930s, Bishop David Patrick Russell became involved in the struggle against apartheid from an early age. He did his first degree at the University of Cape Town, and then studied for a Masters Degree at Oxford University. He trained for the priesthood at the College of the Resurrection, Mirfield, England, and later obtained his PhD in Religious Studies (specialising in Christian Ethics) from the University of Cape Town. In 1965 he was ordained as the 12th Bishop of Grahamstown.

Dr Thokozani Mandlenkosi Ernest Nene, known as “Gxaba Lembadada”, was born at Kwa Hlabisa, on the North Coast of KwaZulu-Natal on 19 September 1944.

Dr Nene attended the Eshowe Government School, where he matriculated in 1965. He went on to study at the University of Zululand, Ongoye, where he obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree. In  2001 he obtained a Doctor’s Degree in Philosophy at the same institution.

Raymond Basil van Staden was born on 27 January 1961 at the coastal town of Amanzimtoti in KwaZulu-Natal. He studied Security Management, Forensic Investigations and Criminal Justice as well as International Studies.

A security industry specialist and risk adviser, Van Staden lost his life on Good Friday, April 2010, after a breathtaking feat trying to rescue a drowning child.

Peter Moonsammy was born on 25 March 1928 in Market St, Johannesburg. Moonsamy was  the elder brother of Paul and Dasu Joseph who were Transvaal Indian Congress activists. After his father died, Moonsamy went to work as a bellboy to help support a family of eleven siblings at the age of fourteen.

Allan Kirkland Soga was among the founding members of the African National Congress (ANC) in 1912, he was the youngest son of Tiyo Soga, the first African in South Africa to be ordained a minister. His mother was a Scot, and he was educated in the Cape and in Scotland, receiving sufficient legal education to be appointed a magistrate. Later dismissed from this position, he was employed at other times as a labour bureau agent and a road inspector in the Transkei.

Hezekiel Sepeng was born on 30 June 1974 in Potchestroom, Western Transvaal. At primary school he began to show the natural talent of a good marathon runner.

Born in 1936, Theophilus Kgosikobo Musi was a clerk. He taught for a while in a primary school but then had to find employment in Johannesburg to support seven orphaned brothers and sisters.