SAHO global search

Robert Hearder Whale

… Robert Hearder Whale …

B-0009225

1948

Zanemvula Kizito Mda

… Hurston/Wright Legacy Award in 2005. His 2005, novel, The Whale Caller , tells of a love triangle consisting of a woman … who loves a man who in turn tries…

B-0008533

1901-1975

Vivian Fitzsimons

… the collections and displays, which included a variety of whale skeletons and other exhibits, in a new Marine Hall, …

B-0149501

1977-2006

Lebo Mathosa

Lebo Mathosa was born in Daveyton in the East Rand. She began singing at the age of seven in the local church choir. The Mathosa family moved to Johannesburg…

B-0096630

1859-1921

John Tengo Jabavu

John Tengo Jabavu was born on 11 January  in 1859 near the Methodist mission school at Healdtown district. His parents, though poor, were anxious to give him…

B-0008192

1955

Ngoako Abel Ramatlhodi

Ngoako Abel Ramatlhodi was born on 21 August 1955 at Tauyatswala small village near Polokwane, in Northern Transvaal (now Limpopo Province). Ramatlhodi's…

B-0008935

1920-2008

Lucy Mary (nee Mullins) Wiles

Lucy Mary Wiles (Mullins) was born in Johannesburg, 1920. Wiles originally trained as a nurse. She also studied under Nils Andersen and Walter Gilbert Wiles…

B-0008709

1925-2010

Ethel Walt

Ethel Walt was born on 22 November 1925 in Bothaville in the then Orange Free State (now Free State Province). Her family relocated to Yeoville, Johannesburg,…

B-0095156

1921-1984

Peter Becker

Peter Loubser Were Becker was born in Rivonia South Africa the youngest of the three sons of Harold Paley Becker and his wife, Anna Petronella Louw. Becker's…

B-0007838

1920-1977

Elmon Malele

Elmon Malele was born in Mapulaneng in the Limpopo Province (Transvaal) in 1920. Malele came to Johannesburg in 1943, and stayed in Alexandra township. He was…

B-0008416

1935-2026

Shanthivathie (Shanthie) Naidoo

Shanthivathie (Shanthie), the eldest of five children of Ama and Naransamy "Naran" Naidoo (Roy), was born in Pretoria, Transvaal (now Gauteng) on 6 March 1935…

B-0008735

1866-1935

Henry Burton

Early Life Henry Burton was born on 2 June 1866 in Cape Town, Western Cape, South Africa and went to school at St Andrews in Grahamstown, Eastern Cape. He…

B-0007902

1947-1974

Abram Ramothibi Onkgopotse Tiro

Abram Onkgopotse Ramothibi Tiro was born on 9 November 1947 in Dinokana, a small village near Zeerust North West Province, South Africa. His parents, now late,…

B-0009149

Bisho Jarsa

Article by Sandra Rowoldt Shell, University of Cape Town. When Neville Alexander used to visit his maternal grandmother Bisho Jarsa as a boy, he never…

B-0099923

1936

George Sewpersadh

George Sewpersadh was born in Cato Manor on 7 October 1936. His father was a newspaper vendor and his mother a housewife. His family was forced to move to…

B-0009024

1770

Chief Dingiswayo

Paramount Chief of the Mthethwa and leader of various northern Nguni groups who lived in the Zululand area before Shaka brought them under his rule.  Little…

B-0067421

1959

Mzwakhe Mbuli

Mzwakhe Mbuli, the “People’s Poet,” was born into a poor Zulu family in Sophiatown on 1 August 1959.  His parents were Roselinah Msuthukazi Mbuli, a Xhosa…

B-0084116

1985

Bathandwa Ndondo

As a young child, Ndondo’s maternal grandmother raised himwhile his mother, Lulama Sidumo (nee Ndondo),worked. Following the death of his grandmother, his…

B-0075601

1910-1987

Mattheus Uys Krige

Mattheus Uys Krige and his contribution to the Second World War  Mattheus Uys Krige (1910-1987) can certainly be counted among the most dynamic literary…

B-0123687

1906-1966

August Aime Balkema

Several dutch publishers have featured prominently in the South African book industry. They include JJ van Schaik, Gerrit Bakker, Cornells Struik and AA…

B-0007812

1936-2016

Indres Naidoo

Indrasena (Indres) Elatchininathan Naidoo worked as a clerk and became the main support of the family after the death of his father Narainsamy Thambi Naidoo, a…

B-0095270

1971

Piet Mokoena

Piet Mokoena, from Witzieshoek Native Reserve, Harrismith District, Orange Free State [now Free State Province], was a strong supporter of Paulus Howell Mopeli…

B-0149346

1919-2017

Peter Henry Abrahams

Peter Henry Abrahams Deras (Peter Abrahams) was born in Vrededorp, Johannesburg’s largest Coloured and Asian slum, on 19 March 1919. Abrahams is a 'Coloured'…

B-0085147

1967-1988

Mlungiseleli Velaphi

Mlungiseleli Velaphi (MK name Mzimkulu Goduka) was born in Mdantsane, Eastern Cape in 1967 was a United Democratic Front (UDF) member.  He left South Africa in…

B-0149227

1908-1982

Monica Hunter Wilson

Monica Wilson's parents, Scots Presbyterian missionaries, emigrated to Lovedale at the end of the 19th century; Monica was born there on January 3, 1908. From…

B-0009232

1946-2006

Strinivasa “Strini” Moodley

Strinivasa "Strini" Moodley was born on 29 October 1946 in Durban, Natal (now KwaZulu-Natal). He was the eldest child of Joyce Margaret and Narainsamy Moodley,…

B-0008636

1787-1828

Shaka Zulu

Sigidi kaSenzangakhona commonly knows as Shaka was a great Zulu king and conqueror. He lived in an area of south-east Africa between the Drakensberg and the…

B-0009265

1954-2008

John Matshikiza

John Matshikiza was born in Sophiatown, Johannesburg in 1954. Sophiatown was soon after demolished to make way for the White suburb of Triomf (Triumph)…

B-0008496

1940

Sindiso Mfenyana

Background and Childhood Sindiso Mfenyana is descended from the Bhele clan, which is an offshoot of the Hlubi tribe. He traces his roots back to a small town…

B-0123703

1940-2009

Dr. Mantombazana ‘Manto’ Tshabalala-Msimang

Manto Tshabalala-Msimang was born in Durban, KwaZulu-Natal on 9 October 1940. She attended Inanda Seminary Secondary School, a boarding school for black South…

B-0085118