SAHO global search

1929-2017

Ahmed Mohamed "Kathy" Kathrada

Ahmed Mohamed "Kathy" Kathrada was born on 21 August 1929, to Indian immigrant parents in Schweizer Reneke, a small town in Western Transvaal [now North West…

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1957-1998

Simon Nkoli

“If you are Black and gay in South Africa, then it really is all the same closet…inside is darkness and oppression. Outside is freedom.”— Simon Tseko…

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1913-1993

Hannah Margaret Stanton

Hannah Margaret Stanton was born on 30 November 1913, Teddington, Middlesex, England. In 1956 she went out to visit her brother, Fr Tom Stanton CR, in South…

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Treaty Mahlouoe Mopeli

Treaty Mahlouoe Mopeli, originally a resident in the Witzieshoek Native Reserve, Harrismith District, Orange Free State [now Free State Province], was issued…

B-0094684

1933

Adams Farid Ahmed

Born in 30 November  1933, in India he came to South Africa with his family in June 1935. Adams joined South African Indian Congress (SAIC) and the South…

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1924-2020

Enuga Sreenivasulu Reddy

Enuga Sreenivasulu Reddy affectionately known as ES Reddy has been active in support of the South African freedom movement for more than half a century. He…

B-0082253

1913-1979

Mary Moodley

Mary Moodley, or Aunty Mary as she was known, was born on 14 March 1914 in Jaggersfontein, Orange Free State (now Free State). She was the second eldest of 10…

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1922-2001

Sonia Beryl Bunting

Born Sonia Isaacman in 1922, she joined the Communist Party in 1942 and gave up her university studies to do full-time political work. After the banning of the…

B-0007900

1920-2002

Lionel Rusty Bernstein

Lionel “Rusty” Bernstein was born on 20th of  March in 1920 Durban, Natal (now KwaZulu-Natal) of European Jewish immigrants. He was the youngest of four…

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Mary Butcher Turok

Mary Butcher Turok is the wife of the anti-apartheid activist, parliamentarian and Professor Ben Turok, who played a prominent role in the writing of the…

B-0150129

1897-1961

Elias Phakane Moretsele

Little is known about Elias Moretsele's youth. At an early age he moved to Johannesburg where he joined the South African Native National Congress (SANNC,…

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1893-1958

Johannes Gerhardus Strijdom

Born on 14 July 1893, J G Strijdom served as Prime Minister of South Africa from 30 November 1954 to 24 August 1958. During the 1920s Strijdom practised law in…

B-0009106

1932-1999

Florence Mkhize

Florence Grace Mkhize, widely known as 'Mam Flo', was born in 1932 in Natal. At a young age she decided she wanted to fight against apartheid and the…

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1905-1992

Helen Joseph

Helen Beatrice May Fennell was born in Easebourne, United Kingdom, in 1905. She grew up in London, with her parents and brother, Frank. She graduated with a…

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1937-2021

Ebrahim Ismail Ebrahim

Ebrahim Ismail Ebrahim was born in Durban on 1st July in 1937,  the second of five children. When he was a few months old Ebrahim's mother became ill and he…

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1971

Paulus Howell Mopeli

Paulus Howell Mopeli (alias Mopelinyana), originally from Witzieshoek Native Reserve, Harrismith District, Orange Free State (now Free State Province)…

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1929-2010

Vincent Joseph Gaobakwe Matthews

Vincent Joseph Gaobakwe Matthews born in Durban, on 17 June 1929, Matthews was one of five children of Frieda and ZK Matthews, a professor, academic lawyer and…

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1956-1979

Solomon Kalushi Mahlangu

Solomon Kalushi Mahlangu was born in Pretoria on 10 July in 1956. He was the second son of Martha Mahlangu. His father left him in 1962, and from then on only…

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1925-1982

Ruth First

Journalist, academic and political activist, Ruth Heloise First was born on 4 May 1925. She was the daughter of Jewish immigrants Julius and Matilda (neé…

B-0008068

1919-1984

Cassim Amra

Cassim Amra was born in 1919 in Durban Natal (now kwaZulu-Natal).  He attended Sastri College, Durban  where he represented the senior cricket team. Amra was…

B-0095730

1913-1994

Stephen J.C. Dlamini

Stephen Dlamini was born in 30 November 1913 in Natal (KwaZulu-Natal). As a factory worker, Dlamini became a trade union member and rose through the ranks,…

B-0008010

1920-2013

Zainab Ebrahim Asvat

Zainab Ebrahim Asvat was born 1920 in Johannesburg, daughter of EI Asvat, came under the tutelage of her father as a young girl. She accompanied him to…

B-0007800

1905-1985

Douglas Chadwick Thompson

Douglas Chadwick Thompson was born on 8 August 1905 to David Chadwick Thompson and Kitty Brettle in Manchester, England. In 1907 the family left Manchester and…

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Violet Weinberg

Violet Weinberg was born in Johannesburg,  South Africa, the daughter of a Jewish refugee who fled from Latvia, then a part of the Soviet Union, where Anti…

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1912-1974

Johanna Catharina Cornelius

Johanna was born in Licthtenburg on 27 February 1912 to an Afrikaner family where she grew up. Their family was very nationalistic, with both their father and…

B-0069428

1920-1964

Vuyisile Mini

Vuyisile Mini was born in 1920 in the coastal city of Port Elizabeth. Mini's father was a Port Elizabeth dockworker active in labour and community struggles,…

B-0008562

1961

Dali Tambo

Dali Tambo is the son of the late former ANC President Oliver Tambo and his wife Adelaide Tambo, He has two sisters, Nomathemba and Tselane Tambo. When…

B-0122793

1928-2009

Suliman Moosa Esakjee

Suliman Moosa Esakjee was born in 1928. He worked as a clerk, and was an active member of the Transvaal Indian Congress (TIC) from its inception. He served as…

B-0008051

1920-1973

Robert M. Resha

Robert M. Resha was born in Bolotwe,Queenstown, Eastern Province [Now Eastern Cape] on 9 March 1920. He completed eight years of formal school and in his late…

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1949-2024

Pravin Jamnadas Gordhan

The contribution of Pravin Gordhan may never be truly understood and appreciated by millions of South Africans. For those of us who have had the privilege to…

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