SAHO global search

1947-1976

Mapetla Frank Mohapi

Mapetla Frank Mohapi was born in the rural village of Jozanashoek, Sterkspruit in the former Transkei (now Eastern Province) on 2 September 1947. He studied at…

B-0066279

1970-2004

Phaswane Mpe

Phaswane Mpe was born and brought up in Pietersburg, Northern Transvaal (now Polokwane, Limpopo). At the age of 19, he left for Johannesburg to study African…

B-0097085

Elias Monare

Elias Monare, from ‘Dube Street 1935, Wattville Natives Town, Benoni’ in the Transvaal [now Gauteng], was banished on 25 April 1955  at the age of 31 to ‘Glen…

B-0080861

1929-1994

Ruth Gosschalk

Ruth Gosschalk was born on 27 July 1929 in Muizenburg, Cape Town. She was one of four children. Her parents were immigrants from Eastern Europe. Gosschalk’s…

B-0080096

1938

Nana Henrietta Moabi

Nana Henrietta Moabi (nee Radadi) was born in Lichtenburg, Western Transvaal (now North West Province) on 18 September 1938. She completed her lower primary…

B-0093134

1937-2002

Mono Badela

The biography below is from a tribute to Badela written by Prof Guy Berger, the head of the department of Journalism and Media Studies at Rhodes University …

B-0149509

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

1958

Jack Mkhuseli

Mkhuseli Jack was born on the farm Mosskraal in Humansdorp on 31 May 1958.  Jack was the second youngest of eight children of Fikile and Alice Jack, a domestic…

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1881-1965

Margaret Roach Killie Campbell

Margaret Roach Campbell (Killie Campbell) was born at Mount Edgecombe on 9 September 1881, the second of four children of the Natal senator and sugar magnate,…

B-0007917

1958

Mkhuseli Khusta Jack

Mkhuseli Jack was born on the farm Mosskraal in Humansdorp on 31 May 1958.  Jack was the second youngest of eight children of Fikile and Alice Jack, a domestic…

B-0067959

1947-2007

Neville Wilson Curtis

Neville Wilson Curtis was born on 16 October 1947, Johannesburg, Transvaal (now Gauteng). his one of five children of an Australia-born miner.His father, John …

B-0094976

1932-2016

Mewa Ramgobin

Mewalal “Mewa” Ramgobin was born on 10 November 1932 in Inanda, Natal (now KwaZulu-Natal). His grandparents arrived in Natal as indentured labourers. His…

B-0008936

1908-1964

Molly Fischer

Susanna Johanna Fischer (nee Krige) was born on the 23rd of February, 1908 on the family’s smallholding in Silverton, near Pretoria. Her father, P.S. ‘Tottie’…

B-0008070

1942-2018

Gerald Patrick Kearney

Gerald Patrick ‘Paddy’ Kearney was born in Pietermaritzburg, Natal (now KwaZulu-Natal) on 28 August 1942. He was educated at Catholic schools and for some…

B-0125558

1910-1978

Dr Gangathura Mohambry (Monty) Naicker

Dr Gangathura Mohambry Naicker (more popularly known as Dr Monty Naicker) was the eldest son of Papiah Gangathura Naicker, a well-to-do businessman, and his…

B-0068173

1851-1897

Barney Barnato

Barney Barnato was born in 21 February 1851, Whitechapel slum of London. His original name was Barnett Issacs but changed it to Barney Barnatto when he was…

B-0007830

1907-1978

Hester Elizabeth Cornelius

Hester Elizabeth Cornelius was born on 5 April 1907 in Lichtenburg Western Transvaal to an Afrikaner family. Her family was very nationalistic, with both her…

B-0007960

1954

Tony Sithembiso Yengeni

Sithembiso Tony Yengeni was born in Cape Town and grew up in two Cape townships, Gugulethu and Nyanga. He completed his matric at Fort Beaufort college in Cape…

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1850-1916

Lord Kitchener

Best known for his famous recruitment posters bearing his heavily moustachioed face and pointing hand over the legend, "Your country needs you", as secretary…

B-0067726

1930-2008

Walter Sidney Felgate

Walter Sidney Felgate was born on 19 November 1930 in Pretoria, Transvaal (now Gauteng). Felgate graduated from Pretoria Boys High School in 1949. He studied…

B-0008061

1974-2016

Fezekile Ntsukela Kuzwayo (Khwezi)

There's still much not known publicly about Fezekile Kuzwayo. Unfortunately, the event that she is best known for is the Jacob Zuma rape case. It is from the…

B-0122126

1870-1950

William H. "Bill" Andrews

William H."Bill" Andrews was  born in Suffolk, England, on 20 March in 1870 into a working-class family,he left school at the age of 13 years old,he immigrated…

B-0007791

1847-1935

Mary Matilda Brown

Mary Matilda Brown was born in Sea Point, Cape Town, Western Cape, South Africa on 20 July 1847. She advocated for social and moral reform and was a campaigner…

B-0150463

Maphuti Molatela Seopa

In terms of a banishment order dated 21 July 1953, Maphuti Molatela Seopa and her two children were banished in October 1953 from Matlala's Location,…

B-0149308

1860-1930

Govindasamy Krishnasamy Thambi Naidoo

Govindasamy Krishnasamy Thambi Naidoo*was born of indentured stock in 1875 in Mauritius. His family, originally from Mattur, state of Madras, in Tamil Nadu…

B-0008737

1867-1946

Josiah Tshangana Gumede

Josiah Tshangana Gumede was born on 9th October 1867 in Healdtown Village, Fort Beaufort in the Eastern Cape. His father, John Gumede, and his mother were…

B-0008131

Zwelinzima Joseph Vavi

Zwelinzima Joseph Vavi was born on 20 December 1962 on a farm in Hanover, Northern Cape. His father was a mineworker. Vavi has four brothers and seven sisters…

B-0148828

1953-2019

Bongani Mnguni

Bongani Mnguni was a South African photographer and photojournalist who dedicated his life to exposing the brutality of the apartheid system.  Mnguni was…

B-0149587

1949

Kgalema Petrus Motlanthe

Kgalema Petrus Motlanthe was born on 19 July 1949 at the Boksburg-Benoni Hospital. He grew up in Alexandra, Johannesburg, Transvaal (now Gauteng). His parents,…

B-0068113

1904-1983

Alex Hepple

Alex Hepple was born in the Johannesburg suburb of La Rochelle on 28 August 1904. His father, Thomas Hepple (1869-1942), an immigrant from Sunderland, was a…

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