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BiographyElizabeth "Rocky" Mafekeng
Elizabeth Mafekeng was born in 1918 in Tarkastad and attended school until Standard 7. Living conditions in her birthplace forced her to leave for Paarl in…
BiographyHelen Newton Thompson
Helen Newton Thompson, an anti-apartheid political activist and founding member of the Black Sash, has for the most part of history, been a fleeting footnote…
BiographySally Gross
Born on August 22, 1953 in Wynberg, Cape Town, Sally Gross is one of the most challenging and important figures in our country’s history. Gross was born…
BiographyJob Shimankana Tabane
Job Shimankana Tabane (largely known as Cassius Make, his alias name) was born in Maile village (Diepkuil) just outside Rustenburg on 6 December 1942. Tabane…
BiographyAshley La Grange
"My guiding principle is to work hard and live within my means. My father died when I was seven and my mother’s inheritance was embezzled, so she had to work…
BiographyJohn Maxwell Coetzee
J. M. Coetzee was born to German and English parents in Cape Town on 9 February 1940. Coetzee spent his childhood in there, as well as in Worcester, a…
BiographyBongani Mnguni
Bongani Mnguni was a South African photographer and photojournalist who dedicated his life to exposing the brutality of the apartheid system. Mnguni was…
ArticleProvincial histories
In this topic we will look at the heritage and identity of South Africa’s different provinces, including each one’s government and symbols. We will also look…
EventSA cartoonist, Daniel Cornelis Boonzaaier is born
South African cartoonist Daniël Cornelis Boonzaaier was born at Patatsrivier in the Cape Province in 1865. Boonzaaier became famous for his caricatures and…
EventA national congress, under auspices of the Dutch Reformed Church, meets to discuss the ‘poor White problem’
The 'poor White problem' or the Armblankevraagstuk as it was referred to in Afrikaans, was a significant political issue in South Africa in the late 19th…
BiographyNithianandan ‘Elvis' Ganese Govender
Nithianandan Ganese Govender (Elvis) was born on 1 November 1958 in Esperanza, a village on the south coast of Natal (now KwaZulu-Natal – KZN), on the eastern…
PlaceUniversity of KwaZulu Natal (UKZN)
Founded in 1910 as: 'The Natal University College', in Pietermaritzburg. The University of Natal was granted independent University status only in, 1949 and…
EventGen. Louis Botha, soldier, statesman and first prime minister of the Union of South Africa, is born.
… He was responsible for the infamous Native Land Act of 1913, he believed in maintaining Black traditions and in …
EventPresident F.W. de Klerk announces the Group Areas Act will be repealed.
… major apartheid laws. To mention a few, the Land Act of 1913, the Population Registration Act were all to be amended …
ArticleAbram Fischer Timeline 1908-1975
1908 23 April, Abram (Bram) Fischer is born in Orange Free State to an auspicious family that includes Abraham Fischer, Brams grandfather, who was State…
EventThe Table Mountain cableway, one of the biggest tourist attractions in Cape Town, is inaugurated
On 4 October 1929 the Table Mountain cableway, one of the world’s biggest tourist attractions in Cape Town, was inaugurated. The official ceremony was opened…
EventThe Afrikaner Broederbond is formed
On 5 June 1918 disaffected Afrikaners were brought together in a new organisation called Jong Suid-Afrika (Young South Africa). In 1919 the organisation…
Archive'Trees never meet' Mobility and Containment: an Overview 1915 - 1946 by Silvester, Wallace and Hayes
Prisoners of Apartheid - Statement at a Press Conference in Addis Ababa by O. R. Tambo, 11 July 1973
EventThambi Naidoo mobilises the Indians
… On 13 October 1913, Thambi Naidoo mobilised the Indians at Newcastle, Natal …
ArticleNelson Mandela Timeline 1930-1939
… land that formed part of the reserves (as set out in the 1913 Land Act) from 7.3% to 13%. It also establishes the …
Institute for Industrial Education (IIE)
The Institute for Industrial Education (IIE) was founded in Durban, in May 1973, to serve as a school for trade unionists of all races and to provide basic…
BiographyJoyce Sikhakhane-Rankin
Joyce Sikhakhane-Rankin (Nomafa) was born at the Bridgeman Memorial Maternity Hospital in Johannesburg. Her parents lived in Orlando West, Soweto where she…
PlaceClaremont, a Suburb of Cape Town
… and ultimately became a Suburb of greater Cape Town in 1913. Housing in Claremont Claremont housing was diverse, but … – one of these laws was the Black …
ArchiveThe Trotskyist Groups in South Africa - A Retrospective View by Baruch Hirson (Encyclopedia of Trotskyism On-Line: Revolutionary History: Volume 4, No. 4, 1993, South Africa)
THE HISTORY of the South African Trotskyists during the 1930s and into the next decade was never made available or discussed with new recruits. There were…
BiographyMongane Wally Serote
Mongane Wally Serote was born in Sophiatown, Johannesburg on 8 May 1944, just four years before the National Party (NP) came to power in South Africa. His…
BiographyGraça Simbine Machel
Graça Simbine Machel was born on 17 October 1945, in Gaza, Mozambique, the last in a family of six children. Her father, a Methodist minister who had died…
BiographyGeorge 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…
BiographyAhmed Gora Ebrahim
Ahmed Gora Ebrahim was born in Durban on 29 May 1936. Ebrahim cut his political teeth in Trotskyite circles while studying at Sastri College and Natal…
BiographyMarimuthu Pragalathan “MP” Naicker
He was born in Natal in 1920, and although his family was poor he managed to complete high school. He worked as a truck driver, a union organiser for sugar…