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The Afrikaanse Handelsinsituut
The Afrikaanse Handelsinsituut (AHI – in English the Afrikaans Commercial Institute) was formed during WWII to create Afrikaner businesses and represent their…
PlaceSt. Andrews College, Grahamstown now Makhanda
St Andrew’s College is a School, situated in Makhanda (Grahamstown), in the heart of the Eastern Cape in South Africa. This independent Anglican boarding…
Formation and launch of the UDF
UDF launch at Mitchell's Plain in Cape Town. Source: http://www.nelsonmandela.org In the late 1970s moves to form united front against apartheid were set in…
Chapter Three - The Black Republic Question and the Third Period
From the book: Johnny Gomas Voice of the working class: A political Biography by Doreen Musson The South African struggle received little attention from the…
PlaceRustenburg
The Magaliesberg range of Mountains dominates the Landscape that is now known as the Northwest Province. Rustenburg, the largest City in this Province, has…
EventSolomon Popoli Linda, singer and composer, dies
On 8 October 1962, Solomon Linda, the singer and composer of Mbube, which became the pop hit as 'The Lion Sleeps Tonight', died without receiving royalties for…
EventSteve Tshwete is born
Steve Tshwete (1938 - 2002) was born in Springs on 12 November. He spent his childhood in the village of Peelton, and later in King William's Town and East…
PlaceGugulethu Township
Gugulethu is a township 15 km away from Cape Town. The name is a contraction of igugu lethu, which is Xhosa for 'Our Pride'. This township was established…
Re-emergence of resistance, 1980-89
By the early 1980s, the Congress movement was becoming established as the most effective force in the fight against apartheid throughout the country. With the…
ArchiveAfrican Women`s Resistance to the Pass Laws in South Africa 1950-1960, by Elizabeth S. Schmidt
… to carry passes and permits had been a major fiasco. In 1913, government officials in the Orange Free State declared …
PlaceThe Simon's Town Mosque
the Malay Quarter of Simon’s Town.[i] The Noorul Islam Mosque looks down majestically from Thomas Street, Simon’s Town in the Western Cape. Passers-by,…
ArticleGeneral South African History Timeline: 1950s
1950 - 1960 In Fietas, Johannesburg, the Transvaal Indian Congress (TIC) initiates and implements the 'Decade of Defiance'. 1950 Florence Matomela…
ArticleApartheid crumbles, Women in the turmoil of the 1980s
The 1980s saw escalating state repression and mass detentions. In a frenzy of desperate reaction, the government declared a series of back-to-back states of…
ArticleBlack Consciousness and student revolt in the Cape
After the government crackdown on political organizations in the early 1960s, new organizations emerged to fill the political vacuum. A movement based on the…
Slavery in South Africa
It is hardly known in India that there was a considerable importation of slaves from Asia to South Africa by the Dutch East India Company and its employees…
ArticleTransport and General Workers Union (TGWU)
The Transport and General Workers Union (TGWU) was founded in 1973. It organised in the passenger transport, goods transport, stevedores, motor ferry,…
Cecile Mella
Cecile was born into a family with American, Italian, French and Mexican influences in Montpellier, in the south of France in 1983. After studying literature,…
PlaceCameroon
Cameroon is sometimes referred to as a “true African crossroads” not only because of its geographical position, but also because of the country's great variety…
Chapter 3 - The Cigarette-Makers Strikes and the First Workers Co-operative Society in South Africa, Cape Town 1906 - 1907
… "Turkish tobacco in Western Province" Bulletin No. 59, 1913, The Government Printing and Stationery Office. See …
Historical Background of the Constitutional Court
The Constitutional Court was established in 1994 by South Africa's first democratic constitution - the interim constitution of 1993. The Court, the key…
ArticleThe Freedom Charter Campaign
The adoption of the Freedom Charter by the Congress of the People was widely recognised both in South Africa and internationally as an event of major political…
PlaceCogmans Kloof Road (between Ashton and Montagu)
Kogmans (or Cogmans) Kloof is a Gorge through the Langeberg between Ashton and Montagu on the R62 to Oudtshoorn. It is named after the Cogmans, a Khoi chiefdom…
Chapter 2 - Industrialisation and the Revitalisation of Black Politics in the 1940s
… crop; they are generally referred to as sharecroppers. The 1913 Natives Land Act, a key pillar in the state's … more land to the reserves that had been…
EventGermany invades Poland, starting World War II
Three years of mounting international tension - encompassing the Spanish Civil War, the Anschluss (union) of Germany and Austria, Hitler's occupation of the…
ArticleThe banning of the South African Students Organisation (SASO) and student politics in the 1980s
In September and October 1977, the apartheid government stiffened its resolve to end the nationwide student unrest that broke out in Soweto in June 1976…
ArticleThe Black Sash: A History of Transformation
… the article says regarding women organisations during 1913-1977, ‘Whereas political organizations of white women in …
Vella Pillay
This is a short autobiography of Vella Pillay written for his 80th birthday party held on 18th October 2003 at Lauderdale House, Highgate, London. Vella…
A tribute to Indres Naidoo by Glen Moss
Indres Naidoo Born: 26 August 1936 Died: 3 January 2016 Transvaal Indian Congress, Umkhonto we Size, African National Congress, South African Communist…
PlaceNyanga Township
Nyanga, a sprawling, poverty-stricken illustration of Cape Town’s urban sprawl, Nyanga is one of the oldest Black townships in Cape Town. It was established in…
Books and further reading links relating to Right to Organise
Trouble in Natal - 20 00 Women rioted in Cato Manor over living conditions and government beerhalls and passes for women. Photo by Drum photographer © Baileys…