SAHO global search

1915-1972

William Frederick Nkomo

Frederick Nkomo was born in Makapanstad near Pretoria in 1915. He was the son of a Methodist minister, Abraham Nkomo, and attended primary school in Mafikeng…

B-0008800

1936-2015

Letsau Nelson Diale

Nelson Diale was born on 1st January 1936 at Ga-Masemola in Limpopo where he spent most of his childhood years. He attended school in Sekobetlane Maphutha. In…

B-0068675

1792-1852

Andries Hendrik Potgieter

Andries Hendrik Potgieter was born in the Graaff Reinet district in the Cape Colony on the 19th of December 1792. He was the second child of Petronella…

B-0068319

1938

Ngoako David Thebehali

David Thebehali was born on 3 June 1938 in Orlando East, Soweto. His parents were among the earliest residents of Soweto. From 1945 to 1952 he was a pupil at…

B-0009134

1930-1978

Sewsunker ‘Papwa’ Sewgolum

“Papwa” Sewsunker Sewgolum was born in 1930, into a family of poor sugarcane labourers in Natal. He started working at an early age, and as a young boy,…

B-0009023

1928-2017

Edward 'Eddie' John Daniels

Eddie Daniels was born on 25 October 1928 in District 6, Cape Town where also grew up and attended Sydney Street School. District 6 was one of the so-called …

B-0094071

1962

Greg Marinovich

The first pictures Marinovich took of a news event were of Archbishop Desmond Tutu when he led a church service in downtown Johannesburg in 1985 to protest the…

B-0008447

1949-2001

Jeffry Dumo Baqwa

Jeffry Dumo Baqwa was born on 24th of July 1949 in Pinetown, Natal. He was the second child and oldest son (two younger brothers were to follow). His father…

B-0095266

1971

Malusi Nkanyezi Gigaba

Malusi Nkanyezi Gigaba was born on 30 August 1971 at Eshowe, KwaZulu Natal. Gigaba is the second born to Reverend Jabulani Gigaba and Nomthandazo Gigaba. He…

B-0072386

1945

Achmad Cassiem

Imam Achmad Cassiem was born 12th of December in 1945 and grew up in an Islamic environment. He became politicised in the 1960s when the Pan Africanist…

B-0079929

1946

Malcolm Payne

"First of all, I don't take art particularly seriously. I make the work because I enjoy making it. No more complicated reason than that. I like the seriousness…

B-0008870

1925-2015

Ruth Mompati

Ruth Mompati was born on 14 September 1925 in the village called Khanyesa in the North West Province. She was the daughter of Seli Seichoko and her father was…

B-0068085

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,…

B-0068097

1904-1980

S .G. Sekano Ntoane

S.G. Sekano Ntoane was born on 14 April 1904 in Hebron, Pretoria. He was the second of the six children of Levy Ntoane, a minister of the Berlin Lutheran…

B-0149450

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-0148068

1941-1978

Rick Turner

Rick Turner [Richard Albert David Turner] was a charismatic political philosopher and theorist who was also an activist and educationist. He was highly…

B-0009169

1931-2021

Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Mpilo Tutu

Desmond Mpilo Tutu (known fondly as the "Arch”) was born in Klerksdorp on 7 October 1931. His father, Zachariah, who was educated at a Mission school, was the…

B-0064794

1946-2014

Mafika Pascal Gwala

Mafika Pascal Gwala was born on 5 October 1946 in the town of Verulam, a region predominantly inhabited by Zulus and Indians, in what was then Natal province …

B-0085150

Emsley Manne Dipico

Emsley Manne Dipico, activist, politician and former Premier of the Northern Cape Provincial Legislature, was born in  Greenpoint, Kimberley. Emsley Manne…

B-0150536

1965

Lesetja Kganyago

Lesetja kganyago was born in Alexandra Township, Johannesburg, in Gauteng Province in 1965. At the age of five, he moved to Northern Province, now known as…

B-0149216

1949-1991

Mhlabunzima Maphumulo

Mhlabunzima Maphumulo was born on 6 September 1949 and not much is known on the location of his birth or his childhood. At the age of 24, Maphumulo inherited…

B-0149331

1850-1913

Jacobus Wilhelmus Sauer

Jacobus Wilhelmus Sauer was born in 1850 at Burgersdorp in the Cape Colony. He did his education at the South African College in Cape Town. After completing…

B-0148773

1984

Siphiwe Tshabalala

Siphiwe Tshabalala was born on 25 September 1984 in Soweto and went on to become one of the most well-loved and best soccer players in South Africa. After…

B-0152260

1924-1998

Alan McLeod Cormack

Alan Cormack, the youngest of three children, was born in Johannesburg in February 1924. His father was an engineer with the Post Office and his mother a…

B-0144660

5 June1958-2021

Jackson Mphikwa Mthembu

Jackson Mphikwa Mthembu was a Minister in the Presidency of South Africa and parliamentarian for the African National Congress (ANC). Mthembu was born on 5…

B-0150697

1969-1988

Lindiwe Charity Nyembezi Mthembu

Lindiwe Charity Nyembezi Mthembu was born on 28 February 1969 in KwaMashu, Natal (now KwaZulu-Natal). She was the fifth daughter born to Sonnyboy Nkwana and…

B-0150009

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

1968

DJ Ready D (Deon Daniels)

Deon T Daniels aka DJ Ready D, was born in District Six, Cape Town on 11 December 1968, before the residents there were forcibly removed. Ready D and his…

B-0125398

1881-1969

Daniël Francois Malherbe

Daniël Francois Malherbe was born on 28 May 1881 in Dal Josafat in the Cape Colony, to P. J. Malherbe, a founder of the Genootskap vir Regte Afrikaners …

B-0008419

1949-2015

Robert Carl-Heinz Shell

Robert Shell was born in Cape Town, South Africa on 13 February 1949, the only child of a German father, Heinrich (Heinz) Schelowsky (later changed to Shell)…

B-0100280