SAHO global search
63,723 records
EventThe Korean War ends
The undeclared Korean War ended after three years of fighting between North Korean and Chinese Communists against the United Nations (UN) forces (mainly South…
EventQueen Mary dies
Queen Mary, the wife of George V and mother of Edward VIII and George VI, died after a long illness on 24 March 1953. She was 86 and outlived two of her…
EventThe first mountain zebra foal is born in at the National Mountain Zebra Park
The Mountain Zebra is an endangered species native to South Western Angola, Namibia, and South Africa. It is boldly stripped in black and white or brown and…
EventCriminal Law Amendment Act No 8 commences
On 4 March 1953, the Criminal Law Amendment Act No 8 commenced. This act made civil disobedience punishable by a three-year gaol (prison) sentence, and…
EventJeff Radebe is born
Jeffrey Thamsanqa (Jeff) Radebe, SA Minister of Transport (2004), was born in Cato Manor, Durban, Natal (now KwaZulu-Natal).
Advocate Anton Lubowski, the first White member of SWAPO, is born
EventSolly Sachs leaves South Africa
Socialist and labour activist Emil Solomon (Solly) Sachs left South Africa to settle in England on this date. He stated that his position in South Africa had…
EventMembers of Mau Mau uprising in Kenya to receive death penalty for resisting colonial rule
During the height of the Mau Mau Uprising, Sir Evelyn Baring, colonial governor of Kenya, introduced the death penalty for anyone who organised the taking of…
EventDerek Hanekom is born
Derek Hanekom, former minister of the Department of Agriculture and Land Affairs was born in Cape Town. He was apponited Agricultural ministry by South Africa…
EventProtest against pass laws in Langa
Hundreds of Blacks assembled in the Langa township outside Cape Town to protest against new pass laws. Delivering a fiery speech to the crowd Dora Tamana, a…
EventSouth African artist Fikile Magadledla is born
Fikile Magadlela was born on 13 December 1952 in Newclare, Johannesburg. He was a self- taught artist, who learned and benefited greatly from his peers. One of…
EventThe UN sets up Commission on Apartheid
The General Assembly of the United Nations adopted resolution 616(VII) to establish a three-member United Nations Commission on the Racial Situation in the…
EventOver 400 Kikuyu suspected to be part of the Mau Mau movement are arrested in Kenya
Mali was once part of the Great Songhay Empire, but came under French rule in 1892. After almost seventy years of colonial rule, Mali was renamed the Sudanese…
Mayibuye Uprising-black South Africans, slaves in the land of their birth, rose up to peacefully throw off their shackles
EventViolence erupts during Defiance Campaign
The first violence during the Defiance Campaign erupted in New Brighton, near Port Elizabeth. According to reports the riots followed after a Black person was…
EventAlbert Luthuli is elected as an ANC President
The African National Congress (ANC) was founded as the SANCC in 1912. John Dube was its first president, and the well known writer and poet, Sol Plaatje, was…
EventFormer premier of Mpumalanga, Afrikaans poet and lawyer, Mathews Phosa is born
Nakedi Mathews Phosa, former premier of Mpumalanga (1994-1999), Afrikaans poet and lawyer was born in Mbombela Township in Nelspruit. Phosa was an African…
EventWalter Sisulu arrested under the Suppression of Communism Act
Walter Sisulu joined the ANC in 1940. He was elected to the executive committee of the ANC Youth League in 1944 and in 1949, was instrumental in the ANC's…
EventSolly Sachs addresses Garment Worker’s protestors
Emil Solomon (Solly) Sachs addressed 15 000 workers on the steps of the Johannesburg City Hall during a protest meeting organised by the Garment Workers' Union…
EventNotices served on Solly Sachs
The then Minister of Justice, C.R. Swart, served two notices on Solly Sachs, an official of the Garment Workers' Union of South Africa (GWU). The first notice…
EventLabour Minister Shepherd Mdladlana is born
Shepherd Mdladlana, South African Minister of Labour since 1998 and a member of the Communist Party is born in Keiskammahoek in the Eastern Cape.
EventRuben Xulu is born
South African artist Ruben Xulu was born in Hlabisa, Natal. Xulu, born deaf, began carving with Bernard Gcwensa at Hlabisa mission station and embarked on a…
EventThe first regular jet flight leaves London for Johannesburg
The British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC) was the British state airline from 1939 until 1946, and the long-haul British state airline from 1946 (later…
EventChief Cyprian Zulu warns his people not to participate in the Defiance Campaign
The Defiance Campaign was planned in the 1950s in response to the enactment of numerous apartheid laws by the South African government. During the African…
EventWW2 veteran Job Masego dies
Jacob (Job) Masego, World War 2 (WW2) veteran, who sunk a German supply boat, died in Springs, Transvaal (now in Ekurhuleni Municipality), after being struck…
EventEgypt is placed under martial law in response to widespread riots against the British
From 1951 to 1952 Egypt was ravaged by violence and anti-British protest. In October 1951 the Egyptian Parliament approved the unilateral official cancellation…
EventHendrik Andries Hanekom, SA actor dies in the Strand, Cape Town
Hendrik Hanekom and his wife Mathilda were pioneers of Afrikaans professional theatre. Hendrik died on *14 January 1952 in the Strand, Cape Town. Throughout…
EventTrade unionist Clements Kadalie dies in East London
Trade unionist, Lameck Koniwaka Kadali Muwamba, known by his adopted name, Clements Kadalie, was born in April 1896, near the Bandawe mission station in…
EventLibya becomes independent
Libya declared its independence as a constitutional and hereditary monarchy under King Idris I. It was the first country to achieve autonomy through the…
EventMusic teacher Dorothy Boxall dies
Dorothy Ruth Boxall, music teacher and lecturer, writer and organiser of orchestral activities for the youth, died in Johannesburg. Following Boxall's death,…