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EventMaria Mary Burton, former national president of the Black Sash, is born
Maria Burton was born on 19 January 1940 in Buenos Aires, Argentina. She moved to South Africa in 1961, and upon witnessing the injustices of Apartheid, became…
EventFormer Finance Minister Barend du Plessis is born
Barend Jacobus du Plessis, South African minister of finance from June 1984 to May 1992, was born in Johannesburg.
EventArtist Allina Ndebele is born
South African artist and master weaver Allina Ndebele, nee Khumalo, who returned to her father's village and established a small workshop to teach…
EventSA Corps of Military Police is reorganised
On 10 November 1939, shortly after the outbreak of the Second World War (WW2), Proclamation 276 of Government Gazette 2699 was published. This proclamation…
EventAbdul Samad Minty, anti apartheid activist, is born
On 31 October 1933, Abdul Samad Minty was born in Hartebeesfontein, Northern Transvaal (now known as Limpopo Province). In June 1958 he left for Britain to…
EventKarel Schoeman, well known Afrikaans author, is born
Karel Schoeman was born on 26 October 1939 in Trompsburg, Orange Free State. He matriculated from the HoÁƒÂƒÂ«r Jongenskool in Paarl in 1956, obtained a BA in…
EventCharlotte Maxeke dies
Charlotte Makgomo Maxeke, teacher, social worker, politician and founder of the Bantu Women's League of South Africa, died in Johannesburg at the age of 65. In…
EventSA joins World War II
After the invasion of Poland by Germany in September 1939, SA Prime Minister Gen. J.B. Hertzog tried to pass a resolution in parliament, proclaiming South…
EventGen. J.B.M. Hertzog is forced to resign as premier after his motion of neutrality in World War II is defeated in parliament
The choice to join the Allied Forces in World War Two was a contentious one on behalf of the South African government. This is because within the ruling United…
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…
EventSA poet and artist Wopko Jensma is born
South African poet and graphic designer Wopko Jensma was born in Middelburg, Eastern Province. Highly talented but suffering from schizophrenia, he studied at…
EventSir Christoffel Joseph Brand succeeds his brother, P.A. Brand, as editor of De Zuid
De Zuid-Afrikaan (The South African) was the first proper Dutch newspaper in South Africa, and was first published on 9 April 1830. The publication was…
EventMahatma Ghandi sends a telegram to Dr. Dadoo
At a meeting attended by 6,000 Indians, at the Indian Sports Ground in Johannesburg under the chairmanship of E.I. Asvat, a decision was taken to launch the…
EventDate set for start of Passive Resistance Campaign
In July 1939 at a meeting of 6,000 Indians, held at the Indian Sports Ground in Johannesburg under the chairmanship of E. I. Asvat, a decision was taken to…
EventDr. Essop Goolam Pahad, former Minister in the Presidency of the Republic of South Africa is born
Dr. Essop Goolam Pahad, former Minister in the Presidency of the Republic of South Africa was born in Schweizer-Reneke, Western Transvaal (now North-West…
EventEvelyn Dalberg, SA opera singer, is born in Germany
Evelyn Dalberg, a prominent opera singer in South Africa, was born on 23 May 1939, in Leipzig, Germany. The daughter of Frederick Dalberg and German Soprano…
EventHugh Masekela, South African musician, is born
On 4 April 1939 Hugh Ramopolo Masekela, South African musician, was born in Witbank, South Africa. Masekela grew up playing the piano and at a young age was…
EventPius Langa is born
Justice Pius Nkonzo Langa, deputy president of the Constitutional Court and Chancellor of the University of Natal (now KwaZulu Natal) was born in Bushbuck…
EventThe “Ossewabrandwag” is founded
The Ossewabrandwag (OB as it came to be known, meaning Oxwagon Sentinal) was founded as an Afrikaans nationalist organisation in Bloemfontein, under leadership…
EventThe highest temperature in the shade is recorded in the Cape
On this day in history, the highest temperature ever recorded in the shade was noted at Goodhouse, in the Cape Province. The temperature reached 47, 8º…
EventA fishing trawler off the South African Coast catches a coelacanth
In 1938, thirty two-year-old Marjorie Courtenay-Latimer was the curator of a small museum in the port town of East London, northeast of Cape Town, South Africa…
EventSouth African anti-apartheid activist Ronnie Kasrils is born in the Johannesburg
South African anti-apartheid activist Ronnie Kasrils was born in the Johannesburg suburb of Yeoville. The Sharpeville massacre and its aftermath drew him…
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…
EventRichard J. Goldstone, former Justice of the Constitutional Court of SA, is born
On 26 October 1938, Richard Goldstone,a well-known figure in the legal fraternity, was born in Boksburg, Gauteng Province. In 1962, Goldstone graduated from…
EventSpringboks lose to the Lions
The South African national rugby team became known as the Springboks on their tour to Britain in 1906. Since those early years, teams from abroad repeatedly…
EventAndries Dreyer, church archivist and collector of Africana, dies
Andries Dreyer was born on 10 January 1872 in Philadelphia, in the present day Western Cape Province. After studying at the Normal College in Cape Town, be…
EventBeauclerk Upington dies
Beauclerk Upington, advocate, politician, yachtsman and president of the South African Football (Soccer) Association (1913-22), died in Cape Town under…
EventGreat Trek Centenary Celebrations commence
The Great Trek was a migration that took place between 1838 and the 1840s, and involved the Boers leaving the Cape Colony and settling in the interior of South…
EventSouth African Press Association is established
The South African Press Association (SAPA) was established as a non-governmental institution in 1938 by South Africa's major newspapers to facilitate the…