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EventJapanese attack American Naval Forces at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii
Japanese planes struck just before 8AM on a Sunday morning. Within a short time five of eight battleships at Pearl Harbor were sunk or sinking, with the rest…
EventDr Ben Ngubane is born
Dr Baldwin Sipho (Ben) Ngubane, political activist and Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) politician, was born at Inchanga Roman Catholic Mission, Camperdown, Natal…
EventForeign Affairs Deputy Minister Pahad is born
Aziz Pahad, SA Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, was born in Schweizer Reneke, Western Transvaal (North West Province). Pahad had been a m ember of the…
EventManto Tshabalala - Msimang, controversial minister of health, is born
SA health minister Mantombazana Tshabalala-Msimang was born at Emfume south coast of Durban, KwaZulu-Natal. Tshabalala-Msimang matriculated at Inanda Seminary…
EventSir Abe Bailey, Rand mine magnate, dies.
Abe Bailey was born in Cradock, Cape Colony, in 1864. His father, a wagon maker and wool merchant, later moved with his family to Queenstown. When Bailey was…
EventWorld War II: The evacuation of Allied forces from Dunkirk ends as German forces capture the beach port
On 4 June 1940, the evacuation of Allied forces from Dunkirk ended as German forces captured the beach port. The nine-day evacuation, the largest of its kind…
EventHattie McDaniels Wins An Academy Award
29 February 1940 Hattie McDaniels Wins An Academy Award Hattie McDaniels becomes the first African American woman to win an Academy Award for her…
EventAbdullah Abdurahman, medical doctor and Cape community leader, dies in Cape Town
Dr Abdullah Abdurahman, medical doctor and Cape community leader, died on this day at the age of 69. Founder and leader of the anti-apartheid African People's…
The Reunited National Party is founded by Malan and Hertzog
From the 1920s to the 1940s J.C. Smuts, J.B.M. Hertzog and D.F. Malan were the most prominent White politicians in South Africa. In 1933 Hertzog and Smuts…
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…