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EventSouth African Police announce arrest of serial killer
The South African Police in Pretoria announced the arrest of Moses Sithole, named the country's most wanted man at the time. Sithole, thirty-one years of age…
EventLocal elections receive go
An emergency session was convened by parliament on October 12, 1995, to approve legislation to permit local elections to be held on November 1. This step was…
EventMuziwendoda Mdluli, National Intelligence Agency (NIA) security chief is found dead
Muziwendoda Mdluli, National Intelligence Agency (NIA) security chief, was found dead in his car parked near the Botanical Gardens in Pretoria, with a bullet…
EventBarney Pityana is elected Chairman of Human Rights Commission
The Human Rights Commission (HRC), a statutory body provided for under the Interim Constitution, on its inaugural meeting on 2 October 1995 elected Nyameko…
EventFirst celebration of National Heritage Day
Heritage Day is one of the newly created South African public holidays. It is a day in which all are encouraged to celebrate their cultural traditions in the…
EventLocal government elections thrown in disarray
The Constitutional Court's ruling against the use of decree powers by President Nelson Mandela, threw the preparations for the local elections scheduled for…
EventF. W. de Klerk is implicated
Ex-Police Commissioner General Johan van der Merwe and ex-Law and Order Minister Adriaan Vlok, implicated former state President and Deputy President of the…
EventEbola virus kills 153 people in Zaire
Ebola Hemorrhagic Fever (EBF) also known as Ebola virus a virus that kills its host by attacking the lining of the cells and coagulating the blood in the…
EventThe TRC is set up by parliament
The South African parliament approved legislation to set up the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in 1995. The Commission, based on the Promotion of National…
EventMore than 100 miners are crushed to death near Orkney
The mining industry in South Africa remains one of the most hazardous professions, this despite the enormous amounts invested in it and the resulting wealth…
EventNelson Mandela is escorted out of Umlazi stadium after shots are fired
President Nelson Mandela addressed a May Day rally at Umlazi Stadium. He was escorted from the stadium in an armoured car when shots were fired from a hill. He…
EventFirst celebration of May Day in South Africa
On 1 May, South Africa will enjoy Worker's Day (effectively a May Day holiday). Worker's Day celebrates the role played by Trade Unions, the Communist Party…
EventWinnie Mandela is dismissed from government
Following weeks of speculations on the fate of Winnie Mandela in the government, president Nelson Mandela eventually expelled her from the position of deputy…
EventAfrikaans becomes the official language of the Union of South Africa
When the Union of South Africa was formed in 1910, it consisted of the Transvaal, the Orange Free State, Natal and the Cape Province. Dutch and English were…
EventAfrikaans is declared an official language of South Africa
According to Act 8 of 1925, Afrikaans became one of the official languages of South Africa. The development of Afrikaans can be traced to arrival of settlers…
EventOlivia Forsyth takes refuge in British embassy in Luanda
Olivia Forsyth escaped from her guards and took refuge in the British embassy in Luanda. She was a self-confessed SA spy of the security police in the African…
EventRuth First is born
Ruth Heloise First, journalist, academic, political activist and the wife of former South African Communist Party (SACP) leader Joe Slovo was born in…
EventPFP Leader Colin Wells Eglin born
Founding member of the Progressive Federal Party (PFP), Colin Wells Eglin was born in Sea Point, Cape Town. During his political career, Eglin was instrumental…
EventRaymond Dart completes work on Taung skull
The skull, commonly called the Taung child, was found embedded in rock at a mine near Taung, a village 400 miles southwest of Johannesburg. When Raymond Dart,…
EventThe first radio licence in SA is issued to Dr J. van Rensburg of Carnarvon
On 16 August 1924 the first radio licence in SA was issued to Dr J. van Rensburg of Carnarvon. The first station in South Africa was put up by the South…
Zulu Chief Cyprian Bhekuzulu is born
EventJ.C. Smuts calls general election
After losing the Wakkerstroom and Oudtshoorn by-elections in April, prime minister and leader of the South African Party (SAP), J.C. Smuts, decided to hold a…
Richard Owen Dudley is born in Newlands, Cape Town
EventNatoo Babenia is born
Natoo Babenia, a political activist first in India, resisting British rule and later in South Africa against the Apartheid government, was born at Coedmore…
EventANC leader Wilton Mkwayi born
Wilton Z. Mkwayi, trade unionist, treason trialist and acting leader of Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK) was born in Middledrift in the Transkei. He was the eldest child…
EventThe first experimental radio broadcast in South Africa takes place
On 18 December 1923 the first experimental radio broadcast in South Africa took place in Johannesburg. The Broadcast was of a music concert and was made by the…
EventSA author, Nadine Gordimer, is born
South African author and winner of the 1991 Nobel Prize for Literature, Nadine Gordimer, was born in Springs, Transvaal (now known as Gauteng).One of South…
EventGifted writer and actor William Modisane is born
Journalist, short-story writer and actor William (Bloke) Modisane was born in Sophiatown, Johannesburg. Modisane left South Africa in 1959 and while in exile…
Native (Black) Urban Areas Act No 21 of 1923
EventReginald (Reg) September, prominent trade unionist and anti-apartheid activist, is born
Reginald 'Reg' September was a prominent trade unionist, the leader of the South African Coloured People's Organization and an executive member of the South…