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ArticleDefiance Campaign timeline 1948-1952
1948 May 26, The National Party (NP) wins election and immediately introduces apartheid (separateness) measures against Blacks, Indian immigrants and those…
PlaceLanga Township, Cape Town
Development of Langa locationIn the course of the Inter War Years the regulations of the 1902 Location Act were expanded to create a more formal structure for…
EventGertrude Shope, former president of the ANC Women's League, is born
Gertrude Shope was born in Johannesburg, but grew up in Zimbabwe. She was trained as a teacher and went on to teach in Natal and Soweto. When she was 29 years…
EventGovernment’s final consolidation of ‘homelands’
The Nationalist party government announced its intention to consolidate the total number of separate 'homeland' areas from 113 to 36. The homelands were…
PlaceVersfeld Pass
This superb Pass is rich in South African folklore. John Versfeld was a resourceful farmer from Bo-Piketberg who built the original pass in 3 months, with only…
PlaceKingsmead Cricket Stadium, Durban
Although it operates under the sponsorship-based name of Sahara Stadium Kingsmead, this cricket ground in Durban, KwaZulu-Natal is more commonly referred to as…
Post-Election Political Violence
From: A Crime Against Humanity - Analysing the Repression of the Apartheid State edited by Max Coleman As South Africa went to the polls on 27 April 1994,…
ArticleOn Trial: State versus Abram Fischer and Thirteen Others by Norman Levy
This article was taken from the book The Final Prize by Norman Levy (Chapter 16) On Trial State versus Abram Fischer and Thirteen Others The change from…
ArticleThe National Council of Trade Unions (NACTU)
Introduction The National Council of Trade Unions (NACTU) is South Africa's second largest trade union federation with more than 400 000 members. Its largest…
ArticleHIV/Aids in South Africa
HIV/Aids is a deadly disease, which is currently not curable. The United Nations AIDS agency (UNAIDS) says the evidence that HIV is the underlying cause of…
Background to the Freedom Charter 1955
Defiance Campaign mass meeting The post-1948 period saw the African National Congress (ANC) abandoning its traditional reliance on tactics of moderation such…
PlaceWits School of Arts (WSOA)
The Wits School of Arts (WSOA) is ranked as one of the top interdisciplinary school of arts in South Africa according to World Universities Ranking. Forming…
PlaceGroote Schuur Estate
Cecil Rhodes had a herbivorous menagerie on his estate and in 1896 he was given two lions and a leopard, for which he built an extension onto the menagerie to…
PlaceGreen Point Common
In the 18th century, this area was known by the Dutch as 'De Waterplaats' (The foreshore). The Green Point Common was vested land, which was granted to the…
PlaceRailway Administration Building, bounded by Maitland-, Hanger, St Andrew and Harvey Streets, Bloemfontein
A double-storey brick building with heavily ornamented Victorian and neo-Classical Architectural features. It was designed by Architect; D.W. Wentink and built…
PlacePiquetberg
It is now known as Piketberg. (prior to 1910) The division of Piquetberg originally fell under the district of Tulbagh, whose drostdy was transferred to…
EventFearon Fallows, the first Astronomer Royal at the Cape, is born
Fearon Fallows, the first Astronomer Royal at the Cape, was born to John and Rebecca Fallows on 4 July 1789 in Cockermouth, Cumberland, in England. He spent…
PlaceOld Lutheran Church, Kroondal
The Kroondal congregation was founded by a group of German speaking farmers, artisans and entrepreneurs living in and around the village of Kroondal, on 2…
PlaceOnderstepoort Veterinary Research Institute
The building was designed by the Department of Public Works and was completed in 1908 as the centre for the then bacteriological laboratory on the farm site,…
PlaceMarket Square, Port Elizabeth
The Market Square in the heart of the Port Elizabeth town centre is a historical icon that reveals much about this old coastal town. It is home to the City…
EventThe Queen mother Elizabeth is born.
Elizabeth Angela Marguerite Bowes-Lyon was born on 4 August 1900. Queen Elizabeth Angela was the ninth child and daughter of Claude George Bowes-Lyon, father…
EventSouth African poet, writer and political activist, Mafika Pascal Gwala is born in Durban.
Mafika Pascal Gwala was born on 5 October 1946 in Verulam, north of Durban, KwaZulu-Natal. He is the second child of five children of his parents. He…
EventAmy Johnson, a female aviator, lands in Cape Town in record time
Amy Johnson obtained her pilot's license from the London Aeroplane Club in 1929. After purchasing a second-hand aircraft, she made history by becoming the…
EventP.W. Botha becomes Prime Minister
Following the sudden resignation by Prime Minister B.J. Vorster, the National Party caucus elected Pieter Willem Botha, the Minister of Defence and leader of…
EventBeatles records are banned by the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC), due to John Lennon’s previous ‘Jesus’ comments
In early 1966 John Lennon was reading about Christianity and when he was interviewed by Maureen Cleave for the London Evening Stadard on 4 March, said: …
EventAbram Fischer is struck off the roll of advocates
The Johannesburg Bar Council struck Abram Fischer's name off the roll of advocates for his role in the struggle against apartheid. As an advocate Fischer…
EventMass Democratic Movement (MDM) begins their Defiance Campaign
The United Democratic Front (UDF) was a non-racial coalition group that was initially formed in protest to the Tricameral Parliament. It was one of the most…
EventLiberation struggle activists, Gwala and Mothopeng are released from Robben Island
Two members of the banned liberation movements, Harry Gwala, a member of the African National Congress (ANC) and Zephania Mothopeng a member of the Pan…
EventThe Slagtersnek rebels are tried in the Uithenhage landdros court
Frederik Bezuidenhout owned a farm east of the Cape Colony. After reports surfaced that he was allegedly mistreating one of his Khoikhoi laborers, he was…
EventAcclaimed South African poet Sheila Cussons dies
Acclaimed South African poet Sheila Cussons died in Cape Town. Cussons was known for her poetry works in Afrikaans, produced in ten volumes. Cussons was born…