SAHO global search

1949-2007

Henry “Black Cat” Cele

Henry “Black Cat” Cele was born on 30 January 1949 in KwaMashu, Durban, South Africa.  As a member of the Cele family he was referred to by his clan name Ndosi…

B-0065253

1945

Luis Inácio Lula da Silva

Luis Inácio Lula da Silva was born on 27 October 1945 in the state of Pernambuco in Brazil. He was the 35th President of Brazil.President Lula had little…

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1850s-1911

Pambani Jeremiah Mzimba

Pambani Jeremiah Mzimba was born in the 1850s at Ngqakayi in the Eastern Cape. His father, Ntibane Mzimba, was educated in Lovedale and became a deacon in the…

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1947-2010

Busisiwe Victoria Mhlongo

Busisiwe Victoria Mhlongo, popularly known as Busi Mhlongo, was born on 28 October 1947 at Inanda, near Durban in KwaZulu-Natal. She began her singing…

B-0065035

1920-2002

Ismail "Tatamkhulu Afrika" Joubert

Ismail "Tatamkhulu Afrika" Joubert  was born in As Sallum in Egypt as Mohamed Faud Nasif to an Arab father and a Turkish mother on 7 December 1920. His parents…

B-0065030

1954

Marlene van Niekerk

Marlene van Niekerk was born in 1954, on a farm in Tygerhoek near Caledon. An outstanding intellectual, philosopher and prodigious literary giant, van Niekerk…

B-0064907

1941

Mannie Manim

Mannie Manim was born in June 1941, in Cape Town. With more than 50 years’ involvement in theatre, Manim has left indelible imprints in the arts and…

B-0064905

1930-2007

Doc Bikitsha

Basil Sipho Neo Bridgeman Bikitsha, known as “Doc” Bikitsha, was born on 19 November 1930 at the Bridgman Memorial Hospital in Mayfair, Johannesburg. After…

B-0064904

1954

Tony Sithembiso Yengeni

Sithembiso Tony Yengeni was born in Cape Town and grew up in two Cape townships, Gugulethu and Nyanga. He completed his matric at Fort Beaufort college in Cape…

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1933-2009

Anton Ndoda Xaba

David Anton Ndoda ‘Mfenendala’ Xaba was born in Sobantu Village in Pietermaritzburg.  He left school in the late 1940s and went to work in Durban.  He joined…

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Fani Mkhize

Fanio (also documented as Fanozi and called Chicken Man) Mkize was born in 1950. When Mkize was retrenched from Clover Dairies he earned a living dealing in…

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1812-1893

Johannes Willem (Jan) Viljoen

Johannes Willem (Jan) Viljoen was born in 14 May 1812, Winterhoek. Having moved from Oudtshoorn to the present Orange Free State in 1843, he settled near…

B-0068728

1926-2009

Gerrit Viljoen

Gerrit Viljoen was born in Cape Town on 11 September 1926 to Helena and Hendrik Geldenhuys Viljoen. At the time of his birth his father was the editor of…

B-0068727

1926-2007

Edgar Dumile Ngoyi

Edgar Dumile Ngoyi was born on 26 December 1926 in the Eastern Cape. He worked as a painter and builder. Ngoyi became politically active in the ANC as a member…

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Madi Gray

Madi Gray was born in Cape Town, where she grew up, attended school and went to university.  Her parents were immigrants from Germany, who came to South Africa…

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1967

Nkosinathi Christopher ‘Nko’ Mbuyabo

Nkosinathi Christopher Mbuyabo was born at eCintas in East London on the 23 December 1967. Nko as he was popularly known was the fourth out of six children of…

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1920-2017

Violet Sarah Matlou (née Phiri)

Violet Sarah Matlou (nee Phiri) was born on 4 April 1920 in Rustenburg. She started her schooling in Welgeval and completed it at Mmabeskraal under the…

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1931

Matsobane Morris Matsemela

Matsobane Morris Matsemela was born in 1931. He attended the Mashashane School up to Standard 6. Matsemela started working at his uncle’s dairy farm in Lady…

B-0068679

1936-2015

Letsau Nelson Diale

Nelson Diale was born on 1st January 1936 at Ga-Masemola in Limpopo where he spent most of his childhood years. He attended school in Sekobetlane Maphutha. In…

B-0068675

1940-2010

Frederik van Zyl Slabbert

Frederik van Zyl Slabbert and his twin sister were born on 2 March 1940 in Pretoria to Barbara Zacharia Hagen and Petrus Johannes Slabbert. Slabbert attended…

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1739-1793

Baron Joachim van Plettenberg

J.A. van Plettenberg was born on the 8 March 1739 in Leeuwarden in Friesland, the Netherlands, the son of Hendrik Casimir and Agatha Petronella van Ammena…

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1921

Richard Ernest van der Ross

Richard Ernest Van der Ross was born in 1921, he studied at the University of Cape Town where he received M.A., B.Ed., and Ph.D. degrees. For some years he was…

B-0068650

1960

Ismail Vadi

Ismail Vadi was born in 1960 in Kliptown where the historic Congress of the Congress was held in 1955. He matriculated at the Trinity Secondary School in…

B-0068648

1912-1957

Gladstone Xala Tshume

Gladstone Xala Tshume was born on 1912, he joined the Communist Party of South Africa (CPSA) in the late 1930s while working for a coal dealer in Grahamstown…

B-0068642

1930

Chief Mshiywa Henry Tshabalala

Born 1930. Clerk. Lived in Alexander. Was a popular amateur boxer and lost the use of his right eye in the ring. Active in Congress since the Defiance Campaign…

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Dan Tloome

Born in the Orange Free State, Tloome became involved in trade union work in the 1930s and joined the Communist Party. In 1941 he was chosen vice-president of…

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1895-1962

Elliot Tonjeni

Elliot Tonjeni was born in 1895 in the Transkei and later went to Cape Town, where he joined the Communist Party of South Africa (CPSA) and was active in the…

B-0068612

1885

Nehemiah Tile

Leader of the first major secessionist church in South Africa, Tile was born in Tembuland in the Transkei and received some formal education at Boloto. He…

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1888-1948

James M. Thaele

James M. Thaele was born in Basutoland in 1888 and was reputed to be the son of a Basuto chief and a Coloured mother. From 1906 until about 1910, he studied at…

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1947-2008

Mike Terry

Terry was an active member of the British Anti-Apartheid Movement (AAM), which was born in 1960 after theSharpeville Massacre and succeeded the Boycott…

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