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BiographyVice Admiral Refiloe Johannes Mudimu
Vice Admiral J. Mudimu was born on 6 March 1954 in Sophiatown (Johannesburg). He joined the African National Congress (ANC) and Umkhonto We Sizwe (MK) in 1975…
BiographyHelen Kies
Helen Kies (née Abrahams) was born around 1926 in Athlone, Cape Town, Western Cape. Despite a very poor childhood, her father ensured that she received an…
BiographyJulius Sello Malema
Early years and Political involvement Julius Sello Malema was born on 3 March 1981, in Seshego, Limpopo, and raised by a single mother who worked as a…
ArchiveMK unit slept in police station before Sasol attack: TRC hears, SAPA, 8 May 1998
ArchiveMK Special Operations Unit Project Interviews, Peter-Paul Ngwenya, 3 February 2026, Johannesburg (telephonically)
ArchiveMK Special Operations Unit Project Interviews, Teddy Sikakana, 20 November 2025, London (telephonically)
BiographyJulius Nyerere
Julius Nyerere was born on the 13th of April 1922 in Butiama village, next to Lake Victoria, in Tanganyika (name given to the British colony in Tanzania’s…
BiographyBarend Jacobus (Ben) Erasmus
Barend Jacobus Erasmus was born to Barend Jacobus Gerrit Wessel Erasmus and Susara Catharina Elizabeth Horak on 29 December 1918 in Johannesburg. His father…
Ntela Richard Sikhosana
Exiled person, MK Commissar, Robben Island prisoner, member of the African National Congress and South African Communist Party and South African National…
BiographyBaleka Mbete-Kgositsile
Baleka Kgositsile was born on the 24 September 1949 in Claremont, Durban. She spent her pre-school years with her grandmother in the Northern Transvaal but…
“Peoples of the world united against apartheid, for a democratic South Africa”, Closing speech by Oliver Tambo at the ANC conference, Arusha, 4 December
Peoples of the world united against apartheid, for a democratic South Africa The time has come for all of us to leave this friendly city which has been our…
BiographyYusuf Joe Jacobs
Yusuf (Joe) Jacobs was born in District Six, Cape Town on 17 September 1940. His father was Ismail Jacobs, a tailor. His paternal grandfather was Manan Jamie…
BiographyJeremy Patrick Cronin
Jeremy Patrick Cronin was born on 12 September 1949 in Durban, Natal (now KwaZulu-Natal). He grew up in Cape Town, the son of a naval officer who died when…
BiographyMary Butcher Turok
Mary Butcher Turok is the wife of the anti-apartheid activist, parliamentarian and Professor Ben Turok, who played a prominent role in the writing of the…
BiographyPravin Jamnadas Gordhan
The contribution of Pravin Gordhan may never be truly understood and appreciated by millions of South Africans. For those of us who have had the privilege to…
BiographyAbdullah Abdurahman
Abdurahman, who was born in Wellington (Cape Town ) on 18 December 1872 and graduated as a medical doctor from the University of Glasgow in 1893.He return to…
BiographyElize Botha
Elizabeth Botha (née Lindes) was born on 19 November 1930 and grew up in Krugersdorp, West Rand, Transvaal (now Gauteng). She enrolled at the University of…
BiographyBernard Lazarus Sigamoney
Reverend Bernard Lazarus Emmanuel Sigamoney was a political activist, Christian minister, sportsman and champion of non-racial sport, trade unionist and…
BiographyHelene Marie Passtoors
Hélène Passtoors, a Belgian national was born in the Netherlands (from a Belgian-Dutch family) on 9 August 1942. She immersed herself in the struggles of…
BiographyMurphy Morobe
Morobe was born on 2 October 1956 in Soweto. When he was young he spent a lot of time with his uncle, a Minister in the African Methodist Episcopal Church, and…
BiographyKgalema Petrus Motlanthe
Kgalema Petrus Motlanthe was born on 19 July 1949 at the Boksburg-Benoni Hospital. He grew up in Alexandra, Johannesburg, Transvaal (now Gauteng). His parents,…
BiographyBen Wa Mokoena Arnold
Ben Wa Mokoena Arnold was born on 19 July 1942 in Johannesburg. Arnold attended school in Albertville, Newclare and Coronationville. In 1957 he studied under…
BiographyTeboho MacDonald “Tsietsi” Mashinini
Teboho MacDonald "Tsietsi" Mashinini was born on 27 January 1957 in Central Western Jabavu, Soweto. Mashinini was the second son of Ramothibi, a lay preacher…
ArchiveMK Special Operations Unit Project Interviews, George Tate Sibanyoni, 11 February 2026 (telephonically), Delmas
ArticleNational symbols such as the Coat of Arms and the National Anthem
National Symbols since 1994In South Africa, we have a perse number of people and cultures, but we are all South African. National symbols such as a national…
BiographyGeorge Gangen Ponnen
Gangen George Ponnen was born on 1 June 1913 in the district of Rooikopjes near Durban, in the then Natal (now KwaZulu-Natal). His father Ponnen, born in…
BiographyCharles Robberts (Blackie) Swart
Charles Robberts (Blackie) Swart was born on 5 December 1894 in Morgenzon, Winburg district. He was the son of Hermanus Bernardus Swart and Aletta Catharina…
ArticleCuba and the struggle for democracy in South Africa
The revolution in Cuba, culminating in Fidel Castro’s seizure of power on 1 January 1959, was from the beginning based on a non-racial ethos, and revolutionary…
BiographySurinarayan ‘Sonny’ Kala Venkatrathnam
Surinarayan ‘Sonny’ Kala Venkatrathnam was born on 27 July 1935 in Sea View, Durban, Natal (now KwaZulu-Natal). He had 12 siblings. He grew up in very dire…
BiographySydney Alex Kumalo
Sydney Alex Kumalo was born in the middle of the colonial conquest of Africa, the same year that Benito Mussolini’s foreign armies invaded Abyssinia (later…