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EventUDF members challenge the government to arrest them on charges of high treason
Boesak and his colleagues were addressing a protest meeting on the night of 27 February 1985. The meeting was attended by more than 5000 people at the Durban…
EventThe South African security police bombed two houses in Manzini, Swaziland
In response to attacks on the Sasol oil refinery in Secunda, the South African security police bombed two houses in Manzini, Swaziland. The attacks claimed the…
EventIdi Amin, Ugandan dictator, flees after a seven year reign
Idi Amin Dada Oumee fled Uganda on 29 March 1979* first to Libya and eventually to Saudi Arabia. Amin began his career as a cook in the King's African Rifles…
EventThe National President of the Black People’s Convention, Kenneth Hlaku Rachidi, declares that riots have lead to a new era of political consciousness
On 27 June 1976, almost two weeks after the Soweto Uprising on 16 June, Kenneth Hlaku Rachidi, the National President of the Black People's Convention (BPC),…
EventMembers of the ANC and SACP are detained due to Operation Vula
On 25 July 1990 government security forces detained approximately forty members of the African National Congress (ANC) and South African Communist Party (SACP)…
EventMazizi Maqekeza, ANC member, is shot dead whilst in hospital in Maseru, Lesotho
Mazizi Maqekeza and Mbulelo Ngona were among the many South Africans who fled across the border to join the African National Congress (ANC) in their armed…
EventAn application to the Pretoria Supreme Court, to declare the Freedom of Choice to Terminate Pregnancy Law unconstitutional, fails.
An application to the Pretoria Supreme Court, to declare the Freedom of Choice to Terminate Pregnancy Law unconstitutional, fails. In 1998 South Africa's…
EventHansi Pauline Pollak, welfare worker and social activist, is born
Hansi Pauline Pollak was born in Johannesburg in 1905. She served as an officer in command of the Women Army Auxiliary Services during the World War II. In…
EventBasutoland (now Lesotho) becomes British territory
Moshoeshoe is credited as "the father of the Basotho people" as he was responsible for the creation of Lesotho (The Basotho Kingdom), and the drawing together…
EventEugéne Nielen Marais, S.A. poet, writer, lawyer and naturalist, is born
Eugene Nielen Marais began writing at a very young age. By the age of 12, he was a published writer. Marais became famous as an Afrikaans writer, even though…
Women under indentured labour in colonial Natal, 1860-1911 by Jo Beall
From the book: Women and Gender in Southern Africa to 1945 edited by Cherryl Walker To Protector of Indian Immigrants, 27th June 1916. Dear Sir, …
ArticleAfrican National Congress Timeline 1866-1909
In this period early African political organisations were formed; these organisations precipitated the formation of the African National Congress. 1866 …
ArticleThe role of traditional leaders during Apartheid
Introduction The institution of traditional leadership represents an early form of societal organisation. It embodies the protection of culture, traditions,…
English Settlement in South Africa
British presence in the Cape between the 1600s and 1795 was largely confined to the shores of the Cape and Table Bay as a halfway stop by the East India…
ArticleHeritage day, Braai Day or Shaka Day: Whose Heritage is it Anyway?
BackgroundHeritage Day is one of the newly created South African public holidays. It is a day in which all are encouraged to celebrate their cultural…
ArticleLand: dispossession, resistance and restitution
Introduction The history of white colonial land dispossession began at the Cape with the expansion of the Dutch colonial settlement established by Jan van…
David Goldblatt - 'Mostly Unseen' at the Goodman Gallery by Sean O'Toole
'Mostly Unseen' presents a selection of photographs taken by David Goldblatt over the past five decades. At times, it is a show of subtle and understated…
A tireless campaigner by Jaspreet Kindra, 29 October 2003, South Africa
t was in 1996 that a court challenge led to the first government provision of a cheap basic water supply to the destitute. The person behind the challenge was…
SAHO Commemorates 40 Years since Soweto Uprising: Intergenerational Dialogue by Roanne Moodley
Dear Student Movements of 1976, (Dear ex-student behind the movement, who made personal sacrifices that affected your own future- without media coverage-…
On trial for treason
From the book: My Spirit Is Not Banned by Frances Baard and Barbie Schreiner 'Before dawn on 5 December, 1956, the security branch of the police entered the…
ArchiveA death warrant for Afrikaans by Hermann Giliomee, 11 November 2019
Introduction The Constitutional Court’s ruling that Afrikaans as a language of instruction has to be content with a marginal place at Stellenbosch…
EventLadybrand Four story told at the TRC
In December 1986, uMkhonto weSizwe (MK) cadres Joyce ‘Betty Boom’ Koekanyetswe, Nomasonto Mashiya and Tax Sejaname were abducted by members of the Orange Free…
EventGermany signs an unconditional surrender which ends World War II
In the early hours of 7 May 1945, the Chief-of-Staff of the German Armed Forces High Command, General Alfred Jodl, signed unconditional surrender documents to…
PlaceSomalia
Somalia is the Eastern most Country on mainland Africa, situated at the tip of the Horn of Africa. It extends from just south of the Equator northward to the…
PlaceOppenheimer Gardens, Kimberley
The Diggers’ Memorial is one of the monuments that constitute part of this heritage, contributing to it in an important way. It depicts five life-sized miners…
PlaceKoeberg Nuclear Power Station, Cape Town
Construction of Koeberg began in 1976 and Unit 1 was synchronized to the grid on 4 April 1984, with Unit 2 following suit on 25 July 1985. It is situated at…
PlaceBeach houses, Main Road, Muizenberg
These properties, located between Muizenberg and St James, are the only remaining concentration of early 20th century Edwardian beach houses in South Africa,…
PlaceEastern Fort/Battery and Blockhouse, Chapman’s Peak, overlooking Hout Bay, Cape Town
Early Dutch Settlers soon realised that Hout Bay could serve as an alternative anchorage when prevailing winds made Table Bay unsafe. However, successive Dutch…
PlaceTown Hall, 25 Market Street, Uitenhage
Since the 1820’s there was a strong move locally for the Capital of the Colony to be situated in Uitenhage. When the Town Hall was built in 1882 in Market…
PlaceDutch Reformed Church, Zoutpansberg
The Nederduits Gereformeerde congregation of Zoutpansberg was established at Renosterpoort, by S Hofmeyr, in September 1872, with Rev PJJ Boshoff as its first…