SAHO global search

1941

Jonas Mosa Gwangwa

Jonas Mosa  Gwangwa  was born in 1941 in Orlando East, Soweto. The young Gwanga was one of many musicians mentored by Alto Saxophonist Kippie Moeketsi. He then…

B-0095443

1928-1993

Sefofane Samuel "Solly Smith" Khunyeli

Sefofane Samuel "Solly Smith" Khunyeli was born on 18th of Septenber 1928 in Steynsrus,near Kroonstad in the Orange Free State,where his father had a brick…

B-0080403

1937-2011

Sizakele Sigxashe

Sizakele Sigxashe was born on 21 June 1937. Sigxashe joined the African National Congress (ANC) in 1959 and became involved in its anti apartheid activities…

B-0071697

1933

Adams Farid Ahmed

Born in 30 November  1933, in India he came to South Africa with his family in June 1935. Adams joined South African Indian Congress (SAIC) and the South…

B-0007771

1929-2005

Isaac Bokala

Isaac Bokala was born in 1929 in Newclare, Johannesburg. Bokala qualified as a teacher at the Wilberforce Institute, and in 1950 he began working at Total, the…

B-0007863

1918-1982

Bartholomew Hlapane

Bartholomew  Moru Hlapane was born in 1918 in in the Ficksburg distric of the Orange Free State. Hlapane was a factory worker. A traitor to the African…

B-0008160

1957-2014

Chris van Wyk

Chris van Wyk was born at Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital, Soweto, Johannesburg in  1957 and grew up in Newclare, before moving to Riverlea, a poor suburb…

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1875-1935

Nontetha Nkwenkwe

Nontetha Nkwenkwe is one of the most remarkable female religious leaders associated with independent churches in the 1920s. Born in King Williamstown in 1875,…

B-0149431

1953

Nkosiyakhe Amos Masondo

Nkosiyakhe Amos Masondo was born on April 21,1953 in Soweto,one of nine children,his parents were tenants on a white farm near Louwsburg in the Northern Natal…

B-0141699

Godfrey Sekhukhune

Mogaramedi Godfrey Sekhukhune was one of the ‘most important’ of the Sekhukhune revolt leaders. He ‘was from the royal family at Mohlaletse and in the 1940s…

B-0149307

1874-1965

Richard Feetham

Richard Feetham was born on 22 November 1874, Penrhos Monmouthshire, England. His father was the Reverend William Feetham, Vicar of Penrhos, Raglan, England…

B-0098483

1924-1968

Canodoise (Can) Themba

Canodoise Daniel Themba (Can Themba) was born in 1924, in Marabastad, Pretoria, Transvaal (now Gauteng),South Africa. He attended the University of Fort Hare,…

B-0009138

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…

B-0068706

1907-1987

Richard Gert Sibande

Richard Gert Sibande was a leader among farm workers in the eastern Transvaal. He was an African National Congress (ANC) activist, and one of the first-string…

B-0068451

1926-2008

Michael Gagashe Zondi

Michael Zondi was born on 10 March 1926 in Msinga in Greytown, Natal. Zondi spent his childhood at a Swedish Lutheran mission station at Mtulwa, Natal. He…

B-0009261

Sylvia Ncediwe Mdunyelwa

Sylvia Ncediwe Mdunyelwa was born in the township of Langa in Cape Town. Mdunyelwa started her singing career in the 1970s when she joined Victor Ntoni’s…

B-0096273

1958

Emmanuel Bonginkosi Nzimande

Dr Emmanuel Bonginkosi "Blade" Nzimande was born in Kwa-Dambuza, Pietermaritzburg, Natal (now kwaZulu-Natal) on 14 April 1958. In the 1980s, he was a member of…

B-0095262

Diana (Di) Bishop

Diana Bishop was born in Cape Town. She made her first political statement at age eleven in 1961 when South Africa became a republic. During the celebrations,…

B-0007856

1910-1977

Max Gordon

Max  Gordon was born in 1910,he was adopted by a family named Gordon after his father's early death.In 1932 he earned a bachelor's degree at the University of…

B-0095012

1936

C. S. Mabaso

C. S. Mabaso was born and educated in Natal and worked at various times as a teacher, a shopkeeper, and a clerk. For about 20 years he also was the secretary…

B-0149483

Elijah H. Mdolomba

Elijah H. Mdolomba was born in the Cape and educated at Healdtown. At the time of Bhambatha Rebellion in 1906, he was chaplain to a loyalist African army unit…

B-0149458

1905-1977

Hyman Meir Basner

Hyman M Basner was born in Russia in 1905, and moved to South Africa at an early age. Basner  and his mother  joined other family members in South Africa in…

B-0007833

1952-2003

Fikile Magadledla

Fikile Magadledla, South African artist and co-founder of the Soweto Art Association, was born in Newclare, Johannesburg, on 13 December 1952. As a young boy…

B-0008370

1906-1996

Laduma Ncwaba Mikaeli Madela

He was an author, illustrator, sculptor, heaven-herd and philosopher. He lived in the Ceza district where he received training as an inyanga from both his…

B-0008362

1908-1986

Nathaniel Impey Honono

Nathaniel Impey Honono (Tshutsha) was born on 21 October 1908, in the district of Qumbu, in the then Transkei (Eastern Cape). He graduated with a BA degree…

B-0008173

1936

Luli Callinicos

Luli Callinicos was born in Johannesburg, and is of Hellenic descent. She began her involvement in the struggle for democracy at an early age. She began her…

B-0007915

1938-2000

Margaret Singana

Margaret Singana was born Margaret Mcingana on 1st January in 1938 in Queenstown in the Eastern Cape. In the 1950s Margaret moved to Johannesburg in search of…

B-0009063

Tu Nokwe

Tu Nokwe was born into a family of musicians. Her father, Alfred, was in a jazz swing band and her mother, Patty, was a soprano singer. When her father…

B-0008813

1911-1991

Dorothy Joan Wright

Dorothy Joan Wright was born in Pretoria in 1911. Wright was the daughter of Dorothy Kay and studied under Francis Pickford-Marriott at the Port Elizabeth…

B-0009238

1937

Bokwe James Mafuna

Bokwe James Mafuna was born in January 14,1937 in Mafikeng.He dropped out of school at 15,was a manual laborer,then spent four years studying for the Catholic…

B-0080525