SAHO global search

1964

Berni Searle

This biography was written by SAHO in collaboration with Artthrob MODUS OPERANDI When Berni Searle was asked by the Brooklyn Museum of Art what her …

B-0121599

1944-2017

Buchi Emecheta

Florence Onyebuchi Emecheta Obe ‘Buchi Emecheta’ was born in the Nigerian city of Lagos on 21 July in 1944 to Jeremy Nwabudinke, a railway worker and Alice …

B-0122744

1952

Antjie Krog

Antjie was born on 23 October 1952 on a farm in the Free State. She completed her BA degree with Afrikaans (cum laude), Philosophy (cum laude) and English at…

B-0008279

1920-2010

Robert Hodgins

"For me, it is very simple. The act of painting at a particular moment is able, for reasons I neither understands, nor even try to understand, to open up the…

B-0008165

1926-2004

Anthony Sampson

Anthony Sampson was educated at Westminster School and Christ Church in Oxford, and served on the Royal Navy from 1944-7. In 1951, due in part to his…

B-0008981

1939-2018

Hugh Masekela

Hugh Ramopolo Masekela was born on 4 April 1939 in Witbank, near Johannesburg. Masekela showed musical ability from a young age, and began to play piano as a…

B-0008461

1928-2004

Dolly Rathebe

Dolly Rathebe was born in Randfontein, west of Johannesburg in 1928, but grew up within the unique cultural and political milieu of Sophiatown in the 1930s and…

B-0008942

Vusi Mahlasela

Vusimuzi Sidney Mahlasela ka Zwane was born in Mamelodi in 1965. His grandmother ran a shebeen from behind their home. He grew up listening to people singing…

B-0096899

1944

Graeme Pollock

Robert Graeme Pollock was born on 27 February 1944 in Durban. His father was a first-class cricketer and editor of the Port Elizabeth Herald. Pollock attended…

B-0096457

1924-2011

Henry Mutile Fazzie

Henry Mutile Fazzie was born on 3rd of January in 1924 in Stutterheim. Fazzie went into exile in the early 1960s. He joined Umkhonto weSizwe (MK) and underwent…

B-0067999

1953

Jeffrey Thamsanqa Radebe

Jeffrey Thamsanqa Radebe was born on 18 February 1953 in Cato Manor,  Durban, Natal (now kwaZulu-Natal). In 1958, his family was evicted to KwaMashu, north of…

B-0064866

1926-1977

Viola Hashe

Viola Hashe was born in 1926, in Gabashane in the Orange Free State (now Free State Province). Hashe was a teacher by profession. Hashe became involved in…

B-0080306

1935-2013

Sipo Elijah Mzimela

Sipo Elijah Mzimela was born on 19 June 1935, in Durban, Natal (now kwaZulu-Natal) to Allison and Maria Mzimela. The entire family was raised as Anglicans and…

B-0095734

1962-2002

Steve Hilton-Barber

Steve Hilton-Barber was born in Tzaneen, Northern Transvaal (now Limpopo Province) in 1962, into a farming family. He received a Bachelor of Journalism and…

B-0007825

1921-1999

Baruch Hirson

Baruch Hirson, named after his late grandfather, was born on 10 December 1921 at Doomfontein near Johannesburg in the Transvaal. His father was an electrician…

B-0008159

1875-1927

James E. Kwegyir Aggrey

James E. Kwegyir Aggrey was born in 1875 into a family of chiefs. A Ghanaian-born educator and clergyman, and one of the most eminent Africans of his day, he…

B-0007776

Jonathan Ngwenya

Col Jonathan Ngwenya received his basic military training as APLA activist in Conakry, Guinea in 1977. He completed his Instructor Course at Kwame Nkrumah…

B-0008784

1986

Luvuyo Mgobhozi

Luvuyo Mgobhozi along with three other African National Congress (ANC) members were executed in what became known as the "Quarry Road" incident near Durban on…

B-0077101

1967

Hein du Plessis

Born on the 13th February 1967, Hein matriculated at Sentraal High School, Bloemfontein. He studied for a National Diploma in Photography at the Vaal Triangle…

B-0008032

1911-1990

Jan Hendrik Hofmeyer Hoogendyk

Jan Hendrik Hofmeyer Hoogendyk was born in 1911 into a strict 'dopper' home. Hoogendyk was married to Jackie, an accountant. He enlisted with the South…

B-0008174

1897-1962

Richard Granville Baloyi

Richard Granville Baloyi was born on 1897 and lived in Alexandra north of Johannesburg in 1922. His first job was that of a taxi driver but in 1925 he became a…

B-0007816

1894-1966

Irma Stern

Irma Stern was born in 1894 in Schweizer-Reneke, Transvaal. She studied in Weimar and Berlin and had her inaugural exhibition in Berlin in 1919. On her return…

B-0009102

1966-1987

Ashley James Kriel

Ashley Kriel was born on the 17 October 1966 to Ivy and Melvin Kriel. He has two sisters, Michel Assure and Melaney Adams. He grew up in Bonteheuwel, Cape Town…

B-0125501

1920-2000

Fred Carneson

Fred Carneson was born on 13th January 1920 in Goodwood, Cape Town to Anthony and Annie Carneson, a poor Catholic working class family, the sixth of nine…

B-0007921

1922

George Edward Peake

George Edward Peake was a founding member and national Chairperson of the South African Coloured People's Organisation (SACPO) in the 1960s. He was born in the…

B-0068302

1904-1986

Jean van der Poel

Jean van der Poel was born in Cape Town in 1904, and went on to become a prominent historian. Her studies began at the University of Cape Town (UCT), and she…

B-0009200

1957

Pansy Tlakula

Faith Dikeledi Pansy Tlakula grew up in the township of Everton in the Vaal area. She obtained her undergraduate degree in law at the Turfloop University (now…

B-0096673

Vuyi Lesley Mbalo

Vuyi Lesley Mbalo was born in Sophiatown into a Catholic family. He grew up in the suburb of Orlando, Soweto. He was one of 32 students who were forced to flee…

B-0008507

2012

Nkosiyabo Xalabile

Nkosiyabo Xalabile (30) was from Elliotdale in the Eastern Cape. He began working for Lonmin around 2004. On 16 August 2012 Nkosiyabo was killed at scene 2…

B-0121639

1918

Charles Makhohliso

Charles Makhohliso was born in 1918.  As a trade unionist he was responsible for organising better conditions for brick workers.    The Chairperson of the…

B-0008403