SAHO global search

1927-2011

Professor Carel Boshoff

Carel Boshoff was born on 9 November 1927, a second child from the second marriage of his father. He spent his early life on a cattle farm in the Waterberg…

B-0007874

1915-2003

Kaiser Daliwonga Matanzima

Kaiser  Daliwonga Matanzima was a chief of the Thembus. Matanzima was born June 15,1915 in Qamata in Eastern Cape. When the South African government introduced…

B-0008481

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

1938

Ngoako David Thebehali

David Thebehali was born on 3 June 1938 in Orlando East, Soweto. His parents were among the earliest residents of Soweto. From 1945 to 1952 he was a pupil at…

B-0009134

1943

Mmapula Mmakgoba “Helen” Sebidi

Mmapula Mmakgoba Helen Sebidi was born in Marapyane, near Hammanskraal,on 5th March in 1943. She developed a life-long love for the designs of traditional arts…

B-0009003

1928-2010

Professor Fatima Meer

Fatima Meer was born in Grey Street, Durban on 12 August 1928, the daughter of Moosa Meer and Rachel Farrel and the second born of their nine children. Her…

B-0065346

1916-1993

Solomzi Ashby Peter Mda

Solomzi Ashby Peter Mda was born on 6th April 1916, in Herschel district, bordering Lesotho. He was the first son of Mildred Mei, a school teacher and…

B-0008532

1954-2019

Paul Grendon

“I am interested in making large-scale paintings that can be used in public places with imagery that is totally accessible to everyone.” Paul Grendon…

B-0008124

1938-1999

Ezrom Legae

Ezrom Kgobonyane Sebata Legae was born in Vrededorp, Johannesburg in 1938. He attended school at St. Cyprians and Madibane High School. In 1959, Legae studied…

B-0008309

1932-2002

Soromini Kallichurum

Soromini Kallichurum was born in 1932 in Ladysmith, Natal (now kwaZulu-Natal). In 1950, Soromini Kallichurum was one of the first 12 undergraduates to enrol at…

B-0098100

1936

Willie Esterhuyse

Professor Willem Petrus Esterhuyse (Willie) Esterhuyse was born in 1936 in Laingsburg, Western Province (now Western Cape), on his father’s farm. From humble…

B-0096558

1873-1936

Sidney Percival Bunting

Sidney Percival Bunting was born on 29 June of 1873 in London, the son of Sir Percy William Bunting, the founder and editor of the Contemporary Review. His…

B-0007901

1955-2010

Benny (!Khoisan X) Alexander

Benny Alexander, the third child of Estelle and Johann Alexander, a labourer, was born on 4th of March 1955 in Kimberley, where he also grew up. Following…

B-0007785

1918-1973

Barend 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…

B-0008049

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…

B-0068553

1906-1999

Dr. Kesaveloo Goonaruthnum Naidoo (Dr Goonam)

Dr Kesaveloo Goonaruthnum Naidoo  (Dr Goonam) was born in 1906 in Durban. She grew up in Grey Street, with three brothers and three sisters. Along with her…

B-0008116

1902-1978

Jan Bouws

Jan Bouws, accomplished musician, composer, lecturer and author, was born in the Netherlands in Purmerend on 28 July 1902. He trained in Musicology at the…

B-0007881

1957-2006

Monty Johannes Motloung

Motloung started his primary schooling at Mmuso Lower Primary School in 1965. Ten years later, in 1975, Motloung went to pursue his secondary education at…

B-0008669

Connie Mofokeng

Mofokeng was a member of the Soweto Student Representative Council (SSRC) at the time of the Soweto uprising. After the uprising she was one of the hundreds…

B-0008595

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

1928-2009

Curtis Nkondo

Curtis Nkondo was born on 1st February 1928 in Louis Trichardt, Northern Transvaal (now Makhado, Limpopo). Towards the end of the 1800s, his grandmother, Ma…

B-0068743

1925-2012

Professor Emeritus Phillip Tobias

Phillip Valentine Tobias was born on October 14, 1925. He went to St Andrew School and later moved to Durban High School in 1939 where he matriculating in 1942…

B-0086265

1941

Navanethem (Navi) Pillay

Navanethem (Navi) Pillay was born on 23 September 1941 in Clairwood, Durban, Natal (now KwaZulu-Natal). She attended the University of Natal (now University of…

B-0124151

1937-1965

Ndazana Nathaniel Nakasa (Nat Nakasa)

Ndazana Nathaniel (Nat) Nakasa was born on 12 May 1937 in Lusikisiki, Eastern Cape. Nakasa was the second of three children of Joseph Nakasa and his wife,…

B-0008741

1935

Durant Basi Sihlali

Durant Basi Sihlali was born on 5 March 1935 in an industrial area, Germiston, Transvaal, now known as Gauteng Province. Due to harsh living conditions, his…

B-0098973

1954-1979

Selaelo Charles 'Dan' Ramusi

Selaelo Charles "Dan" Ramusi was born 14 November 1954 in Dube Village, Soweto, Transvaal (now Gauteng). He was the first born son of the late Collins…

B-0075473

1934-2006

Vusumzi (Vusi) Linda Make

Vusimuzi Linda Make was born in Boksburg in 1934, the son of a priest, and later moved to Evaton.the son of an African Methodist  Episcopal minister,Make grew…

B-0008393

1956

Ndabenhle William Zulu

He was born at Nsengeni in the Vryheid district. He attended the Nsengeni Mission School. In 1968 he moved to Emondlo Township and attended the Ikhethelihle…

B-0009263

Ramnie Dinat

Ramnie Naidoo, the daughter of Ama and Narainsamy Thambi Naidoo, worked in the Transvaal Indian Youth Congress (TIYC) since her childhood. At the age of nine,…

B-0095275

1924-2009

Dennis Brutus

Dennis Brutus was born in Salisbury, Rhodesia (present day Zimbabwe) on 28 November in 1924.His parents moved to Port Elizabeth where he grew up,at the age of…

B-0007892