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ArticleAfrican National Congress Timeline 1950-1959
After coming to power in 1948, the National Party-led government began implementing apartheid by passing a series of racist laws, notably the Population…
BiographySindiso Mfenyana
Background and Childhood Sindiso Mfenyana is descended from the Bhele clan, which is an offshoot of the Hlubi tribe. He traces his roots back to a small town…
ArticleNUSAS Wages Commission Timeline 1971-1973
1971 11 March, A resolution is passed at a student body meeting for the establishment of a student Wages Commission. David Hemson, Halton Cheadle, David…
ArticleSharpeville Timeline
16 December 1959 - At the annual African National Congress (ANC) conference, Chief Albert Luthuli declared that 1960 would be the "Year of the Pass", with a…
ArticleResponse to the June 16 Soweto Youth Uprising by organisations in exile
June 16 marks the commemoration of National Youth Day in South Africa. This is the day the country reflects on the massacre of school children during the…
Growing social unrest: Community mobilisation, strikes and student protests in the Western Cape in the 1980s
The late 1970s witnessed increased labour unrest in the region of the Western Cape. For instance, the Fattis and Monis strike and boycott, Saldanha Bay fish…
ArticleThe Arrival of Jan Van Riebeeck in the Cape - 6 April 1652
On 24 December 1651, accompanied by his wife and son, Jan van Riebeeck set off from Texel in The Netherlands for the Cape of Good Hope. Van Riebeeck had signed…
ArticleIndian South Africans
From bondage to freedom - The 160th anniversary of the arrival of Indian workers in South Africa The feature on Indian South Africans forms part of our…
ArchivePrison letter from Petros Sipho Mkhize to his parents-in-law at Zondi, Soweto
A handwritten letter in isiZulu on prison notepaper, sent from "V963 Petros M'Khize, Central Prison, Private Bag 45, Pretoria." It opens "Mama wami noBaba" (My…
American Supporters of the Defiance Campaign by George M. Houser
[NOTE: In this statement at a meeting of the United Nations Special Committee against Apartheid on June 25, 1982, to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the …
ArticleGeneral South African History Timeline: 1950s
1950 - 1960 In Fietas, Johannesburg, the Transvaal Indian Congress (TIC) initiates and implements the 'Decade of Defiance'. 1950 Florence Matomela…
PlaceHangberg, Hout Bay
Hangberg is an Area in Hout Bay, Cape Town. It is situated on the Mountain slopes between Hout Bay Harbour and The Sentinel Peak and many of the residents are…
PlaceHanover Park, Cape Town
The Village of Hanover Park was incorporated into Cape Town on August 14, 1958. It had a population of 305, in 2011. By 2022 it has grown to 34,625!…
ArticleA history of Soweto
The consequence of this promising wealth was that a great number of people left their farms, rural homes and other towns in South Africa to make a quick buck…
ArticleWalter Sisulu Timeline 1912-2003
1912 18 May, Walter Ulyate Max Sisulu is born in Engcobo District in the Transkei, in the same year, the ANC was formed. 1920 Walter returns from his…
The Legal Veneer
From: A Crime Against Humanity - Analysing the Repression of the Apartheid State edited by Max Coleman The apartheid government always had an obsession with…
EventSibongile Khumalo was born on this day
On this day Sibongile Khumalo was born in Orlando, Soweto. She is one of the most recognized jazz musicians in South Africa. She was launched into the…
EventJohn Kani was born on this day
On this day Bonisile John Kani was born in New Brighton, in the Eastern Cape. He matriculated at Newell High School and his love for theatre led him to work…
PlaceSacramento Cannon, Cape Recife
This bronze artifice, cast by the Bocarro family, also known as the Miracle Cannon, was salvaged in May 1977 from the Shipwreck site of the Portuguese Ship-…
EventPrime Minister Verwoerd’s assassin transferred from prison to a mental asylum
On 30 June 1994, the Minister of Correctional Services in South Africa, Dr Sipho Mzimela, announced that Dimitri Tsafendas, the parliamentary messenger who…
ArticleNatal Indian Association (NIA)
The Natal Indian Association (NIA) was formed when the Natal Indian Congress (NIC) and the Colonial Born and Settlers Indian Association (CBSIA) amalgamated.[1…
ArticleChanges in modern forms of communication
The Postal system The act of sending letters from one person to another developed soon after the invention of writing, however, the creation of a formal…
EventANC's Nelson Mandela in a historic political rally
African National Congress's deputy president Nelson Mandela addressed a crowd of 300 000 in Port Elizabeth in what was described as South Africa's biggest ever…
PlaceMandela Capture Site, Howick in Kwa Zulu Natal
"To see this sculpture of Mandela!" Visit the Capture Site between Nottingham Road and Howick in KwaZulu-Natal. In 2012, to mark the 50th anniversary…
Event1 575 people are detained under a state of emergency
The events which led to mass detentions in April 1960 were the following: A state of emergency was called after anti-pass demonstrations at Sharpeville, Langa…
EventMore than 100 miners are crushed to death near Orkney
The mining industry in South Africa remains one of the most hazardous professions, this despite the enormous amounts invested in it and the resulting wealth…
EventState of Emergency follows Sharpeville massacre
The government proceeded with the introduction of apartheid laws in the 1950s. An example of this was the hated pass law. This forced Black people to carry…
EventThe Boipotong massacre takes place
During the period of transition and negotiation in South Africa, the core area of the conflict in the late 1980s was in the KwaZulu-Natal area where battles…
EventHundreds of thousands of people killed as tsunamis devastate large swathes of South and Southeast Asia, coming as far as South Africa
On the morning of 26 December 2004, a magnitude 9.3 earthquake struck off the Northwest coast of the Indonesian island of Sumatra. The earthquake deformed the…
EventKhayelitsha becomes the first township in the Western Cape to confirm a COVID-19 case
On 29 March 2020, Khayelitsha township in Cape Town, Western Cape was the first township to confirm positive case of Covid- 19 virus. The Western Cape province…