SAHO global search

1919

Olive Peace Landman

Beginnings Olive Peace Rosenberg was born in Knysna on 5 August 1919, the eldest daughter of Hendrika Jacoba Pieterse and Ellis Lawrence Rosenberg. Hendrika…

B-0122648

1954

William Andrew ‘Willie’ Hofmeyr

William Andrew Hofmeyr, popularly known as Advocate Willie Hofmeyr, was born on 22 November 1954 in Cape Town, South Africa[i] . After matriculating from…

B-0068071

1924-1969

Imam Abdullah Haron

Imam Abdullah Haron was born on 8 February 1924 in Newlands-Claremont, an area which in the late twentieth century became a very prosperous commercial centre…

B-0008144

1914-2000

Constance Stuart Larrabee

Constance Stuart Larrabee was born in Cornwall, England and came to South Africa with her parents when she was three months old. Constance’s interest in…

B-0008298

1942-2019

Nomhle Nkonyeni

Nomhle Nkonyeni was born on  9 April 1942 in New Brighton, Port Elizabeth, Eastern Cape. She started her acting career at the age of 19 years. In 2002, she…

B-0149590

1939-2022

Francis Wilson

Francis Aylmer Hunter Wilson is the oldest son of the anthropologists, Monica and Godfrey Wilson. He was born in May 1939 in Livingstone, Zambia. During this…

B-0123540

1922-2010

Eulalie Doreen Stott

Eulalie Doreen Stott was born in Fish Hoek on 4 August 1922. Stott was the only child and after her parents’ divorce, when she was just three years old, she…

B-0074109

1888-1942

Ruth Alexander

Ruth Alexander was the daughter of a well-known Hebrew scholar, Solomon Schechter. She was educated at schools in Cambridge, England and New York, United…

B-0066410

1917-2004

Villa Baker

Villa Baker was born on 12 March 1917, the year of the Russian Revolution, while World War I was still raging . She grew up in Brakpan, East Rand Transvaal …

B-0097304

1908-1992

Thayanayagie (Thailema) Pillay

Thayanayagie (Thailema), daughter of Veerammal Naidoo and Govindasamy Kristshnasamy Thambi Naidoo, was four years old when her family moved to the Tolstoy Farm…

B-0068309

1928-2009

Ahmed Essop “Quarter” Khota

Ahmed Essop "Quarter" Khota, was born on 5 July 1928. His friends affectionately knew him as “Quarter”, a name given to him by Nelson Mandela and Walter Sisulu…

B-0064874

1920-1973

Robert M. Resha

Robert M. Resha was born in Bolotwe,Queenstown, Eastern Province [Now Eastern Cape] on 9 March 1920. He completed eight years of formal school and in his late…

B-0008948

1922-2005

John O’ Malley

John O'Malley was born on 6 October 1922 in what was then called Robert Heights, later Voortrekkerhoogte, in Pretoria. His father was a colonel in the army and…

B-0008853

1874-1965

Josephine Ethel (Josie) Wood

Josephine Ethel (Josie) Wood was born on 22 January 1874 in Grahamstown. She was one of the six children of the first mayor of Grahamstown, George Samuel Wood,…

B-0009237

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

Kgosi Abram Ramotshere Moiloa

Kgosi[Chief] Abram Ramotshere Pogiso Moiloa, a key figure in the Bahurutshe resistance of the 1950s, took office in 1932 at the age of 22. He went up ‘to…

B-0094016

1919-1987

James Madhlope Phillips

James Philips was born in Sophiatown into a working class family on 11 December 1919. His father died while he was still young and this had negative socio…

B-0068220

1908-1981

Eli Weinberg

Eli Weinberg was born in 1908 in the port of Libau, in Latvia on the Baltic Sea. He experienced the First World War and the October Revolution of 1917 as a…

B-0009221

Nicholaas Frederic de Waal

Born in Rotterdam in 1853, De Waal was the son of a banker who received a commercial education in Brussels and studied law. He travelled to Europe and America…

B-0123406

Jafta Kgalabi Masemola

Jafta Kgalabi Masemola, “The Tiger of Azania”, also popularly known as “Bra Jeff” by many others, was born at Bon Accord near Pretoria on 12 December 1931. He…

B-0080980

2013

Ronald (Ronnie) Britten

At a young age, while a student at the University of Cape Town, Ronald (Ronnie) Britten was an active member of the then Non-European Unity Movement, later to…

B-0125716

1916-1965

Dr Arthur Elias Letele

Arthur Elias Letele was born on 2nd October 1915 in Maseru, Lesotho. His father, Elias Letele, was a school inspector. His mother, Catherine, was of Xhosa…

B-0008321

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

1905

Ray Harmel (nee Adler)

Ray (or Taube, her Yiddish name) Harmel was born in Lithuania in 1905.  Strongly influenced by some of her six brothers, she joined the-then illegal Lithuanian…

B-0144668

1928-2007

Rebecca Makgomo Masilela (nee Kekana)

Affectionately known as ‘Magogo’ (meaning grandmother – a title bestowed to her for her motherly, nurturing character), Rebecca Makgomo Masilela (nee Kekana)…

B-0150936

1865

Chief Bhambatha kaMancinza Zondi

Chief Bhambatha (sometimes spelled Bhambada) was born in Mpanza near the town of Greytown, Natal Colony. He was the son of Chief Macinga of the abakwa Zondi…

B-0007819

1926

Johannes Jacobus Degenaar

Johannes Jacobus Degenaar was born on 7 March 1926 in Ladysmith. As a young man he was sent to the Cape to study at the University of Stellenbosch, where he…

B-0007981

1889-1916

Harold Cressy

Harold Cressy was born on 1 February 1889 in Rorkes Drift, KwaZulu Natal. He was one of the five children of Bernard and Mary Cressy. The local Roman Catholic…

B-0007962

1936-2008

Joseph (Joe) Mbuku Nhlanhla

Joseph (Joe) Mbuku Nhlanhla was born on 4 December 1936 in Sophiatown. He was one of the five children of Christina Toli (born Buhali) and Samuel Nhlanhla…

B-0008788

1917-1978

Dr Ansuyah Ratipul Singh

Dr Ansuyah Ratipul Singh was born in Durban, Natal (now kwaZulu-Natal) on 12 June 1917. She was the eldest daughter of Latchmee and Chatrapul Singh. Her…

B-0009065