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EventLocal elections receive go
An emergency session was convened by parliament on October 12, 1995, to approve legislation to permit local elections to be held on November 1. This step was…
PlaceAgterwitsenbergkom a Mountain Region in the Route 62, Cape Winelands
Witzenberg is nestled in the Cape Winelands District on Route 62, consisting of : Ceres; Tulbagh; Wolseley; Op-die-Berg and Prince Alfreds Hamlet. The name…
Article2016 in Review
In 2016 South Africa History Online celebrates 15 years of being a public open source heritage site. What a journey it has been. At the end of the first week…
Book 3: Migration, Land and Minerals in the Making of South Africa - Chapter 1 - State Formation in Nineteenth-century South Africa by Yonah Seleti
… in addition to the rise of the Zulu state there were other sources of the violent activity that engulfed the … its motor was more than the rise of the Zulu…
EventFirst Indian workers arrive in South Africa
Sugar farming grew rapidly in the late 1800s in Natal as a result of very cheap “indentured labour” sourced from India. The first group of Indian workers…
The National Arts Festival
In 1974, an inaugural festival titled the 1820 Settlers National Monument was opened as a memorial to the British immigrants in South Africa. They established…
Activity: The first farmers in Southern Africa
Activity: Learning about the farmers Archaeologists found a lot of information from their research surrounding Suikerbosrand and Hartebeespoort Dam near…
ArticleTransport on water
Transport on water Ships and boats are as old as the desire to travel over and across water, and to fish. Boats are smaller than ships. They can be powered by…
European Societies in the Middle Ages
The Middle Ages in Europe, a feudal society Glossary Feudal Society: The stage of society that preceded capitalism, during which a small elite (the…
PlaceZonderwater
Situated in the Highveld of Gauteng, just outside Cullinan near Pretoria. The Zonderwater museum and the Italian Military Cemetery are alongside one another!…
PlaceAha Hills, Northern Cape Border With Namibia and Botswana
Due to the almost total absence of water, there are few animals or birds and only a few insects. The main attraction of these Hills is their solitude and…
EventZola Skweyiya is born
Minister of Social Development of the Republic of South Africa since 17 June 1999, Dr Zola Sidney Themba Skweyiya, was born in Simonstown. Skweyiya is the…
EventThe Bantu Labour Regulations Amendment Bill becomes operative
The South African government introduced this the Bantu Labour Relations Regulation Act in the wake of wide-spread labour unrest to set up a limited system of…
EventThe first issue of the weekly periodical ‘TIME’ appeared on news stands
On this day in history, the first issue of the weekly periodical TIME appeared on newsstands. The first issue was 32 pages and featured a charcoal sketch of…
EventEarly Xhosa author William Gqoba dies
Author, editor, teacher, catechist, interpreter and wagon-maker William Wellington Gqoba (Mbaba, Goba) died in Lovedale, Eastern Cape. He was born in Gaga,…
Chapter 4 - The Township Uprising, September-November 1984
… enveloped the townships in the early 1980s. Traditional sources of income in the townships, such as profits from beer …
Book 5: People, Places and Apartheid - Chapter 4 - The Township Uprising, September-November 1984 by Noor Nieftagodien
… enveloped the townships in the early 1980s. Traditional sources of income in the townships, such as profits from beer …
BiographyDr Alfred Bitini Xuma
Alfred Bitini Xuma was born on 8 March 1893, in Manzana, Ngcobo District, in the Eastern Province (now Eastern Cape). Xuma was the seventh child of Abraham…
ArticleAfrica’s Millennium Development Goals
The Millennium Development Goals (MDGSs) were perceived as a life line the United Nations and the rest of the world were throwing to Africa in order to save…
EventUDF organises boycott of Coloured and Indian parliamentry elections
On 22 August 1984 the United Democratic Front, an internal coalition of anti-apartheid groups, organised highly successful boycotts of the Coloured and Indian…
EventGlaxoSmithKline to reduce AIDS drugs price
Britain's GlaxoSmithKline PLC, the world's largest producer of AIDS drugs, announced it would reduce the price of its popular AIDS medication. Combivir, a…
EventNatal Football Union founded
The Anglo-Zulu War of 1879 and the subsequent war with the South African Republics brought a new influx of Whites to South Africa, many of whom were soccer…
EventMike Gatting's rebel cricket tour is curtailed
Negotiations between the National Sports Council (NSC) and the white South African Cricket Union (SACU) on the rebel cricket tour by Mike Gatting's England…
ArticleThe Mfecane: Understanding a Period of Transformation in Southern Africa
… or "the hammering." Introduction The Problem of Sources Causes of the Mfecane Environmental Crisis Political … - in the service of dispossession. The…
Part 2: Ahmed Kathy Kathrada Addresses Gandhi Satyagraha Tour Delegates
Provenance and AttributionThis recording was produced and first published by Catalyst House. Video shoot and edit by Lynnea Bylund. Recorded on 9 June 2014 at…
EventNovelist and historian Bessie Head is born
Novelist, short story writer and social historian Bessie Amelia Head was born in Pietermaritzburg. Being the daughter of a White mother (who was disowned by…
EventSAA Helderberg 747 crashes
The South African Airways Helderberg 747 jet aircraft crashed into the Indian Ocean near Mauritius, killing all 159 people on board. A fire, which started from…
PlaceBloemfontein City Hall
The Bloemfontein City Hall was built in 1935 and has a beautiful Italian style interior with an attractive sandstone exterior. The Bloemfontein City Hall Is a…
ArchiveDiana Mitchell obituary by Julia Gallagher (The Guardian), 08 February 2016
The Zimbabwean political activist and writer Diana Mitchell, who has died aged 83, was an active opponent of Ian Smith in the 1960s and 70s, and later used her…
Hendrik Verwoerd: 10 quotes by Hendrik Verwoerd (Politics Web), 20 September 2016
… race suicide.” Speech as Prime Minister, 23 January 1962 Sources: Die Transvaler 1 October 1937, Verwoerd Speaks …