SAHO global search

Elias Monare

Elias Monare, from ‘Dube Street 1935, Wattville Natives Town, Benoni’ in the Transvaal [now Gauteng], was banished on 25 April 1955  at the age of 31 to ‘Glen…

B-0080861

1931-2015

Dr. Oshadi Maphefo Jane Mangena

Dr Oshadi Mangena was born in a toilet on 12 June 1931 when her father’s employer refused to allow her mother to wait for an ambulance inside her home, as she…

B-0096510

1949-1984

Jeanette Eva Schoon (née Curtis)

Jeanette Eva Schoon (née Curtis) was born in 1949 in Cape Town. In 1972, Curtis served as the Vice-President of the National Union of South African Students …

B-0091115

1860-1926

Emily Hobhouse

In 1899 Emily Hobhouse was appointed secretary of the South African Conciliation Committee, which was a group that opposed the British government policy…

B-0008164

1949

Norman Catherine

Norman Catherine was born in East London, South Africa in September 1949. He studied at the East London Technical School of Art and held his first solo…

B-0007927

Benjamin Ulenga

Benjamin (Ben) Ulenga was born in Owamboland. His father was a labourer, who from age 16 or 17 had to leave Owamboland to work on various English, Dutch,…

B-0099834

1944

Mongane Wally Serote

Mongane Wally Serote was born in Sophiatown, Johannesburg on 8 May 1944, just four years before the National Party (NP) came to power in South Africa. His…

B-0068945

1947-2007

Neville Wilson Curtis

Neville Wilson Curtis was born on 16 October 1947, Johannesburg, Transvaal (now Gauteng). his one of five children of an Australia-born miner.His father, John …

B-0094976

1915

Reverend Beyers Naudé

Beyers Naudé was born in Roodepoort, in the then Transvaal, on 10 May 1915. He was named after Christiaan Frederik Beyers, a Boer general who was close to his…

B-0068227

1830-1913

Gordon Sprigg

Early Life John Gordon Sprig was born in Ipswich, England in 1830, the son of a pastor. He schooled at Ipswich and at other private schools before taking up…

B-0123390

1936-1999

Ahmed Gora Ebrahim

Ahmed Gora Ebrahim was born in Durban on 29 May 1936.  Ebrahim cut his political teeth in Trotskyite circles while studying at Sastri College and Natal…

B-0096554

1937

Sylvia Neame

Sylvia Brereton Neame (also known as Sylvia Neame-Jahn) was born in 1937, one of four children. She had two older brothers, Peter and Graham, as well as a twin…

B-0095076

1938

Ronald (Ronnie) Kasrils

Ronald Kasrils was born in Yeoville, Johannesburg, on 15 November 1938.  His grandparents were immigrants from Latvia and Lithuania, who had fled from the…

B-0008229

1910-1978

Dr Gangathura Mohambry (Monty) Naicker

Dr Gangathura Mohambry Naicker (more popularly known as Dr Monty Naicker) was the eldest son of Papiah Gangathura Naicker, a well-to-do businessman, and his…

B-0068173

1945-2025

David Hemson

David Hemson was born on 18 July 1945 in Durban, Natal. His father was a serviceman and by default Hemson was granted British citizenship. Hemson grew up in a…

B-0094484

1910-1987

Mattheus Uys Krige

Mattheus Uys Krige and his contribution to the Second World War  Mattheus Uys Krige (1910-1987) can certainly be counted among the most dynamic literary…

B-0123687

1903-1966

Edward “Eddie” Roux

Edward Roux was born in the northern Transvaal in 1903, the son of an English mother and. an Afrikaner father. He grew up in Johannesburg, where his father…

B-0068388

1851-1897

Barney Barnato

Barney Barnato was born in 21 February 1851, Whitechapel slum of London. His original name was Barnett Issacs but changed it to Barney Barnatto when he was…

B-0007830

Chief Maqoma

"Without question Maqoma was the most renowned Xhosa chief in South Africa's 19th-century frontier wars.Born in 1798, he was the Right Hand Son of Ngqika, King…

B-0008442

1938

Enos Molapo Makhubedu

Enos Molapo Makhubedu was born at Eersterus, near Pretoria in 1938. He grew up in Pilgrim’s Rest where he completed his higher primary school studies in 1951…

B-0008405

1896-1951

Clements Kadalie

Clements Kadalie was born in April 1896 in Nkhata Bay District at Chifira village near the Bandawe Mission Station in Nyasaland, presently Malawi. He was the…

B-0008223

1870-1938

Leo Rbc Francois

Leo Francois Rbc was born in Chemnitz, Germany, 1870. Francois, a long serving President of the NSA, was a protagonist with SASA in his quest to unite the…

B-0008082

1954

Tony Sithembiso Yengeni

Sithembiso Tony Yengeni was born in Cape Town and grew up in two Cape townships, Gugulethu and Nyanga. He completed his matric at Fort Beaufort college in Cape…

B-0068905

1850-1916

Lord Kitchener

Best known for his famous recruitment posters bearing his heavily moustachioed face and pointing hand over the legend, "Your country needs you", as secretary…

B-0067726

1954

Vice Admiral Refiloe Johannes Mudimu

Vice Admiral J. Mudimu was born on 6 March 1954 in Sophiatown (Johannesburg). He joined the African National Congress (ANC) and Umkhonto We Sizwe (MK) in 1975…

B-0074796

1958

Michael Sedgwick

Michael Sedgwick was born on the 20th February 1958 in Claremont in the Western Cape. He grew up in Hanover Park on the Cape Flats. His school career started…

B-0009005

1955-2008

Bhekumuzi Hyacinth Mseleku

Bhekumuzi Hyacinth Mseleku was born in Durban in 1955.  A self-taught pianist, saxophonist, guitarist, composer and arranger, he was born to a musician father…

B-0095589

1916-1988

Pieter Arnoldus Beyleveld

Pieter Beyleveld was born in 1916 in the Orange Free State and educated at farm schools. He joined the army at the outbreak of World War II, when many of his…

B-0007849

1926-2017

Helen Kies

Helen Kies (née Abrahams) was born around 1926 in Athlone, Cape Town, Western Cape. Despite a very poor childhood, her father ensured that she received an…

B-0096277

1924-1972

Alfred ‘Tough’ Hutchinson

Alfred ‘Tough’ Hutchinson  was born of coloured and Swazi parents in 1924 in the Hectorspruit district of the Eastern Transvaal, he graduated from St. Peter's…

B-0008184