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EventDr Chris Barnard performs second heart transplant at Groote Schuur Hospital
Renowned surgeon, Dr Chris Barnard, performed his second heart transplant operation at Groote Schuur Hospital a month after his first transplant. Hamilton Naki…
EventPretoria disputes compensation for Gaborone raid
The government of South Africa disputed compensation claims from the government of Botswana for damages caused by the July 1985 South African Defence Force…
EventNP set to withdraw from GNU
Deputy President F.W. de Klerk announced that the National Party was to withdraw from the Government of National Unity on June 30. This came after the African…
EventAfrikaans becomes the official language of the Union of South Africa
When the Union of South Africa was formed in 1910, it consisted of the Transvaal, the Orange Free State, Natal and the Cape Province. Dutch and English were…
EventSouth Africa concludes an agreement with the Marconi Company for a high
During the South African War in 1899, Marconi wireless equipment was tested in South Africa, with mixed results. Land-based military radio proved problematic,…
EventJan van Riebeeck’s statue, presented by Cecil John Rhodes, is unveiled in Cape Town
On 18 May 1899, a statue of the first European to settle at the Cape, Jan van Riebeeck, was unveiled. The statue stands on Heerengracht Street in Cape Town. It…
EventBarry Hough, SA literary critic and successful author of mainly teenage books is found dead
Barry Micheal Hough was a literary critic and author of Afrikaans teenage fiction. He was born in Johannesburg in 1953. He obtained a BA Communications degree…
EventChiliboy Ralepelle becomes the first black player to lead the Springboks against a World XV in England
Rugby player, Mahlatse Chiliboy Ralepelle was born in Tzaneen on 11 September 1986. Ralepelle moved to Pretoria and attended Pretoria Boys High School, where…
EventIvorian Footballer, Arouna Kone, is born in Anyama, Ivory Coast
Arouna Kone was born in Anyama, CÁ´te d'Ivoire on 11 November 1983. Kone began his football career as a player for his hometown team Rio Sport d'Anyama. In…
Descom Bulletin
In 1982, Neil Aggett, a Trade Unionist and Medical Doctor became the first white political prisoner to die in the detention under the custody of the security…
![Freddie Mercury [Bulsara], singer and songwriter, is born in Zanzibar, Africa.](/sites/default/files/styles/saho_medium/public/event_pics/Freddie%20Mercury.jpg?itok=Vuq6ADKe)
EventFreddie Mercury [Bulsara], singer and songwriter, is born in Zanzibar, Africa.
Freddie Mercury was born Farrokh Bulsara in Zanzibar, East Africa. His parents were Parsis from Bombay (now Mumbai), India. Mercury was sent to boarding school…
EventHelen Nontando Jabavu, author and periodical editor in London, is born in Middeldrift, SA
Helen Nontando (Noni) Jabavu was born in 1919 in the Eastern Cape into a literary family. From the age of thirteen, she was schooled in England, and continued…
EventBenjamin Mzimkulu Macala, SA artist, is born
Benjamin Mzimkulu (Ben) Macala was born in Bloemfontein, Orange Free State (now Free State). As a young boy he tended cattle on a farm in the Free State and…
EventGerard Moerdijk, SA architect of several church buildings and the Voortrekker monument, dies
Gerard Moerdijk, the architect whose most famous work is the Voortreker Monument in Pretoria, died on 29 March 1958, aged 68 years old. Moerdjk matriculated at…
EventThe passive resistance movement begins with a mass meeting of 2000 Africans
The passive resistance movement began on 30 March 1919 when a mass meeting of two thousand Africans in Vrededorp decided to reject the passes. The next day,…
PlacePaul Kruger’s House, 60 Church Street West, Pretoria
The dwelling is a low single-storey structure with few architectural features of note. However it was spacious and well built, and remains in its original…
Gandhi, Tamils and the Satyagraha in South Africa by E.S Reddy
At a farewell meeting of the Tamil community in Johannesburg on July 15, 1914, Gandhi said that the Tamils bore the brunt of the satyagraha struggle and that…
ArchiveSpeech of the President of the ANC, Nelson Mandela to members of the British parliament House of Commons, London, 5 May 1993
… should extend all-round assistance to us. As you know in 1989, the United Nations General Assembly adopted a Consensus …
Who Shot My Dad? by Jann Turner
… I began searching for my father's killer in 1989. I was living in New York City at the time. I read in …
PlaceJubilee Art Centre
The Jubilee Art Centre in central Johannesburg joined these alternative art education centres in the 1970s but was forced to relocate to the Mofolo Art Centre…
PlaceConcordia
The village of Concordia was established in 1863 as a station of the Rhenish Missionary Society. It seems probable that its founding coincided with the opening…
EventANC President Oliver Tambo meets with Mikhail Gorbachev in Moscow
The African National Congress (ANC) leader, Oliver Tambo met Mikhail Gorbachev, General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU)’s Central…
EventIsmael Mahomed became first black judge appointed to the Supreme Court of South Africa
Judge Ismael Mahomed became first black judge to be appointed to the Supreme Court of South Africa. At the time of his appointment the South African government…
EventMinister promises relaxation of apartheid rules and elimination of racial segregation in sports
The Minister of Sport, Piet Koornhof, announced a relaxation of apartheid rules for sport and declared that the government is working towards eliminating…
EventArchbishop Owen Cardinal McCann becomes South Africa’s first cardinal.
Roman Catholic Church Archbishop of Cape Town, Owen McCann, an enemy of Apartheid, became South Africa's first Cardinal when he was invested by Pope Paul VI in…
EventJames Filbert Sojane, sports administrator and pioneer in the taxi industry, dies
James Filbert Sojane was born in the Free State in 1925. After qualifying as a teacher in the Free State, Sojane moved to Johannesburg to stay with his sister…
EventMac Maharaj, Laloo Chiba, Raymond Nyanda and Andrew Masondo arrive on Robben Island prison
On 5 January 1965, members of the African National Congress (ANC) Mac Maharaj, Laloo Chiba, Raymond Nyanda and Andrew Masondo arrived at Robben Island. They…
EventHelen Suzman condemns the Immorality Act in Parliament
On 23 February 1962, a member of Progressive Party Helen Suzman condemned the Immorality Act, saying that the law was bringing misery and deprivation in its…
EventDutch Foreign Minister Luns is asked by the Johannesburg
On 16 February 1960, the Dutch Minister of Foreign Affairs J.M.A.H Luns was asked by Johannesburg-based Dutch Immigration Committee to cease what they call …
EventLaurie Bloomfield takes picture of rioting in Cato Manor, Durban
On 24 January 1960, Laurie Bloomfield, a photographer for the Daily News took a picture of rioting in Cato Manor, Durban which was immediately published around…