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EventDay of the African Child
The 16th of June is commemorated each year as the Day of the African Child. This commemoration was adopted on 16 June 1991 to honour those who had laid down…
ArchiveJoint Statement on the Durban Riots, by A. W. G. Champion of the ANC (Natal) and Dr. G. M. Naicker of the Natal Indian Congress [n.d.]
JOINT STATEMENT ON THE DURBAN RIOTS, BY A.W.G. CHAMPION OF THE ANC (NATAL) AND DR. G.M. NAICKER OF THE NATAL INDIAN CONGRESS, 1949The African National…
EventPhumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka sworn in as UN- Women Executive Director
Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka was sworn in as the Executive Director of UN Women during a ceremony on 19 August 2013 at United Nations (UN) Headquarters in New York…
EventSS Mendi sinks in the English Channel on the way to France
The sinking of the SS Mendi on 21 February 1917 became one of South Africa's worst tragedies of the First World War (1914-1919). A total of 616 South Africans,…
EventSA is banned from the Olympic Games
In October 1963, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) decided in Baden Baden, Germany, that South Africa would have to eliminate racial discrimination in…
EventDr Abrahams to be returned to Bechuanaland
The South African prime minister, Dr H.F. Verwoerd, announced in a statement before the Supreme Court in Cape Town, that Dr. Kenneth Abrahams would be returned…
EventThe Liquor Laws Amendment Bill comes into effect
Location: back to this day in history search archive The Liquor Act, which was passed on 23 June 1927, prohibited Africans and Indians from serving liquor,…
EventGeraldine Fraser is born
Geraldine Fraser was born on 24 August 1960, in Lansdowne, Cape Town, the daughter of a teacher and factory worker. She became politically active at…
EventFollowing the infamous Treason Trial, ANC leader Chief Albert Luthuli is banished by the Apartheid Government for five years
Chief Albert John Luthuli, President of the African National Congress (ANC) from 1952 to 1967 and Nobel Peace Prize winner in 1961, was one of South Africa's…
EventJacob Zuma, Former President of South Africa and of the ANC, is born.
Jacob Gedleyihlekisa Zuma was born on the 12 April 1942, at Inkandla, in KwaZulu Natal. At the age of 17, he joined the African National Congress (ANC),…
EventSA Corps of Military Police is reorganised
On 10 November 1939, shortly after the outbreak of the Second World War (WW2), Proclamation 276 of Government Gazette 2699 was published. This proclamation…
A.G. Visser, SA physician and poet, dies in Heidelberg, Transvaal
Andries Gerhardus Visser was born on 1 March 1878 on the farm Zaaifontein, in the district of Fraserburg, South Africa. Visser attended the Huguenot Memorial…
EventUDF leaders are charged with treason
Three leading members of the United Democratic Front (UDF), Archibald Gumede, Paul David and Billy Nair were charged with high treason. These anti-apartheid…
EventCar bomb explodes outside Air Force headquarters
On the afternoon of 20 May 1983, two African National Congress (ANC) cadres, Freddie Shangwe and Ezekial Maseko, drove to Church Street in Pretoria and parked…
EventArmscor’s Chairman announces the production of a record breaking South African artillery system
On 28 March 1982, the Chairman of Armscor announced that South Africa had developed a 155mm artillery piece that outranged it's counterparts of a similar…
EventDr. Rhoodie is arrested
Dr Eschel Rhoodie, former South African secretary of information, was initially tracked down by a journalist at Ecuador. Rhoodie had fled South Africa shortly…
EventThe last passenger boat of the Union Castle line, the Windsor Castle, leaves Table Bay
Once part of a vital communications link between Europe and Southern Africa, the RMS Windsor Castle was the last of the Union Castle Line's, "Cape Mail Express…
EventThe National President of the Black People’s Convention, Kenneth Hlaku Rachidi, declares that riots have lead to a new era of political consciousness
On 27 June 1976, almost two weeks after the Soweto Uprising on 16 June, Kenneth Hlaku Rachidi, the National President of the Black People's Convention (BPC),…
EventKaunda announces nationalisation of Copper mines
Zambian President Kenneth Kaunda announces nationalisation of copper mining companies, key to Zambia's economy contributing over 50 percent of government…
EventA South African spy is released from jail
Location: back to this day in history search archive Odile Harrington, a South African convicted and imprisoned for espionage in Zimbabwe in 1987, was…
EventA car bomb explodes at Ellis Park Rugby Stadium
On 2 July 1988, Lester Dumakude, commander of an Umkhonto we Sizwe special operations unit, detonated a car bomb by remote control outside Ellis Park Stadium…
EventThe Azanian People’s Liberation Army (APLA) disbands
The Azanian People's Liberation Army (APLA) was the underground military wing of the Pan African Congress (PAC). APLA was formed in the 1960s, after the…
EventThe first cable connection between SA and Europe is launched
On 31 July 1879, the first cable connection between South Africa and Europe, via Aden, was launched. It was laid by the British electrical engineer Charles…
EventSir Percy Fitzpatrick, author of ‘Jock of the Bushveld’, is born
On 24 July 1862, Sir Percy Fitzpatrick was born in King Williams Town. He was the eldest son of James Coleman Fitzpatrick and Jenny Fitzgerald, both of whom…
PlaceOld Court House, Victoria Embankment, Durban
The building was designed by architect Stanley Hudson and was erected in 1911 as the Old Court House, and is the oldest public building in the central business…
PlaceRugby Museum, V & A Waterfront, Cape Town
The Rugby Museum has one of the largest private collections of rugby memorabilia and is one of its kind in the world, a must-see for rugby fans, the Springbok…
The Sweet Workers’ Union
The Sweet Workers’ Union (SWU) originated as an offshoot of the short-lived Women Workers’ Union, founded by Fanny Klenerman in the mid-1920s, when that…
ArticleThe Arniston
The Arniston was built on the River Thames, England in 1794. It was a three-decked and three-masted British East Indiaman vessel and was first used as a…
ArticleThe role of traditional leaders during Apartheid
Introduction The institution of traditional leadership represents an early form of societal organisation. It embodies the protection of culture, traditions,…
ArticleTowards a people’s culture - Art and Resistance under Apartheid
Art in the state of siegeThe Sharpeville Massacre was one of the most important turning points in the history of South Africa. It triggered a chain of events,…