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EventHistory of December 16
December 16 looms large in the history of South Africa; it is celebrated as the Day of Reconciliation. First celebrated as ‘Dingane’s Day,’ when the…
ArticleEnd Conscription Campaign (ECC)
In the late 1970s four young men publicly refused to obey their army call-ups by the South African Defence Force (SADF) and were sentenced to up to 18 months…
ArchiveHow the apartheid regime burnt books – in their tens of thousands, 24 October 2018
On the advice of the State Librarian one fine day in the 1970s, a truck transported thousands of books and magazines from Pretoria’s Central Police Station to…
ArticleWomen’s Role in the Negotiations by Nicole Dellaportas
This article was written by Nicole Dellaportas and forms part of the SAHO and Southern Methodist University partnership project Women’s Role in the…
ArticleForced Removals in South Africa
… include the series of acts promulgated in the early 1900s in order to restrict the freedom of Asian South …
ArticleAfrican National Congress Youth League (ANCYL)
The African National Congress Youth League (ANCYL) was established on 2 April 1944, by Anton Lambede (who became the League’s first President), Nelson Mandela,…
A growing urban African population
As Johannesburg expanded, so did its need for African labour. After the First World War, a large number of factories were being established and were growing in…
EventThe South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) introduces its first national news service
The history of broadcasting in South Africa can be traced back to 1923, when the first wireless broadcast was made in Johannesburg. By April 1927, an hour of…
BiographyWessel Johannes “Hansie” Cronje
Wessel Johannes "Hansie" Cronje was born in Bloemfontein on 25 September 1969 to Ewie and San-Marie Cronje. He attended Grey College in Bloemfontein, a…
BiographyJohannes Nkosi
A martyr for the Communist Party of South Africa (CPSA and SACP after 1953), was the son of Jacobina Nkosi (no details of his father could be traced). Nkosi…
BiographyBenjamin Magson Kies
Benjamin Magson Kies Introduction Benjamin Magson Kies was an important South African political activist and theorist from about the middle of the 1930s…
BiographyHaile Selassie I
Early years The 225th and last Ethiopian Emperor, Haile Selassie was born in Ethiopia in a region called Ejersa Gora on 23 July 1892. His birth name given…
BiographyEllen Phyllis Hellman
Ellen Hellmann was born in Johannesburg, South Africa on August 25, 1908. She was the daughter of Bernard Kaumheimer, who emigrated to South Africa from…
BiographyThamsanqa “Thami” Mnyele
"For me as craftsman, the act of creating art should complement the act of creating shelter for my family or liberating the country for me people. This is…
BiographyMimi Coertse
Mimi Coertse was South Africa's first operatic prima donna."Prima donna", in its true sense, properly indicates the chief female vocalist in an opera company…
BiographyGünther Komnick
Günther Komnick was born in Insterburg in the former German province of East Prussia in 1929 into a cultured family of artists. He lived through the monumental…
BiographyIrma Stern
Irma Stern was born in 1894 in Schweizer-Reneke, Transvaal. She studied in Weimar and Berlin and had her inaugural exhibition in Berlin in 1919. On her return…
Siphiwe Nyanda
Siphiwe Nyanda was the eldest of the six children of Betsy and Henry Nyanda, a traffic inspector and area supervisor of liquor outlets for the Johannesburg…
BiographyNavanethem (Navi) Pillay
Navanethem (Navi) Pillay was born on 23 September 1941 in Clairwood, Durban, Natal (now KwaZulu-Natal). She attended the University of Natal (now University of…
BiographyRowley Israel Arenstein
Rowley Israel Arenstein was born on 7th of July in 1918. Arenstein was a prominent Durban attorney,the son of immigrant eastern European jews and a leader of…
BiographyEsther Barsel
Born in Raguva, Lithuania on 17 October 1924, Esther Barsel (nee Levin) came to South Africa in 1927 when she was three years old. She and her mother followed…
PlaceA History of Ottosdal and Letsopa
… The Koranna lived in this area from 1700 until the early 1900s and before Ottosdal was established as a town, the area …
BiographyArchbishop Emeritus Desmond Mpilo Tutu
Desmond Mpilo Tutu (known fondly as the "Arch”) was born in Klerksdorp on 7 October 1931. His father, Zachariah, who was educated at a Mission school, was the…
PlaceMofolo Arts Centre
Located on Mzilikazi Street in Mofolo, the Mofolo Arts Centre is a hub of cultural and artistic exploration in Soweto. The centre is one of the few…
BiographyDr James Sebe Moroka
Dr. James Sebe Moroka was the great grandson of Chief Moroka I of the Barolong, from Thaba Nchu in the then Orange Free State. Moroka was born on 16 March…
Desirable or undesirable Basotho women?' Liquor, prostitution and the migration of Basotho women to the Rand, 1920-1945' by P. L. Bonner
… who were being extruded from Free State farms in the 1900s and 1910s. Her comment could equally appropriately be … unaware. Women arriving in the Free State…
ArticleTeachers League of South Africa (TLSA) conference in 1925
Background The establishment of the Teachers’ League of South Africa (TLSA) emerged out of increasing racial segregation in the Cape. While segregation had…
Hunter-Gatherers in Southern Africa
For more than 95% of the last 100 000 years, most people all over the world followed a hunting and gathering way of life. Until recently, people living by…
BiographyKasturba Gandhi
Kasturba Kapadia was born on April 11 1869 in Porbandar, in present day Gujarat. She was the daughter of Gokuldas Makanji Kapadia, a wealthy merchant. Kasturba…
Event19 die at Shell House massacre
African National Congress (ANC) security guards at Shell House killed nineteen Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) members following a tip-off that IFP marchers were…