SAHO global search

1854-1925

Alfred Milner

Alfred Milner, a statesman and colonial administrator, became Governor of the Cape and High Commissioner of South Africa in 1897. He pushed the Transvaal…

B-0008561

1925-2020

Andrew Mokete Mlangeni

Andrew Mokete Mlangeni was born on 6 June 1925 on a farm in the Bethlehem, Orange Free State (now Free State Province) district, as one of a twin (he has a…

B-0008579

1959

Thandi Modise

Thandi Modise, the youngest of six children, was born on 25 December 1959 in Huhudi township near Vryburg in the North West. Her father, Frans Modise, a…

B-0008591

1956-2020

Santu Mofokeng

Born in 1956, Mofokeng grew up in and around Soweto (Johannesburg), spending most of his childhood in Orlando East. Mofokeng’s initial experiences with…

B-0008597

1933

Bishop Mmutlanyane Stanley Mogoba

Stanley Mmutlanyane Mogoba was born on 29 March 1933 outside Polokwane, Limpopo. He was the last born in a family of six. His father Reuben Tshomoko Sethulane…

B-0008601

1922-1993

Rahima Moosa

Rahima Moosa was born in the Strand, Cape Town on 14 October 1922. She attended Trafalgar High School in Cape Town. As a teenager, Rahima and her identical…

B-0008641

1921-2012

Motsamai Keyecwe Mpho

Motsamai Keyecwe Mpho was born to a peasant family in Maun Bechuanaland (now Botswana) on 3 February 1921. His family came from a non-Setswana-speaking ethnic…

B-0008685

1915-1971

H. A. Naidoo

H. A. Naidoo was born in Durban in 1915 and was recruited into the Communist Party in the mid-1930s by Edward Roux. He became an active trade unionist, and…

B-0008731

1928-2013

Phyllis Naidoo

Phyllis Naidoo was born in Estcourt, Natal (now kwaZulu-Natal) on the 5 January 1928. She was the daughter of Simon David, a teacher and principal. His…

B-0008734

1860-1930

Govindasamy Krishnasamy Thambi Naidoo

Govindasamy Krishnasamy Thambi Naidoo*was born of indentured stock in 1875 in Mauritius. His family, originally from Mattur, state of Madras, in Tamil Nadu…

B-0008737

1929-2008

Billy Nair

Billy Nair was born in Ansonia Lane (now Lacey Road), Sydenham, Durban on 27 November 1929. He was one of five children born to Parvathy and Ittynian (Kisten)…

B-0008740

1955

Jabulani Sam Nhlengethwa

Jabulani Sam Nhlengethwa was born on 9 January 1955 in the Payneville township of Springs, Gauteng (formerly Transvaal). Forced removals in the area made his…

B-0008790

1957

Cedric Nunn

Cedric Nunn was born in Nongoma, Natal (KwaZulu-Natal) on 22 December 1957. He attended the Little Flower School in Ixopo, Natal (KwaZulu-Natal) and continued…

B-0008832

1903-1979

Josie Palmer

Josephine ‘Josie’ Palmer (Mpama) was born in 1903 in Potchefstroom, Transvaal (now North West Province), to Georgina Garson and Stephen Bonny Mpama, an…

B-0008861

1950

Biddy Partridge

Bridget June Partridge was born in 1950 in Kenya and raised in South Africa. Biddy Partridge first began work as a freelance photographer for the South…

B-0008865

Myron Peter

Myron Peter was born in 1954 in Durban, Natal (now KwaZulu-Natal - KZN). He studied at the University of Durban-Westville (UDW) [now University of KwaZulu…

B-0008880

1876-1932

Solomon Tshekisho Plaatje

Solomon Tshekisho Plaatje was born on 9 October 1876 in the Boshof district of the Orange Free State. His parents were Christians who belonged to the Setswana…

B-0008897

1952

Jeevenundhan (Jeeva) Rajgopaul

Jeevenundhan (Jeeva) Rajgopaul was born in November 1952, in Dundee, Natal (now KwaZulu-Natal). He grew up in Clairwood, Durb an. In 1961 his family was…

B-0008931

1952

Cyril Matamela Ramaphosa

 Cyril  Matamela Ramaphosa was born in Johannesburg, Transvaal (now Gauteng) on 17 November 1952. He is the second of the three children of Erdmuth and Samuel…

B-0008934

1932-2016

Mewa Ramgobin

Mewalal “Mewa” Ramgobin was born on 10 November 1932 in Inanda, Natal (now KwaZulu-Natal). His grandparents arrived in Natal as indentured labourers. His…

B-0008936

1935

Judge Albert Louis “Albie” Sachs

Albert Louis Sachs was born in Johannesburg in 1935. His father, Emil Solomon (Solly) Sachs, had arrived in South Africa from Lithuania at the age of six, on…

B-0008976

1931-2020

Jürgen Schadeberg

Jurgen Schadeberg was born in Berlin, Germany on 18 March 1931. He was raised by his mother, Rosemarie, the only child in a single-parent family of limited…

B-0008991

1954

Wendy Schwegmann

Wendy Schwegmann was born in 1954 in Zululand, where she spent her youth. She has a diploma in Interior Design from Natal Technical college and is a graduate…

B-0008998

1923-2013

Reginald (Reggie) September

Reginald September was born in Wynberg in Cape Town on 13 June 1923, the son of Florence, a housewife, and Nicholas September, a carpenter. He first attended…

B-0009020

1937-2006

Stella Margaret Nomzamo Sigcau

Stella Margaret Nomzamo Sigcau was born on 4 January 1937, she was the eldest of the three children of Paramount Chief Botha Sigcau of East Pondoland who…

B-0009051

1910-1984

Annie Silinga

Annie Silinga was born in 1910 at Nqqamakwe in the Butterworth district of the Transkei where she completed only a few years of primary school. In 1937 she…

B-0009054

1913-1970

Debi Singh

He was born in 1913 and became a teacher and later a farmer near Durban. As secretary of the Anti-Segregation Council in the mid-1940s he was instrumental in…

B-0009064

1917-1978

Dr Ansuyah Ratipul Singh

Dr Ansuyah Ratipul Singh was born in Durban, Natal (now kwaZulu-Natal) on 12 June 1917. She was the eldest daughter of Latchmee and Chatrapul Singh. Her…

B-0009065

1920

Jaydew Nasib Singh

Jaydew Nasib Singh was born in South Africa about 1920 and graduated in the mid-1940s with a law degree from the University of the Witwatersrand, where he was…

B-0009066

1926-1995

Joe Slovo

Joe Slovo was born in Lithuania in 1926. He moved to South Africa with his parents at the age of nine. His father was a van driver in Johannesburg. Slovo…

B-0009082