SAHO global search

1958-2021

Dr Somalingum (Leslie) Ponnusamy

Dr Somalingum (Leslie) Ponnusamy was born in Durban on 1 September 1958. He was the youngest of four sons. The family resided in Sea Cow Lake and later…

B-0150859

1952-1981

Krishna Rabilal

Krishna Rabilal was born on 6 November 1952 to working class parents in the township of Merebank, south of Durban, Natal (now KwaZulu-Natal – KZN). A quiet…

B-0151749

1952

Bheki Cele

Life and Early Career Bhekokwakhe (Bheki) Hamilton Cele was born on 22 April 1952 to Albertina Mtshali and Gillford Cele at uMuzumbe Mission Hospital near…

B-0151812

1929-2026

Hazel Goldreich (Berman)

B-0153659

Joel Joffe

Joffe was born to a Jewish family on 12 May, 1932 in Johannesburg, Transvaal (now Gauteng). His father, Abraham Joffe, a businessman, had come from Latvia and…

B-0066325

1950-2012

Zwelakhe Sisulu

Zwelakhe Sisulu was born in Soweto on 17 December 1950, to liberation struggle icons Walter and Albertina Sisulu. He was the third of five children. When he…

B-0093770

1949-2001

Jeffry Dumo Baqwa

Jeffry Dumo Baqwa was born on 24th of July 1949 in Pinetown, Natal. He was the second child and oldest son (two younger brothers were to follow). His father…

B-0095266

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

1947-1972

Mthuli ka Shezi

Mthuli ka Shezi was a leading Black Consciousness Movement (BCM) intellectual. He was also a playwright and a cultural activist. He was president of the…

B-0096633

1956

Jack John Masinga

John Jack Masinga was a student at Duduza Sibonelo Secondary school when the 1976 Uprisings started. Masinga, Felix Mpeka and Duncan Mahlangu formed a student…

B-0149220

1953-2020

Walter Kefuoe Fikeleph Chakela

Walter Kefuoe Fikelephi Chakela was a revered playwright and poet born on 13 April 1953 in Vryburg, a small, conservative Afrikaner town in Transvaal (now…

B-0150280

Traci Mackie

Traci Mackie was born to a working-class family, in an industrial village called Blackburn in Scotland. When she was nine years old, her parents decided to…

B-0150305

1946

Ashlatha Rambally

Ashlatha Moodley (nèe Rambally) was born in Pietermaritzburg, Natal (now KwaZulu-Natal) in 1946 and grew up in the small town of Colenso. After completing her…

B-0150418

1948

Sumboornam Pillay

Sumboornam (Sam) Pillay, who later became known as Sam Moodley, was born in 1948*. She grew up in the multi-cultural community of Dundee, Northern Natal (now…

B-0150469

Ambrose Makiwane

Ambrose Makiwane was born in Soweto. He attended Clarkebury School and was expelled after participating in a student strike. This, coupled with that his…

B-0069129

1925-2013

Alan Robert Lipman

Alan Robert Lipman was born on 6 June, 1925 in Johannesburg into a wealthy Jewish family. After he served in the South African Air Force during World War II,…

B-0094738

1921-2004

Ambrose Mzimkhulu Makiwane

Ambrose Makiwane was born in 29th of November in1921 near Cala in the Transkei. He attended Clarkebury School and was expelled after participating in a student…

B-0141679

1919-2000

Mary Dorothy Benson

Dorothy Mary Benson – known as Mary Benson – was born on 8 December 1919 in Pretoria, Transvaal Province (now Gauteng), where she received her early education…

B-0007841

1810-1841

Rev. George Champion

Reverend George Champion was born in the state of Connecticut, United States in 1810. After graduating from Yale University, Champion joined the American Board…

B-0007934

1803-1894

Rev. Aldin Grout

Aldin Grout was born on 2 September 1803 in Pelham, Massachusetts in the United States. In 1830 Grout graduated from Amherst College and continued to study in…

B-0008127

1920-2005

Raymond Mhlaba

Raymond Mhlaba was born in Mazoka village at Fort Beaufort in the Eastern Cape.He was one of eight children of a policeman. Five of his siblings died in…

B-0008557

1886-1982

Henry Selby Msimang

Selby Msimang was born on 13 December 1886 in Edendale, Pietermaritzburg. He and his elder brother, Richard Msimang,were born to Joel Msimang and his wife…

B-0008695

1917-1985

Jordan Kush Ngubane

Jordan Kush Ngubane was born 15 November 1917 near Ladysmith in Natal, the son of a policeman. After receiving his early education in Ladysmith, he entered…

B-0068246

Luthuli Daluxolo Wordsworth

B-0077997

1904-1996

Nokukhanya Luthuli

Nokukhanya Luthuli, maiden name Bhengu, (also known as MaBhengu) was the wife of Chief Albert John Luthuli. Although she never became as public a figure as her…

B-0122581

1926-2024

Zuleikha Mayat

Zuleikha Mayat was born in 1926 in Potchefstroom, Transvaal (now North West Province). Her father, Mohamed Bismilla, was a prominent business person who first…

B-0151008

Piet Retief

Piet Retief was born on 12 November 1780 in the Wagenmakersvallei, (known as Wellington today), Cape Province. He was the fifth of 10 children of Jacobus, a…

B-0068386

1922

Michael Hathorn

Michael Hathorn was born in Pietermaritzburg, Natal in 1922.  After schooling, he went to Wits University in Johannesburg, and qualified with a BSc in Mining…

B-0122028

1910-1960s

Jameson Gilbert Coka

Jameson Gilbert Coka was born in 1910 on a white farm near Vryheid, Natal, the son of a sharecropper. He won a bursary to Adams College, where he completed his…

B-0007951

James J. Majoro

A clerk and ex-miner, Majoro was instrumental in establishing the African Mineworkers' Union. He later became its secretary and was one of the accused in the…

B-0008389