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ArticleThe Empire of Mali (1230-1600)
The Empire of Mali was one of the largest empires in West African History, and at its height, it spanned from the Atlantic Coast to central parts of the Sahara…
Sport, Race, and Liberation Before Apartheid by Dr Peter Alegi
Sport, Race, and Liberation Before Apartheid: A Preliminary Study of Albert Luthuli, 1920s-1952s Dr Peter Alegi, Department of History, Michigan State…
ArticleBlack Consciousness and 16 June – The birth of a new generation
The Black Consciousness philosophy gained most of its support in the secondary schools and universities. The role played by the Black Consciousness Movement …
Albie Sachs: From freedom fighter to justice on South Africa’s Constitutional Court by Morris Arvoy
Albie Sachs, an internationally known human rights activist and top judge in South Africa, suffered solitary confinement and exile and survived a bomb attack…
ArticleWomen and The Food and Canning Workers’ Union
The fruit-canning industry in South Africa can be traced to the late nineteenth century, when the first jam factories opened in Paarl and Stellenbosch in the…
ArchiveJakes Gerwel: The epitome of integrity and courage by Niren Tolsi, 30 November 2012
Professor Gert Johannes "Jakes" Gerwel, who died of complications following heart surgery on Wednesday, was a quiet South African, but one who thought and…
EventMakhwenkwe Harrison Butshingi, trade unionist and community leader, dies
On 28 February 1980, Makhwenkwe Harrison Butshingi died in Orlando West, Soweto. Butshingi was born in the Transkei in 1906, and moved to the Transvaal in…
PlaceJutten Island, Saldanha Bay
This Dutch East 'Indiaman', was outbound when she tried to put; 'Merenstein' into Saldanha Bay to alleviate rampant scurvy on board the ship. On April 3, 1702…
A common purpose: the Commonwealth’s support for the AAM
I am grateful for the opportunity to be here and give a short synopsis of the Commonwealth's relations with the Anti-Apartheid Movement. If ever there was an…
BiographyTimothy Peter Jenkin
Timothy Peter Jenkin was born in 1948, in Cape Town and educated at Rondebosch Boys' Prep and Boys' High School,[1][2] matriculating at the age of 17.[3] …
BiographyProfessor Hoosen Mahomed "Jerry" Coovadia
Professor Hoosen Mahomed "Jerry" Coovadia was born in Durban, Natal (now KwaZulu-Natal - KZN) on 2 August 1940. His grandparents had come to South Africa…
BiographyAhmed Mohamed "Kathy" Kathrada
Ahmed Mohamed "Kathy" Kathrada was born on 21 August 1929, to Indian immigrant parents in Schweizer Reneke, a small town in Western Transvaal [now North West…
PlaceSteadville, Ladysmith
Steadville is an African township situated in Ladysmith/Emnambithi, KwaZulu-Natal. The name Steadville comes from the Stead family, particularly Frederick…
Mandela’s membership of the Communist Party: what needs to be reassessed by Tom Lodge
The evidence that Stephen Ellis refers to about Mandela’s membership of the Communist Party is pretty definitive. It is based upon recollections of party…
Increasing repression and the turn to the armed struggle
A series of legislations were passed by the NP led government in the 1950s as it sought to deal with dissent and entrench apartheid. Leading political…
ArchiveFirst Mafika Gwala Lecture: The Arts of Resistance - Mafika Gwala and South African Poetry by Ari Sitas
At first I thought that a reading and a republishing of my Traditions of Poetry in Natal2 which attempted to situate Mafika Pascal Gwala’s work in the late…
EventSA signs treaty with Great Britain on the supply of military equipment to South Africa
Most historians consider the first half of the 1960s as a period in which the Nationalist Party (NP) Government consolidated white rule in the face of growing…
David Goldblatt, TJ, 1948-2010 - review by Claire Guillot, 25 January 2011
One morning, in the middle-class suburb of Johannesburg where he lives, David Goldblatt found his camper van on bricks. "Someone had stolen the wheels during…
Trade Union Council of South Africa (TUCSA)
The Trade Union Council of South Africa (TUCSA) was founded in October 1954 by 61 unions mainly representing White workers and mixed unions of Coloured and…
ArticleAfrikaner Broederbond
On 5 June 1918 disaffected Afrikaners were brought together in a new organisation called Jong Suid-Afrika (Young South Africa). The following year its name was…
ArticleThe Homelands
The Bantustans or homelands, established by the Apartheid Government, were areas to which the majority of the Blacks population was moved to prevent them from…
ArticlePretoria (Tshwane): The Naming of a City
Introduction Pretoria is located in the north east of South Africa, to the north of Gauteng, and 60 Kilometres away from the north east of Johannesburg [i] …
ArticleThe Namibian struggle for independence – 1966 – 1990 – a historical background
During the 1960s most of Africa’s countries had gained independence except for Namibia. Geographically, Namibia is made up of savannah, dry scrub land, as well…
ArticlePeter Henry Abrahams timeline 1919 - 1985
1919 Peter Abrahams is born in Vrededorp, Johannesburg in March 1919 to an Ethiopian father and a Coloured mother. His father passed away when he was young…
PlaceClaremont Main Road Mosque
Introduction The Islamic community of South Africa has grown significantly since the arrival of the first Muslims to the Cape Colony in 1658. The first…
ArticleCommunity histories in Port Elizabeth
Xhosa community The pre-1994 apartheid system of homelands or 'Bantusans' denied Xhosa people South African citizenship and attempted to confine them to the…
EventThe Japanese government announces that South Africans will no longer be granted visas to enter Japan
Due to South Africa’s Apartheid regime in the 1970s and 1980s, many countries were cautious to be seen as allies with the country. Japan was one of these…
BiographyWendy Heather Woods
Wendy Heather Woods (neè Bruce) was born on 5 February 1941 in Mthatha (formerly Umtata), Transkei (now Eastern Cape Province). An outstanding pupil in school,…
Black Student Politics
It is generally recognised that mass popular struggles during the 1970s and 1980s played a pivotal role in eroding apartheid and creating the conditions for…
ArchiveThe National Committee for Liberation (ARM), 1960-1964: sabotage and the question of the ideological subject
Thesis submitted in fulfillment of the requirements for the MA degree in History at the the University of Cape Town by Andries du Toit. The dissertation gives…