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PlaceOld Government Building, Church Street, Boksburg
The building was designed by Sytze Wierda, chief architect of the ZAR's Public Works Department. Its foundation stone was laid on 15 October 1890 and…
A new class struggle
While historians are generally in agreement that the main anti-Indian feeling in South Africa was directed towards the merchant class, these sentiments were…
ArticleYoung Communist League of South Africa (YCLSA)
The history of the Young Communist League (YCL) dates back to 1921, although the organisation observes 25 May 1922 as the date of its official formation…
PlaceGhwarrie Poort
The Ghwarrie Poort is located on the tarred N9 between the Karoo towns of Uniondale in the south and Willowmore in the north. The Poort is 14 kms long and…
EventAnglo-Boer War 2: The Battle of Silkaatsnek begins
There is a pass in the Magaliesberg known as Silkaatsnek It was here that the two 12-pounder guns of 'O' Battery, Royal Horse Artillery (RHA), were placed and…
ArticleDefeat of the Liberation struggle
Following the 1960 Sharpeville Massacre, the Government declared a State of Emergency (SOE), in 83 magisterial districts – the first state of emergency…
ArticleShip list of Indian Indentured Labourers
Approximately 152,184 indentured Indians arrived under the scheme of indenture making a total of 384 trips. The first ship the Truro arrived on 16 November…
PlaceSA Army College, Roberts Heights, Pretoria
The main building of the SA Army College was designed in a so-called block-house style and its cornerstone was laid by Lord Kitchener on 12 June 1902. It…
PlaceDiamond Hill Battle, Garden of Remembrance
The site of the Battle of Diamond Hill, which took place on the 11th and 12th June 1900, in which 14000 British soldiers and 4000 Boers engaged in battle…
EventThe siege of Mafeking starts
During the first week of Anglo-Boer War 2, Boer forces besieged the small town of Mafeking (now Mafikeng) in the Northern Cape (now North West Province),…
EventLord Charles Somerset arrives in the Cape as Governor
Lord Charles Somerset was the Governor of the Cape Colony from 1814 to 1826. He arrived in the Cape on 6 April 1814 as Governor with a mandate to further…
Eye of the Needle - Chapter 3 - South Africa: Culture and Conflict
From the book: The Eye of the Needle by Richard Turner South Africa, everyone agrees, is a profoundly unequal society. It is marked by inequality of power, of…
ArticleSouth African Police Services (SAPS)
The South African Police Service (SAPS) that we are familiar with today has its origin after the Second Anglo-Boer War in 1902. Prior to the war each colony or…
Discovery of the Gold in 1884
The first recorded discovery of gold on the Witwatersrand was made by Jan Gerrit Bantjes in June 1884, on the farm Vogelstruisfontein, and was followed soon…
![B J Vorster [John Vorster] portrait](/sites/default/files/styles/saho_medium/public/bio_pics/vorster_bj.jpg?itok=ySN_t7b3)
BiographyB J Vorster [John Vorster]
Overview Balthazar Johannes Vorster (also known as BJ Vorster or John Vorster) was the Prime Minister of South Africa from 1966 to 1978, after having served…
PlaceOak-Villa Cottage, Baviaanskloof Road
Oak Villa is one of the first townhouses in Hout Bay and the first to be erected in the Baviaanskloof area. The original portion of this cottage, consisting of…
Article1946 African Mineworkers Strike
"Two hundred thousand subterranean heroes who, by day and by night, for a mere pittance lay down their lives to the familiar 'fall of rock' and who, at deep…
Durban an Overview
In 1824 Nathaniel Isaacs obtained from Shaka, King of the amaZulu, a grant of land in the area immediately surrounding the bay of Durban. Initially settlement…
CAPS Grade 5: Intermediate Phase History - Term 2
GRADE 5: INTERMEDIATE PHASE HISTORY - TERM 2 Topic: The first farmers in southern Africa Suggested…
ArticleLives of Courage
The writing of the history of the Liberation Struggle only began in earnest after 1994 with the establishment of the new democratic government and the opening…
Mandela: Message to India
South African History Online Mandela: Message to India 18 June 1994 [On the occasion of an India-South Africa Solidarity Meet to discuss the post…
ArticleCradle of Humankind
The Fossil Hominid Sites of Sterkfontein, Swartkrans, Kromdraai, and EnvironsThe Sterkfontein Valley landscape is in both western Gauteng and the North West…
PlaceFort Frederick, Port Elizabeth
Fort Frederick, Port Elizabeth, which is located along Belmont Terrace, is a stone fort built in 1799 by the British Forces to defend the mouth of the Baakens…
PlaceGraaff-Reinet Division
The district of Graaff-Reinet was constituted on 26 August 1785 and its boundaries were proclaimed on 17 July 1786. However, over the next century these…
South Africa’s Radical Tradition, a documentary history, VolumeTwo 1943 - 1964, by Allison Drew - Bibliographical note and further reading
From: South Africa's Radical Tradition, a documentary history, Volume Two 1943 - 1964, by Allison Drew Bibliographical note and further reading African…
PlaceGroote Kerk, Adderley Street, Cape Town.
There is probably no building in South Africa that is better known than the Groote Kerk. Jan van Riebeeck brought the Reformed religion to the Cape and the…
EventThe First Anglo-Boer War: Boers defeat the British at the Battle of Majuba
The poverty and vulnerability of the South African Republic (Transvaal) prompted Disraeli's Conservative government to annex it in 1877. This was an important…
Address of the President of South Africa, Thabo Mbeki, at the AU-African Diaspora Ministerial Conference Gallagher Estate, Friday 16 November 2007
Director of Ceremonies, Your Excellency, Chairperson of the AU Commission, Prof. Alpha Oumar Konare, Your Excellencies Ministers and Deputy Ministers, Your…
Article1973 Durban Strikes
Introduction On 9 January 1973, workers at the Coronation Brick and Tile factory, outside Durban, came out on strike. Immediately thereafter, workers from…
The Role of Women in the Struggle against Apartheid, 15 July 1980
Women in South Africa, since the turn of the century, have emerged as primary catalysts for protests against, and as challengers of, the apartheid regime…