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National Archives The government archives service in South Africa houses and preserves the state records and other documents that have been collected since…
Nelson Mandela Family Tree
The Mandela family tree drafted by Nelson Mandela and K.D. Matanzima. From the book Higher Than Hope - 'Rolihlahla we love you' by Fatima Meer. Click here for…
ArticleWestern Cape Civic Association (WCCA)
Civic organisation also experienced problems in organising across the racial divide. Initially the emerging civic organisation in African township and coloured…
ArticleUnited Women’s Organisation (UWO)
The United Women’s Organisation (UWO) was launched in April 1981 with 400 delegates from the Western Cape attending. Some of the women who pioneered the…
ArticleHistory of Women’s Struggle in South Africa
Women at the start of the 20th centuryIt is only over the last three or four decades that women's role in the history of South Africa has, belatedly, been…
ArticleCuba and the struggle for democracy in South Africa
The revolution in Cuba, culminating in Fidel Castro’s seizure of power on 1 January 1959, was from the beginning based on a non-racial ethos, and revolutionary…
Chapter 2 - Industrialisation and the Revitalisation of Black Politics in the 1940s
Three documents, fundamental changes that took place in black protest politics and African nationalist thinking during the 1940s, particularly in the African…
Beerhalls in Soweto from Soweto Heritage Survey Final Report compiled by Steven Lebelo and Elsabe Brink for the National Monuments Council, Northern Region
Beerhalls have always been at the centre of the waves of political turmoil in Johannesburg's African townships. The Johannesburg City Council JCC) opened a…
PlaceRwanda
… as soon as the rebels approached [clxviii] . In 1993 about 950.000 Hutu people were internally displaced [clxix] . Paul …
PlacePanorama Route, Mpumalanga
The Panorama Route starts at, Nelspruit where you can go visit the Lowveld Botanical Garden. It moves on to White River where you can go play Golf and visit a…
Into the Fifties: Defiance by Norman Levy
From the book: The Final Prize by Norman Levy Chapter 8 Into the Fifties: Defiance Mass trials and mass action characterised the next two decades. The …
ArticleForced Removals in South Africa
Forced removals refer to the moving of people from their homes against their will. This may not always involve physical threat or force, but sometimes coercion…
ArticleMangosuthu Buthelezi: the Zulu nationalist who left his mark on South Africa’s history
Mangosuthu Gatsha Buthelezi played a prominent role in South African politics for almost half a century. He was one of the last of a generation of black South…
ArticleMangosuthu Buthelezi was a man of immense political talent and contradictions
Mangosuthu Gatsha Buthelezi, who has died, was a history maker. He was born on 27 August 1928 into a tumultuous global century, and into the local conditions…
PlaceMsunduzi River
The Msunduzi River flows through the center of Pietermaritzburg, the Capital of KwaZulu-Natal and is the namesake of the Msunduzi Municipality, where the City…
ArticleNelson Mandela Timeline 2000-2014
2000 January, The partnership is formalized by South African National Aids Council (SANAC) to review its two years of work against HIV/AIDS being under the…
ArchiveBiography of Florence Matomela by Maximiliano Rubio
Her collegue in the anti-apartheid struggle, Hilda Bernstein, describes Florence Matomela as ‘a woman who gave out warmth and life like the African sun, full…
Document 68 - Letter from the Workers’ Party of South Africa, Johannesburg, to the Cape Town branch, 26 February 1937
From: South Africa's Radical Tradition, a documentary history, Volume One 1907 - 1950, by Allison Drew The origins and development of Trotskyism 171 Document…
PlaceNieu-Bethesda
It was founded in 1875 as a Church Town, like many other Karoo Villages. It was started by a determined group of people who lived in the area and who wanted a…
EventParliament passes legislation separating the people of South Africa into four distinct races
The National Assembly voted in favour of the separation of the people of South Africa into four distinct races (White, Black, Coloured, and Indian) through…
Johannesburg Timeline 1800-1991
1806 Sir John Barrow indicates on a map that gold is to be found in the approximate vicinity of either the Witwatersrand or the Magaliesberge. 1852 Gold…
ArticleThe South African Coloured People’s Organisation (SACPO)
The South African Coloured People’s Organisation (SACPO) was formed in 1953 at a Coloured People's Convention in Cape Town. The organisation aimed to unite…
ArticleThe History of May Day in South Africa
The struggle for a shorter workday, a demand of major political significance for the working class dates back to the 1800s. On 7 October 1884, the Federation…
A Society for the “Advancement of Art”
Hayden Proud, Curator of Historical Collections of Painting and Sculpture, Iziko Museums of Cape Town Some years ago, a small body of artists clubbed together…
ArticleA Short History of ESKOM, Part 1 (1923-2001)
This short history of Electrical Supply Commission (ESKOM) aims to provide an overview of the history of the power utility over its first seventy-eight years…
Document 58 - Robert Mangaliso Sobukwe, “The Opening Address at the Africanist Inaugural Convention”, 4 April 1959 [….]
From: South Africa's Radical Tradition, a documentary history, Volume Two 1943 - 1964, by Allison Drew Document 58 - Robert Mangaliso Sobukwe, "The Opening…
ArticleA list of South African Shipwrecks
Antipolis (1977) The Antipolis, a Greek oil tanker, ran aground on the rocks near Victoria Road in Oudekraal in the Cape on 29 July 1977. It was being…
ArticleThe Influenza epidemic
In March 1918 an international influenza pandemic broke out, that led to the deaths of 50 million people worldwide. The pandemic spread simultaneously in…
Article1967 Terrorism Act, No. 83 of 1967
The 1967 Terrorism Act was one the most important pieces of legislation passed by the South African apartheid regime. Though the Act’s stated purpose was to…
Chapter 1 - The Victory of the Nationalist Party in 1948
From: Lessons of the 1950s By Richard Monroe, March-May 1984 Chapter 1 - The Victory of the Nationalist Party in 1948 The African National Congress (ANC) arose…