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EventFirst Indian workers arrive in South Africa
Sugar farming grew rapidly in the late 1800s in Natal as a result of very cheap “indentured labour” sourced from India. The first group of Indian workers…
EventThe soccer match between Lourenco Marques club Desportive and Durban City Football Club is called off because a rule against Coloured players
On 17 February 1962, the soccer match between Lourenco Marques (Mozambique) club Desportive and Durban City Football Club (South Africa) was called off. A…
EventSouth Africa withdraws from the Commonwealth
On 5 October 1960 a referendum of White voters was held to decide whether South Africa should become a republic. The result showed that 52% were in favour of a…
EventPW Botha states that the Soviets will not prevent South Africa from attacking ANC bases in Mozambique
The regular cross border raids by South African troops, that violated the sovereignty of its neighbouring countries in order to prop up the Apartheid system,…
EventChief Mangosuthu Buthelezi calls for National Convention
The leader of the Zulu Territorial Authority, Chief Mangosuthu Gatsha Buthelezi, called for a National Convention of all races in South Africa to make a…
EventInkatha becomes a political party
The Inkatha National Cultural Liberation Movement, founded on 21 March 1975, was transformed into the multi-racial Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) at a special…
EventJameson Raid starts
Leander Starr Jameson led a group of about six hundred men of the Mashonaland Mounted Police from Bechuanaland (now Botswana) over the border of the Zuid…
EventBritain imposes an embargo on Rhodesian trade
Britain imposed an embargo on Rhodesian trade. The ban came just two months after Southern Rhodesia (now known as Zimbabwe) Prime Minister, Ian Douglas Smith,…
EventMoroccan explorer, Ibn Battuta is born
Abu Abdullah Muhammad Ibn Abdullah Al Lawati Al Tanji Ibn Battuta was born into a Muslim family in Tangier, Morocco. At the age of 21 Battuta set out on a…
EventRoger Joyce Bushell, Auxiliary Air Force pilot famous for his escape from the German prisoner of war camp, is born in Springs, Transvaal (now Gauteng)
Roger Joyce Bushell was born in Springs, Transvaal (now Gauteng) to British parents. He lived in South Africa until he was 14, when his father sent him to…
EventThe Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland collapses
On 1 February 1963, a statement announcing the collapse of the Federation of Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) and Nyasaland (now Malawi) was made. In 1959, before the…
PlaceRondebosch Fountain, Main Road, Rondebosch.
The fountain was, in reality, only an ornamental trough used for the watering of horses, and consists of a round cast-iron drinking bowl supported on legs in…
PlaceAnton van Wouw House, Museum- Pretoria
It was declared a National Monument under old NMC legislation on 23 June 1989.This house dating from 1938 was built for the famous sculptor Anton van Wouw and…
PlaceBritish Kaffraria, now the Border Region
Territory of British Kaffraria On 21 December 1834 massed Xhosa armies attacked the eastern regions of the Cape Colony, destroying all settler resistance…
ANC ‘Military High Command’ Leader Interviewed
From the "Focus on Africa" program BBC World Service 4th July 1986 South African police today launched a campaign to fight a spate of urban bombs. There have…
ArchiveThe Way History is taught in South Africa is ahistorical, – and that’s a problem by Natasha Robinson (theconversation.com), 7 June 2018
History may soon be a compulsory school subject until Grade 12 in South Africa. A task team established by the country’s minister of basic education made this…
ArchiveHow the apartheid regime burnt books – in their tens of thousands, 24 October 2018
On the advice of the State Librarian one fine day in the 1970s, a truck transported thousands of books and magazines from Pretoria’s Central Police Station to…
PlaceCora Terrace Houses (1,3,5,7,9,11), Port Elizabeth
This beautiful Georgian home was built in the 1850’s to house soldiers guarding the port of Port Elizabeth. Situated in picturesque surroundings, you can walk…
EventMandela threatens armed struggle
African National Congress (ANC) deputy president Nelson Mandela warned that if the South African government fail to take effective steps to end the current…
EventMgqwetho,the first poem of Nontisi is published
Mgqwetho, the first poem of Nontisi (Cizama, Imbongikazi yakwaCizama) was published in Umteteli under her clan name, Cizama. She is the sole significant…
The fall of the ANC: what caused it by Chris Kanyane (News24), 11 December 2016
It used to be that the ANC was set up much more like the Zion Christian Church (ZCC), the biggest, the largest and the strongest African initiated church in…
Speech by President Nelson Mandela at a banquet in honour of her majesty Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands Pretoria, 30 September 1996
Documents: An anonymous Cape Town correspondent, The nineteen days (Sharpeville and the days after.before), this article has been published in SAHO's library…
Elections Programmes for Deputy President, Secretary General & Treasurer General, 16 May 2011
ANC Deputy President, Secretary General and Treasurer General will on Tuesday lead the movement`s election campaign in the Western Cape, Gauteng and the Free…
Apdusa Views
Apdusa Views was first published in 1984. In that issue it was stated: "Apdusa Views sees as its task to act as a watchdog of the oppressed people. We intend…
EventPaarl Riots report submitted
On 25 June 1963 Mr. Justice H. Snyman submitted to parliament a final report on the 1962 Paarl Riots. The report analysed the main causes of the riots, and…
EventWorld Health Day
On 7 April each year, the World Health Organisation (WHO) celebrates World Health Day. This date commemorates the formation of the WHO in 1945. The WHO's…
EventSouth African Prime Minister, John Vorster resigns
South African Prime Minister since 1966, John Vorster, shocked the nation by announcing his resignation from office, at the request of his colleagues, on the…
EventAdriaan Vlok, Minister of Law and Order, announces a ban on the carrying of pangas, bush knives and axes weapons in “conflict situations”
The ongoing violence between African National Congress (ANC) and Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) supporters during the negotiations that led up to the first…
EventMigrant workers ransack Phola Park
In the middle of the night, a group of migrant workers aligned with the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) ransacked the Phola Park squatter camp of East Rand leaving…
EventPope John Paul II appoints 31 cardinals, three from Africa
Pope John Paul II appointed 31 new cardinals; three of them were from Africa. These were the Nigerian Cardinal Anthony Olubunmi Okogie, Ghananian Peter Turkson…