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EventUDF is launched
The South African anti-apartheid umbrella organization, United Democratic Front (UDF) was launched at Rocklands Community Centre in Mitchell's Plain in Cape…
EventThe government launches ‘Operation Iron Fist’ in townships
At the height of township violence in Transvaal, President F.W. de Klerk and Nelson Mandela held a series of meetings to discuss means of quelling the unrest…
EventNamibia’s constitution is ratified
The acceptance of the Namibian constitution on 9 February 1990 established the Republic of Namibia. The independence of Namibia can be directly traced to an…
EventAbyssinian fortress of Dessie is captured by South African troops during World War II
The Abyssinian fortress of Dessie, located between Addis Ababa and Amba Alagi, was captured by General Alan Cunningham's South African divisions. This event…
EventGeneral Idi Amin overthrows Ugandan President Milton Obote
On 25 January 1971, General Idi Amin Dada led a military coup that overthrew Ugandan President, Milton Obote while he was at a Commonwealth meeting in…
EventThe Johannesburg Meteorological Observatory opens
The Observatory was founded as the Transvaal Meteorological Department, and was initially meant to be used to watch weather patterns. Astronomer Dr Robert…
EventThe governor of the Cape, Sir Alfred Milner, opens the Graaff-Reinet-Middelburg railway line
Sir Alfred Milner was a British statesman and colonial Administrator. Milner came to South Africa in May 1897. In South Africa he became governor of the Cape…
ArchiveDeportation of NUSAS President Elect
Appendix B to President's address to the 44th Annual Congress of the National Union of South African Students, 30th June to 9th July, 1968. Contains general…
ANC condemns hijacking of Spokesperson, 24 November 2009
The African National Congress (ANC) condemns in the strongest terms the hijacking last night (Tuesday, 24 November 2009) of one of its spokespersons Ishmael…
EventBarend Strydom kills 8 People in Pretoria
On 15 November 1988, 21 year-old Barend Strydom went on a killing spree with his pistol and attempted to shoot every Black person he encountered. He killed 8…
Declaration by Oliver Tambo, Deputy President of the African National Congress of South Africa, and J.R.D. Chikerema, Vice-President of the Zimbabwe African People`s Union, 05 August 1967
ANC-ZAPU alliance From: Sechaba, October 1967 Furious fighting has been and is taking place in various parts of Southern Rhodesia. From the thirteenth of…
Thanks, Jimi, this is good for you and the broader SA (The Times Editorial), 28 June 2016
Matthews joins a long list of staffers who are not prepared to stomach nonsense and take the public broadcaster on a wrong path. The broadcaster's chief…
PlaceSeal Island
Hout Bay has now become well known as the port of departure for scenic day trips to Seal island or Duiker Island, home to a colony of thousands of Cape Fur…
EventMilitary coup is executed in Lesotho
On 30 April 1991, the head of the Lesotho military, Maj.Gen Justin Lekhanya was ousted by rebel junior officers. The reasons for this coup was a long standing…
EventWomen protest against passes in the Free State
The first protest of women against the carrying of passes by women took place in Bloemfontein, Orange Free State (now Free State), where there was a large…
EventThe last French troops pull out of Rwanda
Rwanda, much like the rest of the African continent, was ruled by colonial powers that left a legacy of ethnic and class divisions. The Tutsi had been the…
EventThe Pretoria Supreme Court orders for an inquiry into the doctors' treatment of Steve Biko at the time of his death
The Pretoria Supreme Court ordered the South African Medical and Dental Council (SAMDC) to hold an inquiry into the conduct of the two doctors who treated…
PlaceGrey Street Complex
Grey Street is the teaming business and residential Indian sector of the Durban City Centre, and is also the educational, cultural and business heart of; the…
Event“Maberete” strike ends more than a decade of labour broking at the South African Post Office
On 4 April 2012 casual workers employed through labour brokers reached an agreement with management at the South African Post Office (SAPO) to be employed…
PlaceVlakfontein Monument, Roodepoort
Just behind “the Brickworks” is what is known as the Vlakfontein Monument.The Vlakfontein Monument was erected to commemorate the Jameson Raid of 1895/ 96, in…
EventThe Liquor Laws Amendment Bill comes into effect
Location: back to this day in history search archive The Liquor Act, which was passed on 23 June 1927, prohibited Africans and Indians from serving liquor,…
EventThe first mountain zebra foal is born in at the National Mountain Zebra Park
The Mountain Zebra is an endangered species native to South Western Angola, Namibia, and South Africa. It is boldly stripped in black and white or brown and…
EventIdi Amin, Ugandan dictator, flees after a seven year reign
Idi Amin Dada Oumee fled Uganda on 29 March 1979* first to Libya and eventually to Saudi Arabia. Amin began his career as a cook in the King's African Rifles…
EventDr. Margaret Roach ‘Killie’ Campbell, collector of Africana, dies in Durban
Margaret Roach "Killie" Campbell was born in Mount Edgecombe, Natal (now KwaZulu-Natal) on 9 September 1881. She was educated at St. Anne's Diocesan College in…
EventSir Benjamin D’Urban accepts the Mfengu as British subjects
The Mfengu (or Fingo in the colonial lexicon) were defeated and left landless by King Shaka's Zulu army, and slowly arrived in Xhosa territory over a period of…
EventJan van Riebeeck visits Robben Island for the first time
Robben Island is the largest of the nearby coastal islands around the Cape. In the nearly four centuries of European settlement it has been used for numerous…
EventThe consortium Midi Television is awarded the first privately owned free
Enshrined in the South African Bill of rights, is the right to free access to information. In this spirit, the Independent Communications Authority of South…
EventBeginning of the Anglo-Zulu War, 10 January 1879
Sir Bartle Frere was appointed British high commissioner to South Africa in 1879 to realise the policy of confederation (policy to bring the various British…
EventScores of people, including a Chief, are killed in Lari, Kenya, following an attack by Mau Mau freedom fighters
On 26 March 1953, close to 100 people were killed and scores of others injured at Lari in Kiambu region, Kenya, when Mau Mau freedom fighters attacked the area…
EventMargaret Rheeder is hung in Pretoria
Margaret Rheeder, found guilty of poisoning her husband, Benjamin Fredenman, was hung in Pretoria. On the morning of 27 April 1957 Rheeder went to a pharmacy…