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EventFirst sextuplets in the world to survive their infancy are born in Cape Town
Susan Rosenkowitz and her husband Colin bore the first sextuplets known to survive their infancy on 11 January 1974, in Cape Town, South Africa. The three boys…
EventKing Goodwill Zwelithini is installed
On his return from exile to St Helena, King Goodwill Zwelithini was installed as the eight monarch of the Zulu nation. He took reigns over from Prince Israel…
EventNuclear Reactor At Pelindaba Goes Critical
On this date the nuclear reactor Safari, located in Pelindaba, near Pretoria, went critical and South Africa entered the nuclear age. The US firm Allis…
EventCiskei National Security Decree No 19 promulgated
The government of Ciskei introduced the National Security Decree No 19 as an attempt to curb the pressure of the increasing calls for the end of the Ciskei…
EventUnited Front launch in jeopardy
The proposed launch of the United Front was threatened when the Azanian People's Organisation (AZAPO) denounced fourteen of the more than seventy-five…
EventZola Budd breaks a world record
In a low key event in Crystal Palace, England, South African born athlete Zola Budd broke the 5 000 metres world record set by Ingrid Kristiansens of Norway by…
EventCullinan diamond is cut into two
The Cullinan diamond was cut into two big stones, The Star of Africa and the Cullinan 2, as well as seven fairly big stones and ninety-six small stones. The…
EventJustin Alexander (Alex) La Guma, SA novelist, short story writer and political activist, is born in Cape Town
Justin Alexander la Guma was born in District Six, Cape Town on 20 February 1925. His father, Jimmy La Guma was of Cuban descent, which made him mixed race in…
EventFormer Tennis player, Kevin Curren, is born in Durban
In 1976, a year after passing matric (now Grade 10), Kevin Curren accepted a scholarship from the University of Texas, United States of America. He obtained a…
EventFirst flight in an airplane is undertaken
On the morning of 17 December 1903, brothers, Wilbur and Orville Wright succeeded in the world's first powered flight in a heavier-than-air machine under…
EventThe inquest into the death in detention of Dr. Neil Aggett is adjourned
The inquest into the death in detention of the white trade union leader, Dr. Neil Aggett was adjourned until 20 September. This was after the Court was told by…
PlaceZorgvliet, Sir George Grey Street, Oranjezicht
The property was granted to Matthys Coeymans in 1669 and its homestead was subsequently erected in a Cape Dutch style. During the 19th century a number of…
EventPretoria High Court Judge, Nkola Motata, is arrested
In 2007, Pretoria High Court Judge Nkola Motata drove through garden wall of a house north of Johannesburg. He was found to be drunk by police and is said to…
ArticleThe Roots of Apartheid in the Construction of Buchuberg Dam
At the start of the 20th century South Africa faced a poor white epidemic. The state justified Apartheid as an "anti-poverty program for whites".[1] This poor…
EventErfdeel farm in Orange Free State becomes SA's richest gold deposit
On 3 June 1954, a mining engineer at the Erfdeel farm in the Orange Free State pulled up a drill-core laden with ore from nearly 6,000-feet. The Essayists…
ArticleThe Bambatha Rebellion begins
The first sign of open resistance against payment of the tax came when a magistrate called A.W. Leslie went to collect taxes from the Hlongwa and Cele clans in…
ArticlePan-Africanism
Pan-Africanism is the belief that people of African descent have common interests and should be unified. Historically, Pan-Africanism has often taken the shape…
ArticleSS Mendi
The sinking of the SS Mendi was caused by the reckless action of the captain of the SS Darro. It remains the greatest wartime maritime disaster ever suffered…
PlaceCenturion, Gauteng
Centurion is an area with 236,580 inhabitants situated between Pretoria and Johannesburg. The area’s proximity to Midrand and Pretoria makes it a popular…
Museum Night Cape Town 2016
We're excited to announce the full Museum Night Cape Town 2016 programme, including 15 museums sites from the District Six Museum to the Cape Town Holocaust…
ArchiveNew Deal? South Africa 1983
On 20th August 1983, the United Democratic Front was launched at the Rockland Civic Centre in Cape Town. It was a broad coalition of anti apartheid…
EventWorld Heart Day is first celebrated
Close to 20 million lives a year are lost to cardiovascular diseases world wide. It is reported that South Africa loses close to 100 people per day to…
EventThe Bantu Labour Regulations Amendment Bill becomes operative
The South African government introduced this the Bantu Labour Relations Regulation Act in the wake of wide-spread labour unrest to set up a limited system of…
EventThe Battle of Blood River
On 16 December 1838 the Battle of Blood River took place near the Ncome River in KwaZulu Natal. The Battle of Blood River was between the Voortrekkers under…
EventBlack empowerment makes headway
In South Africa's largest Black economic empowerment deal, Anglo American and the National Empowerment Consortium (NEC) signed an agreement for Anglo to sell…
EventGifted writer and actor William Modisane is born
Journalist, short-story writer and actor William (Bloke) Modisane was born in Sophiatown, Johannesburg. Modisane left South Africa in 1959 and while in exile…
Coal Miners Strike on the Rand
On this day Transvaal coal miners embarked on a strike because of a wage cut of 5 percent per shift. On 10 January 1922 White mine workers on the Rand gold…
EventTwenty die in an armed assault in a mosque in Khartoum, Sudan
In a massacre on 4 February 1994 Abbas al-Bager Abbas opened fire killing 20 praying muslims and wounding 33 others in a mosque in Khartoum, Sudan. Abbas was…
EventAfrikaner patriot Danie Theron is killed
Danie Theron, an Afrikaner patriot believing in the just and divine right of the Boer to stand against British interference, died during the Second Anglo-Boer…
EventBoeremag members Dirk Hanekom and Henk van Zyl are arrested in Memel. Only Hanekom is charged.
Two members of the extreme right-wing group, Boeremag, Dirk Hanekom and Henk Van Zyl, were apprehended on a farm in Memel district, Free State. They were taken…