SAHO global search

1975

Tikkie Sibisi

Tikkie Sibisi was born in Greater Nigel in 1975 and grew up in Duduza Township with a single parent, his father, and three sisters. (At the age of four his…

B-0009049

1919

Joseph Albert Mokoena

Joseph Albert Mashite Mokoena was born in 25 November 1919 in Johannesburg, he was educated at St. Peter's Secondary School, where he matriculated in 1938,…

B-0067980

1913-2011

Ilse Naude

 Ilse Naude was born in 1913 and grew up on the Moravian mission in Genadendal near Caledon. After completing secondary education she received a bursary and…

B-0071936

1918-1996

Rowley Israel Arenstein

Rowley Israel Arenstein was born on 7th of July in 1918. Arenstein was a prominent Durban attorney,the son of immigrant eastern European jews and a leader of…

B-0007794

1892-1956

Manilal Gandhi

Manilal Gandhi was born  on 28 October 1892 in Rajkot, India, the second son of Kasturba and Mohandas Gandhi. He had three brothers, with whom he first came to…

B-0008091

1926-2024

Zuleikha Mayat

Zuleikha Mayat was born in 1926 in Potchefstroom, Transvaal (now North West Province). Her father, Mohamed Bismilla, was a prominent business person who first…

B-0151008

1908-1970

Paul Herman Robinson

Paul Herman Robinson was born in Durban and attended Durban High School. He studied art briefly at the Natal Technical College. He did his apprenticeship in…

B-0008962

1840-1888

William Wellington Gqoba

William Wellington Gqoba was born in Gaba, near Alice, Eastern Cape in August 1840. He was the son of Gqoba of the Cirha clan, who was in turn the son of Peyi,…

B-0008918

1941-1997

Welcome Mandla Koboka

Welcome Mandla Koboka was born in Johannesburg in 1941. At age twenty he studied art under Cecil Skotnes and Ephraim Ngatane at the Polly Street Art Centre. He…

B-0098965

1922

Michael Hathorn

Michael Hathorn was born in Pietermaritzburg, Natal in 1922.  After schooling, he went to Wits University in Johannesburg, and qualified with a BSc in Mining…

B-0122028

1956

Richard Steele

Richard Steele was born to a Scottish father and a South African mother, in Pretoria, in 1956. His father emigrated to South Africa at the end of the Second…

B-0074123

1879-1966

Alfred Assegai (Mkhonto) Kumalo

Alfred Assegai (Mkhonto) Kumalo was born on 4 January 1879 in Edendale, Pietermaritzburg. At the age of four his parents moved to Amajuba in the southeast of…

B-0008285

1899-1996

Mary Agnes Stainbank

Mary Agnes Stainbank was born in 1899 on the farm Coedmore in Bellair, Durban. She was educated at St. Anne's DSG at Hilton. Stainbank was an artist way ahead…

B-0066295

1955

Ngoako Abel Ramatlhodi

Ngoako Abel Ramatlhodi was born on 21 August 1955 at Tauyatswala small village near Polokwane, in Northern Transvaal (now Limpopo Province). Ramatlhodi's…

B-0008935

1928-2010

Jean Clarice Middleton

Jean Clarice Middleton was born in Durban. She attended Durban Girls' College and received an MA in English from Natal University (now the University of…

B-0074116

1948-2021

King Goodwill Zwelithini kaBhekuzulu

King Goodwill Zwelithini kaBhekuzulu was born in July 1948 at Nongoma, Natal (now KwaZulu-Natal - KZN). He is the eldest son of King Cyprian Bhekuzulu…

B-0068907

1961

David Hartman

Dave Hartman was born in 1961 in Port Elizabeth, Eastern Province (now Eastern Cape) where he grew up in an English speaking liberal home. His mother was born…

B-0093704

1813-1873

David Livingstone

David Livingstone was born on 19 March, 1813 in Blantyre, South Lanarkshire, Scotland. His father was a committed Protestant Sunday school teacher and probably…

B-0149488

1924-2002

Gertrude Hope (nee Posthumus) Cooper

Gertrude Hope (nee Posthumus) Cooper, the second-youngest of eight children was born in King Williamstown but grew up Worcester where her father, an engineer…

B-0121281

Benjamin Ulenga

Benjamin (Ben) Ulenga was born in Owamboland. His father was a labourer, who from age 16 or 17 had to leave Owamboland to work on various English, Dutch,…

B-0099834

1825-1904

Stephanus Johannes Paulus Kruger

Paul Kruger is believed to have been born on 10 October 1825 on his grandfather's farm, Bulhoek, in the Cradock district, near the present day town of…

B-0064847

1869-1948

Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi

*Note: The focus of this biography is on Gandhi's life and times in South Africa. Early life and education Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi was born to a…

B-0008089

1918-2016

Kobera Manual

Aunty Kobera Manual of Ocean View died at the age of 98 on Wednesday 27 July 2016. In 2009 I interviewed her at her home in Ocean View, when she shared some…

B-0121850

1930-2015

Maggie Smith

Maggie Smith was born in 1930. She was a journalist and became the first woman news editor in Africa of the Sunday Times in Johannesburg in the 60s when the…

B-0100311

1909-1944

Samuel Makoanyane

Samuel Makoanyane was born in 1909, Parys, Orange Free State. For most of his life Makoanyane lived in the village of Koalabata, in the Teyateyaneng district…

B-0008408

1948

George Msimang

George Msimang was born on 26 October 1948 in Durban. Msimang's interest in art began at school although art was not offered as a subject. He left Lamontville…

B-0008694

The Taung Child

In November 1924, a fossilized child's skull was found in a quarry at Taung in the present-day Northwest Province. Professor Raymond Dart discovered that it…

B-0009123

Babalekile Anderson Gigaba

Babalekile Anderson Gigaba, from Nqabeni, Alfred District, Natal [now KwaZulu-Natal] was one of four people to put forward a claim to be appointed as a chief. …

B-0148467

Douglas Ramokgopa

The case of Douglas Ramokgopa illustrates various aspects of banishment: the issue of freedom of movement while in banishment and, in this instance, the sheer…

B-0149304

1960-2020

Zindziswa “Zindzi” Nobutho Mandela

Zindziswa “Zindzi” Nobutho Mandela was born on 23 December 1960 in Soweto to South African struggle icons Nelson Mandela and Winnie Madikizela-Mandela. It…

B-0150021