SAHO global search

1923-1986

William “Bloke” Modisane

… 'Bloke' Modisane was born on 28 August 1923. He grew up in Sophiatown, a multiracial suburb in Johannesburg. His father was murdered and sister died from … a…

B-0008589

1848-1916

James Mata Dwane

… Dwane was born in the Eastern Cape in 1848 and was raised as a Wesleyan. Ordained as a minister in 1881, he proved to be a man of great ability and strong …

B-0008036

1947-1976

Mapetla Frank Mohapi

… Mapetla Frank Mohapi was born in the rural village of Jozanashoek, Sterkspruit in the former Transkei (now Eastern Province) on 2 September … of the North …

B-0066279

1937-2019

Zubeida “Juby” "Sharon Davis" Mayet

… Zubeida “Juby” "Sharon Davis" Mayet was born December 27,in 1937 in Fietas, Johannesburg , Transvaal (now Gauteng ). Mayet began writing in the mid-1950s…

B-0080693

1930-1985

Molly Blackburn

… Molly Blackburn was born in 1930.  She was the daughter of Elgar Bellhouse who was at one time the chairperson of the Progressive Party (PP) in Port…

B-0007860

1965

Faith Nonhlanhla Mazibuko

… Moroka. Mazibuko then attended Marianhill High School, in Pinetown, KwaZulu-Natal , and completed her high school … at the University of South Africa (UNISA)…

B-0074124

1911-1963

Paul Ramotsoane Mosaka

… Paul Ramotsoane Mosaka was born in Johannesburg and received his early primary education … secondary education was at Headltown near Fort Beaufort in the…

B-0008652

1947-2010

Busisiwe Victoria Mhlongo

… was born on 28 October 1947 at Inanda, near Durban in KwaZulu-Natal. She began her singing career in choirs and concert groups while still at school. Mhlongo…

B-0065035

1930-1978

Sewsunker ‘Papwa’ Sewgolum

… “Papwa” Sewsunker Sewgolum was born in 1930, into a family of poor sugarcane labourers in Natal. He started working at an early age, and as a young … and…

B-0009023

1908-1984

Frederick Hutchinson Page

… among painters’. Page always used a limited colour range in his work, mostly employing either tempera or acrylic. The … passed from relative to relative,…

B-0008859

1966

Jodi Bieber

… Jodi Bieber has lived in Johannesburg for the past 35 years. She studied … founded by David Goldblatt. Her photographic career began in September 1993 as a…

B-0007853

1945

Achmad Cassiem

… Imam Achmad Cassiem was born 12th of December in 1945 and grew up in an Islamic environment. He became politicised in the 1960s when the Pan Africanist…

B-0079929

1941-2010

Hotep Idris Galeta

… ‘Cecil Galeta’ was born on 7 June 1941 and grew up in Cape Town, South Africa.  However, he was more commonly … used the name Cecil Barnard until he left…

B-0068433

1804-1856

Chief Kgosi Sekonyela

… Sekonyela was born in 1804 in Harrismith next to the Wilge River. He was born in the royal family and later became the Chief of the …

B-0068424

John Gomas

… John Gomas was born in Cape Town. He was a tailor by profession and a member of … Town branch of the  Communist Party of South Africa  (CP) in the late 1920s…

B-0008110

1919

M. J. M. Williams Shope

… M. J. M. Williams Shope was born in 1919 in the Letaba district of the northern Transvaal, he became a … miner, and Railway and Harbours worker, he became…

B-0121658

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

1952

Saint Mokoena

… He was born in Pietersburg, Limpopo. He is a painter and sculptor. He … High School were he received art classes until Standard 9. In 1977 he left school…

B-0008614

1947

Ben Skosana

… Ben Skosana was born in Sharpeville on 7 May 1947. He qualified as a teacher from … pursued further studies at St Francis Xavier University in Canada, where…

B-0068484

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 …

B-0009123

1947

Ben M. Skosana

… Ben Skosana was born in Sharpeville on 7 May 1947. He qualified as a teacher from … pursued further studies at St Francis Xavier University in Canada, where…

B-0009077

C. S. Ramohanoe

… as the National-minded Bloc. He was active as a young man in efforts to revive the ANC in the late 1930s, was chosen Transvaal provincial secretary in 1938,…

B-0008937

1949-2009

Henry Eric Isaacs

… Henry Eric Isaacs was born March 21 in 1949,He grew up in Raisethorpe,a peri-urban area of Pietermaritzburg.His … an Afrikaner,one grandmother Zulu,two aunts…

B-0080351

1910-1969

Florence Matomela

… Florence Matomela was born on 1st of January ,in 1910 and worked as a teacher while raising five children. In 1950, angered by new influx control regulations…

B-0008491

Stephen Bernard Lee

… Stephen Lee was arrested in 1978 while completing his Master’s Degree in Sociology at the University of Cape Town. At the time he … African nationality as a…

B-0008306

1918-1998

Mark Shope

… Mark Shope, SACTU General Secretary Mark Shope was born in 1919 in the Letaba district of the Northern Transvaal, he became a … miner, and Railway and…

B-0009039

1959-2016

Junaid Ahmed

… International award winning filmmaker Junaid Ahmed was born in Durban , Natal (now KwaZulu-Natal ) South Africa in 1959. He attended Southlands Secondary…

B-0122211

1926-2007

Edgar Dumile Ngoyi

… Edgar Dumile Ngoyi was born on 26 December 1926 in the Eastern Cape. He worked as a painter and builder. Ngoyi became politically active in the ANC as a…

B-0068706

1892-1973

John Ronald Tolkien

… John Ronald Reuel Tolkien was born in Bloemfontein in the Orange Free State on 3 January 1892. After his father … died, Tolkien and his mother went to…

B-0009152