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EventAlbert Luthuli delivers his Nobel Peace Prize Lecture
Albert Luthuli delivers his Nobel Lecture after receiving the Peace Prize the previous day. Luthuli was the first South African to receive the Nobel Prize for…
EventSolly Sachs addresses Garment Worker’s protestors
Emil Solomon (Solly) Sachs addressed 15 000 workers on the steps of the Johannesburg City Hall during a protest meeting organised by the Garment Workers' Union…
EventDr. Dadoo and Naicker lead Passive Resisters
Led by Dr G.M. Naicker and Dr. Y.M. Dadoo, Indians observed complete hartal, that is, a day of mourning or protest on which all the shops were shut and no-one…
EventFietas, site of forced removal in Johannesburg, is renamed Pageview
Fietas, a western suburb of Johannesburg, was officially re-named Pageview in honour of Mr. J.J. Page, the Mayor of Johannesburg at the time. Up until this…
EventJournalist and political activist Selby Msimang dies
Journalist, farm manager, clerk, interpreter and political activist, Henry Selby Msimang, died on 29 March 1982 in Edendale, Pietermaritzburg. Msimang was a…
EventSAP fighting in Zimbabwe
It was officially disclosed that the South African Police (SAP) were in Rhodesia (later renamed Zimbabwe) actively helping in the fight against Nationalist…
EventRand Afrikaans University is established
The Rand Afrikaans University (RAU), the second university with its seat in Johannesburg, was established by an act of parliament as the academic home of…
EventNUSAS President Ian Robertson is banned
The President of the National Union of South Africa Students (NUSAS), Ian Robertson, receives a banning order under the Suppression of Communism Act of 1950…
EventHundreds of political prisoners began a hunger strike at Robben Island
The release of Nelson Mandela on 11 February 1990 was a catalyst that sped up the change in the political dispensation in South Africa. On 4 March 1990 343…
EventFormer Student Representative Council (SRC) Vice-President shot by Police
Twenty-two years old former Student Representative Council (SRC) Vice-president at the University of Transkei and staunch opponent of Transkei government,…
EventThe Santo Alberto is wrecked
The Portuguese cargo ship Santo Alberto was wrecked on the coast of Pondoland, south-west of the mouth of the Umtata River. Through admirable leadership of the…
EventSoccer coach Pitso Mosimane is fined R50 000
SuperSport United coach Pitso Mosimane was fined R50 000 at a Premier Soccer League (PSL) disciplinary hearing. This followed after his heated altercation with…
EventPresident Mbeki opens the second sitting of PAP
The South African state president, Thabo Mbeki, opened the second sitting of the Pan African Parliament (PAP) for the first time at its new permanent seat, the…
EventIndependent Democrats benefits from floorcrossing rule
The Independent Democrats (ID), a political party which was formed by Patricia de Lille, who had defected from the Pan Africanist Congress (PAC), benefited…
EventBafana Bafana wins over Ghana
The South Africa senior national football team, Bafana Bafana, secured 1-0 victory over Ghana, a co-host of the 2000 Africa Cup of Nations contest at Kumasi…
EventCharles Taylor wins presidential election
Liberian rebel leader Charles Taylor ascended to presidential power in a peaceful election following a seven-year civil war, launched from neighbouring Cote d…
EventSouth Africa’s new constitution is approved
The adoption of the South African Constitution on 8 May 1996 was one of the turning points in the history of the struggle for democracy in South Africa. The…
EventYusuf Dadoo, political activist, is born
On 5 September 1909, a tireless fighter for national and social liberation, Dr. Yusuf Mohamed Dadoo was born in Krugersdorp, Johannesburg. According to Essop…
EventWalter Battiss is born in Somerset East
Walter Battiss is born in Somerset East to an English Methodist family in 1906. He became one of South Africa's first and most important abstract painters. He…
EventFirst Nobel prizes are awarded
Swedish chemist and inventor of dynamite, Alfred B. Nobel, established the Nobel Prizes in his will. This bequeathment allegedly shocked his relatives and the…
EventEdenburg is founded
The church village Edenburg in the Orange Free State was established when the farm Rietfontein was purchased to build a church. The initial application for…
EventSamora Machel pledges solidarity with the people of South Africa
President Samora Machel of Mozambique pledged solidarity with the South African people, in reaction to the massacre on 30 January 1981, where more than 14…
EventHelen Zille, former leader of the Democratic Alliance, is born in Johannesburg
Helen Zille studied at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, Transvaal (now Gauteng) where she obtained a BA Degree. She went on to become a…
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…
EventThe Polio vaccine, developed by Dr. Jonas Salk, is declared safe and effective
In April 1955 the vaccine for Poliomyelitis developed by Dr. Jonas Salk was declared safe and effective. It had taken a whole year of trials and tests for the…
EventJudge Edwin Cameron of SA reveals that he has been HIV positive since 1987
Justice of the Constitutional Court, Edwin Cameron made headlines in 1999 when he announced that he had been living with HIV for twelve years. Cameron was a…
EventDavid Malebane, a student at the Tompi Seleka Agricultural College in the Limpopo, shoots three lecturers before shooting himself
David Malebane was a student at Tompi Seleka Agricultural College in Limpopo. He had failed to graduate several times and when he received results showing that…
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…
EventDr David Webster, a social anthropologist at Wits University and political activist, is shot dead outside his home
David Joseph Webster was born in Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) in 1945. He became involved in politics while studying at Rhodes University in Grahamstown in South…
EventRobben Island is turned into a maximum security prison
It is believed that thousands of years ago, people lived on Robben Island. After the Dutch had settled at the Cape, the island was used mainly as a hospital…