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EventAt a summit SA Trade Unions resolve to defy apartheid and labour laws
Location: back to this day in history search archive During the summit conference organised by non-racial labour unions at Langa, Cape Town, Trade Union…
EventPrime Minister opens SA’s first atomic reactor
Dr. H.F. Verwoerd opened South Africa's first atomic reactor, SAFARI-1 (South African Fundamental Atomic Reactor Installation-1) at Pelindaba, about thirty km…
EventThe European Community announces that it will lift economic sanctions against South Africa
On 27 January 1992, the European Community announced that it will lift economic sanctions against South Africa which imposed in September 1985. While some…
EventEleven people are killed at Donnybrook, Kwazulu
The killing of eleven people at Donnybrook, Kwazulu-Natal on the 21 March 1996 can be considered as part of the ongoing rivalry between supporters of the…
EventBenjamin Mzimkulu Macala, SA artist, is born
Benjamin Mzimkulu (Ben) Macala was born in Bloemfontein, Orange Free State (now Free State). As a young boy he tended cattle on a farm in the Free State and…
ArchiveHamba kahle Jennifer Davis 1933-2019
Jennifer Davis, stalwart champion of majority rule in South Africa and leader in the anti-apartheid movement in the United States, died on October 15 in…
PlaceJubilee Art Centre
The Jubilee Art Centre in central Johannesburg joined these alternative art education centres in the 1970s but was forced to relocate to the Mofolo Art Centre…
EventBheki Mlangeni, ANC human rights lawyer of Soweto, is killed by a walkman bomb meant for Dirk Coetzee.
Bheki Mlangeni was a lawyer working for the African National Congress (ANC) in the 1990s. He and former police Captain Dirk Coetzee had worked together to…
EventMac Maharaj, Laloo Chiba, Raymond Nyanda and Andrew Masondo arrive on Robben Island prison
On 5 January 1965, members of the African National Congress (ANC) Mac Maharaj, Laloo Chiba, Raymond Nyanda and Andrew Masondo arrived at Robben Island. They…
EventSACTU launches a national potato boycott.
The potato boycott began in protest against slave-like labour conditions for Black workers on potato farms. In areas like Bethal in Eastern Transvaal (now…
EventThe ‘Hospital and Lunatic Asylum’, the first civilian hospital in Cape Town, is opened
In the early 1800s, there was only one hospital for army men in the Cape, as well as a naval hospital in Simonstown. So, in order to set up the first civilian…
EventEdgar D. Ngoyi, South African ANC leader who spent seventeen years on Robben Island, is born.
Edgar Dumile Ngoyi was born on 26 December 1926 in the Eastern Cape. Ngoyi became politically active in the African National Congress (ANC) as a member of the…
BiographyOliver Tambo
Early years Oliver Reginald Kaizana Tambo (more popularly known as Oliver Tambo or OR) was born in the village of Kantilla, Bizana, in the Mpondoland …
ArchiveCHAPTER 3 - Unprepared by Howard Barrell
- Soweto and All That, June 1976 - October 1978 Fifteen years after our commitment to armed struggle, we could mount no organised retaliation by armed groups…
EventFirst Indian workers arrive in South Africa
Sugar farming grew rapidly in the late 1800s in Natal as a result of very cheap “indentured labour” sourced from India. The first group of Indian workers…
EventProfessor John Fleming “Jack” Brok dies
On 3 July 1983, John Fleming (Jack) Brock died – he was a scientist, physician and a professor in the Department of Medicine at the University of Cape Town…
PlaceKliptown Museum
The story the Kliptown Open Air Museum tells of the thousands of people who contributed to the drafting of the Freedom Charter through photographs, news…
EventSA cartoonist, Daniel Cornelis Boonzaaier is born
South African cartoonist Daniël Cornelis Boonzaaier was born at Patatsrivier in the Cape Province in 1865. Boonzaaier became famous for his caricatures and…
EventThe first OK Bazaars opens on the corner of Eloff and President Street in Johannesburg
On 25 June 1927, Michael Miller and Sam Cohen opened the first OK Bazaars on Eloff and President Streets in Johannesburg. OK Bazaars went on to gain success as…
EventJoe Slovo is born
Joe Slovo, the former South African Communist Party (SACP) and African National Congress (ANC) leader and Minister of Housing was born in Lithuania. From 1950s…
EventDanie Malan, SA athlete, sets a new world record in the 1 000m event in Munich
On 24 June 1973, South African athlete Danie Malan set a new world record in the middle distance 1000m event in Munich. Malan was raised in the Boland area of…
EventCiskeian police disrupt residents’ meeting
The Ciskeian police disrupted a residents' meeting, which was held to inform those residents of Peelton unable to attend a previous meeting, of the…
Freedom Part to Host Ken Oosterbroek Legacy Exhibition
Many South Africans have heard of the ‘Bang Bang Club,’ a nickname given to four South African photographers who captured the dying years of apartheid through…
EventArtist, Thomas Trevor Motswai , award-winning South African artist is born
Thomas Trevor Motswai (known as Tommy) is an award-winning South African artist. He has achieved national and international acclaim. Motswai was born on 27 May…
EventKenya is granted independence
Kenya gained its independence from Britain with Jomo Kenyatta as the country’s first Prime Minister. The Union Jack was replaced by the black, red and green…
PlaceHoward College Building and the Memorial Tower Building, University of Natal
The building of Howard College at the University of Natal (now the University of Kwazulu Natal) was made possible by a donation from Durban businessman T.B…
PlaceAlverstone, a Railway Station near Drummond
A Railway Station between Drummond and Botha's Hill. Takes its name from a flat-topped Hill nearby, which in turn takes its name from Lord Alverstone,…
ArticleTanzania and its Support of Southern African Liberation Movements
The role of Tanzania in fostering African Liberation movements The emergence of organised popular liberation movements throughout Africa following the end of…
Tanzania and its Suipport of Southern African Liberation Movements
The role of Tanzania in fostering African Liberation movements The emergence of organised popular liberation movements throughout Africa following the end of…
Event33 American airmen arrive in Durban on a mission to launch a long-range missile
On 7 May 1960, two American transports descended on Durban with 33 airmen on board to prepare for a mission to launch a long-range rocket which the United…