SAHO global search

1935-2019

Surinarayan ‘Sonny’ Kala Venkatrathnam

… His parents, born in South Africa, were flower sellers at the Durban Central Cemetery.  Eventually his parents and … Later his parents farmed in Cliffdale an…

B-0125809

1927-2020

Advocate George Bizos

… George Bizos was born in 1927 in Vasilitsi, near Koroni in the south of Greece. During World War II, when the Germans occupied Greece in 1941, the young…

B-0007857

1913-1969

Masango Caleb job Mayekiso

… working-class leader.In 1940's Mayekiso became head of the Textile Worker's Industrial Union in Port Elizabeth,and … national general secretary. He also…

B-0150029

1946

Malcolm Payne

… of all, I don't take art particularly seriously. I make the work because I enjoy making it. No more complicated reason than that. I like the seriousness of…

B-0008870

1942-1985

Victoria Nonyamezelo Mxenge

… went to Forbes Grant Secondary School where she completed the junior certificate (Grade 10). In 1959, she matriculated at Healdtown, Fort Beaufort in the…

B-0008720

1936-2021

Frederik Willem de Klerk

… His father, Jan de Klerk, was a Cabinet Minister and the President of the South African Senate. His brother is Dr Willem (Wimpie) … Willem de Klerk retired…

B-0007985

1939

Thomas Madikwe Manthata

… Manthata was born November 29,1939 in Soekmekaar in the Northern Transvaal.His parents had no formal education.He … and older black consciousness activists…

B-0141687

1968

DJ Ready D (Deon Daniels)

… in District Six, Cape Town on 11 December 1968, before the residents there were forcibly removed. Ready D and his … would be moved to Lentegeur, Mitchell’s…

B-0125398

1961

Janet Mary Cherry

… a family committed to social justice. Her father, Robin, the Dean of Science at the University of Cape Town and physics professor, and her … and 1997 she…

B-0007937

1933

Joyce Piliso-Seroke

… a diploma in Communication. Upon completion she went to the University of Fort Hare and worked towards a University … social work after a year. She was…

B-0122528

1955

Bantu Holomisa

… Holomisa was born on 25 July 1955 at Mqanduli, Transkei , the son of the late Chief Bazindlovu Holomisa who had been a member of … 1996, he was expelled from…

B-0088574

1931-2011

Isaiah Stein

… Stein was born to a Coloured family in Durban in 1931, the son of a pastor and property developer. After both his … Town, in 1948. There he became an amateur…

B-0064870

1929-2026

Leon Levy

… Lithuania . Levy and his twin brother, Norman Levy, were the youngest of four children. Born just two months after the Wall Street Crash of October 1929, he…

B-0008326

1922

Elsa Joubert

… 19 October 1922 in Paarl where she grew up, and studied at the universities of Stellenbosch (BA and SOD) and Cape Town … and plays. Joubert’s works are…

B-0008221

1933-2009

Anton Ndoda Xaba

… in Sobantu Village in Pietermaritzburg.  He left school in the late 1940s and went to work in Durban.  He joined the African National Congress (ANC) in 1953…

B-0068894

1929-1981

Joe Nzingo Gqabi

… born in 1929 in Aliwal North, Cape Province. He completed the tenth grade and found work as a construction labourer … after coming to Johannesburg in 1951…

B-0008120

1965

Phila Portia Ndwandwe

… Ndwandwe (also known as Zandile or Zandi) became part of the Natal Machinery of uMkhonto weSizwe (MK) in 1985 under the leadership of Muzi Ngwenya (Thami…

B-0073820

1948-1980

Oupa Ronald Madondo

… in Sophiatown, Johannesburg, Transvaal (now Gauteng). With the advent of forced removals from Sophiatown, his family was … from Pimville High School in…

B-0148784

David Moiloa

… David Moiloa, a flamboyant, amusing orator often at the rear of events, had been imprisoned in Johannesburg during the  1952 Defiance Campaign . He was the…

B-0149347

1949-2016

Rocky Malebane-Metsing

… was born in Rustenburg in 1949, attending schools in the area until he matriculated. After completing his … superintendant of public works in Tlhabane…

B-0008414

2013

Ronald (Ronnie) Britten

… At a young age, while a student at the University of Cape Town, Ronald (Ronnie) Britten was an active member of the then Non-European Unity Movement , later…

B-0125716

1955

Shirley Gunn

… Honors degree, she became involved in community work in the Hout Bay area. It was also during this period that she became politically active. She was…

B-0095599

1950

Jacob Sello (Jackie) Selebi

… was born on 7 March 1950 in Johannesburg.  Selebi was the African National Congress (ANC) representative to the Soviet Union's World Federation of Democratic…

B-0073823

1954

Oprah Winfrey

… - November 22, 2018), a former maid. She was raised as the daughter of Vernon Winfrey, a coal miner, barber, and … according to Kitty Kelley, author of Oprah…

B-0149794

14 January1918-1999

Dimitri Tsafendas

… Dimitri Tsafendas was the parliamentary messenger who assassinated Prime Minister … his father, his step-mother, Maria, and step-siblings. The racial divides…

B-0009157

1937-Cape Town,South Africa

Jacqueline Daane-van Rensburg

… when she adopted a mute Black boy (6). She wanted to send the boy to the school for the deaf in Worcester . The police forced her … I marched to the police…

B-0007968

1869-1948

Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi

… *Note: The focus of this biography is on Gandhi's life and times in … on 2 October 1869, in Porbandar, Gujarat, India. He was the last child of Karamchand…

B-0008089

1933-1986

Florence Barbara Ribeiro

… Born on the 3rd November 1933, community worker Florence Barbara Ribeiro was the fourth of five children. Her father, Henry Mathe, was a … that freedom would…

B-0008954