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ArticleDavid Goldblatt Timeline
1930 Born in Randfontein, South Africa, in 1930, the third son of Eli Goldblatt and Olga Light, both of whom came to South Africa as children with their…
EventTseko Simon Nkoli dies
On this day in history, prominent activist Tseko Simon Nkoli died of an AIDS related illness. Nkoli was one of the first Black anti-apartheid activists to…
EventAnti-apartheid activist Sister Bernard Ncube dies
On 31 August 2012, anti-Apartheid activist Sister Bernard Ncube died at the age of 80. She was a practicing Roman Catholic nun and was recruited into the anti…
Message by Oliver Tambo on the 40th anniversary of the three doctors` pact, 09 March 1987
On behalf of the National Executive Committee, the entire membership of the African National Congress, its military wing Umkhonto we Sizwe and indeed on my own…
PlaceLebowa
During the apartheid period, Lebowa was the homeland of the North Sotho people. It became a semi-independent national state in 1972. The territory was…
EventAnti-SAIC political rally ends in Lenasia
On 19 and 20 August 1981, in response to the National Party (NP) government’s attempts to co opt Indians and Coloured communities into puppet state…
EventAssassination of the Archduke Franz Ferdinand
19th century Europe had a complex system of political and military alliances in place. The assassination of Austrian Archduke Franz Ferdinand by a Serbian…
EventThe South African Bureau of State Security (BOSS) is established
After becoming Prime Minister of South Africa in 1966, John Vorster met with Hendrik van den Bergh, the head of the South African Police Security Branch. At…
EventThe Boipotong massacre takes place
During the period of transition and negotiation in South Africa, the core area of the conflict in the late 1980s was in the KwaZulu-Natal area where battles…
EventANC celebrates its 79th anniversary in Durban
The African National Congress (ANC) celebrated its 79th anniversary in Durban on 8 January 1991 for the first time as a legal organisation. At the time of the…
EventThe Dutch Reformed Church rejoins the World Alliance of Reformed Churches
On 13 October 1998, the Dutch Reformed Church (DRC) rejoined the World Alliance of Reformed Churches (WARC) after the general synod renounced apartheid. This…
EventSouth Africa completes destroying its stockpile of anti-personnel mines
South Africa announced that it had completed destroying its stock pile of anti-personnel mines. A total of 261 423 were destroyed, while 18 000 were retained…
EventWorld War I begins
19th century Europe had a complex system of political and military alliances in place. The assassination of Austrian Archduke Franz Ferdinand by a Serbian…
EventuMkhoto weSizwe (MK) launches its first acts of sabotage
On this date, uMkhonto we Sizwe (MK), the military wing of the African National Congress (ANC) announced its existence by launching its first acts of sabotage…
EventTshifiwa Muofhe, a Lutheran Church elder suspected of complicity in the Sibasa Police Station bomb blast, dies in police custody
In October 1981 Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK) operatives bombed Sibasa Police Station in independent Vendaland. Several policemen were killed in the attack. The…
PlaceCompensation, Settlement near Durban
Compensation is a Settlement 43 km North-East of Durban, on the route to Umhlali-Tongaat. The Area of Compensation got its name from Compensation Farm acquired…
PlaceSteynsrus, Free State Province
The Town was established in 1910. Directly translated from Afrikaans; it would mean Steyn's Rest! The beautiful sand stone Church was well placed at the end…
ArchiveBarberton Prison by Sloane Fuller
While the South African press readily covered stories of those having committed acts of treason or communism during the apartheid era, little attention was…
PlaceNiewoudtville
(prior to 1910) The village of Nieuwoudtville was established in 1897 on the farm Groenrivier which, as the name implies, was sited on the banks of the Groen…
EventThe Native Land Act is passed
The Natives Land Act (No. 27 of 1913) was passed to allocate only about 7% of arable land to Africans and leave the more fertile land for whites. This law…
PlaceFirst Raadsaal
Click on image to enlarge The oldest remaining building in Bloemfontein, the First Raadsaal is part of the National Museum. The modest building of dung floors…
ArchiveThe Man Before Mandela by Steven Gish
Few alumni know this, but one of South Africa’s most important civil rights leaders is part of the University of Minnesota family. One hundred years ago,…
ArchiveOmar Badsha: Recording the roles of the ordinary by Niren Tolsi (Mail and Guardian), 17 September 2020
This moment’s gaping generational divide, exacerbated by the Covid-19 pandemic, with its accompanying sense of history being lost and collective memory fading,…
A new class struggle
While historians are generally in agreement that the main anti-Indian feeling in South Africa was directed towards the merchant class, these sentiments were…
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…
ArticleThe People’s Liberation Army of Namibia (PLAN)
A Brief Overview The People’s Liberation Army of Namibia (PLAN) was an armed wing of the South West Africa People’s Organization (SWAPO), the major liberation…
ArticleHerero Revolt 1904-1907
Present day Namibia was once a part of the imperial German empire. As was common during the scramble for Africa in the latter half of the nineteenth century,…
ArticleReactions to Silverton Siege 1980
Verdict Protests The Silverton and Soekmekaar verdict prompted a wave of protests against the death penalty and particularly the death sentences of Johnson…
ArticleThe 1956 Women’s March, Pretoria, 9 August
‘Strijdom, you have tampered with the women, You have struck a rock.' So runs the song composed to mark this historic occasion. By the middle of 1956…