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PlacePretoria High School for Girls, Park Street
Pretoria High School for Girls was started by Lord Milner in 1902 as part of his efforts to anglicise the Transvaal under British Occupation. And so it was…
EventGen. J.B.M. Hertzog is forced to resign as premier after his motion of neutrality in World War II is defeated in parliament
The choice to join the Allied Forces in World War Two was a contentious one on behalf of the South African government. This is because within the ruling United…
EventWriter J.M. Coetzee is awarded the 2003 Nobel Prize for Literature
Born in South Africa in 1940, JM Coetzee has had a successful literary career. He is the only author ever to win the Booker prize twice, but the publicity-shy…
EventHilda Bernstein passes away
South Africa reacted with shock at the passing away of veteran political activist, artist and writer Hilda Bernstein. She passes away on the 9th September 2006…
EventA plan designed to fight Italian forces, Operation ‘Agreement’ is executed in Libya
Operation 'Agreement', raid by British, Rhodesian and New Zealand troops on Tobruk, Barce, and Benghazi was planned to destroy installations, shipping and also…
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…
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…
EventLouis Trichardt, Voortrekker leader, is born near Oudtshoorn 225 years ago
Louis Trichardt was one of the Voortrekker leaders. He was born near Oudtshoorn in the Karoo on 10 August 1783. The Voortrekkers (Afrikaans and Dutch for…
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…
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…
ArticleAfrican National Congress Timeline 1910-1919
This period was characterized by events leading up to the formation of the African National Congress in 1912 as well as the organization’s early years. Events…
Address by President Thabo Mbeki, at the University of Havana, Cuba, 27 March 2001
Chairperson, Your Excellency President Castro; Your Excellencies the Ministers; Your Excellencies Ambassadors; Distinguished Guests; Comrades and friends:…
Address at the University of Havana, Cuba, 28 March 2001
Chairperson, Your Excellency President Castro; Your Excellencies the Ministers; Your Excellencies Ambassadors; Distinguished Guests; Comrades and friends:…
EventThe "Battle of Andringa": violently separating Stellenbosch
Several Stellenbosch University students engaged in a fight with the town’s Coloured residents on the corner of Andringa and Plein Street in Stellenbosch. [i]…
EventSA artist Ernest Methuen Mancoba is born
South African artist Ernest Methuen Mancoba was born in Boksburg, Transvaal. He left for Paris to further his studies in 1938. Mancoba never returned to live…
EventPolitical activist, Professor ZK Matthews is born
Zachariah Keodirelang Matthews, was born in Kimberley in 1901, the son of Peter Motsielwa and Martha Mooketsi Matthews, a Tswana mineworker who later opened a…
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,…