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EventThe Immigration Regulation Act is passed in South Africa
On 14 June 1913, the first Immigration Regulation Act, which limited the free movement of Asians, and restricted their entry into the country, was passed in…
EventFEDSAW Western Cape Region launched
The Federation of South African Women (FEDSAW) was one of the women’s rights organisations that emerged in the 1950s and conducted a massive campaign against…
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…
EventDorothy Fischer becomes the first South African woman to undergo a heart transplant
40 year-old Dorothy Fisher was given a new heart in 1969 and became the longest surviving patient. She lived for 12 years afterwards. She was South Africa's…
EventGifted writer and actor William Modisane is born
Journalist, short-story writer and actor William (Bloke) Modisane was born in Sophiatown, Johannesburg. Modisane left South Africa in 1959 and while in exile…
EventAndré Phillipus Brink, well-known SA author, is born
South African novelist, Andre Phillipus Brink was born on 29 May 1935. Brink obtained his Bachelor of Arts degree in Literature at the University of…
ArticleWhat was the Great Depression and why did it start in the USA?
The depression was caused by a number of serious weaknesses in the economy. Although the 1920s appeared on the surface to be a prosperous time, income was…
ArchivePolice community relations: a mediators per
Article by a mediator following efforts by President F.W.de Klerk to curb the use of excessive force by police stating the difficulties faced by public…
ArchiveStatement of the Controversy between the South African and Namibian Government regarding the Walvis Bay
Statement by Popo Molefe on the Controversy between the South African and Namibian Government regarding the Walvis Bay as a historically part of Namibia as…
ArchiveStudent international
Paper presented at the 46th Annual Congress of the National Union of South African Students, 16 July 1970. Paper discusses the history of student organisations…
EventChief Cyprian Zulu warns his people not to participate in the Defiance Campaign
The Defiance Campaign was planned in the 1950s in response to the enactment of numerous apartheid laws by the South African government. During the African…
EventIndustrial and Commercial Workers Union is founded under Clements Kadalie
The Industrial and Commercial Union later renamed the Industrial and Commercial Workers Union (ICU) was founded by Clements Kadalie, a young Nyassalander who…
EventFirst Women Anti-Pass Campaign starts
The June 1913 anti-pass campaign was probably the first recorded incidence of protest by women against the Union government. About 700 women marched to the…
ArticleOrganisation of African Unity (OAU)
Context: The Emergence of a Pan-African Rhetoric The Organisation of African Unity (OAU), established on 25 May 1963, was the culmination of a number of…
ArticleOvercoming Adversity from All Angles: The Struggle of the Domestic Worker during Apartheid by Bennett Gwynn
This article was written by Bennett Gwynn and forms part of the SAHO and Southern Methodist University partnership project Overcoming Adversity from All…
EventGambia becomes a republic
Gambia is one of the smallest countries in West Africa. It gained its independence from Britain on 18 February 1965. On 24 April 1970 Gambia became a republic…
EventWomen lead Food Raid
In the 1940s, as a result of the Second World War, the economy was in a dire state with the working and lower classes being the most vulnerable. There were…
EventWomen lead Food Raid
In the 1940s, as a result of the Second World War, the economy was in a dire state with the working and lower classes being the most vulnerable. There were…
EventUniversity of Pretoria is established
The Transvaal University College, with branches in Johannesburg and Pretoria, took the examinations of the Cape University. The Pretoria branch of the…
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…
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…
EventCongo Free State becomes the Belgian Congo
King Leopold II of Belgium handed over the Congo to the Belgian state on this date. Previously he held it as a private project undertaken to extract rubber and…
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…
ArchiveA decent respect for the opinions of mankind: Academic freedom and human freedom
Speech given by the Right Honorable Denis Healey, M.B.E., M.P. at the Eighth Annual Day of Affirmation of Academic Freedom and Human Freedom, University of…
ArchiveBolt: magazine of the Literary Society, University of Natal, Durban Vol.2 No.1 1971
Editors: Tony Morphet and Mike Kirkwood. Contents: Two Poems, Douglas Livingstone. Arthur, or The Man Who Was Afraid of Nothing, Christopher Hope. Photographer…
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…
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…