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EventGertrude Shope, former president of the ANC Women's League, is born
Gertrude Shope was born in Johannesburg, but grew up in Zimbabwe. She was trained as a teacher and went on to teach in Natal and Soweto. When she was 29 years…
EventSouth Africa's first multiracial elections start
Four years after the unbanning of the liberation movements and release of political prisoners, SA held its first multi-racial elections. The elections resulted…
Why General Smuts won on 4 September 1939
F. D. Tothill Even now, almost half a century after it collapsed, any conclusions about the working of Fusion and its chances of long-term success if…
State of the nation address by the President of South Africa, Nelson Mandela
State of the nation address by the President of South Africa, Nelson Mandela Houses of Parliament, Cape Town, 24 May 1994 Madame Speaker and Deputy Speaker…
ArticleNational Party (NP)
The first leader of the National Party (NP) became Prime Minister as part of the PACT government in 1924. The NP was the governing party of South Africa from…
ArticleGayle: The Language of Apartheid South Africa’s Gay Underground
The socio-political landscape of Apartheid South Africa was a challenging one for members of the LGBTQI+ community. Under the former National Party (NP),…
Chapter Two - The year with the ICU: 1921 - 1926
From the book: Johnny Gomas Voice of the working class: A political Biography by Doreen Musson In the more liberal climate of Cape Town Johnny Gomas seemed…
EventSouth African Soccer legend Lucas Radebe was born
Lucas Radebe was born in Diepkloof in Soweto. He comes from a big family of six boys and four girls. The ‘chief’, as he was affectionately known started his…
Women at the start of the 20th century
It is only over the last three or four decades that women's role in the history of South Africa has, belatedly, been given some recognition. Previously the…
ArticleXenophobic violence in democratic South Africa
Xenophobic violence against foreign nationals in South Africa has worsened. South Africa witnessed widespread xenophobic attacks since 1994 in provinces such…
ArticleNelspruit Timeline 1815-1996
1815 Louis Trichardt and Hans van Rensburg cross the Oranje/Gariep river. June 1836, Van Rensburg leaves Trichardt while Potgieter goes on an expedition to…
Poqo political trials and the execution of its operatives in the 1960s
Mass mobilization of the 1950s culminated in the Sharpeville massacre on 21 March 1960. Soon thereafter the apartheid government banned the African National…
ArchiveWhere did all the masks go? by Dewald van Rensburg (22 May 2020)
In the first quarter of this year South Africa’s normally staid and insignificant mask industry exploded. Like its peers across the globe it had orders…
ArchiveBiography of Flora Nwapa by Emily Coolidge
Flora Nwapa - remembered today as Africa’s “literary foremother” - was born on [1]January 13, 1931 in Oguta, located in eastern Nigeria. She was the eldest of…
PlaceOppermansgronde, Free State Province
It all began on 5 July 1825, Frederick Salomon Opperman and his 4 daughters were sold at a slave auction in Graaff-Reinet. His wife and his son were not sold…
Statement at the meeting of the Special Committee against Apartheid in observance of the International Day of Solidarity with the Struggle of Women in South Africa and Namibia, 11 August 1981
Mrs. Gertrude Shope On behalf of the Women's Section of the African National Congress and in the name of the entire oppressed and struggling people of South…
Chief Albert Luthuli Centenary Lecture by President Jacob Zuma, 7 September 2012, Kimberley, Northern Cape
ANC National Chairperson, ANC Provincial Chairperson and provincial leadership, ANC NEC Members, Leaders of the Tripartite Alliance, The Luthuli Family…
Crucial Stage in the Struggle for Liberation of Southern Africa - Statement at the World Conference for Action against Apartheid by O. R. Tambo, Lagos, Nigeria, 23 August 1977
Mr President, Your Excellencies, Distinguished guests and delegates, In the evolution of mankind, humanity came to realise that life for each one of us…
Chapter 9 - Division weakens the movement
From: Lessons of the 1950s By Richard Monroe, March-May 1984 Chapter 9 - Division weakens the movement During the 1950s Congress activists had built, if not…
Address at Tsinghua University, Beijing, China, 11 December 2001
Vice-Minister of Education, Madame Wei Yu, President of the University, Professor Wang Dazhong, Your Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen: First of all, let…
ArchiveBiography of Florence Matomela by Maximiliano Rubio
Her collegue in the anti-apartheid struggle, Hilda Bernstein, describes Florence Matomela as ‘a woman who gave out warmth and life like the African sun, full…
Need for New Level of International Action against Apartheid. Statement at the special session of the United Nations Special Committee against Apartheid, Stockholm by O. R. Tambo, June 18, 1968
Mr. Chairman, Your Excellencies, distinguished representatives and guests: Permit me first of all, Sir, to express the gratitude of the African National…
Lecture by the President of the ANC, President Jacob Zuma, on the occasion of celebrating the life and times of the tenth President of the ANC President Nelson Mandela, 10 July 2012, Limpopo
Mrs Graca Machel and members of the Mandela family; Provincial Chairperson of the ANC, Comrade Cassel Mathale; National Chairperson of the ANC, Comrade…
Document 47. Minutes of the Annual Conference of the ANC, December 15-19, 1949
1. Conference opened at 10:10 a.m. on the 15th December 1949. In the absence of the Senior Chaplain the Speaker, Cr. R. V. Selope Thema, called upon Rev. J. A…
The ANC’s attempt to become the sole legitimate representative of the people of South Africa by Martin Plaut
In 1979 the African National Congress launched an attempt to receive international recognition as the “sole legitimate representative of the people of South…
ArchiveDavid Goldblatt Revisits "On the Mines" by Jeffrey Ladd, 5 December 2012
As the German publisher Gerhard Steidl prepares a series of books on the life work of David Goldblatt, Jeffrey Ladd spoke with the South African photographer…
Media briefing statement by ANC National Chairperson, Comrade Baleka Mbete, following the occasion of the Republic of South Sudans 9th July Independence Day Celebrations
Introduction: I have just returned from Juba, South Sudan last night. I led an ANC delegation which attended Republic of South Sudans 9th July Independence…
ArchiveMemories of Trafalgar High, District Six by Warren Ludski
Not much of District 6 was left when the apartheid regime forced the residents out onto the grassless Cape Flats and razed their homes. What remained,…
Appendix 1: Freedom Fighters On The March: A Message From Dr. Y. M. Dadoo To The Indian People
A message from Dr. Y. M. Dadoo to the Indian people Brothers and Sisters The struggle against apartheid and for Freedom has entered a newdecisive phase…
V - The Funeral
From the book: No.46 - Steve Biko by Hilda Bernstein, 1978, South Africa Thirteen Western nations sent diplomats to the funeral on 25 September. Police…