SAHO global search
1,025 records
ArticleGrade 9 - Term 3: Turning points in South African History, 1960, 1976 and 1990
Turning points in modern South African History since 1948& In 1948 South Africa held a general election which was to be decided by the white population of…
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,…
ArticleAfrican National Congress Timeline 1970-1979
By the 1970s a number of leading figures in the ANC were in prison while others were in exile. Those that remained inside South Africa faced arrest, detention…
ArticleThe South African general elections: 1999
On 3 March 1999, the President of the Republic of South Africa, Nelson Mandela, announced to the National Assembly (Parliament) that the second non-racial…
ArticleANC and the early development of apartheid 1948-1950s
In 1948 the Nationalist Party (NP) won the election, and began to introduce the policy of apartheid. The African National Congress (ANC) reacted immediately to…
ArticleFederation of South African Women (FEDSAW)
The Federation of South African Women (FEDSAW or FSAW) was launched on 17 April 1954 in Johannesburg as the first attempt to establish a broad-based women’s…
ArticleNelson Mandela Timeline 1960-1969
1960 21 March, In a peaceful anti pass march led by the PAC at Sharpeville, the police open fire on the unarmed and peaceful crowd, killing 69 and wounding…
ArticleTreason Trial 1956 - 1961
For some time there had always been a question in peoples' minds as to why the government had allowed the Congress of the People in 1955, to take place. In…
ArticleTimeline 20 years of Democracy 1994 to 2014
1994 27 April,South Africa's interim constitution which was adopted in November 1993 came into effect on 27th April 1994 to administer South Africa’s first…
The Freedom struggle in Rustenburg
Resistance to apartheid Umzabalazo - The Freedom Struggle in South Africa Conditions in Rustenburg point to deprivation throughout the segregation and…
ArticleMetal and Allied Workers Union (MAWU)
The Metal and Allied Workers Union (MAWU) was established in April 1973 in with the assistance of the General Factory Workers Benefit Fund (GFWBF). It was…
ArticleInkatha Freedom Party (IFP)
The Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) is a South African political organization, established by Chief Gatsha Buthelezi, which encouraged a resurgent Zulu nationalism…
ArticleAhmed Mohamed Kathrada Timeline: 1929 - 2017
1919 Mohamed Kathrada and his wife Hawa, immigrants from India, arrive in Schweizer Reneke, a small town in the Western Transvaal (now Gauteng), where they…
Indian South Africans timeline 1940-1949
Indian South Africans Timeline: 1940-1949 1940 January, A meeting is held between the Nationalist Bloc, Transvaal Indian Congress (TIC) leadership and…
ArticleWalter Sisulu Timeline 1912-2003
1912 18 May, Walter Ulyate Max Sisulu is born in Engcobo District in the Transkei, in the same year, the ANC was formed. 1920 Walter returns from his…
ArticleApartheid and reactions to it
In 1948, the National Party (NP), representing Afrikaners, won the national election on a platform of racism and segregation under the slogan of 'apartheid’…
ArticlePan Africanist Congress timeline 1959-2011
In 1959 the Africanists broke away from the ANC and formed the Pan Africanist Congress (PAC). The histories of these two organisations are inextricably linked…
ArticleNelson Mandela Timeline 2000-2014
2000 January, The partnership is formalized by South African National Aids Council (SANAC) to review its two years of work against HIV/AIDS being under the…
ArticleStates of Emergency in South Africa: the 1960s and 1980s
One of the key instruments used by the apartheid government to neutralise political dissent was the State of Emergency (SOE). In periods when the government…
PlaceFreedom Park
The site of Freedom Park was carefully chosen, a 52 hectare undeveloped hill overlooking the city of Pretoria. It was here that the nation’s heroes would be…
ArticleThe 1913 Women’s anti-pass campaign in the Orange Free State
When the Union of South Africa was established in 1910, there was already a foundation for pass system. However, over time men and women resisted the…
ArticleGeneral South African History Timeline: 1990s
1990 Nelson Mandela is released from prison. 27 townships declared unrest areas in terms of the Public Safety Act No 3 of 1953. Gazankulu: Immorality and…
ArticleSouth African National Students Congress (SANSCO)
Background to the formation of the South African National Students Congress (SANSCO) The emergence of the Black Consciousness Movement (BCM) and the adoption…
BiographyTim Bruwer
Odd one out Over the years many people have asked me how it came about that I, amongst all the Afrikaners that I grew up with or knew, as a young man in the…
ArticleDifferences between Capitalism & Communism and why did it start in Russia?
Please note that this information was part of our old 'history classroom content' written in 2003, we have updated is slightly to meet the needs of the new…
ArticlePan Africanist Congress (PAC)
The Pan Africanist Congress (PAC) is a political party whose presence in the South African political landscape spans just over half a century. The PAC’s…
ArticleThe Landless People’s Movement
In July 2001, The Landless People's Movement (LPM) was formed by leaders of various landless people of South Africa in response to evictions of farm workers…
ArticleAnti-Pass Campaign
In the latter part of 1959, PAC membership was still below expectations, and it became clear to the leadership that the movement would have to produce some…
ArticleLiberation history Timeline 1960-1969
The 1960s witnessed the banning of both the ANC and the PAC in the aftermath of the Sharpeville Massacre. In response to the banning, both parties were forced…
ArticleUnited Democratic Front timeline 1983-1990
1983 On 23 January, Allan Boesak makes a call for the formation of a ‘united front’ at an anti-SAIC Committee (TASC) conference in Johannesburg. Boesak…