SAHO global search

1939-2025

Sunny Girja Singh

… won over prisoners who were sentenced for criminal activity. These politicised prisoners smuggled radios, …

B-0124272

1944-2020

Rajes Pillay

Rajaluxmi Pillay (also known as Rajes) was born on 4 August 1944 in Pietermaritzburg, Natal (now KwaZulu-Natal – KZN). Her parents were from Kimberley in the…

B-0150649

1915-1989

Cassim Mahomed Lakhi

Cassim Mahomed Lakhi was the youngest son of Mahomed Lakhi and his wife, Hawa Bibi, who were both born in India. They arrived in South Africa in 1894 and…

B-0149491

1876-1958

Mabel Palmer

Dr Mabel Palmer (nee Mabel Atkinson) was born on 22 May 1876 near Stocksfield in Northumberland, England. Her father, J.B. Atkinson, was a mine inspector, and…

B-0150485

1921-2016

Elizabeth Komikie Gumede

Recorded as one of the most tortured women political prisoners under the apartheid regime, Elizabeth Komikie Gumede was born in 1921. Gumede served as an…

B-0151052

1870-1945

Nadirshah Ardeshir Cama

Nadirshah Ardeshir Cama was born in Bombay in 1870. After passing the Intermediate Examination at the University of Bombay, he worked in the Bombay Port Trust…

B-0148512

1957-1990

Teboho MacDonald “Tsietsi” Mashinini

… and sportsmanship became evident through his recreational activity, which included theatre, baseball, ballroom dancing, …

B-0141698

1966-2019

Sandile Dikeni

Sandile Dikeni was born in Victoria West, Northern Cape in 1966. He began writing poetry while in detention for his anti-apartheid activism in the 1980s. He…

B-0149743

1933-1980

Tennyson Xola Makiwane

Born in 1933 into a prominent Transkei family Makiwane completed his secondary schooling at Lovedale in 1950 and entered Fort Hare University. Politicised…

B-0149474

Gibson Magwaza

Gibson Magwaza, from Nongoma District, Natal [now KwaZulu-Natal] was banished for coming into conflict with Chief Cyprian Dinizulu and the state.  A document…

B-0149295

Shirish Nanabhai

… During lunchtimes, he would engage in political activity or meet on street corners to plan operations with …

B-0149851

1905-1930

Johannes Nkosi

… lectured at the communist night school. His other major activity was selling  Umsebenzi , the mouthpiece of the CPSA. … Nkosi's death was one of the few…

B-0149402

1927-2021

Thembi Shange Nobadula

A stalwart of the African National Congress (ANC) and the liberation movement, Thembi Shange Nobadula was born on 23 December 1927. She was a woman who…

B-0150940

1931-2019

Babette Brown

A tireless advocate for justice and equality in South Africa, the United Kingdom (UK), and all over the world, Babette Brown was born in 1931 in Johannesburg,…

B-0150896

1976

Dumisani Mbatha

… causes which were described as 'extreme sympathetic system activity with auricular fibrillation of the heart'. An …

B-0149632

Mandla Michael Yende

Yende was recruited into the PAC and APLA by Themba Phikwane in Alexandra Township, north of Johannesburg, in 1976. Phikwane, who had just returned from exile…

B-0149440

1957-1998

Simon Nkoli

“If you are Black and gay in South Africa, then it really is all the same closet…inside is darkness and oppression. Outside is freedom.”— Simon Tseko…

B-0150068

1926-2024

Zuleikha Mayat

Zuleikha Mayat was born in 1926 in Potchefstroom, Transvaal (now North West Province). Her father, Mohamed Bismilla, was a prominent business person who first…

B-0151008

1931-2015

Reggie Vandeyar

… first three members of Indian origin to be arrested for MK activity in the Transvaal. They were sentenced to ten years …

B-0068000

Mzondeki Makhunga

Mzondeki Makhunga, a resident from Ingwavuma District, Natal [now KwaZulu-Natal], was the head induna [chief headman] of Ntunja Mngomezulu in this area. In…

B-0149266

Jacob Matome

Jacob Matome (Rachabedi), originally resident at Matlala's Location, Pietersburg District, Northern Transvaal, [now Polokwane, Limpopo Province] was banished…

B-0149360

1963

Mike Hutchings

Born in 1963 in London, Mike Hutchings grew up in various countries around Africa, before finishing basic schooling in South Africa in 1980. His earliest…

B-0149882

2008

Alfred Toto Metele

Alfred Toto Metele was born to farmworker parents,in the farming area of Qumhra, Eastern Cape. He attended school at Mooiplaas, outside East London, where he…

B-0147999

1934

Moosa “Mosie” Moolla

Moosa “Mosie” Moolla was born in the small, (then) western Transvaal town of Christiana on 12 June 1934 where his father ran a successful import-export…

B-0141674

1982

Petrus Nzima Nyawose

… regards to the ANC and to get early warnings of hostile activity. Ivan Pillay linked up with Petrus in Swaziland …

B-0149221

1952-1981

Krishna Rabilal

… apartheid regime intensified its suppression of political activity, Roy Chetty, Ivan Pillay and Rabilal prepared for a …

B-0151749

1949

Sadecque Variava

… a group of activists, thus initiating anti-apartheid activity in the township, which had been largely free of political activity until then, perhaps one…

B-0149677

1969

Jacob Monakgotla

Mr Jacob Monnakgotla was detained under section 6(1) of the Terrorism Act on 29 January 1969 with nine other Bakubung tribesmen on charges of assault with…

B-0149627

1921-1980

Mashwabada Victor ''Castro'' Mayatula

Mayatula was born in 1921 in Willowvale in the Transkei,attended Lovedale and was a member of the African National Congress Youth League (ANCYL) in the late…

B-0150015

1912-2002

John Jack Curtis

John (Jack) Curtis was born on 31 August 1912 in Geelong, Australia, the third of nine children. He left school at 14 to start work and help provide for the…

B-0148775