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EventThe Motsuenyane Commission finds the African National Congress (ANC) guilty of abuse in its camps
Human rights abuses were common in South Africa during the apartheid era and the liberation struggle was aimed at bringing these abuses to an end. When…
EventThree Zimbabwean intelligence officers stand trial for a bomb attack on an ANC house
Kevin Woods, Michael Smith and Philip Conjwayo were arrested in Zimbabwe in connection with the bombing that killed the driver of the car transporting the bomb…
EventJean van der Poel dies in Cape Town.
Jean Van der Poel was a historian and teacher who played an important role in the South African Teachers' Association and undertook several major historical…
EventUnited Nations lifts arms embargo on South Africa
Following the election of Nelson Mandela as president of the government of National Unity, the United Nations (UN) Security Council finally lifted the arms…
ArchiveWebinar Programme: Debating Socialist Lineages. Convenors Shahid Vawda and Lungisile Ntsebeza
Webinar Programme: Debating Socialist Lineages. Convenors: Shahid Vawda and Lungisile Ntsebeza The Making of the Trotskyist Tradition in South Africa: A…
Pietie Norval was born on this day
Pieter ‘Pietie’ Norval was born on 7 April 1970 in Belleville.[i] He began playing tennis at the age of 7 years old, and turned professional at 18.[ii] Norval…
EventWilhelmina Johanna (Wilma) Stockenström is born
Wilma Stockenstrom is a significant and gifted female Afrikaans writer, whose work has been translated into several other languages. Wilma studied Drama at…
EventUnited Nations Charter is adopted
The United Nations Charter was adopted in San Francisco by the United Nations Conference on International Organisations. The preamble to the charter was based…
EventS.P. Botha, Minister of Water Affairs, proposes new schemes to ease the Western Cape’s water supply problem
S.P. Botha, Minister of Water Affairs, proposes new schemes to ease the Western Cape's water supply problem During his opening of the Cape Show on 4 March 1970…
PlaceWallacedene, Cape Town
Wallacedene is an Informal Housing Settlement in the Eastern Suburbs of Cape Town, South Africa. The Settlement was established during the 1980s when the…
EventLlewellyn Herbert was born on this day
Llewellyn George Herbert was born on 21 July 1977 in Bethal, Mpumalanga.[i] Herbert was the South African 400 metre hurdle champion from 1996 to 2003.[ii] He…
PlaceAlberton, Germiston
Town 6 km West of Germiston and 11 km South of Johannesburg. It was laid out on the Farm, Elandsfontein in 1904. Named after General Hendrick Abraham Alberts,…
EventThe British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) announces that a mysterious epidemic (AIDS) is causing increasing concern in the United States
December is known worldwide as AIDS Day due to the epidemic's existence worldwide. Research into AIDS has dramatically improved the diagnosis and treatment of…
EventSouth African Communist Party leader Abram Fischer is sentenced to life imprisonment on charges of communism
During the 1940s, Bram Fischer served on the Johannesburg District Committee and the Central Committee of the Communist Party of South Africa (later SACP). In…
EventSouth Africa, Cuba and Angola Sign formal peace agreement, allowing Namibian independence from South Africa
The agreement was the culmination of months of intense diplomatic efforts brokered by the United States. South African President P.W. Botha proclaimed, "A new…
EventSA judge jails former state assassin Eugene de Kock for more than 200 years
During the Apartheid regime, Eugene de Kock was a colonel in the South African Police force. He acted as the commander of a counter-insurgency group located on…
EventFormer South African Prime Minister and State President John Vorster is born
Former South African Prime Minister and State President, Balthazar John Vorster was born in in Uitenhage in the Eastern Cape on 13 December 1915. Vorster began…
EventSir Bartle Frere, the new British High Commissioner delivers an ultimatum to Cetshwayo the Zulu king to disband his army’
The newly appointed British High Commissioner for Southern Africa delivers to Cetshwayo the Zulu king to disband his army, handover offenders. Frere who was…
EventSouth African Defence Force (SADF) raid Maseru in an effort to kill suspected members of the African National Congress
In the early hours of December 9th, 1982, South African Defence Force commandos crossed the border into Lesotho. Their target was a cluster of houses on the…
ArchiveCongress Resister 1983 - 1989
Congress Resister was published by the Transvaal Indian Congress (TIC), which was formed at the turn of the twentieth century by Mahatma Gandhi. It was not…
ArticleChanges in modern forms of communication
The Postal system The act of sending letters from one person to another developed soon after the invention of writing, however, the creation of a formal…
PlaceMauritania
Mauritania, Country on the Atlantic coast of Africa. Culturally it forms a transitional zone between the Arab-Amazigh (Berber) populations of North Africa and…
PlaceBreakwater Prison, near Alfred Docks, Cape Town
It was declared a National Monument under old NMC legislation on 18 December 1970. The Breakwater Prison was constructed in 1860 to house British convicts…
EventThe first Non-White South African Table Tennis team participates at the World Championship
On 6 March 1957, the first South African Non-White sporting team participated at the World Table Tennis Board Championship in Stockholm, Sweden. They were…
EventThe Korean War ends
The undeclared Korean War ended after three years of fighting between North Korean and Chinese Communists against the United Nations (UN) forces (mainly South…
EventBhekisani Manyoni, artist, is born in Greytown
On 6 September 1945, Bhekisani Manyoni was born in Greytown, Natal (now KwaZulu Natal). He later moved with his family to the Dundee area, near Rorke's Drift,…
EventA military coup deposes the Lesotho Government
On 15 January 1986, General Justin Lekhanya, the Head of the Lesotho Army, ousted Lesotho prime minister Chief Leabua Jonathan in a military coup. Jonathan had…
ArticleThe Sedition Trial 1946 - 1948
The history of the struggle against racial oppression and exclusion in South Africa is inextricably intertwined with the struggle of workers against…
ArticleThe effects of WW2 in Africa
Africans resisted colonial rule from the outset, trying to hold on to their land, but were not strong enough to defend themselves against European conquest…
ArticleA History of Abantu-Batho Newspaper 1912-1931
Newspapers or publications by African people played a critical role in giving them an alternative space to articulate their views. The emergence of a number of…