SAHO global search

1949-2024

Pravin Jamnadas Gordhan

… The contribution of Pravin Gordhan may never be truly … millions of South Africans. For those of us who have had the privilege to work very closely with him,…

B-0096463

1924-2002

Gertrude Hope (nee Posthumus) Cooper

… Gertrude Hope (nee Posthumus) Cooper, the second-youngest of eight children was born in King … but grew up Worcester where her father, an engineer for the…

B-0121281

1944

Graeme Pollock

… His father was a first-class cricketer and editor of the Port Elizabeth Herald. Pollock attended Grey High School, … school where first displayed his cricket…

B-0096457

1932-1988

Johnstone Mfanafuthi Makhathini

… he trained as a teacher before teaching in Mzinyathi in the Inanda area. When the apartheid government imposed Bantu Education he resigned … and went on to…

B-0094854

1932-2010

Sheena Duncan

… born in Johannesburg on 7th of December in 1932 and was the eldest of the five children in her family. She was educated at the Roedean School in Johannesburg…

B-0008028

1939-2025

Sunny Girja Singh

… His mother, Gumte Singh, was born in Durban. Singh was the youngest in a family with five brothers and two sisters. There were very few primary schools in…

B-0124272

David Perumal

… educated up to standard six (grade eight) and had joined the Natal Indian Youth Congress (NIYC) at the age of 17. He had joined the NIYC, he said, because …

B-0122926

1940-2010

Frederik van Zyl Slabbert

… Hagen and Petrus Johannes Slabbert. Slabbert attended the  Marabastad  Farm School, later Eertsegoud Primary, and the Pietersburg Primary School,…

B-0068655

1916-1984

Ernest Sedumedi Moloto

… Ernest Sedumedi Moloto was the son of peasant farmers. He received his primary education at Moruleng and Mabieskraal, both in the Rustenburg district. In…

B-0008627

1953-2008

Ivan Toms

… Cape ) on 11 July 1953. He completed his medical degree at the University of Cape Town (UCT) in 1976. This was followed … Northern Cape. In 1978, Toms was…

B-0095150

1944-1998

Basil Coetzee

… District Six, Cape Town, on 2 February 1944. He grew up in the area, and as a teenager showed keen interest in music. This was aided by the vibrant music…

B-0095355

1929-2011

Arthur Goldreich

… on 25 December 1929. He grew up in Pietersberg in the Northern Transvaal (now Limpopo). One morning, his … students would be learning a foreign language,…

B-0065024

1963

Jeremy Vearey

… Vearey was born in 1963 in Elsies River. He describes the area as a ‘different Elsies River’ than today as it was … both sets of families.His grandfather and…

B-0125539

1923

Thembekile Enoch kaTshunungwa

… National organiser of the  African National Congress  (ANC) in the mid-1950s and later a prominent figure in Transkei politics, Tshunungwa was born in 1923…

B-0008232

1909

Isaac Bangani Tabata

… (known as  I.B. Tabata)  was born near Queenstown in the Cape in 1909 and received his secondary schooling at … Lovedale. After attending Fort Hare for some…

B-0068521

1950-1990

Muntu Myeza

… soccer. Myeza advanced especially in boxing such that by the time he went for his university education he was the ameuter heavyweight boxing champion for the…

B-0121056

1950

Winston Churchill Masakeng Saoli

… Churchill Masakeng Saoli was born on 3 January 1950 in the town of Acornhoek, Eastern Transvaal, now known as Mpumalanga Province. He was the second of six…

B-0008985

1933-2001

Donald James Woods

… his Matriculation Examination, Woods enrolled at the University of Cape Town in 1952 to study law but switched to journalism.  Woods initially supported the…

B-0100300

1932

Johann Christiaan Kriegler

… An advocate at the Johannesburg Bar for 25 years, prior to becoming a … Johann Christiaan Kriegler was appointed a Justice of the Constitutional Court on its…

B-0008278

1953-2022

Jessie Yasmin Duarte

… Dangor. She completed her Standard Ten (Grade 12) at the Coronationville Secondary School, Johannesburg. Duarte … Duarte to establish women's structures…

B-0125869

1917-2004

Villa Baker

… Villa Baker was born on 12 March 1917, the year of the Russian Revolution, while World War I was still raging . … Iris, Eva and Robert Jnr. When she was five…

B-0097304

Nicholaas Frederic de Waal

… Born in Rotterdam in 1853, De Waal was the son of a banker who received a commercial education in … coverage of Dutch news and comment. He became active in…

B-0123406

1914-2004

Ray Alexander Simons

… up politics. When she was about 13, she became active in the underground Latvian Communist Party. She arrived in South … Cissie Gool and lifelong friend John…

B-0007783

1908-1964

Molly Fischer

… Susanna Johanna Fischer (nee Krige) was born on the 23rd of February, 1908 on the family’s smallholding in Silverton , near Pretoria . Her … was a land…

B-0008070

1914-1947

Anton Muziwakhe Lembede

… 1914, Lembede was born into a peasant family living on the farm in Eston in Natal. He was baptised as an Anglican. … his family relocated to KwaMphepheta in…

B-0008314

1910-2002

Bettie du Toit

… Bettie Du Toit was born on 15 July in 1910, on a farm in the former Transvaal Province. She was orphaned at three when … This resulted in her growing up at a…

B-0008034

1911-2004

Freda Levson

… in Johannesburg . She was educated in England from the age of 13, and studied geography at St Hugh's College in … a deep love of and interest in her Scottish…

B-0064873

1938-2018

Keorapetse William Kgositsile

… Kgositsile began writing as a hobby. He soon got a job at the newspaper, New Age, where he contributed poetry and news reporting. The New Age was a radical…

B-0097180

1910-2001

Govan Mbeki

… Govan Mbeki (Oom Gov) joined the South African Communist Party (SACP) in the 1950's and remained a communist and a firm believer in the superior morality of…

B-0008515

1886-1964

Charles Kwelemthini Sakwe

… Charles Kwelemthini Sakwe was born about 1886 in Idutywa in the Transkei and educated at Clarkebury Institution. After a period of apprenticeship at the…

B-0008979