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Cyril Ramaphosa: Can ‘Mr Nice’ Be A Decisive President? Some say he lacks decisiveness, also in pursuit of his own interests by Liesl Pretorius (Huff Post), 21 August 2017
At first, James Motlatsi was wary of Cyril Ramaphosa. He wasn't sure if the young lawyer, who grew up in Soweto, was genuine when he wanted to organise the…
The search for Peter Johnson’s story
In 1975, Peter Johnson, joined the ranks of the uMkhonto we Sizwe and disappeared into exile. Nearly a decade later, on the 26 October 1984, Johnson, now known…
ArticleAnglo-Zulu Wars 1879-1896
The destruction of the Zulu kingdom 1879 -1896 In the 1870s settler and colonial determination to bring Blacks under firm political control had undermined the…
ArticleGrade 9 - Term 1: World War II (1939 - 1945)
World War II (1939 to 1945) was the most devastating war in history, accounting for between 50 million to 80 million deaths. What made the war significant was…
ArticleHistory of the ‘Indian Opinion’ newspaper
The Significance of Indian Opinion by Uma Dhupelia-Mesthrie Department of History, University of the Western Cape Address to Conference on the Alternate…
Place"Tracing the Old Holiday Routes Across South Africa"
There was a time when a South African holiday didn’t start with a boarding pass, it began with a packed boot, a map unfolded across the dashboard, and a…
PlaceCape Town City Hall, Darling Street
The mayor of Cape Town, Thomas Ball, laid the cornerstone of the City Hall on 29 August 1900, but the Hall was only opened in 1905. It was designed by…
PlaceOviston Nature Reserve, Eastern Cape
The Oviston Nature Reserve lies is on the, Southern side of the Gariep Dam. The Reserve has an Area of 16 000 Hectares. This Dam, which is the largest Dam in…
PlaceDwarskerbos Beach and Pools, West Coast
Along the Western shores of South Africa there are many myriad fishing Villages which lie sleepily on the shores of the Atlantic Ocean. While Paternoster is…
Chapter 6 - ‘Direct Action’ on the Shop-Floor: The Denver Engineering Strike, 1919 - 1920
From: Labour Struggles in South Africa The Forgotten Pages 1903 - 1921 by Evangelos A. Mantzaris INTRODUCTION On the second day of January 1920, seventy…
Extract from a speech during a political meeting held on 17 June 1971 at Naboomspruit in the Waterberg constituency
The parliamentary by-election in Waterberg was of particular significance to both the National Party and the Re-constituted National Party. The HNP knew that…
ArticleIndian South Africans timeline 1960-1969
Indian South Africans Timeline: 1960-1969 1960 19 February, Dr Monty Naicker called for strength in resistance, citing the example of Patrice Lumumba of…
Freedom Charter sold out the dispossessed by Motsoko Pheko (The Sowetan), 2 Feb 2012
THE present ANC is not 100 years old. It abandoned the fundamental objectives of the original 1912 ANC more than 50 years ago.In 1955, a section of the 1912…
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,…
Document 38 - Certification of the Constitution; a summary of the judgment of the Constitutional Court
DEFIANCE CAMPAIGN IN SOUTH AFRICA, RECALLED By E.S Reddy The "Campaign of Defiance against Unjust Laws" - launched jointly by the African National Congress of…
History of Muslims in South Africa: 1903 - 1923 by Ebrahim Mahomed Mahida
From the book: History of Muslims in South Africa by Ebrahim Mahomed Mahida 1903 South African Moslem Association 62 The South African Moslem Association was…
ArticleNelson Mandela Timeline 1930-1939
1930 White women get the vote. This means in effect that the weight of the black vote is decreased from 3.1% to 1.4%. The first restrictions against the…
ArticleDesmond Mpilo Tutu Timeline
19317 October, Desmond Mpilo Tutu is born in Klerksdorp, in the then Transvaal province of South Africa.1961Desmond Tutu is ordained as a minister in the…
ArticleSouth African Coloured People Organisation (SACPO)
Like all other Black ethnic groups, the Coloureds also fell victim to segregation and repressive legislations enacted by Colonial and successive governments…
ArticleDefiance Campaign timeline 1948-1952
1948 May 26, The National Party (NP) wins election and immediately introduces apartheid (separateness) measures against Blacks, Indian immigrants and those…
Origins: Formation, Sharpeville and banning, 1959-1960
For many years there was tension within the African National Congress (ANC) between those with different ideological and theoretical views. One of these views…
PlaceLanseria International Airport, Roodepoort
Commercial and private planes can easily be spotted on the runway a few meters away from their open air viewing deck. It all began when In 1974 the dream…
Reports Concerning Slaves from India in South Africa
Jacob van der Heiden, a political prisoner, spent part of his confinement in April-May 1706 in a dungeon in the Castle in Cape Town, which he shared with Ari…
Mines of the beloved country: Through the mind of a photographer and essayist by J Brooks Spector (Daily Maverick), 5 November 2012
Back in the mid-1970s, when the writer was still feeling his way along the dark moral landscape that was South Africa, a South African colleague insisted we…
Address by President Jacob Zuma at the official opening of the expanded OR Tambo International Airport, 20 April 2010
The Minister of Transport; Sbu Ndebele, Gauteng Premier, Nomvula Mokonyane, Chairperson of ACSA, Sindi Zilwa and the CEO, Monhla Hlahla, The CEO of the…
The Johannesburg Biennale by Bisi Silva (Artnet), 1998
As curious as it may seem to a jaded Western art world, the large-scale global art exhibition still strikes many emerging nations as a good idea. One such is…
Links & Partnerships
All of the below links are to websites that SAHO recommends (and uses) for further research about South African History. Please inform us if links are no…
Biography of Michael Scott from an email contribution by Lorna Richmond, 25 November 2015
The Reverend Michael Scott was born on 30 July 1907 at Lowfield Heath Sussex, the youngest of three brothers. In 1911 his father, an Anglican priest, was…
Document 93 S. B., “Unite Against Reaction and Oppression: United Front Against National Oppression and Fascism”, Umsebenzi, 23 May 1936
From: South Africa's Radical Tradition, a documentary history, Volume One 1907 - 1950, by Allison Drew Document 93 S. B., "Unite Against Reaction and…
Document 41 - Letter from the Communist League of America to T.W. Thibedi, 30 May 1932
From: South Africa's Radical Tradition, a documentary history, Volume One 1907 - 1950, by Allison Drew Document 41 - Letter from the Communist League of…