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EventLouis Hayward, South African–American Actor dies.
Louis Hayward was born in Johannesburg on 19 March 1909. He went to study in England where he met playwright Noel Coward who became his patron. He starred in a…
EventFirst Women Anti-Pass Campaign starts
The June 1913 anti-pass campaign was probably the first recorded incidence of protest by women against the Union government. About 700 women marched to the…
Documentary Photography and Awakening the International Community, 1976-1994
Documentary Photography is not encouraged because I think it threatens the core of what this country is about. It’s a very powerful medium, it touches on…
EventZANU-PF under Robert Mugabe wins the first free elections in Zimbabwe and Robert Mugabe becomes president
On 4 March 1980, Robert Mugabe's Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF) won Zimbabwe's first free elections, securing 57 of the 80 common…
ArchiveThe women's suffrage movement: The politics of gender race and class by Cheryl Walker
From the book: Women and Gender in Southern Africa to 1945 edited by Cheryl WalkerQuestion: Do you favour votes for all women, irrespective of colourAnswer: As…
EventWomen lead Food Raid
In the 1940s, as a result of the Second World War, the economy was in a dire state with the working and lower classes being the most vulnerable. There were…
EventWomen lead Food Raid
In the 1940s, as a result of the Second World War, the economy was in a dire state with the working and lower classes being the most vulnerable. There were…
EventUniversity of Pretoria is established
The Transvaal University College, with branches in Johannesburg and Pretoria, took the examinations of the Cape University. The Pretoria branch of the…
EventAt a summit SA Trade Unions resolve to defy apartheid and labour laws
Location: back to this day in history search archive During the summit conference organised by non-racial labour unions at Langa, Cape Town, Trade Union…
EventPrime Minister opens SA’s first atomic reactor
Dr. H.F. Verwoerd opened South Africa's first atomic reactor, SAFARI-1 (South African Fundamental Atomic Reactor Installation-1) at Pelindaba, about thirty km…
EventEleven people are killed at Donnybrook, Kwazulu
The killing of eleven people at Donnybrook, Kwazulu-Natal on the 21 March 1996 can be considered as part of the ongoing rivalry between supporters of the…
EventCongo Free State becomes the Belgian Congo
King Leopold II of Belgium handed over the Congo to the Belgian state on this date. Previously he held it as a private project undertaken to extract rubber and…
EventBenjamin Mzimkulu Macala, SA artist, is born
Benjamin Mzimkulu (Ben) Macala was born in Bloemfontein, Orange Free State (now Free State). As a young boy he tended cattle on a farm in the Free State and…
PlaceDie Stem Parsonage, Simonstown, Cape Town
This double-storeyed structure was erected as a Rectory and Vicarage, in 1815 by building contractor, Herman Schutte, and its verandah was added in 1820. The…
ArticleEarly hominid discoveries in South Africa and East Africa
Evolution refers to the slow process of human adaptation over millions of years. The roots of humanity are believed to lie in South Africa, where the earliest…
ArticleOrganisation of African Unity (OAU)
Context: The Emergence of a Pan-African Rhetoric The Organisation of African Unity (OAU), established on 25 May 1963, was the culmination of a number of…
EventMugabe announces the merging of ZANU and ZAPU
Zimbabwe African National Union (ZANU) leader, Robert Mugabe announced that Rhodesia's political organisations, ZANU and ZAPU (the Zimbabwe African People's…
EventBotswana gains independence from Britain
Previously known as Bechuanaland, Botswana gained independence from Britain on 30 September 1966 under the leadership of Seretse Khama. Khama was elected…
ArchiveCrisis News
Crisis News, published by the Western Province Council of Churches, Cape Town, "attempts to tell the truth of what is happening in our country", particularly…
EventBheki Mlangeni, ANC human rights lawyer of Soweto, is killed by a walkman bomb meant for Dirk Coetzee.
Bheki Mlangeni was a lawyer working for the African National Congress (ANC) in the 1990s. He and former police Captain Dirk Coetzee had worked together to…
EventMac Maharaj, Laloo Chiba, Raymond Nyanda and Andrew Masondo arrive on Robben Island prison
On 5 January 1965, members of the African National Congress (ANC) Mac Maharaj, Laloo Chiba, Raymond Nyanda and Andrew Masondo arrived at Robben Island. They…
EventSACTU launches a national potato boycott.
The potato boycott began in protest against slave-like labour conditions for Black workers on potato farms. In areas like Bethal in Eastern Transvaal (now…
EventEdgar D. Ngoyi, South African ANC leader who spent seventeen years on Robben Island, is born.
Edgar Dumile Ngoyi was born on 26 December 1926 in the Eastern Cape. Ngoyi became politically active in the African National Congress (ANC) as a member of the…
PlaceMea Vota, Rissik Street, Sunnyside, Pretoria
This dwelling was designed and built in about 1899 by A Westenberg and C van der Made, both engineers employed by the Netherelands-South Africa Railway Co, for…
EventThe Black Consciousness Movement of Azania is formed in London
Following the waning of the influence of the Black Consciousness Movement (BCM), members of the movement formed new groups and some joined other liberation…
Nelson Mandela Correspondence around Mandela’s health
Introduction Apart from a prostate operation in 1985 and equally successful treatment for TB in 1988, Nelson's health had been good. At a time when the Press…
80. Local affairs committees: a means to an end
From the book: A Documentary History of Indian South Africans edited by Surendra Bhana and Bridglal Pachai The system of management committees, or local…
PlaceAbangani Art Centre, Durban
In the 1980's Joseph Bheki Ndlovu, an artist and illustrator, joined the Abangani Open School in Durban as a youth organiser and an arts and craft teacher…
EventNgoako Abel Ramathlodi is born
Ngoako Ramathlodi, former premier of the Northern Transvaal Province (now Limpopo) and current Africa National Congress (ANC) National Executive Committee…
Michael Mosoue Moerane, pianist, choirmaster and composer, is born in Gumtree, Basutoland (now Lesotho). He died in Gumtree in
Michael Mosoeu Moerane, composer, teacher, pianist and conductor, is born in Mangoanaleng, Matatiele, Eastern Cape. He died in Bloemfontein in January, 1980…