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EventChief Cyprian Zulu warns his people not to participate in the Defiance Campaign
The Defiance Campaign was planned in the 1950s in response to the enactment of numerous apartheid laws by the South African government. During the African…
EventIndustrial and Commercial Workers Union is founded under Clements Kadalie
The Industrial and Commercial Union later renamed the Industrial and Commercial Workers Union (ICU) was founded by Clements Kadalie, a young Nyassalander who…
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…
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…
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…
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…
Indian passive resistance in South Africa: 1946 - 1948 by E. S. Reddy
… United Democratic Front emerged as a powerful force in the 1980s, and the internal resistance, combined with …
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…
PlaceCameroon
Cameroon is sometimes referred to as a “true African crossroads” not only because of its geographical position, but also because of the country's great variety…
Yusuf Dadoo Timeline 1850-1889
1800s 1850 The Natal Legislative Council passes Law 14 of 1859 allowing the Government to import labour from India. 1860 16 November, The first batch of…
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…