SAHO global search

1874-1965

Josephine Ethel (Josie) Wood

Josephine Ethel (Josie) Wood was born on 22 January 1874 in Grahamstown. She was one of the six children of the first mayor of Grahamstown, George Samuel Wood,…

B-0009237

1896-1948

Abdulla Ismail Kajee

Abdulla Ismail Kajee was born about 1896; Kajee was a politically moderate Moslem businessman and the dominant figure in the Natal Indian Congress (NIC) from…

B-0008226

Jafta Kgalabi Masemola

Jafta Kgalabi Masemola, “The Tiger of Azania”, also popularly known as “Bra Jeff” by many others, was born at Bon Accord near Pretoria on 12 December 1931. He…

B-0080980

1947

Dr Mamphela Aletta Ramphele

Mamphela Ramphele was born on 28 December 1947 in Bochum District, Northern Transvaal (now Limpopo). Her mother, Rangoato Rahab, and her father, Pitsi Eliphaz…

B-0068381

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 in…

B-0008232

1905-1978

Moses Mauane Kotane

Moses Mauane Kotane was born at Tamposstad in the Rustenburg district of the western Transvaal on 9th of August in 1905, Kotane came from a devoutly Christian…

B-0008274

1926-1982

Poomoney Moodley

Poomoney Moodley was born in Mooi River, Natal on 28 June 1926 to Ramsamy Dharamalingam Moodley and Kanniamah Moodley; who themselves were children of Indian…

B-0068090

1927-2023

Blanche la Guma

Blance la Guma (nee Blanche Herman) was born on 30 November 1927 in Athlone, Cape Town, Western Cape, the youngest of five children. Her parents were actively…

B-0080449

1948

Alec Erwin

Alexander Erwin (Alec Erwin) was born on 17 January 1948 in Cape Town to Dennis and Rosamund Erwin. Alec, as he became known, matriculated from Durban High…

B-0094482

1928-1999

Dr. Zacharias “Zac” Johannes De Beer

Zac de Beer was born on 11 October 1928. He was the second of four children of Jean Isobel and Zacharias Johannes de Beer, a medical doctor. He attended the…

B-0007979

David Perumal

David Perumal lived in Derby Street, Durban, Natal (now KwaZulu-Natal) and worked at College Clothing in Albert Street. He was educated up to standard six …

B-0122926

1933-2020

Denis Theodore Goldberg

Denis Theodore Goldberg was born on 11th April 1933 in Cape Town, Cape Province (now Western Cape). His parents, Sam and Annie, had both been born in London,…

B-0008105

1944

Sheila Lapinsky (nee Barsel)

Sheila Lapinsky (nee Barsel) was born in 1944* in Johannesburg, Transvaal Province (now Gauteng) to a middle-class Orthodox Jewish family. Her aunt and uncle…

B-0080454

1931-2012

Chief Justice Arthur Chaskalson

Justice Arthur Chaskalson was born in Johannesburg on 24 November 1931. In 1952 he graduated from the University of the Witwatersrand with a B.Com, and in 1954…

B-0007935

1942-2002

Alfred Temba Qabula

Alfred Temba Qabula was born on 12 December 1942 in Flagstaff, Bhalasi in Pondoland to Solomon and Nonkhululeko Qabula. Qabula’s father worked as a machine…

B-0093813

1930-2018

Billy Modise

Billy Modise was born on 8 December 1930 in Bloemfontein, Orange Free State (now Free State Province). He received an Anglican scholarship which enabled him to…

B-0094430

1777-1855

Sir. Richard Bourke

Richard Bourke was born on 4 May 1777 in Dublin, Ireland. During his army career he was promoted to Major-General and proved himself as an excellent and…

B-0007880

1923-2004

Wilton Zimasile Mkwayi

Wilton Zimasile  Mkwayi was a trade unionist who served a life sentence for his involvement in Umkhonto We Sizwe. He was born into a peasant family near…

B-0008576

1908-2000

Jock Leyden

He was born in Grangemouth, Scotland. He settled in Durban which was to be his home for the rest of his life.  He attended part-time art classes at the Natal…

B-0008329

1929

Selby Themba Ngendane

Selby Themba Ngendane was born about 1929 in the Eastern Cape and attended Fort Hare, where he was active in the African National Congress Youth League during…

B-0068242

1910-1989

Issy Heymann

Issy Heymann was born on the 24 December 1910 in Lithuania. At the age of nineteen, in 1931, Heymann arrived in South Africa. In 1935, he became an executive…

B-0095025

1926-2004

Wilfrid Edward Cooper

Wilfrid Edward Cooper was born on 22 May 1926 in Observatory, a suburb of Cape Town, Cape Province (now Western Cape Province) and lived in Mowbray until he…

B-0121280

Pauline Podbrey

Pauline Podbrey was born as Pauline Podbrez in Lithuania. She arrived with her family in Durban in 1933 at the age of eleven, although her father had come to…

B-0068314

Dawid Kruiper

Dawid Kruiper was born in the Kalahari National Park (now Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park) in 1936.  He referred to himself as “Die Ou Ram” (The Old Ram). He was…

B-0087604

1933-2001

Donald James Woods

Donald James Woods was born in Elliotdale, Transkei on 15 December 1933. He was educated at Christian Brothers College in Kimberley. After completing his…

B-0100300

1908-2003

Ismail Ahmed Cachalia

Molvi Ismail Ahmed Cachalia was born in the then Transvaal Province (now Gauteng) of South Africa on 5 December 1908. At the time Cachalia’s father, who was…

B-0007912

1938

Sophia Theresa Williams de Bruyn

Sophia Theresa Williams-de Bruyn was born in 1938, in Villageboard, a mixed area that had different nationalities living side by side. She was raised in the…

B-0009229

1941

Barbara Mosima Joyce Masekela

Barbara Mosima Joyce Masekela was born on 18 July 1941 in Johannesburg. She was the second of four children born to Pauline and Thomas Selema Masekela. Her…

B-0008460

1962-2007

Humphrey Phakade “Pax” Magwaza

Humphrey Phakade ‘Pax’ Magwaza was born on 4 April 1962, in Lamontville, one of the oldest Durban townships, Natal (now KwaZulu-Natal – KZN).  He was one of…

B-0008374

1969

Ernest “Ernie” Theodore Els

Ernest Theodore Els or “ Big Easy ” as he is affectionately known in the sporting circles was born on 17 October 1969, in Johannesburg, South Africa. He was…

B-0008045