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EventDutch Foreign Minister Luns is asked by the Johannesburg
On 16 February 1960, the Dutch Minister of Foreign Affairs J.M.A.H Luns was asked by Johannesburg-based Dutch Immigration Committee to cease what they call …
EventLaurie Bloomfield takes picture of rioting in Cato Manor, Durban
On 24 January 1960, Laurie Bloomfield, a photographer for the Daily News took a picture of rioting in Cato Manor, Durban which was immediately published around…
EventLuc Montagnier, virologist who discovered the human immunodeficiency virus, is born
On 18 August 1932, Luc Montagnier was born in Chabris, France. He studied natural sciences at the University of Poitiers and received his license of sciences…
EventDennis Brutus is born
Dennis Vincent Brutus was born on 8 November 1924 in Salisbury, Southern Rhodesia (now Harare, Zimbabwe) to South African parents. His parents moved back to…
EventHarold Macmillan begins his “winds of change” tour of Africa
British Prime Minister Harold Macmillan began his "winds of change" tour of Africa in Ghana. Ghana became the first country in Sub-Sahara to gain independence…
EventJudith Mason, SA artist, is born in Pretoria.
Born Judith Seelander Menge on 10 October 1938, Judith Mason is one of the most prolific artists in South Africa. She obtained a degree in Fine Arts at the…
Event”Unknown” White man is hanged in Pretoria
For the first time in the South African criminal history a man was hanged with his name known only by authorities. The 37-year-old White male was accused of…
EventNine policemen are killed in Cato Manor riots in Durban, shortly before the infamous Sharpville Massacre
On 24 January 1960, nine policemen were killed by an angry mob at Cato Manor in Durban. The incident happened after a raid by police searching for illicit…
EventGovernment's final consolidation of 'homelands'
The Nationalist party government announced its intention to consolidate the total number of separate 'homeland' areas from 113 to 36. The homelands were…
EventSandra Smith is the last woman to be executed in South Africa
On 2 June, 24 year old Coloured woman, Sandra Smith, was executed by hanging at Pretoria Central Prison. She was the last woman to be executed in South Africa…
PlaceVenda
In 1962, the South African Government created Venda as a Homeland for the Venda-speaking people. The area set aside for the bantustan, or homeland, was in the…
EventSimon Petros Matseke, prominent in African social and political life, dies in Pretoria
Peter Matseke was born in 1878 in Pretoria. When the Anglo-Boer War broke out, he was drafted as driver for Boer Commandos. Through that experience, he learnt…
Known as Black Tuesday’, the New York Stock exchange collapsed sending economic shockwaves throughout the world and throwing the global economy into depression
Tuesday, 29th October 1929, saw the world's economy go into recession as the New York Stock Exchange collapsed and saw shocked investors withdraw their…
EventWiehahn Commission Report tabled in parliament
On 1 May 1979, the first interim report of the Wiehahn Commission is tabled in Parliament. The Wiehahn Commission was set up by the government after the Durban…
EventEgyptian President Anwar Sadat, Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin and President Carter begin a Middle East peace conference at Camp David, Maryland
The three heads of state met for 13 days of secret meetings at Camp Devid, the Presidential Retreat in the Catoctin Mountains of Maryland, about 100 kilometers…
EventIvory Coast’s new prime minister, Daniel Kablan Duncan, takes office
After emerging as an independent country following French colonization, Ivory Coast came under the leadership of Félix Houphouët-Boigny. Known as the father of…
EventThe first museum is opened in Soweto, and is named after Hector Pieterson, one of the first casualties of the 16 June 1976 Soweto uprising.
The Hector Pieterson Museum, the first museum in Soweto, was opened on 16 June 2002. The Museum is situated on Kumalo Street in Orlando West, and is named…
EventFirst air flight from London to South Africa
By the 1920s, the development of heavier than air flight had progressed considerably, partly due to the outbreak of World War One. Britain, having emerged…
EventKing Moshoeshoe II is reinstated as King of Lesotho
On 25 January 1995, King Moshoeshoe II was formally reinstated as King of Lesotho. Moshoeshoe had a turbulent reign over Lesotho as he was twice dethroned,…
EventHaile Selassie, deposed Ethiopian emperor, dies
Haile Selassie was born Lij Tafari Makonnen, in the village of Ejersa Gor, in the Harar Province of Ethiopia. Heir to a 13th century dynasty, he ascended to…
ArchiveFrom the margins to the mainstream: the anti-apartheid movement and the politics of agenda-setting in the United States
A dissertation submitted to the Graduate School, New Brunswick, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey in partial fulfillment of requirements for the…
EventNigeria becomes the first Anglophone independent state in Africa to become an associate member of EEC
Nigeria became the first Anglophone, independent African state to become an associate member of the European Economic Community, (EEC). The move to become an…
EventNigeria gained independence from the United Kingdom
Nigeria gained independence from the United Kingdom on 1 October 1960. And an Executive Council, made up entirely of Nigerians, was led by a Prime Minister,…
EventSouth Africa withdraws from the Commonwealth
On 5 October 1960 a referendum of White voters was held to decide whether South Africa should become a republic. The result showed that 52% were in favour of a…
EventSouth African Congress of Trade Unions (SACTU) is formed
The South African Congress of Trade Unions (SACTU) was formed during an Inaugural Conference held on 4 and 5 March 1955 in the Trades Hall, Johannesburg. SACTU…
EventSouth African invention lands on the moon
Krugersdorp was the hometown of engineer George Pratley who founded the Pratley research group (PTY) and went on to invent Pratley Putty in the early 1960's…
EventChief Albert Luthuli, Nobel Peace Prize winner and former President of the ANC, is killed in Groutville
On 21 July 1967, Chief Albert Luthuli died after he was struck by a train on a railway bridge close to the home that he had been confined to by the Apartheid…
EventFive ANC leaders are released from prison
On 15 October 1989, five of the eight African National Congress (ANC) long term political prisoners were released from Robben Island. Among those leaders who…
Maqubela and Dyandyi are sentenced for necklacing
City Press reported that Wonke Maqubela and Neliswa Nohnuhna Dyantyi Busika, accused in a necklace trial in Stutterheim, Eastern Cape, and found guilty of…
EventCleric and anti-apartheid activist, Mpilo Desmond Tutu is ordained as Archbishop of Cape Town
On 7 September 1986, former Secretary-General of the South African Council of Churches and Nobel Peace Prize winner, Desmond Tutu, was ordained as an…