SAHO global search

1905-1992

Helen Joseph

Helen Beatrice May Fennell was born in Easebourne, United Kingdom, in 1905. She grew up in London, with her parents and brother, Frank. She graduated with a…

B-0008217

1920-2005

Raymond Mhlaba

Raymond Mhlaba was born in Mazoka village at Fort Beaufort in the Eastern Cape.He was one of eight children of a policeman. Five of his siblings died in…

B-0008557

Lucas ‘Masterpieces’ Moripe

The Atteridgeville Super Stadium was renamed the Lucas 'Masterpieces' Moripe Stadium after the legendary Pretoria soccer player. This followed a meeting…

B-0068770

1955

Jimi Matthews

Jimi Matthews was born in 1955 in Cape Town, Western Province (now Western Cape) and raised here.  After school he enrolled at a university that was…

B-0093741

1933

Joyce Piliso-Seroke

Joyce Piliso-Seroke was born in Crown Mines, Johannesburg, Transvaal (now Gauteng) on 11 July 1933. She completed her matric at Kilnerton High School in…

B-0122528

1953

Edwin Cameron

Edwin Cameron was born on 15 February 1953 in Pretoria. He completed his schooling at Pretoria Boys’ High School and thanks to an Anglo-American Corporation…

B-0007916

1953-2008

Ivan Toms

Ivan Toms was born in Cape Town, Western Province (now Western Cape) on 11 July 1953. He completed his medical degree at the University of Cape Town (UCT) in…

B-0095150

1943-2020

Devikarani Priscilla Jana

Devikarani Priscilla Jana was born on 5 December 1943, in Westville, Natal (now KwaZulu-Natal), to a middle class Indian family.[i] From an early age Jana…

B-0120811

1928-2010

Jean Clarice Middleton

Jean Clarice Middleton was born in Durban. She attended Durban Girls' College and received an MA in English from Natal University (now the University of…

B-0074116

1932

Harold Rubin

Harold Rubin was born in Johannesburg on 13 May 1932. He was educated at Jeppe High School in Johannesburg and studied drawing and painting privately with Roza…

B-0008969

1937-Cape Town,South Africa

Jacqueline Daane-van Rensburg

Jacqueline Daane was born on 17 December 1937. A White South African, her first encounter with police came in 1956 when she adopted a mute Black boy (6). She…

B-0007968

1930-2006

Mazisi Raymond Kunene

Mazisi Raymond Kunene was born in Durban on May 12, 1930, at McCord's Hospital. His mother Eva Kunene (nee Ngcobo) was a teacher and his father, Mdabuli Albert…

B-0008288

1943

Mmapula Mmakgoba “Helen” Sebidi

Mmapula Mmakgoba Helen Sebidi was born in Marapyane, near Hammanskraal,on 5th March in 1943. She developed a life-long love for the designs of traditional arts…

B-0009003

1921-1999

Baruch Hirson

Baruch Hirson, named after his late grandfather, was born on 10 December 1921 at Doomfontein near Johannesburg in the Transvaal. His father was an electrician…

B-0008159

1947-2006

Eric Molobi

Eric Molobi was born on June 5, 1947. Molobi was imprisoned on Robben Island during the apartheid era. While in prison he obtained a bachelor's degree from the…

B-0008625

1940

Barend Jacobus Du Plessis

Barend Jacobus du Plessis was born on 19 January 1940 in Johannesburg to Martie and Jan Hendrik du Plessis. He was the eldest of three children and grew up in…

B-0008031

1962

Ebrahim Rasool

Ebrahim Rasool was born on 15 July 1962 in District Six, Cape Town. At the age of nine in 1972 his family was forcibly moved out of District Six when the…

B-0008941

1955

Caesarina Kona Makhoere

Caesarina Kona Makhoere was born near Pretoria in 1955. Her father was a policeman and her mother worked as a domestic worker.  At a young age she was forcibly…

B-0008402

1874-1965

Sir Winston Spencer Churchill

Winston Spencer Churchill was born in Blenheim Palace, Oxford, in 1874. He came to South Africa as a correspondent to the Morning Post during the South African…

B-0007943

1903-1956

Herbert Isaac Ernest Dhlomo

Herbert Isaac Ernest Dhlomo was born in Edendale, Natal on February 26th, 1903. He was the second son to Ezra and Sardinia Dhlomo. Ezra came from a line of…

B-0084446

Abraham Pule

Abraham Pule was released from Robben Island prison on the 21st of March 1991. His prison number was 45/5658. He was born in Soweto in 1868. His wife was…

B-0078764

1931-2019

Isaac Lesiba ‘Bra Ike’ Maphotho

Isaac Lesiba Maphotho (Bra Ike) was born in Ga-Makgato (Blouberg Municipality) on 26 February 1931.  He completed his Standard 6 (Grade Eight) at Uitkyk…

B-0068219

1917-1978

Dr Ansuyah Ratipul Singh

Dr Ansuyah Ratipul Singh was born in Durban, Natal (now kwaZulu-Natal) on 12 June 1917. She was the eldest daughter of Latchmee and Chatrapul Singh. Her…

B-0009065

1933

Allister Sparks

Allister Sparks was born to Harold Sparks and Bernice Stephen on 10 March 1933 in Cathcart, Eastern Cape. This made him a fifth generation settler, with his…

B-0124819

1951-1985

Sparrow Mkonto

Sparrow Mkonto was born on 24 December 1951 in Cradock. He left school after Standard 8 (Grade 10) and worked for the Railways, where he joined the railway…

B-0064863

1948-1985

Thamsanqa “Thami” Mnyele

"For me as craftsman, the act of creating art should complement the act of creating shelter for my family or liberating the country for me people. This is…

B-0008586

Unknown-1929

Hermanus Lethebe

Towards the end of 1929, the Minister of Justice, Oswald Pirow, announced a new bill, an amendment to the Riotous Assemblies Act, which would give him the…

B-0067162

Unknown-1987

Cameron Mbulelo Madikizela

Cameron Madikizela graduated from Fort Hare.  He was a member of the Cape African Teachers Association (CATA) and the Society of Young Africa (SOYA). He taught…

B-0064854

1989-2001

Nkosi Johnson

Nkosi Johnson was born Xolani Nkosi to an HIV positive mother in a township on the east rand. When his mother became too ill to take care of him, she gave him…

B-0096631

1910-1977

Max Gordon

Max  Gordon was born in 1910,he was adopted by a family named Gordon after his father's early death.In 1932 he earned a bachelor's degree at the University of…

B-0095012