SAHO global search

1940-1990

Ernest Cole

… went to search for a job, but was hindered by his lack of matriculation and by the laws governing South Africa at that time. In terms of … time, Cole…

B-0007955

Nise Bulelwa Malange

… As a young teenager she became fascinated and involved in the trade union work of her uncle Rev. Marawu. She attended school first in Elsies … River then in…

B-0008413

1955

Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka

… from Ohlange High School in Inanda and enrolled with the National University of Lesotho for a Bachelor of Arts degree in Social Science and Education. After…

B-0008578

1959

Romeo Zamani Makhanya

… Romeo Makhanya was born in Durban, 1959. He experienced the trauma of losing his brothers one after the other to genetic heart-related conditions. The…

B-0008398

1924-2008

Esther Barsel

… Eastern Transvaal (now Mpumalanga), until 1936 when the family moved to Johannesburg, Transvaal Province (now Gauteng). Barsel dedicated her life to the…

B-0007832

1917-2009

Helen Suzman

… Helen Suzman (nee Govronsky) was born in the South African mining town of Germiston on 7 November 1917 to Samuel and Frieda … from Eastern Europe who had…

B-0009113

1933

Motsoko Pheko

… 13 November 1933 to a wealthy rural family in Lesotho. In the late 1930s, after the sudden death of their parents, Pheko and his brother came to South Africa…

B-0081677

1961

Dali Tambo

… Dali Tambo is the son of the late former ANC President Oliver Tambo and his wife … and later went on to study at the American University of Paris where he…

B-0122793

1916-1965

Dr Arthur Elias Letele

… Letele, was a school inspector. His mother, Catherine, was of Xhosa decent. The Letele family immigrated to South Africa shortly after Arthur's birth and he…

B-0008321

1906-1968

Archibald Campbell Jordan

… Archibald Campbell Mzolisa Jordan, the son of an Anglican minister, was born on 30 October 1906 at the Mbokothwana Mission Station in the Tsolo District of ……

B-0008216

1919-1998

George Naicker

… George Naicker, was one of six sons. He was born on 1 June 1919. He joined the  Natal Indian Congress  in 1941 and became an executive … 1963. At that time…

B-0068192

1962-2002

Steve Hilton-Barber

… in 1962, into a farming family. He received a Bachelor of Journalism and Media Studies degree from Rhodes … he joined Afrapix and worked as a stringer for…

B-0007825

1910-1987

Mattheus Uys Krige

… Mattheus Uys Krige and his contribution to the Second World War  Mattheus Uys Krige (1910-1987) can certainly be counted among the most dynamic literary…

B-0123687

1918-1990

Frank Alexander Landman

… Raised in the close knit community of Dowerville, Port Elizabeth (P.E.), Frank was the youngest of three sons and the third of the six surviving …

B-0122626

1924-1992

Zuleika Sarojini Christopher

… Zuleika (Zulei) Sarojini Christopher, the eldest daughter of Advocate Albert Christopher and Ghadija Gool, was born in … she also grew up. Advocate Albert…

B-0096411

1920-2010

Robert Hodgins

… "For me, it is very simple. The act of painting at a particular moment is able, for reasons I … understands, nor even try to understand, to open up the whole…

B-0008165

Piet Retief

… Piet Retief was born on 12 November 1780 in the Wagenmakersvallei, (known as Wellington today), Cape Province. He was the fifth of 10 children of Jacobus, a…

B-0068386

1926-1982

Poomoney Moodley

… and Kanniamah Moodley; who themselves were children of Indian indentured labourers in Natal. In 1930, when Poomoney was two years old, the family moved to…

B-0068090

1953

Nandisile Thoko Mpumlwana

… Zululand, Natal (now KwaZulu-Natal ). A co-founding member of the Black Consciousness Movement (BCM) alongside Steve Biko , she was involved in political…

B-0080909

1925-1992

Yvonne Bryceland

… talents were first recognised through her association with the renowned Port Elizabeth playwright Athol Fugard .   Bryceland joined the Cape Performing Arts…

B-0007894

1960-1983

Nokuthula Orela Simelane

… in Mzinoni Township near Bethal in Mpumalanga . She was the first of two daughters (Nokuthula and Thembisile) of Ernestinah and … Matthew Simelane. She …

B-0093135

1949

Lefifi Tladi

… The thinker, poet, and painter, Lefifi Tladi, was born in 1949 in the culturally vibrant township of Lady Selborne in Pretoria, Transvaal Province (now … P. …

B-0122542

1982

Mary Sibande

… in Johannesburg - is interested primarily in questions of the body and how to reclaim the black female body in post-colonial and post-apartheid …

B-0121589

1920-2000

Fred Carneson

… and Annie Carneson, a poor Catholic working class family, the sixth of nine children. Fred’s parents were both almost illiterate … simple books. His father…

B-0007921

1930-2018

Billy Modise

… him to enrol for his secondary school in Modeerport. The racial discrimination imposed by apartheid which forced black people and his personal experiences of…

B-0094430

1943

Joyce Sikhakhane-Rankin

… Joyce Sikhakhane-Rankin (Nomafa) was born at the Bridgeman Memorial Maternity Hospital in Johannesburg … a child. Her father was a lecturer in African…

B-0068455

1918-1973

Barend Jacobus (Ben) Erasmus

… in Zeerust, he showed leadership qualities by captaining the school rugby team. During the Great Depression of the 1930's he was forced to leave school and…

B-0008049

1921

Jacqueline (Jackie) Arenstein

… As a young person, Arenstein joined the left wing Book Club in Durban where, among other authors, Marx and Lenin were read and discussed. At the age of 21,…

B-0007793

1950-2012

Roy Padayachie

… Durban and then went to study for a B.Sc. degree at the University of Durban-Westville (now University of KwaZulu-Natal). He went onto to complete his B.Sc…

B-0082944

1937-2019

Zubeida “Juby” "Sharon Davis" Mayet

… , Transvaal (now Gauteng ). Mayet began writing in the mid-1950s while at high school. She studied for two years … to join a newspaper as a journalist.She…

B-0080693