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EventAnti-SAIC political rally ends in Lenasia
On 19 and 20 August 1981, in response to the National Party (NP) government’s attempts to co opt Indians and Coloured communities into puppet state…
ArchiveThe women's suffrage movement: The politics of gender race and class by Cheryl Walker
From the book: Women and Gender in Southern Africa to 1945 edited by Cheryl WalkerQuestion: Do you favour votes for all women, irrespective of colourAnswer: As…
EventCongo administration is handed to the Belgian government
From the beginning of colonialism in the 1880s following the 'scramble for Africa', Congo had been regarded as King Leopold II's personal fiefdom. Leopold's…
ArticleAfrican National Congress Timeline 1910-1919
This period was characterized by events leading up to the formation of the African National Congress in 1912 as well as the organization’s early years. Events…
The Convention for a Democratic South Africa (CODESA): CODESA 1
On October 25 1991, ninety-two organisations that were united in their opposition to apartheid gathered in Durban to form the Patriotic Front. The Front…
Statement of the African National Congress and the South African Tamil Federation National Working Committee, 14 November 2014
The 650 000 strong South African Tamil Federation (SATF) met with the ANC on 5 November 2014 at Luthuli House, Johannesburg. The SATF delegation led by its…
EventNelson Mandela is born
Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela was born on 18 July 1918 in the small village of Mvezo, in the district of Qunu near Umtata, Transkei (now known as Eastern Cape)…
EventOver 400 Kikuyu suspected to be part of the Mau Mau movement are arrested in Kenya
Mali was once part of the Great Songhay Empire, but came under French rule in 1892. After almost seventy years of colonial rule, Mali was renamed the Sudanese…
EventUmkhonto We Sizwe, military wing of the ANC, claims responsibility for power station blast
Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK), translated as "Spear of the Nation", was the active military wing of the African National Congress (ANC). It was formed in co-operation…
EventUS Secretary of State Cyrus Vance travels to South Africa to promote transition to black rule in Namibia
South Africa had seized the German territory (then known as South-West Africa) during World War I and retained it after the war under a League of Nations…
EventSouth Africa relinquishes sovereignty over Walvis Bay
Location: back to this day in history search archive Walvis Bay, from the Dutch for "Whale Bay", is situated in Namibia, along the west coast of southern…
EventNelson Mandela meets President P.W. Botha to begin negotiating the end of apartheid
On 5 July 1989, African National Congress leader Nelson Mandela met with President P.W. Botha at Tuynhuis. At the time, Mandela was still imprisoned at Victor…
EventThe Constitution of the Republic of South Africa is approved by Parliament
The Constitution of the Republic of South Africa is regarded as one of the most progressive constitutions in the world. The process that led to its approval…
PlaceCity Hall, Cape Town
This is a large Edwardian building in the centre of Cape Town city. It was built in 1905, on the Grand parade, West of the Castle of Good Hope. Messrs Henry…
ArchiveHow colonial violence came home: the ugly truth of the first world war by Pankaj Mishra (The Guardian), 10 November 2018
"Today on the Western Front,” the German sociologist Max Weber wrote in September 1917, there “stands a dross of African and Asiatic savages and all the world…
ArticleThe 1956 Women’s March, Pretoria, 9 August
‘Strijdom, you have tampered with the women, You have struck a rock.' So runs the song composed to mark this historic occasion. By the middle of 1956…
ArticleSouth African Youth Congress (SAYCO)
SAYCO was regarded as the most significant youth organization to emerge during the 1980s. Initiated by COSAS, it focused on organizing the non-student youth,…
ArticleA history of Apartheid in South Africa
Background and policy of apartheidBefore we can look at the history of the apartheid period it is necessary to understand what apartheid was and how it…
EventJustice Ludorf convicts thirty men accused of conspiring to overthrow the SWA administration
The presiding judge in the Pretoria terrorist trial, Justice Ludorf convicted the thirty men accused of conspiring to overthrow the South West Africa…
EventAnti-Apartheid demonstration is held outside SA embassy in Washington
The Soweto riots of 1976, in which school children protested against being taught in Afrikaans and were subsequently gunned down, detained, and exiled, led the…
EventJournalists' first visit to Robben Island
The South African government for the first time allowed 20 local journalists, five correspondents of international news agencies and two official photographers…
ArticleFanakalo: the language of mining culture
Introduction Fanakalo is a bridging language of communication in multilingual and multinational settings on South African mines [writers spell this pidgin…
Segregationist Legislation Timeline 1950-1959
Immorality Amendment Act, Act No 21 of 1950 This Act was one of the most controversial pieces of Apartheid legislation. It prohibited adultery, attempted…
EventCassper Nyovest, the South African Hip Hop artist is born
Refiloe Maele Phoolo, stage name “Cassper Nyovest” was born in Mafikeng, North West Province on 16 December 1990.[1] Cassper Nyovest is one of the most…
EventP.W. Botha launches CONSAS at the Carlton Conference to eliminate “Marxist threat”
On 22 November 1979 South African prime minister P. W. Botha gathered business leaders together in a conference at the Carlton Hotel in Johannesburg. Here he…
PlaceQuaqua
Quaqua, or Qwaqwa, was a homeland created for the Southern Sotho people from a reserve in the Orange Free State (OFS) that had been granted to the followers of…
EventBeginning of the Waterberg Battle in the Herero Revolt
The German colonisation of Namibia, then German South West Africa, took place in 1884. The Herero, a pastoral and nomadic group, had begun to move into Namibia…
PlaceConstitution Hill Museum, Johannesburg
Constitution Hill is a Living Museum that tells the story of South Africa’s journey to democracy. The site is a former Prison and military Fort that bears…
PlacePhilippi
The settlement of Springfield was established sometime before December 1896, and in August 1898 its name was changed to Philippi. Philippi is one of Cape Town…
Black Consciousness Movement in South Africa
The landscape of Black political activity in the 1960s was a very different one from that of the previous decade. The apartheid government had shattered the…