This day in history

Hashim Mahomed Amla is a South African batsman.  He is the first cricketer of Indian descent to reach the national squad. Amla began his professional cricket career with the KwaZulu-Natal Dolphins in 1999. He had his Test debut in 2004 and his One Day International (ODI) debut in 2008. Amla is ranked Number Four in the World by the International Cricket Council (ICC) in both Test Cricket and ODIs. He is the younger brother of former cricket player Ahmed Amla.

Olaudah Equino was born in the region that is now known as Nigeria in 1945. At the age of 15, he was kidnapped and sold into slavery. The slave trade took him to places such as South America, the Caribbean islands and the West Indies. He later managed to buy his freedom and settled in the United Kingdom. One of his slave masters had taught Equaino to write fluently, a skill he put to good use when he wrote his autobiography:The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, or Gustavus Vassa, the African. The book surprised and impressed many with its detailed accounts of slave suffering and humiliation and saw many get involved in the movement for the abolition of slavery. Equiano’s African origins remain a contested issue as there have been indications that he was born in South Carolina in the US. It is believed that he may have embellished his autobiography to make it even more compelling.

The United Nations (UN) imposed sanctions on Libya for refusing to hand over two men suspected of bombing the Pan Am flight 103. Seven years later (1999), after the UN passed a resolution to impose sanctions on the country, Libya turned over the Lockerbie suspects for trial, and sanctions were suspended. The story of the Pan Am flight 103 dates back to 21 December 1988, when a terrorist bomb exploded on board the plane, destroying the aircraft over the Scottish town of Lockerbie and killing 270 people, mostly Americans. In August 2009 the Libyan citizen arrested in connection with the blast, Abdelbaset al-Megrahi, was released from prison in Scotland. Upon his return he received a hero’s welcome from his countrymen at Tripoli Airport.In February 2011, after the outbreak of the revolution in Libya, the UN Security Council imposed travel and asset sanctions on Muammar Gaddafi and his closest aides.

In a move that was long overdue, President F.W. de Klerk imposed a state of emergency in KwaZulu-Natal, coinciding with a report by the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) that it had recorded 266 political killings in Natal since the beginning of March, the highest death toll in three years. According to De Klerk the decision was taken to ensure that there was free political activity and that elections would take place in Natal. He disputed the rumour circulating that the decision was taken following the Transitional Executive Committee's insistence that such action was necessary. Security forces were given powers to detain people for thirty days without charge, to use the necessary force to maintain order and to search people and premises without a warrant. The measures also prohibited unauthorised military training and the display of weapons, including traditional weapons, and set strict conditions for marches. African National Congress (ANC) president Nelson Mandela gave his organisation's support to the clampdown and called ANC members to co-operate with the security forces. Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) president Mangosuthu Buthelezi described the state of emergency as humiliating and an invasion in Natal, which was likely to make elections impossible. He referred to the failure of constitutional procedures as the main reason for the declaration of the emergency.

Speaking after the publication of a report on the Azanian People's Liberation Army (APLA) by the Goldstone Commission, President F.W. de Klerk issued a stern warning to General Bantu Holomisa, leader of the Transkei homeland, who was accused of aiding the activities of APLA. According to the report APLA's high command was based in Transkei and the homeland was used as a springboard for attacks. De Klerk immediately dispatched 1 000 troops to blockade Transkei in order to stop the movement of APLA members.

Donald "Dolan" Acheson is purported to have been deported from South Africa on the 31 March 1991, having being fingered as the triggerman in the assassination of Namibian lawyer Anton Lubowski. Acheson was an Irish hit man, purportedly part of a covert South African military organization known as the Civil Cooperation Bureau (CCB). On 12 September 1989, Acheson allegedly gunned Lubowski down outside his house in Windhoek. Neighbours claimed that they first thought the shots were fireworks. Acheson, who had previously served with the Rhodesian Army, was connected to the killing through the car he rented for the operation. When Acheson was arrested in Windhoek, police found a piece of paper with numbers that led them to his handlers. Despite overwhelming evidence against him, Acheson was released after eight months in detention. No attempt was ever made to extradite Acheson to Namibia to stand trial and in 1991 Acheson was deported to Ireland as an undesirable alien. Acheson dropped out of the public eye after his arrival in Ireland and his fate remains unknown.  Note: *this date is dispute as one source claims it was in April 1991.

Disclosure of 1982 SA-Swaziland pact It is disclosed that South Africa and Swaziland had signed a non-aggression pact in February 1982. The two countries now also agree to exchange trade representatives and to establish trade missions in their respective countries.  

A 6 000 strong march supporting the South African Indian Congress resolution for Passive Resistance against the Asiatic Land Tenure Act, or Ghetto Act takes place in Durban. The Asiatic Bill was one of the many anti-Indian legislation bills passed by the South African government. Dr G M Naicker, President of the Natal Indian Congress addressed the demonstrators. During the gathering, representatives of Black African and mixed race communities declared their support for the Indian people in their struggle.

On 31 March 1842, Reverend Daniel Lindley instituted the first congregation of the Dutch Reformed Church in the Orange Free State, which makes this day the founding day of the church in that province. The Dutch Reformed Church arrived in South Africa in the seventeenth century, after Calvinist reforms in Europe had entrenched the idea of predestination, and the Synod of Dort in the Netherlands had proclaimed this church as the "community of the elect" in 1619. The church gained recognition as the state religion in 1651, and the Dutch East India Company, as an extension of the state in southern Africa, established the first Dutch Reformed Church at the Cape of Good Hope in 1652.

Sheik Yusuf, Islamic leader and brother of the sultan of Macassar, was banished to the Cape by the Dutch East India Company (DEIC). He arrived on board De Voetboog and with his family and retinue; they were forty-nine people in total. In order to minimise his influence on enslaved people at the Cape, he was housed by the Dutch East India Company on the farm Zandvliet, located outside Cape Town. Although he died in 1699, just five years after his arrival at the Cape, after more than three centuries his memory lives on and Zandvliet is a noted place of pilgrimage for Muslim people in South Africa. Although there were already some Muslims at the Cape before the arrival of Yusuf, he is regarded as the founder of the Islamic faith at the Cape. The Muslim community, to whom he had provided guidance, faith and hope, flourishes in South Africa today.  The name "Zandvliet" disappeared many years ago, when the area was renamed "Macassar", in honour of Sheikh Yusuf's place of birth.