South African artist Gerard Sekoto is born

Jan Gerard Sekoto was born on 9 September 1913 in Botshabelo, a mission station established by the German missionaries amongst the Pedi community in the Middelburg district of the Transvaal (now Mpumalanga). He was the son of Andreas Sekoto, a leading member of the new Christian converts. Sekoto was schooled at Wonderhoek, which was established by his father,  a priest and teacher. In 1930, he attended the Grace Dieu institute. Here he completed his Standard Six (Grade Eight), and went on to study to become a teacher at the Diocesan Training College near Pietersburg.

The writer Peter Abrahims and artists and political activists such as Ernest Mancoba, also attended the same school and, like Sekoto, later choose to go into exile.  From 1934 to 1938, Sekoto taught at Khaiso Secondary School near Pietersburg. He became close to Louis Makenna, Nimrod Ndelele and Ernest Mancoba, who had graduated at Fort Hare University. This highly gifted and creative foursome enriched each other’s lives, and the intellectual and artistic life of the school. This is where Sekoto’s interest in art took on another dimension.

In 1938, he won second prize in a national art competition organised by Ester Bedford at the University of Fort Hare. This encouraged Sekoto to quit teaching and move to Sophiatown, where in 1939 he began painting full-time. During this time he received encouragement from John Mohl and Brother Roger Castle of St Peter's Secondary School in Rosettenville. Sekoto continued exhibiting his art work regularly. On 13 December 1989 he received an honorary doctorate from the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits). In 2004 Sophiatown unveiled the Sekoto mural that depicts Archbishop Trevor Huddleston walking the dusty streets of Sophiatown. Sekoto passed away on 20 March 1993 at the age of 79, six months before his 80th birthday.