PEOPLE
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History in the Headlines
Tributes & updates

The 21st October 2008 marks the 90th birthday of Albertina Sisulu (maSisulu) and it is appropriate to honour this remarkable woman on her special day not only to provide a faithful account of what she has done for South Africa but also to thank her for being who she is – a mother to the nation.

MaSisulu did not achieve greatness alone; she was influenced and supported by many people who worked alongside her during the struggle. Therefore, SAHO will work to develop a full a history of the life of this great South African, as well as a history of the movements and comrades that helped build her legacies.

» Miriam Makeba: died 10 November 2008. South African singer and human rights campaigner, Makeba was the first vocalist to put African music onto the international map in the 1960s. Makeba is well known throughout the world known as the Mama Africa and the Empress of African Song
» Dr. Es’kia Mphahlele: Es’kia [Ezekiel] Mphahlele, doyen of African letters, passed away in Lebowakgomo, Limpopo, on the evening of 27th October, 2008 at the ripe age of eighty-eight.
» Billy Nair: On 23 October 2008 Billy Nair died. Nair an extraodinary anti-apartheid activist who was a Trade Unionists, communist, Treason Trialist, deputy head of MK in Natal, Robben Island Prisoner, UDF leader, Member of Vulu underground and a Member of parliament
» Nzimeni Elliot Mfaxa: On 16 October 2008 one of the former 1956 Treason Trialists who took part in a reunion with Nelson Mandela in March this year, has passed away. Mfaxa passed away at home in Tyutyu Village, outside King William’s Town in the Eastern Cape, after an asthma attack. He was 83.
» Bongiwe Dhlomo: Artist (printmaker), art administrator and activist. As a South African printmaker, art administrator and opponent of apartheid, Dhlomo grounds her art on the socialist-realist and political. Her linocuts and woodcuts explore a wide range of issues ranging from political events such as the 1976 Soweto uprising, to mere portrayals of the daily life of working South African women.