Justin Alexander (Alex) La Guma, SA novelist, short story writer and political activist, is born in Cape Town

Justin Alexander la Guma was born in District Six, Cape Town on 20 February 1925. His father, Jimmy La Guma was of Cuban descent, which made him mixed race in South Africa and was classified as Coloured. La Guma’s father was involved in anti-apartheid activism, a path that he would also follow. La Guma was also a talented writer and wrote several books, most of them depicting the plight of black people under apartheid. He was arrested several times as an activist, and would use his time in jail to write. He later went to exile in England before returning to his father’s native country Cuba, where he became an African National Congress (ANC) representative. He died in 1985.