SAHO global search

1927

Sydney Brenner

Sydney Brenner was born in Germiston, close to Johannesburg, to Jewish parents on 13 January 1927. His father was a shoe repairman who had moved to South…

B-0007885

1952-1985

Ruben Xulu

Ruben Xulu, born deaf on 10 May 1952 and attended school in Mgangatho from 1955 to 1961. He began carving with Bernard Gcwensa at Hiabisa mission station and…

B-0009244

1960-1983

Nokuthula Orela Simelane

Nokuthula Orela Simelane was born in 1960 in Mzinoni Township near Bethal in Mpumalanga. She was the first of two daughters (Nokuthula and Thembisile) of…

B-0093135

1967-1991

Vuyani Mabaxa

Vuyani Mabaxa grew up in Diepkloof, Johannesburg. His parents were members of the National Education, Health and Allied Workers Union (Nehawu). In the 1980s,…

B-0073091

1932

Dr Essop Essak Jassat

Dr Essop Essak Jassat, the second of three children, was born on 5 October 1932 in 11th Street Vrededorp, Johannesburg. Both of his parents came from India…

B-0064875

1925-2013

Colin Wells Eglin

Colin Wells Eglin was born in Sea Point, Cape Town, Western Province (now Western Cape) on 14 April 1925. His parents, Carl August and Elsie May Eglin were…

B-0008044

1959

Carl Niehaus

Carl Niehaus was born on 25 December 1959 and grew up in Zeerust, North West Province. He completed his higher education at Rand Afrikaans University (RAU). A…

B-0008791

1937-2002

Justice Gizenga Mpanza

Justice "Gizenga" Mpanza was born on 5 September 1937 at Groutville Mission Reserve. His father was one of Chief Luthuli's indunas (advisors). Mpanza went to…

B-0067866

1963

Jeremy Vearey

Jeremy Vearey was born in 1963 in Elsies River. He describes the area as a ‘different Elsies River’ than today as it was only around 50% built houses. It was a…

B-0125539

1948

Timothy Peter Jenkin

Timothy Peter Jenkin was born in 1948, in Cape Town and educated at Rondebosch Boys' Prep and Boys' High School,[1][2] matriculating at the age of 17.[3] …

B-0008202

1956-1979

Solomon Kalushi Mahlangu

Solomon Kalushi Mahlangu was born in Pretoria on 10 July in 1956. He was the second son of Martha Mahlangu. His father left him in 1962, and from then on only…

B-0076022

1931-2015

Reggie Vandeyar

Reggie Vandeyar was born into a poor family on 15 July 1931 in Newclare. His father was originally from India, who had come to South Africa to seek fortune. …

B-0068000

1951

Patricia De Lille

Patricia de Lille, a South African politician, was born the 17 February, 1951 in Beaufort West to Henry and Gertrude Lindt. She is the third of seven children…

B-0007988

1941-2010

Eugène Ney Terre’Blanche

Eugene Ney Terre'Blanche was born in Ventersdorp to staunchly Afrikaner nationalist parents on January 31, 1944. The progenitor of the Terre'Blanche name was…

B-0009130

Benjamin Ulenga

Benjamin (Ben) Ulenga was born in Owamboland. His father was a labourer, who from age 16 or 17 had to leave Owamboland to work on various English, Dutch,…

B-0099834

1966-1987

Norman “Billy Holiday” Pietersen

Norman Pietersen (also known as Billy Holiday) was born in 1966 in Paarl, Western Cape. In 1982, he was recruited by uMkhonto we Sizwe (MK) veterans and became…

B-0149905

1955-1991

Jabulani “Mzala” Nxumalo

Jabulani Nxumalo, better known as Comrade Mzala, was born on 27 October 1955, in Dundee, Northern Natal. His parents Benjamin and Elsie were both teachers…

B-0068699

1990

Saul Sibusiso “Minus Khosing” Mashinini

Sibusiso Mashinini was born to Johannes and Catherine. Unlike his brothers and sisters, he was very quiet and more helpful at home. He was remarkably…

B-0144710

1956

Paul Weinberg

Paul Weinberg was born in 1956 in Pietermaritzburg into a progressive middle-class Jewish family. His father was a lawyer and his mother a music teacher. He…

B-0068755

1940

James Edward April

James Edward April was born on 20th of March in 1940, in Bokmakeri Athlone, Cape Town, Western Province (now Western Cape).He is the youngest of seven children…

B-0007792

1949

Kgalema Petrus Motlanthe

Kgalema Petrus Motlanthe was born on 19 July 1949 at the Boksburg-Benoni Hospital. He grew up in Alexandra, Johannesburg, Transvaal (now Gauteng). His parents,…

B-0068113

1933-2019

Jennifer Davis

Jennifer was born in Johannesburg, South Africa in 1933. She grew up in what she described as a Jewish middle-class household where her pediatrician father was…

B-0149698

1985

Bathandwa Ndondo

As a young child, Ndondo’s maternal grandmother raised himwhile his mother, Lulama Sidumo (nee Ndondo),worked. Following the death of his grandmother, his…

B-0075601

1939-2025

Dr Franklin Abraham Sonn

Dr Franklin Abraham Sonn was born in October 1939 in Vosburg in the Karoo, Northern Cape and raised in Queenstown in the Eastern Cape. Dr Sonn graduated from…

B-0153096

1981

William Khanyile

At a young age, around the early 1960s, William Khanyile began selling the New Age newspaper in Pietermaritzburg. By then he was already interested in Marxism…

B-0149393

1945

Omar Badsha

Omar Badsha was born in Durban, Natal (now known as KwaZulu-Natal) in June 1945. He grew up in a working-class Indian Muslim family, which is part of the…

B-0007806

Mary Butcher Turok

Mary Butcher Turok is the wife of the anti-apartheid activist, parliamentarian and Professor Ben Turok, who played a prominent role in the writing of the…

B-0150129

1938-1996

Motlotlehi – His Majesty King Constantine Bereng Seeiso Moshoeshoe II of Lesotho

His Majesty, King Constantine Bereng Seeiso Moshoeshoe II was born on 2 May 1938, in the Village of Salang in the Mountain District of Mokhotlong in the…

B-0150335

1940-2013

Adrian Leftwich

Adrian Leftwich grew up in Cape Town, Western Province (now Western Cape), in 1940 in a liberal Jewish family. His father was a doctor, and his mother gave…

B-0141659

2019

Solly Mokoetle

Solly Mokoetle was also known as Solly Mpoli in Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK) circles, Solly Mokoetle left the country during the first half of 1976. As the influx…

B-0149757