Moments in South African History
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Moments in South African History
The stories of prominent people, events and places that shaped South African history.
Episodi recenti
38 episodi
FW de Klerk - Nobel laureate
Former South African president FW de Klerk who died at the age of 85 in Cape Town, was one of only four South Africans to receive the prestigious Nobe...
FW de Klerk - 2 February 1992
South Africa's last white president, FW de Klerk, who has died at the age of 85 in Cape Town, will be remembered for effectively ending apartheid and...
FW de Klerk - The call for blood
The National Party in the form of its leader, FW de Klerk, appeared before the Truth Commission in Cape Town in August 1996 and May 1997. De Klerk acc...
The life of Nelson Mandela
Former President Nelson Mandela was South Africa’s first democratically elected Head of State. His five-year presidency from 1994 to 1999 was regarded...
Nelson Mandela - The voice
Former president Nelson Mandela wasn't a brilliant orator like Winston Churchill, John F Kennedy, Martin Luther King or Barack Obama. But Mandela was...
The Soweto uprising 1976 - You kill one, you kill all
The South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s first-ever partial event hearing took place at the Regina Mundi Catholic Church in Soweto in m...
The Constitutional Court of South Africa
After a long process to choose a design and construct a building, the new South African Constitutional Court building, the flagship structure of Const...
The Apartheid Museum
Most people would frown at a casino consortium agreeing to build a museum for its licence. But that’s exactly what Gold Reef City has done with the he...
Dirk Coetzee - Till the day I die
He was unknown to the Security Police at Vlakplaas near Pretoria until they were told to "make a plan" with him. Several banning orders, long days in...
Who killed the Cradock Four?
They became known as the Cradock Four: Matthew Goniwe, Fort Calata, Sparrow Mkhonto and Sicelo Mhlauli. On the 27th of June 1985, these four men left...
Eugene de Kock - A thousand shades of grey
The media painted him as the arch-villain of the apartheid era and labelled him "Prime Evil". The Truth Commission singled him out as the man who brok...
Doctor death
The apartheid government’s top-secret Chemical and Biological Warfare Programme sealed the Truth Commission’s investigations into gross human rights a...
Chris Hani - I believe in the cause
One incident that pushed South Africa to the brink of anarchy was the assassination of Communist Party leader Chris Hani. Millions loved him for his r...
Steve Biko - The fatal blow
The Truth Commission was a bitter pill to swallow for the family of black consciousness leader Steve Bantu Biko. But it was even harder for them to ac...
PW Botha - Salute me!
Convicted former president PW Botha was the one crucial apartheid politician who could have shed more light on the official sanctioning of gross human...
PW Botha - The great crocodile
PW Botha personified apartheid and the old National Party for most South Africans. For eleven years between 1978 and 1989, he ruled the country as pri...
Fatima Meer - Whirlwind in the Sari
Veteran activist and sociologist, Professor Fatima Meer championed equality and social justice. Under apartheid, she was banned, detained and held in...
Nadine Gordimer - Taking stock
Seamus Heaney called her "one of the great guerrillas of the imagination"; the Nobel Committee called her "a magnificent epic writer" and the Independ...
Remembering the SS Mendi
They were warriors, not soldiers. Black South Africans recruited as labourers to serve in World War One under the British flag. But, they weren't allo...
Van Zyl Slabbert - A philosophical anarchist
Respected political analyst and former official opposition leader, Dr Frederik Van Zyl Slabbert played a key role in South Africa's transition from ap...
Beyers Naudé - Prophet of the nation
Renowned anti-apartheid cleric, Dr Beyers Naudé, better known as Oom Bey, was called many things during his lifetime. From staunch Afrikaner and respe...
Epainette Mbeki - A political matriarch
Epainette Mbeki was the second black woman to join the South African Communist Party in the late 1930s. Although she was inextricably linked to the AN...
Helen Suzman - A lone voice
Helen Suzman was the only parliamentary representative of the old South African Progressive Party for 13 years. She was also the only woman in the 165...
George Bizos - A Matter of Life and Death
George Bizos, Anti-Apartheid Activist and Human Rights Lawyer. Angie Kapelianis, interviewed Advocate Bizos at the Legal Resources Centre in Johannesb...
Andrew Mlangeni - A snapshot
Andrew Mlangeni was one of the ANC’s first MK members to be trained in communist China and to meet “Chairman Mao” in 1962. Back home, Mlangeni disgui...
Dolly Rathebe - A musical icon
Dolly Rathebe rose to prominence in 1949 when she became South Africa's first black movie star in 'Jim Comes to Jo'burg'. Rathebe was soon splashed on...
Adelaide Tambo - A pillar of strength
Adelaide Tambo, the "grand dame" of the ANC liberation movement, devoted her entire life to the struggle against apartheid. The ANC said her strength,...
Oliver Tambo - The jewel in the crown
Oliver Reginald Tambo was the ANC liberation movements’ longest-serving president. Tambo led the ruling party in exile for almost a quarter of a centu...
Albertina Sisulu - A big tree
Angie Kapelianis reflects on the life of Albertina Sisulu, who was described as a big tree in whose shelter and shade people sought comfort and solace...
Walter Sisulu - A life
Walter Sisulu dedicated more than half of his life to equal rights and opportunities for all South Africans. But he never sought any credit for his in...
Nelson Mandela - The value of sport
Former president Nelson Mandela believed that sport had the power to change and unite the world like little else. Mandela once said: Sport “is more po...
Nelson Mandela - Admired
Former president Nelson Mandela has left an indelible mark all over the world and in most people's hearts. Ordinary people single out his fight for fr...
Nelson Mandela votes for the first time
Nelson Mandela was already 75 years old when he voted for the first time in his life on the 27th of April 1994. On that day, black and white South Afr...
Nelson Mandela as member of parliament
Former president Nelson Mandela briefly served as a Member of Parliament in 1994, following South Africa’s historic multi-racial elections. In fact, M...
Nelson Mandela's influence on the South African economy
Former president Nelson Mandela’s tireless efforts from 1994 boosted South Africa’s economy. Mandela and his ANC-led Government of National Unity inhe...
Nelson Mandela & Africa
Ché Guevara, Amilcar Cabral, Agostinho Neto and Samora Machel. These are just some of the well-known freedom fighters with whom Nelson Mandela secretl...
Nelson Mandela - The Rivonia trial
Nelson Mandela was Accused Number One in the Rivonia Sabotage Trial at the Palace of Justice in Pretoria between October 1963 and June 1964. The Rivon...
Nelson Mandela - Mvezo 1918
Former president Nelson Mandela had more in common with the old Broederbond, K.V.W, Sanlam and Stellenbosch University than met the eye. They were all...