A policeman arrests two Indian men during an anti-apartheid demonstration outside Durban City Hall, November 1983 Completed just over a century ago Durban’s City Hall has been witness to the history of the city, and of the country, as South Africa moved from four distinct British colonies, to the Union of South Africa, and finally … Read more
Soweto school children protest against Afrikaans in 1976 The political student activity that has been very much a part of the South African landscape for the past year is in some ways reminiscent of protest action seen some forty-plus years ago when members of the National Union of South African Students broke away to form … Read more
Last Friday saw the 2016 annual Steve Biko Memorial Lecture taking place at Unisa in Pretoria, in commemoration of the 39th anniversary of the murder of Bantu Stephen Biko. Biko, born in the Eastern Cape on the 18th December 1946, died on the 12th September 1977 at the age of 31, after weeks of torture at … Read more
The word ‘heritage’ is directly linked to ‘inheritance’, referring to something that is passed down from one generation to the next. In the context of this website ‘heritage’ refers to the physical spaces that played a part in South Africa’s transition from a racially divided colony to the democratic republic that it is today. They are … Read more
Those who grew up in Durban will be very familiar with the Catholic Church and the neighbouring Denis Hurley Centre, both prominent buildings as you enter the centre of town. What many might not be aware of though, is the great work that these institutions have been involved in over the years, and for much of … Read more
Monday the 15th August 2016 marked 69 years since India claimed its independence from British rule. The movement that resulted in Indian independence is most famous for satyagraha, a campaign of nonviolent resistance and civil disobedience led by the Indian National Congress, of which Mohandas Gandhi was the president at the time. It was nearly a century before India took back control of its land and its people … Read more