Steve Biko & Donald Woods As we’re about to ring in the New Year it seems an appropriate time to tell the story of Donald Woods’ dramatic escape from South Africa some thirty years ago. Woods, editor at the time of the East London-based newspaper, Daily Dispatch, had been issued with a five year banning order after being … Read more
Three years ago this Christmas the movie, Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom had its international premier. In an interview with Huffington Post at the time, Saths Cooper reflected on the years that he spent on Robben Island with Mandela, and specifically how they spent the holiday season. Inmates playing soccer on Robben Island Cooper, a member of the … Read more
Exhumation of the 14 political prisoners hung in 1964, Rebecca Cemetery, Pretoria Family members of fourteen political prisoners executed under the apartheid regime will finally have somewhere to visit their loved ones after their bodies were exhumed on Wednesday as part of the country’s Gallows Exhumation Project, led by the Missing Person’s Task Team. The men, who were hung in Pretoria in … Read more
Chris Hani inspects MK soldiers at a rally held at Langa Stadium, Cape Town, 1991 Next Friday, on the 16th December, South Africa celebrates the Day of Reconciliation. But while the public holiday in its current form has only been in existence since 1995, the 16th December has been commemorated in South Africa since 1910, when … Read more
In the heart of Durban’s hip new Rivertown is the Rivertown Beerhall, a social space filled with young creatives and out-of-towners taking in the sites and sounds of Durban’s newly gentrified CBD. But the relaxed bar belies the dark history of these beerhalls, that were a central part of the ‘Durban System’. A precursor to the dreaded … Read more
The wonderful thing about history is that it provides the most fascinating stories – factual tales that are often more interesting and convoluted than the best spy novels! Himalaya House, still standing today at 165 Julius Nyerere Avenue, is where we begin today’s story, for it was here, in Durban’s first high-rise apartment block, that a number … Read more