Peter Mackay and the African Liberation Movement

Durban’s Liberation Heritage Route is part of a larger movement aimed at drawing attention to Africa’s struggle heroes and their stories that so often go untold. History that over the years has been misreported, or intentionally distorted or buried, is finally being made available to the public. This is a process though, that requires money. Funds … Read more

Dr John Dube and the amaKholwa

Many a Durbanite would have sat on the small stone wall that runs along the promenade on Addington Beach, completely unaware of its historical significance. The wall was built by Zulu prisoners captured during the Bambatha Rebellion that took place in 1906. The war that broke out between Zulu speakers and the Natal government in the early 1900s … Read more

Not Your Average New Year’s Eve

Benedict Vilakazi's Grave

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 arrested at the airport trying … Read more

Christmas Day on Robben Island

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. Cooper, a member of the Black Consciousness Movement and former resident … Read more

The Gallows Exhumation Project

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 July 1964, were members of the armed wing of the Pan African … Read more