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
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 it was originally referred to as Dingaan’s Day. It was on this day that 470 Voortrekkers, … Read more
Last Wednesday saw the opening of the 1860 Museum in Chatsworth, KZN. The brainchild of Mr Dilosen Pillay, the museum is the first privately funded museum dedicated to the history of Indian people in South Africa. Six rooms of Hotel Savera in Chatsworth make up the museum, which will be open to the public for viewing. … Read more
More than just a place of worship, a mosque is viewed as the centre of a Muslim community – one of the first things that the Prophet Mohammed did when he entered Medina was to build a mosque, as did the first Muslim immigrants to arrive in Natal in the late 1800s. The land for Juma Masjid, … 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
As the years go by the face of cities tend to change quite dramatically. Photos hung in pubs and in the foyers of hotels show what Durban’s beachfront used to look like, or how the Berea was covered in bush, instead of apartment buildings. Very few things remain the same, but if you take a look at photos of … Read more