History

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The voice we lost: Forty years without Samora Machel

Four decades after the tragic Mbuzini plane crash that killed Samora Machel, Mozambique reflects on the enduring promise of independence, regional liberation, and the…

Book Review: Chris Hani: A life of courage and compassion

In 'Chris Hani: A Life of Courage and Compassion', acclaimed author Zakes Mda moves beyond the revolutionary icon to reveal the husband, father, and thinker whose warnings still…

Thabo Mbeki. Image: Supplied

‘Complete fabrication’: Mbeki rejects secret amnesty deal claims

Former president Thabo Mbeki has strongly denied allegations of secret talks with apartheid-era generals to secure amnesty, calling the claims a complete fabrication during his…

Perspective: Sol Plaatje was the righter of the wrongs of Western literature’s view of black people. Photo: Sol Plaatje Papers, Historical Papers Research Archive, University of the Witwatersrand

Mhudi’, a novel ahead of its time

Published in 1930, Sol Plaatje’s epic Mhudi challenged colonial perspectives and societal gender norms, establishing a pioneering milestone in South African and African literature.

A shared truimph: The grave of Solomon Tshekisho Plaatje, whose work helped shape South Africa’s democratic and cultural vision. Photo: Deshi Ngxanga

Plaatje was never a lone genius

As South Africa marks 150 years since the birth of Solomon Tshekisho Plaatje, we remember how the pioneer's towering legacy was shaped and sustained by a supportive community.

FÊTED IN HIS LIFETIME: Imprisoned twice on Robben Island, veteran PAC activist Sello Mike Matsobane is the quintessential unsung struggle hero but people recently gathered in Kagiso, his hometown on the West Rand, to pay tribute to him. Picture: Supplied

When good deeds go unrewarded

A reflection on the life, sacrifice, and enduring legacy of PAC Underground struggle stalwart Bra Mike Sello Matsobane, exploring how African philosophy honours unsung heroes.

Woman power: Winnie Madikizela-Mandela’s movements were limited 
. . . she was prohibited from attending gatherings, which prevented her from being quoted in the press

More than Mandela’s wife: Nomzamo’s own fight

An exploration of Winnie Madikizela-Mandela’s life and resistance against apartheid, highlighting how black women's domestic, social, and political labour shaped South African…

Exhibition: Sixty years after District Six was declared a white area, its former residents and their descendants still carry its street names, stories and relationships with them. Jimi Matthews’s photographs caught the landscape while that destruction was taking place.

The photographs that connect two histories of displacement

Veteran photographer Jimi Matthews pairs his archive of apartheid-era forced removals in District Six with intimate portraits of daily life and resilience in Palestine in a…

Heritage isn't a museum of past relics

Heritage Day is more than a celebration of the past; it is a critical, ongoing process of deciding which values, memories, and traditions we choose to carry into South Africa's…

A whodunit: We still do not know who was responsible for the earlier thwarted attempt to poison Siphiwo Mtimkulu with thallium. Does Dr Wouter Basson know? Poster by Janet Cherry

Dr Wouter Basson, please tell us who poisoned Siphiwo Mtimkulu

As apartheid chemical warfare head Wouter Basson fills theatre seats, an unresolved question lingers about the 1981 thallium poisoning of activist Siphiwo Mtimkulu and its…

Cele tears into apartheid operatives

Former police commissioner and minister Bheki Cele testified before the Khampepe Commission investigating delayed TRC cases, facing questions on missing anti-apartheid activists…

Portraits of Power celebrates women who changed the course of history

The 'Portraits of Power' exhibition has officially opened at the historic Union Buildings in Pretoria, honouring women who have made significant contributions globally. Hosted by…

Bongani Shabangu

For Bongani Shabangu, 30, history is not simply about recording the past—it is about restoring voices that have too often been forgotten. As a lecturer in history education at…

Lived reality: What happens when a country still knows how to worship its founding words but no longer knows how to enact them in ordinary public life? Photo: Susannah Stevens

The Republic of the Replica

Our US correspondent recounts a chaotic 250th birthday celebration in Washington D.C., where a quest to see the Declaration of Independence and attend the national parade turned…

Uneasy reading: Eugene de Kock, the man named “Prime Evil”,
enjoys a huge following on Facebook where he continues to make
revelations and brag about his past. He says its purpose is to archive
history to preserve and present material concerning his life.

De Kock’s posts reopen old wounds

Notorious apartheid assassin Eugene de Kock is forcing his victims and their families to relive the torture and extrajudicial killings of anti-apartheid activists as he recounts,…