This Friday sees the launch of A Life in Letters: Selected Correspondence of Denis Hurley. The book, which consists of 250 letters penned by Archbishop Denis Hurley, took three years to compile with Paddy Kearney*, Brother Philippe Denis and Jane Argall making the selection from a massive 5000 letters written by the Archbishop between the ages of 11 and 88. […]
While there seems to more politicking and less activism in many of today’s trade unions, there was a time in South Africa when the unions filled a very serious role in the fight for workers’ rights, which the government of the day were determined to squash. Curries Fountain, which now forms part of the Durban […]
On the 27th February 1979 the United Nations Economic and Social Council (Unesco) released a report entitled “Implementation of the International Convention on the Suppression and Punishment of the Crime of Apartheid”. The ‘Apartheid Convention’ (or ICSPCA), which came into force in 1976, was ratified by twenty countries, namely Benin, Bulgaria, Belarus, Chad, Czechoslovakia, Ecuador, the German […]
This evening the University of KwaZulu-Natal will host their annual Steve Biko Memorial Lecture, to commemorate the 41st anniversary of Steve Biko’s death. On the 18th August 1977, Biko and his associate, Peter Jones, were stopped at a routine road block near Grahamstown. When the police recognised the men, they were arrested under the Terrorism Act […]
Indlela okubukeka ngayo amadolobha iyashintsha ngendlela exakile ngokuhamba kweminyaka. Izithombe ezilenga ezindongeni zasezitolo zotshwala nasemaphaseji asemahhotela ziveza isithombe esehlukile ngendlela iTheku ebelibukeka ngayo phambilini, nokuthi indawo yaseBerea yayiyihlathi elinjani, esikhundleni sokuba yindawo yamafulethi okuhlala abantu. Kumbalwa kakhulu okungashintshile, kodwa uma ubheka izithombe zeDurban Bantu Social Centre eyavulwa ngama 1930, uyiqhathanisa nesakhiwo eyisona manje, isabonakala, hhayi […]
One of the sites that make up the Durban Liberation Heritage Route is Durban Central Prison, or more specifically one of its boundary walls, as the prison itself was destroyed some years back. Surprisingly though if you look online for images of the prison before it was demolished, you’ll find very few photographs. One of the […]
First published in 2001, Inside Apartheid’s Prison by Raymond Suttner, was rereleased at the end of last year. Suttner, an academic, was one of a small number of white South Africans who were imprisoned for their efforts to overthrow the government during apartheid. He was first arrested in 1975, serving eight years for his underground activities […]
While apartheid is considered officially to have begun in 1948 with the National Party’s ascension to power, racial segregation had long been practised in South Africa prior to this date. Apartheid simply formalised ‘separateness’ through a long list of laws, that were constantly being added to, and amended. As a former British colony, South Africa was […]
Recently we spoke about the role that music played in telling the story of apartheid, and helping to raise awareness around what was happening in the country at the time. KwaZulu-Natal guitar wonder, Madala Kunene, is another artist that has used music as both a political and cathartic instrument. The title of his 2015 album, […]
The horrific tale of Joseph Mdluli and the Fisher Street Security Branch is an example the power of the judiciary system, and the essential role that the courts play in upholding the law of the land. A member of the ANC, until its banning in 1960, and an MK operative, Joseph Mdluli was taken from his home on the […]