The late South African mining tycoon, Harry Oppenheimer.
Harry Frederick Oppenheimer in his Johannesburg office. (Photo by William Campbell/Sygma via Getty Images
Regarding himself heir to Cecil Rhodes, Oppenheimer deplored the threat to civilisation represented by ‘primitive tribesmen’.
Chris Hani (R) after being elected secretary general of the South African Communist Party in December 1991. To his left is the former secretary general Jo Slovo.
Walter Dhladhla/AFP via Getty Images
The book is a gripping read for anyone interested in late 20th century history, and in the end of apartheid.
Nelson Mandela and Winnie Madikizela-Mandela at home in 1990.
Robert Botha/Business Day/Gallo Images via Getty Images
Jonny Steinberg talks about his intimate double biography of the famous South African leaders.
Anti-apartheid activist Neil Aggett (29) died in apartheid police detention in 1982.
Charcoal on paper by Dr Amitabh Mitra/Wiki Commons
Neil Agget’s passionate trade unionism proved fateful. It made him a target of a brutally repressive apartheid police state.
An artist’s impression of Gan Siyobonga memorial park in Israel.
Supplied by author
Gan Siyabonga is unique in Israel. It highlights a group that was both anti-apartheid and pro-Zionist.
Beyoncé performs in Dubai in 2023.
Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for Atlantis The Royal
Africa is considered too high risk as a destination for big US pop tours - but Beyoncé could and should break the mould.
Cyril Ramaphosa, President of South Africa.
South Africa’s foreign policy under Ramaphosa emphasises economic diplomacy and ‘progressive internationalism’, which promotes global equity and ending the dominance of the global north.
Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov meets with his South African counterpart Naledi Pandor, in Pretoria. Russia provided valuable support for the ANC during its struggle against apartheid.
EPA-EFE/Kim Ludbrook
The relationship between Pretoria and Moscow was forged in the apartheid era with the then Soviet Union giving support to banned ANC fighters.
Regina Twala in a rare photograph with her first husband Percy Kumalo, 1936.
Courtesy Ohio University Press
A powerful new book restores the writer and feminist politician to her rightful place in history.
African National Congress leader Oliver Tambo during his exile in Botswana.
William Campbell/Sygma via Getty Images
A historian counters the popular view that the 1989 collapse of the Berlin Wall set in motion talks to end apartheid. The process was unstoppable by then.
Loyalists of the ANC’s Radical Economic Transformation (RET) at the Olive Convention Centre in Durban.
Rajesh Jantilal/AFP via Getty Images
Despite its vagueness, the RET has become central to the contemporary ANC. It is destined to remain a powerful bloc within the party, and a constant constraint on Ramaphosa leadership.
Simon Nkoli (left) with activist and physician Ivan Toms in 1989.
Courtesy Julia Nicol Collection/GALA Queer Archive
The activist is today the subject of songs, sculptures, an annual lecture and even a new musical.
South Africa’s democratic era presidents, Nelson Mandela, Thabo Mbeki, Kgalema Motlanthe, Jacob Zuma and Cyril Ramaphosa.
Penguin Random House South Africa
Mandela, the first president of a democratic South Africa, made big strategic choices – not necessarily the right ones, but certainly ones that were befitting of the times.
Members of the Congress of South African Trade Unions sing political songs in 1987 in Johannesburg.
Walter Dhladhla/AFP via Getty Images
Struggle songs are relevant even in the post apartheid context because they continue to be an important way in which people deliberate on issues.
When asked to recall the popular children’s book series ‘The Berenstain Bears,’ many people make the same error by spelling it ‘The Berenstein Bears.’
Stephen Osman/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images
People are puzzled when they learn they share the same false memories with others. That’s partly because they assume that what they remember and forget ought to be based only on personal experience.
ANC supporters show support for corruption accused and suspended party secretary general Ace Magashule outside court in Bleomfontein.
EFE-EPA/Conrad Bornman
To his credit, former South African president Thabo Mbeki set up anti-corruption institutions that survived his own efforts to erode them.
Thandi Modise, South Africa’s defence minister.
Michal Fludra/NurPhoto via Getty Images
South Africa’s foreign policy is supposed to be guided by the principle of ubuntu (humanness), so a visit to an aggressor is hard to explain.
Detail of a photo of Lilian Ngoyi making a speech in 1960.
Azola Daniel/Wikimedia Commons
The pioneering role she played, and the sacrifices she made, extended well beyond the famous 1956 Women’s March.
Former South African president Thabo Mbeki.
Ebrahim Hamid/AFP via Getty Images
Every South African who cares about the future of the country will agree with former president Mbeki that, to avert disaster, something must be done urgently about its deep socio-economic problems.
Former South African President Thabo Mbeki in 2017.
EFE-EPA/Kevin Sutherland
Mbeki has successfully transitioned from being an old horse of South Africa’s governing ANC to a highly venerated and in-demand African elder statesman.