1952 in South Africa
Encyclopedia
March
- 23 March - Ex-regent Mshiyeni, uncle of Zulu King Cyprian Bhekuzulu kaSolomonCyprian Bhekuzulu kaSolomonCyprian Bhekuzulu Nyangayezizwe kaSolomon was the king of the Zulu nation from 1948 until his death at Nongoma in 1968. He succeeded his father, king Solomon kaDinuzulu, after a lengthy succession dispute which was only resolved in 1944...
, warns the Zulu people not to participate in the Defiance Campaign. The King repeatedly denies having any views on the matter in the press.
April
- 6 April - The African National CongressAfrican National CongressThe African National Congress is South Africa's governing Africanist political party, supported by its tripartite alliance with the Congress of South African Trade Unions and the South African Communist Party , since the establishment of non-racial democracy in April 1994. It defines itself as a...
, South African Indian CongressSouth African Indian CongressThe South African Indian Congress was an organization founded in 1924 in Natal , South Africa. The congress is famous for its strong participation by Mahatma Gandhi and other prominent South African Indian figures during the time. Umar Hajee Ahmed Jhaveri was elected the first president of the...
and the Coloured People’s Congress launches the Defiance Campaign against apartheid - 6 April - The van Riebeeck Festival is held in Cape Town, marking the 300th anniversary of the landing at Table BayTable BayTable Bay is a natural bay on the Atlantic Ocean overlooked by Cape Town and is at the northern end of the Cape Peninsula, which stretches south to the Cape of Good Hope. It was named because it is dominated by the flat-topped Table Mountain.Bartolomeu Dias was the first European to explore this...
by Jan van RiebeeckJan van RiebeeckJohan Anthoniszoon "Jan" van Riebeeck was a Dutch colonial administrator and founder of Cape Town.-Biography:...
May
- 3 May - The first regular jet flight between South AfricaSouth AfricaThe Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
and BritainUnited KingdomThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
is started with the arrival of a De Havilland CometDe Havilland CometThe de Havilland DH 106 Comet was the world's first commercial jet airliner to reach production. Developed and manufactured by de Havilland at the Hatfield, Hertfordshire, United Kingdom headquarters, it first flew in 1949 and was a landmark in aeronautical design...
with 36 passengers at JohannesburgJohannesburgJohannesburg also known as Jozi, Jo'burg or Egoli, is the largest city in South Africa, by population. Johannesburg is the provincial capital of Gauteng, the wealthiest province in South Africa, having the largest economy of any metropolitan region in Sub-Saharan Africa...
October
- 8 October - A uraniumUraniumUranium is a silvery-white metallic chemical element in the actinide series of the periodic table, with atomic number 92. It is assigned the chemical symbol U. A uranium atom has 92 protons and 92 electrons, of which 6 are valence electrons...
plant opens at Millsite near Krugersdorp operated by West Rand Consolidated Mines, the first in the world to extract uranium as a byproduct of the gold refining process - 12 October - The first uranium is worked at the West Rand plant
Unknown date
- Nelson MandelaNelson MandelaNelson Rolihlahla Mandela served as President of South Africa from 1994 to 1999, and was the first South African president to be elected in a fully representative democratic election. Before his presidency, Mandela was an anti-apartheid activist, and the leader of Umkhonto we Sizwe, the armed wing...
is given a 9 month suspended sentence and forbidden to leave Johannesburg for the next 6 months
Births
- 26 April - Popo Simon Molefe, co-founder of the Azanian People's Organisation, is born in Sophiatown, JohannesburgJohannesburgJohannesburg also known as Jozi, Jo'burg or Egoli, is the largest city in South Africa, by population. Johannesburg is the provincial capital of Gauteng, the wealthiest province in South Africa, having the largest economy of any metropolitan region in Sub-Saharan Africa...
- 10 May - Ruben Xulu, artistArtistAn artist is a person engaged in one or more of any of a broad spectrum of activities related to creating art, practicing the arts and/or demonstrating an art. The common usage in both everyday speech and academic discourse is a practitioner in the visual arts only...
, is born deaf at the Hiabisa mission station near St LuciaGreater St. Lucia Wetland ParkiSimangaliso Wetland Park is situated on the east coast of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa about 275 kilometres north of Durban. It is South Africa's third-largest protected area, spanning 280 km of coastline, from the Mozambican border in the north to Mapelane south of the St Lucia estuary, and... - 12 May - Membathisi MdladlanaMembathisi MdladlanaMembathisi Mdladlana is a South African politician. He has been the Minister of Labour of South Africa since appointment by Nelson Mandela in 1998. A teacher by training, Mdladlana earned a Bachelor of Arts from the University of South Africa in 1997 in education and the IsiXhosa language...
, member of Parliament and government minister, is born in Keiskammahoek - 26 June - Simon MannSimon MannSimon Francis Mann is a British mercenary and former British Army officer. He had been serving a 34-year prison sentence in Equatorial Guinea for his role in a failed coup d'état in 2004, before receiving a presidential pardon on humanitarian grounds on 2 November 2009.Mann was extradited from...
, British ArmyBritish ArmyThe British Army is the land warfare branch of Her Majesty's Armed Forces in the United Kingdom. It came into being with the unification of the Kingdom of England and Scotland into the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707. The new British Army incorporated Regiments that had already existed in England...
officer, security expert and mercenaryMercenaryA mercenary, is a person who takes part in an armed conflict based on the promise of material compensation rather than having a direct interest in, or a legal obligation to, the conflict itself. A non-conscript professional member of a regular army is not considered to be a mercenary although he...
is born - 23 October - Antjie KrogAntjie KrogAntjie Krog, born October 23, 1952 in Kroonstad, Orange Free State, South Africa, is a prominent South African poet, academic and writer. In 2004 she joined the Arts faculty of the University of the Western Cape.- Early life :...
, a poet, novelist, playwright, and journalist, is in KroonstadKroonstadKroonstad is the third-largest town in the Free State province of South Africa, and lies two hours drive from Gauteng. In the 1991 census it had a population of 110,963...
Deaths
- 28 March – Sir Fraser RussellFraser RussellSir Alexander Fraser Russell KBE , known as Fraser Russell, was three times acting Governor of Southern Rhodesia as well as its long-serving Chief Justice....
, Governor of Southern Rhodesia (born 18761876 in South Africa-Events:* Boers build a Dutch Reformed Church at what is now the town of Amersfoort in Mpumalanga Province* The first railway line in Natal is built* 15 January - Die Patriot, the first Afrikaans newspaper, is published in Paarl-Births:...
)