The first slave arrives at the Cape

Less than a year following the arrival of Jan Van Riebeeck, the first enslaved person arrived at the Cape. He was Abram van Batavia. He arrived in Table Bay on the return fleet from Batavia as a stowaway aboard the Malacca. Abram claimed to have run away from slaveholder Cornelis Lichthart of Batavia.  Abram worked at the Cape in the service of the Dutch East India Company (VOC) until he was sent back to Batavia.

Towards a people’s culture - Art and Resistance under Apartheid

Art in the state of siege

The Sharpeville Massacre was one of the most important turning points in the history of South Africa. It triggered a chain of events, from the banning of liberation organisations, the launch of the armed struggle, the internationalisation of South Africa’s Apartheid policies and the growing division between black and white South Africans.

Doc Bikitsha

Basil Sipho Neo Bridgeman Bikitsha, known as “Doc” Bikitsha, was born on 19 November 1930 at the Bridgman Memorial Hospital in Mayfair, Johannesburg.

After passing Matric, Mr Bikitsha went to study at Pius X11 University College, then known as Roma College, in Lesotho. He was expelled for allegedly assaulting a fellow student, and came back to South Africa where he continued his studies at the Normal College near Pretoria.

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