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South Africa Notables

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The following is a list of Notables maintained by the South Africa Project.

You can add the template:
just copy and paste {{Notables Sticker|South Africa, Notables}} to just beyond the first heading.

This will automagically create links to the South African Notables category page (at the bottom of the profiles).

Notable Born Died Claim to Fame Photo Validated
Neil Adcock19312013CricketerNo
Ds Abraham Aucamp19051961Minister of the Reformed ChurchNo
Christiaan Neethling Barnard19222001Cardiac surgeon - worlds first heart transplantNo
Steve Biko19461977Anti-apartheid activistNo
Louis Botha18621919First Prime Minister of South AfricaNo
Lawrence John Gabriel Bridges19462000South African singer inducted in the South African Hall of Fame - Performing ArtsNo
Gerhardus Christiaan Coetzee18552023First South African to win a world Boxing heavyweight titleNo
John Maxwell Coetzee 1940-2003 Nobel Prize in Literature No
Dr Danie Craven 19101993Springbok rugby union player inducted into the World Rugby Hall of Fame, national coach, Rugby administrator, academic, and author No
Allan MacLeod Cormack 19241998Nobel Prize in Physiology and Medicine 1979 No
Jan Albert Coetzee 1902-Lecturer in Political science, writer, journalis No
Emanuel Herman Francois de Roubaix 18801944Author of Hoe my oom sy ferjaarsdag gefier het, Stories of the Boesmanland, Piet en sy kossakkie, Oorlogsawenture van Nababebers in Boesmanland, also a Poet of various poems and this one, Daar is maar net een Boesmanland Yes
Anna Johanna Dorothea de Villiers 19001979 linguist, writer, and educator Yes
Daisy de Melker 18861932Murderer No
Barry Heatlie 18721951Springbok union player inducted into the World Rugby Hall of Fame Yes.
Daniël Mattheus Gerber 1958 - Springbok union player inducted into the World Rugby Hall of Fame Living.
Gérard Korsten 1927 1999 Gérard Korsten was a South African opera tenor and actor who had a great influence on Afrikaans culture No
Miriam Makeba 1932 2008 Singer and civil rights activist No
Nelson Mandela 1918 2013 Apartheid resister and president No
Eugène Nielen Marais 1871 1936 South African writer, lawyer, and naturalist. Yes
Dr Johannes Merensky 18711952Geologist, Prospector, Scientist, Conservationist, Philanthropist No
Bulelwa Mkutukana19872023Award-winning Afro-pop singer-songwriterNo
Benjamin Louwrens Osler19011962Springbok union player inducted into the World Rugby Hall of FameYes
Pieter Johannes Pieterse 19362002 Author and TV presenter No
Ds Durk Postma 18181890 Founder of the Reformed Church Yes
Desmond Tutu 1931 2021 Bishop and human rights activist No
Max Theiler 18991972Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (virologist and physician) in 1951 No
Arnold Theile 1867 1936 Nobel laureate in 1951 in Physiology and Medicine. No
Herman Dirk van Broekhuizen 18711953Minister of the Reformed Church, Springbok union player No
Joost van der Westhuizen19712017 Springbok union player inducted into the World Rugby Hall of FameNo
Jacob Louis van Deventer18741922South African military commanderNo
Charles Percy de Villiers 2nd Baron (1871-1934)18711934Chief Justice of South AfricaNo
Cornelius Gerhardus van Rooyen19381990South African paedophile and serial killerNo




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Hi, Susan, will this profile qualify as a notable? Rex-1127
These are all great suggestions. Be aware, however, that to be declared a WikiTree Notable, an individual must meet certain criteria. The simplest way is for that person to have a Wikipedia page. If they do not have a Wikipedia page, an alternative is that they be listed in a South African Who's Who or other credible encyclopedia. If you are unclear whether or not a individual meets WikiTree's Notability requirements, you can always send us an email and we can help you make that determination.

One thing to be aware of is that not all people who were involved in a notable event are themselves "Notable". For example, not every passenger on the Titanic was independently notable. Similarly, not everybody involved in the Houdenbek Slave Revolt would be considered notable, although certain individuals might be. That doesn't mean, however, that you couldn't create a Free Space page just for the Houdenbek Slave Revolt and include whomever you wished. Likewise, not all South African scientist or journalists are notable, although many of them are.

As for the individuals you named in your inquiry, Tregold, Pringle, Fairbairn and Afrikaner all qualify as notable and have been given the Notables Sticker on their profiles.

David Randall Notables Project Leader

posted by David Randall
edited by David Randall
Yes, J. Albert Coetzee does qualify as a Notable. He does not have a profile on the English language Wikipedia. However, he does have a profile on the South African Wikipedia site. It can be found at https://af.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._Albert_Coetzee. That qualifies him.
posted by David Randall
It was me who has just now given these people their Notable sticker. Including the judges of the high court, the first Landdrost of Worcester, and some of the governing englishmen, who were literally notable in their own time.

But I agree: obviously not everybody related to the Houdenbek revolt should be 'notable'. I do think there would be a good argument for Galant, who was styled the 'leader', of something that was often called "Galant's revolt". Historical episodes can be helpful. In this case, the list of judges at the trial was very useful, and it was worthwhile identifying them in wikitree, and even creating those who were still absent.

posted by NC Brummer
I've just created Galant van de Kaap, leader of the 1825 Slave Revolt at Houdenbek farm, in the Cold Bokkeveld. Much has been written about this revolt and its leader. There is even a famous novel by André Brink, called Houdenbek.

So although Galant has no wikipedia page, I'm pretty sure he should be 'notable'.

posted by NC Brummer
David Randall

Maybe you can assist with this. Susan

Thanks for making this page! I have recently been spending some time by looking at slavery and owners of slaves among my ancestors. Also the Houdenbek Slave Revolt. These brought me into contact with various administrators of the Dutch Cape Colony, and the British. Also representatives of the early abolitionist movement in South Africa. But also the high court judges of the Houdenbek trial at Worcester, in a time before there was a clearly institutionalised supreme court at the Cape. Even the somewhat tragic leader of the Houdenbek slave revolt, the slave Galant, should really be a 'notable' on wikitree. At the moment I am still trying to get enough information about some of these rebellious slaves to even be able to create a profile at all.

Another group of notables would be scientists. The first astronomers at the Cape, and the early geometers who surveyed the land, and produced reasonable maps describing this part of the world. But also the biologists who studied the enormously right flora and fauna before much of it was destroyed.

I also bumped into the extremely interesting character of Jager Afrikaner-1, and the adventurous hunter/trader he worked for/with, and also murdered, Petrus Pienaar-39. Many of the Notables had very messy lives, and played a messy and not always positive role in the conflictual South African history .. but exactly this can sometimes make them 'Notable'.

I think that all the early slaves and Khoi/San for whom there is enough information to produce a profile should be considered 'Notable'. Many of those became 'stam moeders' of white Afrikaner families, or of the 'coloured' people, for the much rarer cases that their historical information was recorded for prosperity. I have to think of the nearly unknown KhoiSan wife of the german adventurer and hunter, who was trampled to death by an elephant near the river now named "Klaas Voogds river" after him.

Another group are the early journalists, who in the face great difficulty set up the first newspapers, which were suppressed heavily by the early colonial administration. These headstrong troublemakers overlap with the early abolitionists. Thomas Pringle-833, John Harvey Tredgold-13, John Fairbairn-975, and a few of their friends.

posted by NC Brummer