Wednesday, 17 July 1878
Nqwiliso, tribal chief of Western Pondoland and eldest son of Ndamase, signed a treaty with H.G. Elliott in which he ceded sovereign rights and shipping in the Umzimvubu River mouth to the Cape government – a step his father had refused to do during his lifetime. In return Nqwiliso was recognised as independent ruler and he and his people were promised protection. On 30 September 1878 he also sold 10 000 acres of land at Umzimvubu River mouth. Two British officers, Thesiger and Sullivan, raised the British flag, and gave their names to the two mountains on either side of Umzimvubu River mouth, later to be known as Port St Johns.
Port St Johns was formally annexed to the Cape Colony in 1884, governed as a White enclave, not as part of the Transkeian territories. However, in 1976 the SA government handed Port St Johns to Paramount Chief K.D. Matanzima in order to get him to agree to Transkei ‘independence’.
Monday, 17 July 1950
The Suppression of Communism Act, No. 44 of 1950, that made all communist organisations and actions, including the Communist Party of South Africa (CPSA), was approved on 26 June in parliament and came into force on 17 July 1950.
The Suppression of Communism Act, banned the South African Communist Party, and gave the government the power to ban publications that promoted the objectives of communism, and the power to ‘name’ people who could be barred from holding office, practicing as lawyers or attending meetings.
The Act, later extended through the Internal Security Act, sanctioned the banning/punishment of any group or individual intending to bring about ‘any political, industrial, social or economic change in the Union by the promotion of disturbances or disorder, by unlawful acts or omissions or by the threat of such acts and omissions’. This definition of communism was so broad and crude that its liberal opponents suspected it was seeking also to trap liberals in its net.
The Act was progressively tightened up in 1951, 1954, and yearly from 1962 to 1968.
Between 1948 and 1991, the apartheid government banned more than 1,600 men and women. Banned persons endured severe restrictions on their movement, political activities, and associations intended to silence their opposition to the government’s apartheid policies and stop their political activity.
In addition, the Act facilitated the government’s suppression of liberation organisations such as the African National Congress (ANC). The Act forced these groups to go underground. Ironically, because of this act, groups such as Umkhonto weSizwe (armed and ‘underground’ wing of the ANC), did seek support from communist parties and countries for financial aid. Liberation struggle leaders like Nelson Mandela, Walter Sisulu and Govan Mbeki all received life sentences in prison partly because of this Act (Rivonia Trial).
Read the statement condemning the first banning under the Suppression of Communism Act.
Monday, 17 July 1950
The history of broadcasting in South Africa can be traced back to 1923, when the first wireless broadcast was made in Johannesburg.
By April 1927 an hour of Afrikaans programming and one daily news bulletin in Afrikaans was broadcast. Insufficient funding began to hamper the progress of the broadcaster and an investigation into all aspects of broadcasting in South Africa was launched by the Prime Minister of South Africa, JBM Hertzog.
The outcome of the investigation resulted in the establishment of the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) and by 17 July 1950 a commercial radio service was established, with daily news bulletins in both English and Afrikaans – this radio service was popularly known as Springbok Radio.
Broadcasts were initially limited to the Johannesburg area, but soon became available in most major centres in South Africa. The SABC grew in the 1960s and 1970s as more radio stations, broadcasting in selected African languages, were established. They were still considered to be mouthpieces of the Nationalist Party (NP) government throughout the 1970s and 1980s. Another development in the second half of the 1970s was the introduction of television in South Africa after the government had prevented this for a number of years. This medium was also considered to be controlled by government, thereby promoting their interests.
In the last fifteen years, having been transformed into a public broadcaster, the SABC is frequently being criticized for reneging on its mandate to not promote the interest of the government. It is, however, quite significant that public participation in the business of the SABC has increased remarkably in the last fifteen years.
Friday, 17 July 1964
The paper ‘Leader’ announced that African National Congress (ANC) leader Nelson Mandela has been awarded the Joliot Curie Gold Medal for Peace the previous week. The announcement came a day short of Mandela’s birthday, the first of its kind that he was going to celebrate behind closed doors. Mandela had been recently sentenced to life imprisonment after the Rivonia trials. The presentation was made by Mr Houari Souyah, President of the Algerian Peace Committee in Algiers, to Dr Yussuf Dadoo, a former President of the South African Indian Congress (SAIC) and the leader of the anti-apartheid movement in Britain.
