In 1854 Queen Victoria instituted the Distinguished Conduct Medal ‘as a mark of the Sovereign’s sense of the distinguished service and gallant conduct in the field of the army then serving in the Crimea’. This medal bears the reverse inscription For Distinguished Conduct in the Field. In 1896 regulations authorised domestic versions of this medal for award in various British colonies, including the Cape Colony and Natal. Very few of these medals were awarded, the Cape version during the Langeberg campaign of 1896, if at all, and the Natal medal during the Natal rebellion of 1906. Cape and Natal personnel who were awarded the D.C.M. during the Second Anglo Boer War received (with one exception) the British issue, not the domestic varieties.

Cato Williamson

Cato “Dinky” Williamson (maiden name Ladan) was one of the first South African female pilots. The tiny woman used to ride around on a Harley Davidson and even in her 80s she would ride from Cape Town to Johannesburg and back, alone on her Packard motorcycle. Her brother, Eduard, said that she was so small that she had to sit on pillows when flying or motorcycling. She passed away in Kalk Bay in August 1989. Her funeral was held at the St James church in Kalk Bay. Cato was born in the Netherlands in 1893. At the age of 18, she married Bill Williamson, a pilot. By 1929, Cato and Bill were flying around South Africa. During WWII, Bill flew planes to Crete but was injured during a flight and was made Adjutant at Wingfield. He passed away in 1942.

Ann White

Ann White learnt to fly at Virginia Airport in 1964 with her husband. Both served on the flying and executive committees of the Durban Wings Club for many years. Ann went on to do a commercial pilot’s licence and Instructor’s and Instrument Ratings. She was a member of the Aero Club power flying committee in 1972-3 and served on the executive committee of the Aero Club in 1973. The same year she was awarded Aero Club Gold Wings for her services to flying, especially in Natal. While a private pilot, she participated in flying competitions and won a number of trophies in the Women’s Aviation Association competitions. In 1971 Ann was awarded the Amelia Earhart Memorial Scholarship by the International Organisation of Women Pilots – the Ninety-Nines. This enabled her to get an open rating on singles and a conversion to Cessna 310/320 series. In 1984 she was awarded the Paul Tissandier Diploma.

Goosen sisters

Jean Goosen and her sister Agnes were the first women in South Africa to earn their private pilot’s licence after WWII.

Valerie Wiggett

In 1988 Valerie Harriot Wiggett, then a public relations officer in Cape Town, and Monique Masson of Pretoria, were selected to be the first women to undergo pilot training in the SAAF. Later that year, the Air Force changed their decision.

A disappointed Valerie then enrolled for a BA arts degree. She eventually managed to get a bank loan to pay for lying lessons and obtained her private pilot’s licence. Her father is retired SAAF Brig.-Gen. Barry A.A. Wiggett, a fighter pilot in the Korean War and was awarded the American Distinguished Flying Cross. During his career he was commanding officer of Langebaanweg, Dunnottar and Air Force College. He was one of the SAAF’s first helicopter pilots. Valerie has nine siblings and was born in Langebaan in 1966. One of Valerie’s cousins was an Impala pilot and her brother-in-law was a Puma pilot. There are seven pilots in the Wiggett family. Valerie matriculated from Hoërskool Vredenburg where she was the first English-speaking head girl. Afterwards she spent a year in St Paul, Minnesota, USA, as a Rotary exchange student. She has taught English in Japan and is currently working for Media City in Dubai.

Monique’s father is Bob Masson who was a test pilot for Atlas.

Sue Beatty

Sue Beatty is a helicopter pilot. To get her licence she offered secretarial work in exchange for flying lessons. She’d offer to move the helicopter from the grass to the cement pad, logging five minutes. Eventually she applied for and won a national grant to do her commercial license, passing the exams at first attempt. Sue joined Court helicopters. Later on she went to the USA where she saw a S-61 helicopter logging in Oregon. She is now a support pilot in Oregon, with her sights set on flying the logging helicopters. She purchased a trailer (caravan) and takes it wherever her job takes her, along with her cat. Sue married Peter Dinkerlacker in November 1999.

Nadia Gous and Shelley Gould

In May 2006, Base 4 Flight Academy in Cape Town was training 18 female helicopter pilots. Nadia Gous and Shelley Gould are flight instructors at the company. Nadia has been flying for five years, taking her first helicopter flight at the age of 16. Her father was a SAAF Colonel and her mother is an administration manager at a flying club.

Shelley is an outdoors person who enjoys mountain biking and hiking. After obtaining a B.Sc. she worked for an investment bank overseas. Her brother Michael is a pilot and she became interested in flying. In June 2006, Shelley was seriously injured when the Grand Caravan she was co-piloting crashed in southern Mozambique. The other co-pilot died in the crash.

The man behind “Nkosi Sikelel’ iAfrika”

The origins of Enoch Sontonga and the song he wrote, Nkosi Sikelel’ iAfrika are humble and rather obscure.

Enoch Sontonga, from the Mpinga clan, of the Xhosa nation, was born in the Eastern Cape in about 1873. It is believed that he received training as a teacher at Lovedale Institution and was then sent to a Methodist Mission school in Nancefield, near Johannnesburg. He was also a choirmaster and a photographer. He married Diana Mgqibisa, the daughter of a prominent minister in the African Methodist Episcopal Church. She died in 1929, in Johannesburg.

Sontonga died at the age of 32. The sources differ about the year of his death, ranging from 1897 to 1904. It has sincebeen established that he died on 18 April 1905.

Enoch Mankayi Sontonga wrote the first verse and chorus and also composed the music in 1897. It was first sung in public in 1899 at the ordination of Rev Boweni, a Shangaan Methodist Minister.

Sontonga’s choir as well as other choirs sang this song around Johannesburg and Natal. This song made a strong impression on all audiences. On 8 January 1912, at the first meeting of the South African Native National Congress (SANNC), the forerunner of the African National Congress, it was immediately sung after the closing prayer. In 1925 the ANC officially adopted it as a closing anthem for its meetings.

The song spread beyond the borders of South Africa and has been translated and adapted into a number of other languages. It is still the national anthem of Tanzania and Zambia and has also been sung in Zimbabwe, Namibia and South Africa for many years. In 1994 it became part of South Africa’s national anthem.

[1] Jabavu, D.D.T. 1934, Introduction: Sontonga, E. Nkosi Sikelel’ iAfrika Lovedale Sol-fa Leaflets No 17 , Lovedale Press.

Nkosi Sikekel’ was first recorded on 16 October 1923 by Solomon T. Plaatje accompanied by Sylvia Colenso on the piano. A well known Xhosa poet, S.E.K. Mqhayi, wrote a further seven verses. In 1927 the Lovedale Press, in the Eastern Cape, published all the verses in a pamphlet form. [1] It was included in the Presbyterian Xhosa hymn book, Ingwade Yama-culo Ase-rabe in 1929.

It was also published in a newspaper, Umtetela Wa Bantu on 11 June 1927 and in a Xhosa poetry book for schools.

In 1994 the National Monuments Council became aware that Sontonga was possibly buried in the historical Braamfontein Cemetery in Johannesburg.

The purpose of locating the grave was to have it declared as a national monument, which is the highest honour that can be bestowed on a site of such historical and cultural significance. Over the years, several unsuccessful attempts had been made to locate Sontonga’s grave in Braamfontein cemetery. However, it was not until Hal Shaper of Cape Town prompted the cemetery officials to look for an entry in the burial register under Enoch, rather than Sontonga, and to look at burial records for 1905, that success was achieved.

[2] Imvo Zabantsundu, June 27, 1905 . Reference found during a search for the death notice by G.M. Walker.

The register at Braamfontein lists the date of burial as 19 April 1905 in Plot No 4885. Confirmation that this is indeed the grave of Enoch Sontonga was subsequently found in a notice in the newspaper, Imvo Zabanstundu [2], which stated that Enoch Sontonga had died unexpectedly on 18 April 1905 in Johannesburg. The newspaper report also noted that he was born in Uitenhage in the Eastern Cape and that he had one son.

To establish exactly where Plot No 4885 was, became a major undertaking. The search was complicated by the fact that during the early 1960s that particular section of the cemetery, comprising 10 acres, was levelled and landscaped. Mr Alan Buff, Regional Manager (Parks and Cemeteries) of the GJTMC, did detailed research on the existing records that took over a year to complete. He studied the site plan for a proposed park in 1960, the burial concept plan of 1898, an area site plan of 1909, infra-red burial plan of 1969 and the aerial photograph of 1938 and merged all the information gathered to identify the area in which the grave was located.

Identification of the grave itself was part of a second stage in which Professor Tom Huffman of the Department of Archaeology at the University of the Witwatersrand was contracted to do a shallow archaeological excavation to confirm the burial spacing. Finally, from the interpolation of all the data, a site plan was drawn identifying the plot considered to be the grave of Enoch Sontonga.

On 24 September 1996, Heritage Day, the grave of Enoch Sontonga, who wrote the song that has over the years brought comfort and joy to millions of people, was declared a national monument and a fitting memorial, erected on the site, was unveiled by President Nelson Mandela.

At the ceremony the Order of Meritorious Service (Gold) was bestowed on Enoch Sontonga posthumously. His granddaughter, Mrs Ida Rabotape received it.

The programme included praise poetry and a narration that told something of this man, who wrote a song almost 100 years ago that, unbeknown to him, became one of peace and healing for the Rainbow Nation of South Africa.

With kind permission from Geneveve Walker (National Monuments Council)

Enoch Sontonga

Photo courtesy of the Amathole Museum, King William’s Town

Source: SESA (Standard Encyclopedia of Southern Africa)

Source: SESA (Standard Encyclopedia of Southern Africa)

John Pike

Solicitor and Notary Public, Newcastle born on 11th July, 1867 in Durban. Son of William Pike. Educated at Durban Government School and Durban High School. He married Alexandra Gertrude on 21st October 1891, daughter of Capt. Jewitt; 3 children. Received legal training in the office of the late Harry Escombe, Durban and Messrs. Bale & Greene, Maritzburg. Member of the firm of Messrs. Watt & Pike. Hobby: Rifle shooting. Add. Newcastle, Natal.Source: South African Who’s Who & Business 1915

Mr. SIMPSON ISAAC BHENGU is the grandson of Mepo, Chief of the Ngcolusi Tribe, situated in the Krantzkop District, Natal. He was born at Entumeni and educated at Entumeni Mission School and at Durban. Was first employed in 1915 in the office of Mr. Kentridge and in 1917 he was employed as foreman in the firm of Messrs. Thesen & Co., Ltd. In 1922 he joined the firm of Messrs. A. H. Todd. Is now private secretary to Solomon Ka Dinizulu. In 1918 was secretary of the Durban Branch of the Natal Native Congress. Was also officer of the Football Association. Had control of the Durban night schools for ten years.

Mr. ROSEBERRY BOKWE, son of the late Rev. John Knox Bokwe, was Dorn at Ugie, Griqualand East, 30 years ago. He was educated at Ugie and later at the Lovedale College, where he obtained the Junior Certificate. He then entered the South African Native College and matriculated. Was appointed teacher at the Ohlange Training Institution, Natal, in 1925. Is now in an English University studying medicine. Mr. Bokwe, like his father, is a very good musician.

Mr. SIMPSON ISAAC BHENGU is the grandson of Mepo, Chief of the Ngcolusi Tribe, situated in the Krantzkop District, Natal. He was born at Entumeni and educated at Entumeni Mission School and at Durban. Was first employed in 1915 in the office of Mr. Kentridge and in 1917 he was employed as foreman in the firm of Messrs. Thesen & Co., Ltd. In 1922 he joined the firm of Messrs. A. H. Todd. Is now private secretary to Solomon Ka Dinizulu. In 1918 was secretary of the Durban Branch of the Natal Native Congress. Was also officer of the Football Association. Had control of the Durban night schools for ten years.

Mr. C. BARLEN-DHLAMINI. Born 1872 in Natal. Had no opportunity of attending school but with the help of friends he quickly learned to read and write and afterwards coached himself as best he could. After some time he founded the Nellie Valley Townhip and established a school. Was appointed Postmaster of the village. Later the Wesleyan
Church sent him to Vryheid as an evanelist. Was secretary of the Ihiso Lomuzi at Nyanyadu, and assistant secretary of the Natal Native Vigilant Association. A frequent contributor to the Native Press.

Rev. C. TWALA was a Swazi and lived for many years in Natal where he received his early education. He joined the Wesleyan Ministry and for many years was stationed in Johannesburg and did good work. He was a good preacher and an eloquent debater. He was very progressive in all his ideas and took a very keen interest in the social, educational and political life of his people. He was married and one of his sons is now Supervisor of Native Schools in the Transvaal.

Rev. J. TWAALA was born in Natal where he received his early education. He became a teacher and after some time he studied for the ministry of the Wesleyan Methodist Church. He was a very brilliant speaker, a powerful preacher and a hard worker. He was very progressive and took great interest in the welfare of his people. For a number of years he was in charge of the Wesleyan Church in Johannesburg. During his time the congregation grew very large. He was respected by both the Europeans and natives of the circuits to which he was appointed minister. He died during the influenza epidemic at Witbank on the same day that his wife died.