The French ship Serapis arrives at Cape Town, which is run by France’s vassal state Bavaria, with news that the French fleet with troops is on its way to protect the colony against a British take-over. The colony’s garrison is already preoccupied by fighting both the Khoi and Xhosa nations that are angry at the colonial incursions into their lands.
Dinuzulu, son and heir to King Cetshwayo, the last king of the independent Zulu Kingdom, is proclaimed king of the Zulu people. The nation now resides within Britain’s South Africa Natal colony.
Egyptian sculptor Mahmoud Mokhtar’s monumental work Nahdat Misr (Egypt’s Renaissance) is unveiled at Cairo’s Bab el-Hadid Square (Ramses Square). The first publicly exhibited sculpture by an Egyptian artist confirms Mokhtar’s position as the Father of Modern Egyptian Sculpture. Inspired by the Egyptian Revolution of 1919, the work pairs a sphinx of Egyptian antiquity with a modern, robed woman.
The League of Nations meets in special session to avert war in Abyssinia (Ethiopia). The efforts will continue for months, but will prove futile when Italy's dictator Benito Mussolini (pic: in cartoon) invades Abyssinia in October.
Mombasa’s new European Hospital opens with 70 beds to replace the historic original hospital from 1891 (far right in pic).A whites-only facility complementing Mombasa’s Native Civil Hospital (when Kenya’s first ambulance was acquired in 1940, it served both hospitals), the facility will fully desegregate in the decade ahead, and will change its name to the Mombasa Hospital in 1980.
The Pretoria Art Museum opens, in Pretoria, South Africa. Dr. Albert Werth is curator.
The Church Street bombing in Pretoria, South Africa is one of the most destructive terror attacks by uMkhonto we Sizwe, the paramilitary wing of the anti-apartheid liberation organisation the African National Congress. A car bomb kills 19 people, including the two bombers, and wounds 217.
South African Special Forces conduct raids against the exiled anti-apartheid liberation party the African National Congress, simultaneously in Gaborone, Botswana, Lusaka, Zambia and Harare, Zimbabwe. A Botswana government worker and two people in Zambia are killed. (Pic: Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe inspects raid damage.)
Africa’s basketball talent is starring in the U.S., the world’s biggest basketball market: Of the 12 Africans playing this season in the U.S.’ National Basketball Association, 3 are from Cameroon, 2 from DRC, 1 Egyptian, 1 Malian, 1 Nigerian, 1 Senegalese, 2 from South Sudan and 1 Tunisian.
With schools closed throughout Africa due to the Covid-19 pandemic, Morocco leads Africa with on-line education. A government survey finds 82% of primary through high school students are following the Ministry of Education's on-line classes: 71% of rural area children and 87% of urban area children. There is concern about students who cannot access the internet.
The premier of the TV series Blood and Water, a South African production airing on the global streaming service Netflix. Directed by Nosipho Dumisa, the stories, set in an elite Cape Town girls’ school, capture the lives and issues faced by African students in the 21st century, and is an immediate hit.
Kenya's Court of Appeal judge Martha Koome, the daughter of subsistence farmers, is appointed Kenya's first woman Chief Justice by President Uhuru Kenyatta. Her appointment receives parliamentary approval
Senegalese academic and author, in Saint-Louise, French West Africa. Although veterinary science is his specialty, he authored more than 100 papers, reports and articles, primarily focused on nutrition and higher education. He held executive positions with several organisations.
Cameroonian football player and one of the first African football players to become a major star in international play, in Yaoundé, Cameroon. Named CAF’s African Footballer of the Year twice in his long career, in 1976 and 1990, he played for the Cameroon national team in three World Cups.
Congolese musician and composer, in Kisangani, Belgian Congo. An expert guitarist, he did most of his professional work in Tanzania, producing hits that were played internationally from the 1980s until his death in 2011.
Kenyan hip-hop singer, in Nairobi, Kenya. As a rapper he astounded with his quick-witted lyrics and command of the Swahili language. The poet of Swahili rap died in a car accident at age 21.
