Today in history

1919 German South West Africa is put under South African administration

1983 A methane gas explosion at Hlobane coal mine near Vryheid in Kwazulu-Natal kills 68 mine workers

1995 Pope John Paul II, pictured, celebrates a papal mass in SA

1998 Demonstrators close down businesses and government offices in Lesotho

1999 SA poet, activist and painter Breyten Breytenbach receives the Hertzog Prize for his poetry