On this day in history - 17 August

1779 - the Orange River is named in honour of Dutch Prince William V of Orange by Col Robert Gordon. The Orange River would later form the border between the Cape Colony and the Orange Free State 1969 - Dentist Dr Phillip Blaiberg died in Cape Town after living 19 months and 15 days following a successful heart transplant operation by Dr Chris Barnard in January 1968. Blaiberg was the longest-surviving heart transplant patient up to that time and was Barnard’s second patient 1982 - Ruth First, journalist, academic and antiapartheid activist, is assassinated in Maputo when opening a letter bomb addressed to her husband, Joe Slovo 1992 - A treaty, which effected the establishment of the Southern African Development Community (SADC), was signed in the Namibian capital, Windhoek, to replace its forerunner, the South African Development Co-ordination Community (SADCC). The structure has now grown from nine to 14 member states