This page is within the scope of WikiProject South Africa, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of South Africa on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.South AfricaWikipedia:WikiProject South AfricaTemplate:WikiProject South AfricaSouth Africa
WikiProject South Africa was featured in a WikiProject Report in the Signpost on 15 April 2013. If you wish to get involved with the Signpost, please visit the Newsroom.
This is just to let everyone know that the Wikimedia ZA AGM will be taking place in November 2017 in Cape Town. See below for more details.
Time: Sunday, 26 November 2017, starts at 14:00 to 17:00
Location: 6 Spin Street Restaurant (in the Tutu room at the back), ground floor, 6 Spin Street, in the Cape Town city bowl area.
If you would like to attend digitally we will be broadcasting the event over Google Hangouts, to join click on the link here.
The event page can be found on the Wikimedia ZA website here.
The AGM is open to all South African based Wikipedia and other Wikimeddia project editors. Membership is required to vote on resolutions but not required to attend. People are able to sign up as members at the AGM or they can signup before hand at the details on the Wikimedia ZA website.
Join us in this exciting venture, by helping to create or expand contents in Wikimedia projects which are connected to this scope. Kindly list your username under the participants section to indicate your interest in participating in this contest.
We would be awarding prizes to different categories of winners:
Overall winner
1st - $500
2nd - $200
3rd - $100
Diversity winner - $100
Gender-gap fillers - $100
Language Winners - up to $100*
We would be adding additional categories as the contest progresses, along with local prizes from affiliates in your countries. For further information about the contest, the prizes and how to participate, please visit the contest page here. For further inquiries, please leave comments on the contest talkpage or on the main project talkpage. Looking forward to your participation.--Jamie Tubers (talk) 19:22, 22nd September 2020 (UTC)
Ýou can opt-out of this annual reminder from The Afrocine Project by removing your username from this list
Welcome to the Months of African Cinema Global Contest!
Greetings!
The AfroCine Project core team is happy to inform you that the Months of African Cinema Contest is happening again this year in October and November. We invite Wikipedians all over the world to join in improving content related to African cinema on Wikipedia!
Please list your username under the participants’ section of the contest page to indicate your interest in participating in this contest. The term "African" in the context of this contest, includes people of African descent from all over the world, which includes the diaspora and the Caribbean.
The following prizes would be recognized at the end of the contest:
Overall winner
1st - $500
2nd - $200
3rd - $100
Diversity winner - $100
Gender-gap fillers - $100
Language Winners - up to $100*
Also look out for local prizes from affiliates in your countries or communities! For further information about the contest, the prizes and how to participate, please visit the contest page here. For further inquiries, please leave comments on the contest talkpage or on the main project talkpage. We look forward to your participation.--Jamie Tubers (talk) 23:20, 30th September 2021 (UTC)
Ýou can opt-out of this annual reminder from The Afrocine Project by removing your username from this list
Wikimedia Foundation banner fundraising campaign in South Africa
Dear all,
I would like to take the opportunity to inform you all about the upcoming annual Wikimedia Foundation banner fundraising campaign in South Africa.
The fundraising campaign will have two components.
We will send emails to people who have previously donated from South Africa. The emails are scheduled to be sent between the 23rd-27th of June 2025.
We will run banners for non-logged in users in South Africa on English Wikipedia itself. The banners will run from the 2nd - 30th of June 2025.
Prior to this, we are planning to run some tests, so you might see banners for 3-5 hours a couple of times before the campaign starts. This activity will ensure that our technical infrastructure works.
I will soon be sharing the updated community collaboration page, where we outline more details around the campaign, share some banner examples, and give you space to engage with the fundraising campaign.
We will also be hosting a community call, details will be on the collaboration page, to which you can bring your questions and suggestions.
Generally, before and during the campaign, you can contact us:
As mentioned above, I am happy to share with you the updated community collaboration page for the upcoming banner fundraising campaign. On the page we outline more details around the campaign, share some banner examples, and give you space to engage with the fundraising campaign.
We will also be hosting a community call on the 6th of May at 20:30 South Africa time, details will are the collaboration page, to which you can bring your questions and suggestions.
I assessed this article as a C-class, which had been assessed as a stub until today. This is in accordance with User:Nettrom/sandbox/WikiProject Law stub predictions. With very little work on either adding citations where tagged, or removing unsourced statements, this shall be a B-Class article, and with a bit more detail even a GA. Please help support bringing this to a GA status! Bearian (talk) 20:10, 2 April 2025 (UTC)[reply]
Also of equal if not more importance is the lack of mentioning in the first top section of the page - how a long history of chattel slavery (different from other kinds of slavery - important) supported the European settlers. Later, when 'slavery' was outlawed, white South Africans desperate to keep their wealth, changed the slavery into a different form of oppression called 'apartheid'. Apartheid still kept the main 'systems' of slavery intact, allowing whites to continue to increase their wealth by forcing thousands of Black South Africans to mine gold and diamonds and perform all the labor in the country with little or no pay & horrible living and working conditions.
Just like during slavery times in South Africa, today in 2025, whites are only about ~7.8% of the population, yet they own 72 percent of the land, while Black South Africans, who constitute 81.4 percent, control only 4 percent, according to the 2017 land audit. Source: South African Government Agriculture, aceir.uct.ac.za, and open.africa.
Just like America, South Africa's current culture, demographics, politics, & most especially their great wealth is largely derived from a long history of slavery. Almost zero of this wealth is shared with the native, indigenous Black South African peoples. In fact, the land/farms/pastures were taken from the indigenous Black South Africans by force, rape and death. Entire tribes were massacred and there are no members of these tribes surviving today.
Here is a small section sharing some of the most important parts of South African history that our wikipedia page does not mention:
"With colonialism, which began in South Africa in 1652, came the Slavery and Forced Labour Model. This was the original model of colonialism brought by the Dutch in 1652, and subsequently exported from the Western Cape to the Afrikaner Republics of the Orange Free State and the Zuid-Afrikaansche Republiek. Many South Africans are the descendents of slaves brought to the Cape Colony from 1653 until 1822.
The changes wrought on African societies by the imposition of European colonial rule occurred in quick succession. In fact, it was the speed with which change occurred that set the colonial era apart from earlier periods in South Africa. Of course, not all societies were equally transformed. Some resisted the forces of colonial intrusion, slavery and forced labour for extended periods. Others, however, such as the Khoikhoi communities of the south-western Cape, disintegrated within a matter of decades.
Initially, a colonial contact was a two-way process. However, Africans were far from helpless victims in the initial encounter. Colonial contact was not simply a matter of Europeans imposing themselves upon African societies. For their part, African rulers saw many benefits to be had from maintaining relations with Europeans, and for a considerable period of time they engaged with Europeans voluntarily and on their own terms.
Most importantly, trade with Europeans gave African rulers access to a crucial aspect of European technology, namely firearms. More than anything else, those who had ownership and control over firearms were able to gather around themselves larger and larger groups of people. In short, the ownership of firearms turned into a status symbol and a means to gain political power.
Sadly, the article of trade in which Europeans showed the greatest interest, and which Africans were prepared to sacrifice, were slaves. The Atlantic slave trade stands at the centre of a long history of European contact with Africa. This was the era of the African Diaspora, an all embracing term historians have used to describe the consequences of the slave trade. Estimates of the number of slaves transported from their African homes to European colonial possession in the Americas range from 9 to 15 million people. Although a great deal of violence accompanied the trade in slaves, the sheer scale of operations involved a high degree of organisation, on the part of both Europeans and Africans. In other words, the Atlantic slave trade could not have taken place without the cooperation, or complicity, of many Africans.
As the number of transported slaves increased, African societies could not avoid transformation, and 400 years of slave trading took their toll. Of course, not all African societies were equally affected, but countries such as Angola and Senegal suffered heavily.
The most important consequences of the Atlantic slave trade were demographic, economic, and political. There can be no doubt that the Atlantic slave trade greatly retarded African demographic development, a fact that was to have lasting consequences for the history of the continent. At best, African populations remained stagnant. The export of the most economically active men and women led to the disintegration of entire societies. The trade in slaves also led to new political formations. In some cases, as people sought protection from the violence and warfare that went with the slave trade, large centralised states came into being.
Slavery at the Cape
Jan van Riebeeck, who founded the first colony at Cape Town in 1652, was an official of the Dutch East India Company. The Dutch marked their permanence by building a five-pointed stone castle on the shores of the bay, a structure that continues to dominate the city centre of Cape Town. From within the walls of the Castle, the VOC administered and governed the expanding colony.
At first, the Dutch were primarily concerned with supplying their ships with fresh produce as they rounded the Cape en route to the spice-producing islands of the Indonesian archipelago. This is because the Dutch had their most important colonial interests in Indonesia, which included the growing of crops and spices that could not be produced in Europe. In Indonesia, the Dutch enslaved entire populations, ruling them by force and coercing them to produce crops. In the Cape, Van Riebeeck first attempted to get cattle and labour through negotiation, but as soon as these negotiations broke down slavery was implemented.
Jan Van Riebeeck and the local San people.
Even with slavery, the Dutch did not have sufficient labour power to provide for their ships. In 1657, some Company officials were released from their contracts and were allocated land along the Liesbeeck River. These officials became known as the Free Burghers (Farmers), and formed the nucleus of the white South African population that came to be known as Boers or Afrikaners.
It soon became apparent that if the free burghers were to be successful as agricultural producers, they would need access to substantial labour. The indigenous peoples with whom the Dutch first came into contact, the Khoikhoi, had been settled in the region for at least a thousand years before the Dutch arrived, and were an unwilling labour force. This is because the Khoikhoi were a pastoral people, and as long as they had their lands, flocks of sheep and herds of cattle, they could not be pressed into service for the Dutch settlers. The settlers also practiced a form of settled agriculture that came into direct conflict with the pastoral economy of the Khoikhoi, and involved regular and structured seasonal migration.
Therefore, as the Dutch settlement expanded, independent Khoikhoi communities were placed under unbearable pressure. Within 50 years of the establishment of the Dutch settlement, the indigenous communities near Table Bay, despite heroic struggles on their part, had been dispossessed of their lands and their independent means of existence had come to an end.
Individual Khoikhoi men and women became incorporated into colonial society as low-status servants. Beyond the mountains of Table Valley, communities of Khoisan (as the Khoikhoi and the indigenous hunter-gatherer San are collectively called) survived until the end of the eighteenth century, but there can be little doubt that for the indigenous populations of the Cape the arrival of the Dutch settlers proved to be a major turning point.
The Dutch settlers were therefore forced to look elsewhere for their labour needs. In 1658, a year after the first free burghers had been granted their plots of land, the first slaves were imported into South Africa, specifically for agricultural work. These slaves arrived at the Cape on 28 March 1658 on board the Amersfoort and had been captured by the Dutch from a Portuguese slaver en route to Brazil. Of the 250 slaves captured, only 170 survived the journey to the Cape. Most of these slaves were originally captured by the Portuguese in present-day Angola. On 6 May 1658, 228 slaves from another group of slaves arrived at the Cape on board the Hassalt, from Ghana.
From 1710 onwards, the adult slave population outnumbered the adult colonial population by as much as three to one.
Another source of slaves was the VOC’s return fleets from Batavia and other places in the east which sailed around the Cape on their way to Europe. VOC officials could not take their slaves with them when they returned home, as slavery was illegal in the Netherlands. Therefore, many of these officials sold their slaves at the Cape because they could get a better price for their slaves there than in the East Indies. Foreign ships on their way to the Americas from Madagascar also sold slaves at the Cape.
The Indian subcontinent was the main source of slaves during the early part of the 18th century, and approximately 80% of slaves came from India during this period. A slaving station was established in Delagoa Bay (present-day Maputo) in 1721, but was abandoned in 1731. Between 1731 and 1765 more and more slaves were bought from Madagascar.
In 1795, the Cape Colony became a British colony, before it was returned to the Dutch in 1802. During this first period of British rule, South-East Africa became the main source of slaves. This trend continued with the return of the Dutch who continued to buy slaves from slave traders operating in present-day Mozambique.
When in control of the Cape, the VOC sent slavers to Mozambique and Madagascar. The main purpose of these expeditions was to trade slaves. In those days, travelling by ship was very uncomfortable and unhygienic for ordinary people, but especially for slaves who had to be kept confined.
Between 1720 and 1790, slave numbers increased from 2 500 to 14 500. At the time of the final ending of slavery in 1838, the slave population stood at around 38 000. However, unlike the European population, which doubled in number with each generation through natural increase, the harsh living conditions of the Cape's slave population meant that their numbers could only be sustained through continued importation. Between 1652 and the ending of the slave trade in 1807, about 60 000 slaves were imported into the Colony.
Thus the Cape became not just a society in which some people were slaves, but a fully-fledged slave society. In slave societies, the institution of slavery touched all aspects of life, as slavery was central to the social, economic and legal institutions. As the boundaries of the Cape Colony expanded beyond the immediate vicinity of Table Bay, slaves were put to work on the wine and wheat farms of the south-western Cape. Quite simply, the colonial economy could not function without the use of slave labour, and therefore slave-ownership was widespread. Although most of the European settlers of the south-western Cape owned fewer than ten slaves, almost all of them owned at least some slaves.
The most important social feature of slave societies is that they were polarised between people who were slaves and those who were not. Slaves were also defined by their race, and although the VOC did not institute a codified form of racial classification, the fact is that slaves were black and slave owners were white. There were a few slaves who had been freed, who were called “free blacks”. These “free blacks” had managed to acquire slaves of their own, but these slave owners were a tiny minority of the slave-owning population. Thus, colonial South Africa was from the very start a society structured along racial lines, in which black people occupied a subordinate position.
Slavery was fully supported by the Roman-Dutch legal system that the VOC brought to the Cape. In terms of Roman-Dutch law, slaves were defined, first and foremost, as property. This form of slavery, known as chattel slavery, meant that one human being was the legal belonging of another human being. Slaves could be bought and sold, bequeathed or used as security for loans. Since slaves were kept in a state of slavery against their will, the slave owners and the VOC needed a system of laws to ensure that slaves were kept in their subordinate position."
Not including parts of the above history would be a great disservice to anyone hoping to learn the most important history about South Africa. Greenmcguire (talk) 05:26, 23 May 2025 (UTC)[reply]
One of your project's articles has been selected for improvement!
Hello, Please note that Pneumatics, which is within this project's scope, has been selected as one of the Articles for improvement. The article is scheduled to appear on Wikipedia's Community portal in the "Articles for improvement" section for one week, beginning today. Everyone is encouraged to collaborate to improve the article. Thanks, and happy editing! Delivered by — MusikBottalk00:05, 12 May 2025 (UTC) on behalf of the AFI team[reply]
Thank you Historyday01. I just read the page you shared: 'Racism in South Africa' and impressed that it shows the full extent of all 'racism' - not just racism against whites. Great work here. If only the current american president could read it & learn the truth. Greenmcguire (talk) 05:50, 23 May 2025 (UTC)[reply]
The Lion King
The Circle of Life article requires attention from someone who knows something about South African languages. There is uncertainty as to how the opening lyrics should be transcribed, how they should be translated, and whether they are Zulu or Xhosa (see the talk section). Zacwill (talk) 04:59, 24 May 2025 (UTC)[reply]
Hello. Project members are invited to participate in The World Destubathon. We're aiming to destub a lot of articles and also improve longer stale articles. It will be held from Monday June 16 - Sunday July 13. There is $3338 going into it, with $500 the top prize. If you are interested in winning some vouchers to help you buy books for future content by improving articles for your country or any other, or just see it as a good editathon opportunity to see a lot of articles improved for your project, sign up if interested.♦ Dr. Blofeld10:25, 31 May 2025 (UTC)[reply]
Wikimedia Foundation banner fundraising campaign in South Africa starts today
Dear all,
As mentioned previously, the WMF is running its annual banner fundraising campaign for non logged in users in South Africa from the 2nd to the 27th of June 2025.
You can find more information around the campaign, see example banners, and leave any questions or suggestions you might have, on the community collaboration page.
Generally, before and during the campaign, you can contact us:
@Ashleyashville: Please do not post to various boards and talk pages asking for preferential treatment of the person you are hired to promote. The one and only way to request review of a draft is to submit it for review. When it has been submitted, you can keep working on the draft to improve it, but asking volunteers who edit Wikipedia in their free time to help you make money is... not great. Especially since you have posted this request in multiple places. --bonadeacontributionstalk07:11, 6 June 2025 (UTC)[reply]
The Developing Countries WikiContest Gold Belt Buckle
WikiProject South Africa, the Developing Countries WikiContest will be returning for a second year, and sign-ups are now open! The contest will run from 1July to 30September, and the objective remains the same: improve as many articles relating to developing countries as you can to help fight systemic bias on Wikipedia.
In other news, we have a new face on the coordinator team this year: last year's sixth-place finisher, Arconning (talk·contribs)! The coordinators would like to extend a sincere thanks to Ixtal (talk·contribs), who is leaving the team, without whom the contest would not exist. After feedback from contestants last year, the scoring rules are undergoing some modifications; the new rules and a summary of the changes made will be posted to the contest talk page shortly.
Alcoholism has been nominated for a good article reassessment. If you are interested in the discussion, please participate by adding your comments to the reassessment page. If concerns are not addressed during the review period, the good article status may be removed from the article. Z1720 (talk) 01:59, 25 June 2025 (UTC)[reply]
