On This Day in South Africa: What happened on 29 September?

Here’s a look at what happened on this day, 29 September, throughout world and South African history. We remember the news, events, and people that influenced the course of history forever.

ON THIS DAY: 29 SEPTEMBER

2004 |  Evidence found at Barberton confirmed the theory of life on Earth as early as 3.4 billion years ago.

2019 | Violence and low voter turnout marred Afghanistan’s 2019 presidential election.

1976 | Jeremy Cronin and a British couple were sentenced to ten, one, and seven years imprisonment respectively by the Cape Town Supreme Court.

2019 | At least 59 people were reported dead due to monsoon rains in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, India. 350 people died that year due to rain in India, Nepal, and Bangladesh.

2016 | Eleven days after the Uri attack, the Indian Army carried out “surgical strikes” against suspected militants in Pakistan-controlled Kashmir.

ALSO READ: What happened on 27 September?

BIRTHDAYS

1962 | South African distance runner, Xolile Yawa 

1981 | South African footballer, Siyabonga Sangweni

1978 | Norwegian singer-songwriter and guitarist, Kurt Nilsen.

1952 | English archaeologist and academic, Richard Hodges.

1990 | Filipina classical crossover singer and Asia’s Got Talent finalist, Gerphil Flores.

ON THIS DAY: DEATHS

2005 | English painter and academic, Patrick Caulfield,  (b. 1936)

2018 | American blues guitarist and singer, Otis Rush,  (b. 1934)

2014 | New Zealand composer and educator, John Ritchie,  (b. 1921)

2001 | Vietnamese general and politician, fifth President of South Vietnam, Nguyỿn VĿn Thiỿu,  (b. 1923)

2013 | German lieutenant, Anton Benning,  (b. 1918)

SPORTS

2007 | On this day in a Premier League fixture between Portsmouth and Reading, saw Portsmouth won 7- 4.

ENTERTAINMENT

2017 | “Gerald’s Game” was released on this day by Netflix and its world premiere at BFI Southbank on September 19, 2017.

AFRICA FACT

The ‘Door of No Return’, is found in Goree Island where millions of Africans were transported to slavery in the Caribbean and America.