- 1911-00-00 — The earliest records available indicate that the first Bahá'í meetings in South Africa were held by Mrs Agnes Cook of Protea Avenue, Sea Point. She held meetings on the 19th day of each calendar month. [PHBFp8]
- 1920-07-00 —
Fanny Knobloch, the first Bahá'í teacher in South Africa, arrived in Cape Town. She pioneered to South Africa from 1920 to 1929 and was assisted occasionally by her sister, Pauling Hannen and, Martha Root in late 1924. .
- In her first week she met Miss Busby who within a very short time is the first person to become a Bahá'í in South Africa. [BW2:40; PHBF8; Progress of the Bahá'í Faith in South Africa since 1911; MR197]
- 1925-04-21 — The first Local Spiritual Assembly in South Africa was formed in the Carey home in Arcadia, Pretoria.
Agnes Carey was the first person from Pretoria to become a Bahá'í and served as a member of the Local assembly from 1925 to 1929. The Assembly was dissolved in 1931 due to the movement of the Bahá'ís. [PHBFp8; Progress of the Bahá'í Faith in South Africa since 1911]
Agnes Carey passed away in 1958 and her live story can be found in BW13p943 - 1929-09-00 —
Shoghi Effendi sailed from England to Cape Town and proceeded overland to Cairo. [PP180–1, SETPE1p163]
-
He travelled through East Africa passing through Rhodesia where he visited the grave of Cecil Rhodes and further north in Rhodesia to see the Victoria Falls.
- He rode as a passenger with an English hunter through part of East Africa and travelled on a train for some five hundred miles.
- He crossed the Nile River through a papyrus swamp on a ferry.
- He was back in Haifa by October. [SETPE1p163]
- 1937-00-00 — Two American Bahá'ís, Mrs. Loulie Matthews and Miss Ophelia Crum, attempted to revive the Bahá'í Community in South Africa with little success and they soon left.
Only one Bahá'í remained a firm believer from that period. She was Mrs. Agnes Carey, a social worker amongst women prisoners who had been released from Pretoria prison. Because of her staunchness she was later honoured with the title of "The Mother of the Bahá'ís of South Africa".
[Progress of the Bahá'í Faith in South Africa since 1911] - 1940-07-28 —
Shoghi Effendi, Rúhíyyih Khánum and Sutherland Maxwell left England for South Africa aboard the SS Capetown Castle. It was Mr Maxwell's close friendship with the Canadian High Commissioner in London, Vincent Massey, that helped them secure the sea passage. [PP180]
- They departed Southhampton just three days before the German High Command issued an order to the Luftwaffe to establish air superiority along the British Channel coast in preparation for the invasion of England. This resulted in the bombing and strafing of all civilian shipping out of British Channel ports.
- Risking U-Boat attacks the ship took them to Durban where they found that all flights to Khartoum had been booked by the military.
- They left Mr. Maxwell in Durban to await a flight to Khartoum while Shoghi Effendi and Rúhíyyih Khánum tried to make their way to Khartoum overland. The trip across Africa took them to Stanleyville, Congo; Juba in the Sudan; down the Nile to Khartoum and back to Palestine through Cairo. [PP180–1, TG159]
They arrived in Kisangani then Stanleyville a few weeks later (July 28, 1940), stayed for a week at the Stanley Hotel and made an excursion in the virgin forest. On the way to Juba, the Guardian also stayed in the village of Nia-Nia. [bahai.org]
- 1949-00-00 — The painter Reginald Turvey returned to South Africa from England where he had become a Bahá'í through his association with the well-known painter, Mark Tobey. He was unaware of the existence of Agnes Carey who was in a nursing home in Durban and so he spent a lonely 13-year period of steadfastness in the Faith. For his patience, devotion and subsequent services to the African Bahá'ís, he was given the title of "The Father of the Bahá'ís of South Africa" by Shoghi Effendi when he was on pilgrimage in 1956.
[Progress of the Bahá'í Faith in South Africa since 1911]
In 1986, the year of his passing, George Ronald published a book titled Reginal Turvey - Life and Art:annal, letters and recollections. It was collected and edited why Lowell Johnson.
A brief biography and some of his paintings can be found at Bahá'í Library Online and more of his paintings can be viewed at Strauss&co and at MutualArt. - 1953-00-00 — With the announcement of the Ten-Year Crusade, the third phase of the development of the Faith in South Africa began. By the end of 1953, no less than 13 Bahá'ís had left their homes in the United States and settled in South Africa. William and Marguerite Sears and son Michael, Harry and Margaret Ford as well as Robert and Helen Miller (with their three young children) all settled in Johannesburg. Ruth and Bishop Brown, who were Margaret Ford's mother and step-father settled in Durban. Lowell and Edith Johnson settled in Cape Town whilst Eleanor and Lyall Hadden settled in Pretoria.
During the course of the Ten-Year Crusade, 65 other pioneers from the United States, Canada, Germany, New Zealand and England came with some settling permanently.
Following the instructions of the Guardian during this phase, the pioneers concentrated their teaching work on the black and colored people of South Africa. "Coloured" in South Africa indicates people of mixed heritage as distinct from native black Africans. During these 10 years a few others declared their faith in Bahá'u'lláh, i.e. descendants of Malays who were imported as slaves over 300 years ago by the Dutch settlers, Indians and a few whites. The first black African to become a Bahá'í was Klaas Mtsweni, a Zulu in Pretoria in 1954.
By April 1956 the Bahá'í Faith had spread thinly over 15 countries of Southern Africa including the islands of the Indian Ocean and St. Helena, and a regional governing body, the Regional Spiritual Assembly of South and West Africa was formed with its seat in Johannesburg. The National Convention was held at the farm owned by the Sears family.
Because of the system of apartheid practiced and legislated in South Africa, the Bahá'í Faith, the principles of which include the Oneness of Mankind, was taught for 32 years on a one-to-one basis mainly without publicity. Local Spiritual Assemblies were formed by plurality vote in all localities where there were 9 or more believers aged 21 years and over. These Assemblies were charged with making their own teaching plans and living a life based on the moral principles outlined by Bahá'u'lláh.
During this period of gestation, the Bahá'í Faith was being watched continually by the security police. Both the individual Bahá'ís and the administrative bodies were under police investigation and surveillance. However, although the believers never compromised the principles of the Faith and gradually developed racially integrated Bahá'í communities, the numbers were too small and peaceful to be considered a threat to the apartheid regime. By 1985 the marriage laws were relaxed. In 1990 a series of steps began that led to the repeal of apartheid legislation on the 17th of June 1991 and a democratic government was elected in 1994.
[Progress of the Bahá'í Faith in South Africa since 1911] - 1954-07-12 — The first South African to become a Bahá'í enrolled in the Faith on this day. [That Promising Continent 20]
- 1954-07-16 — Emeric and Rosemary Sala from Canada pioneered in Zululand and Port Elizabeth (currently Gqeberha) where they were instrumental in establishing the Faith. Rosemary established and international library at Cowan High School in New Brighton.
Rosemary's story can be found in BW18p713.
Emeric's at BW20p993.
Their biography Tending the Garden was written by Ilona Sala Weinstein.
- 1954-12-25 — Edythe MacArthur, already a Knight of Bahá'u'lláh for the Queen Charlotte Islands, (now Haida Gwaii), arrived from Canada. She pioneered to Zululand and Cape Town where she worked as a nurse. [KoBp272-273]
Her story was told in the above reference and in Memoriam 1992-1997 p143 and in CBN No. 175 August 1966 p4. - 1955-01-01 — Dorothy Senne became the first Bahá'í in South Africa. [BWNS270]
- 1955-01-02 — The first Tswana Bahá'í, Stanlake Kukama, enrolled in Mafikeng.
- 1956-04-21 —
The Regional Spiritual Assembly of South and West Africa was formed with its seat in Johannesburg, South Africa. The National Convention was held at the Sears farm. Those elected to serve were: John Allen, Festus Chembeni, Walter Dlamini, William Masehla, Robert Miller, Andrew Mofokeng, John Robarts, William Sears and Max Seepe. In January 1957 Walter Dlamini resigned and Marguerite Sears was elected to replace him. [BW13:284; MBW71-72; BN no608 November 1981 p11; PHBFp9-11]
- Its area of jurisdiction was the Union of South Africa, Basutoland, Zululand, Swaziland, Bechuanaland, South West Africa, Angola, Northern Rhodesia, Southern Rhodesia, Nyasaland, Mozambique, Madagascar, Réunion Island, Mauritius and St Helena Island.
See the Guardian's message to this Assembly. [That Promising Continent:
Selections from the Writings of Abdu'l-Baha, the Writings and Letters of Shoghi Effendi and the Letters Written on his Behalf on Africa p 28-29]
- 1962-07-20 —
The passing of Harlan Foster Ober (b. October 6, 1881 in Beverly, Massachusetts) in Pretoria, Gauteng, South Africa.
- He had graduated from Harvard University in 1905 with a B.A. and later obtained a law degree from Northeastern University in Boston.
- Harlan Ober became a Bahá'í at Green Acre in 1905. Another source said it was in the spring of 1906 in a room in the Commonwealth Hotel in Boston that he overcame his doubts while using a prayer and other literature given to him by Lua Getsinger. [LDNW23; 100-101; SBR120-121]
- Hooper Harris and Lua Getsinger's brother, Dr. William Moore, were selected to make a teaching trip to India. When Moore died suddenly Harlan Ober was chosen to replace him. As he had no funds for the trip Lua borrowed the money from Mr Hervey Lunt, the father of Alfred Lunt. [LGHC105]
- In 1906 he made a visit to 'Abdu'l-Bahá while He was still confined to prison.
- On the 17th of July, 1912 he married Grace Roberts (aunt of future Hand of the Cause John Robarts) in a ceremony conducted by the Reverend Howard Colby Ives at 209 West 78th Street in New York. When 'Abdu'l-Bahá visited America in 1912 He had suggested that Grace Robarts and Harlan marry, and they both agreed with the match, with Harlan travelling to New York from Boston and proposing in Central Park after being informed of the suggestion by Lua Getsinger. 'Abdu'l-Bahá performed the marriage ceremony in the room he was staying in in New York on July 17, 1912, and Howard Colby Ives later performed a legal ceremony. [SoW Vol 3 No 12 p14; Bahaipedia; The Jouney West, July 2012; Mother's Stories: Stories of 'Abdu'l-Bahá and Early Believers told by Muriel Ives Barrow Newhall to her son, p. 20]
- They adopted three children of English, German and Russian background.
- It was from their home in Cambridge, MA, from the office of the National Teaching Committee, that the first Teaching Bulletin was issued on November 19, 1919. This bulletin evolved to the US Baha'i News.
- He was closely involved with Race Unity work and made many teaching trips to the southern states with his friend Louis Gregory.
- He served on the Bahá'í Temple Unity Executive Board as president or secretary from 1918 to 1920. The work of this board was taken over by the National Spiritual Assembly when it was elected in 1922.
- In 1938 Harlan was elected to the National Spiritual Assembly of the United States and Canada and he served on it until 1941.
- Grace passed away in 1938, leaving Harlan widowed.
- He married his second wife, Dr Elizabeth Kidder Ober in Beverly, MA on the 21st of June, 1941. Shoghi Effendi was pleased with the way the marriage was conducted, without having any church ceremony or minister conduct the service. [BW13p869, 871]
- After their pilgrimage in 1956 Harlan and Elizabeth Ober travelled to South Africa where they helped form the first all-African Local Spiritual Assembly in Pretoria as had previously been request of them by the Guardian. They returned in December as pioneers. [BW13869]
- He was appointed to the Auxiliary Board for Protection in Africa in October of 1957 and served on the National Teaching Committee of South and West Africa for two years.
- He was buried in the Zandfontein Cemetery in Pretoria. [BW13p870; Find a grave;
Bahaipedia; BW13p869]
- 1966-12-12 — The Hand of the Cause John Robarts departed Africa from Cape Town after a stay of nearly 13 years. They were recalled from their pioneer post by the Universal House of Justice to help Canada win the goals of the Nine Year Plan. The objective was to raise 154 local assemblies by 1973 but the count had fallen from 68 to only 50, eighteen less than the number won during the Ten Year Plan and 104 short of the objective. [LNW158]
- 1972-05-11 —
- 1979-03-21 —
The General Assembly of the United Nations adopted a programme of activities to be undertaken during the second half of the Decade for Action to Combat Racism and Racial Discrimination. On that occasion, the General Assembly decided that a week of solidarity with the peoples struggling against racism and racial discrimination, beginning on 21 March, would be organized annually in all States.
The International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination is observed annually on the day the police in Sharpeville, South Africa, opened fire and killed 69 people at a peaceful demonstration against apartheid "pass laws" in 1960. [Wikipedia; United Nations website.
- Sharpville Massacre on 21 March 1960. This is a day which is commemorated each year in South Africa.
- 1981-04-21 —
The National Spiritual Assembly of Bophuthatswana was formed with its seat in Mmabatho. [BW18:107, 163; BN no606 November 1981 p10]
- It was a Bantustan or nominally independent state established within South Africa. The South African government abolished Bantustans in 1994 and the Assembly of Bophuthatswana was disbanded in 1995 with the community falling under the administration of the National Spiritual Assembly of South Africa. [National Spiritual Assemblies: Lists and years of formation by Graham Hassall]
- 1983-07-17 —
The passing of Counsellor William Mmutle Masetlha (b.February 21, 1921 in Sophiatown, a township of Johannesburg) in Dube (Soweto), South Africa. [BW19p607-608]
- He became a Bahá'í in 1954 and served on local assemblies, the first National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá'ís of South and West Africa, on the Auxiliary Board and in 1976 was appointed as a Counsellor. [Bahá'í Chronicles]
- Founded in 1995, the William Mmutle Masetlha Foundation (WMMF) is a Bahá'í organization that supports education and vocational training initiatives in Zambia. Its parent organization, the Masetlha Institute, was founded in 1983 and offers community-based education in areas including literacy and health, as well as spirituality. One of the WMMF's initiatives, the Banani International Secondary School, is a residential girls' school specializing in science and agriculture; in 2003, the Banani School was ranked among the top 100 African secondary schools. WMMF is also partnering with FUNDAEC (Foundation for the Application and Teaching of the Sciences) to develop a secondary education/vocational training preparation program for rural youth.
- 1985-04-05 — An International Youth Conference to support the United Nations International Youth Year was held in Bophuthatswana, attended by 198 people. [BW19:300]
- 1987-03-27 —
A National Spiritual Assembly with its seat in Johannesburg had been in existence continually since 1956. The first Assembly for this region was the National Spiritual Assembly of South and West Africa which included several other countries and territories. The name of the Assembly was changed on this date to the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá'ís of South Africa. [BW20p548]
- The states of Bophuthatswana, Ciskei, South Africa, and Transkei were merged to form South Africa.
- 1989-10-21 — The Southern African Bahá'í Association for the Advancement of Women was formed in Johannesburg. [BINS210:8]
- 1989-12-25 — The first International Bahá'í Summer School of Bophuthatswana was held at the Pilanesberg National Game Reserve, attended by 263 people from 12 countries. [BINS215:1–2]
- 1990-00-13 —
The National Spiritual Assembly of South Africa made a submission for the drafting of a new constitution.
- The judge that received it, the President of the South African Law Commission, commented that this document stated the Bahá'ís were the only group whose ideas had a spiritual and moral basis for the constitution. [AWH87-8]
- 1991-01-20 — The first World Religion Day to be held in Bophuthatswana took place in Mmabatho. [BINS 244:1]
- 1993-03-13 — Three Bahá'ís were assassinated at the Bahá'í Centre in Mdantsane, Ciskei, in a racially-motivated attack. [BW93–4:147–50]
- 1994-03-13 — The murder of four Bahá'is, three adults and one youth, at the Bahá'í Centre in Mdantsane, Ciskel. Killed were Dr. Shamam Bakhshandegi, Houshmand Anvari and Vincent and Rias Razavi. The perpetrators were granted amnesty for the killings in May 2002. [BW93-4p147-150, 16 May 2000, SCBC, press release]
- 1995-04-21 — The Bahá'í communities of Bophuthatswana, Ciskei, South Africa, and Transkei were merged into one community under the jurisdiction of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá'ís of South Africa, to reflect the political reunion of that region. [BW24p29; BW24p44]
- 1999-01-12 — During the World Faiths Development Dialogue continuation in Johannesburg, Matt Weinberg, director of research for the Office of Public Information of the Bahá'í International Community, presented a statement Religious Values and the Measurement of Poverty and Prosperity that addressed the question of how to measure the application of spiritual principles in development. [One Country]
- 1999-12-01 — The Parliament hosted the second modern-day Parliament of the World's Religions in Cape Town, South Africa in December 1999, attended by 7,000+ global participants.
The document A Call to Our Guiding Institutions served as the centrepiece for the working sessions of the Assembly. The Call—the result of a three-year drafting process—was addressed to eight of the world's most powerful and most influential institutions, inviting each to reflect on and redefine its role for a new century.
[Capetown 1999] - 2001-08-31 —
The third United Nations World Conference against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance, was held in Durban, South Africa. The conference was also known as Durban I.
- The BIC was one of nearly two thousand NGOs present at the NGO forum. The conference itself was fraught with challenges that demonstrated the complexity of these issues and the sensitivity they must be addressed for meaningful change to occur. The BIC participated in the Religious, the Spiritual and the International NGO caucuses; it had an exhibition booth and distributed the statement entitled One Same Substance: Consciously Creating a Global Culture of Unity which provided an outline of the efforts Bahais are doing towards this goal. [One Country]
- See as well BWNS133 for the full text.
- UN website
- 2002-08-26 —
World Summit on Sustainable Development, a United Nations conference in Johannesburg, South Africa. The Bahá'í International Community issued a statement, entitled Religion and Development at the Crossroads: Convergence or Divergence?. [BWNS169, BWNS170]
- For the full text and footnotes see: BIC Web Site.
- 2008-11-08 —
- 2017-08-01 — The release of the film The Cost of Discrimination by Arash Azizi and Maziar Bahari which compared the social costs of discrimination in present day Iran to South Africa under the apartheid regime where, like in Iran, the Dutch Reform Church used their Holy Texts to justify the suppressive measures taken against people of "non-European" origin.
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