Famous people who grew up or lived in South Africa

Albert Luthuli1898–1967

📍 Groutville, KwaDukuza (Stanger), KwaZulu-Natal 4450, South Africa

I was born Albert John Mvumbi Luthuli in 1898 in Southern Rhodesia but grew up in Groutville, a Zulu Christian mission community in KwaZulu-Natal, where my father had been a missionary…

Desmond Tutu1960–1986

📍 Vilakazi Street, Orlando West, Soweto, Johannesburg, South Africa

I grew up in Klerksdorp in the western Transvaal, but it was Soweto — specifically the small house on Vilakazi Street in Orlando West where I lived with Leah and our children — that was my…

Elon Musk1971–1989

📍 Pretoria, South Africa

Elon Reeve Musk was born in Pretoria, South Africa, in June 1971, the eldest child of Errol Musk, an engineer, and Maye Musk, a model and dietitian from Canada. He grew up in Pretoria…

Ernie Els1969–1989

📍 Kempton Park, Gauteng, South Africa

Ernie Els was born in Johannesburg in October 1969 and grew up in Kempton Park, a suburb on the East Rand near what is now O.R. Tambo airport, in a sporty Afrikaans family. His father…

Gary Player1935–1953

📍 Johannesburg, South Africa

Gary Player was born in Johannesburg in November 1935, the youngest of three children of Harry Player, a gold miner who spent most of his working life far underground, and Muriel. The…

Hugh Masekela1939–1953

📍 eMalahleni (Witbank), Mpumalanga, South Africa

I was born Ramapolo Hugh Masekela in April 1939 in KwaGuqa township, in Witbank, a coal-mining town in the east of South Africa, and spent my early years with my maternal grandmother…

Jan Smuts1870–1950

📍 Boplaas, Malmesbury, Western Cape, South Africa

I was born Jan Christiaan Smuts on the 24th of May 1870 on the farm Boplaas near Malmesbury in the Cape Colony — now the Western Cape of South Africa. I studied law at Cambridge, fought…

Nelson Mandela1946–1962

📍 8115 Vilakazi Street, Orlando West, Soweto, Johannesburg, Gauteng, South Africa

I moved to 8115 Vilakazi Street in 1946, the year I joined the ANC Youth League. The house was modest — a matchbox house, the government called such things, as if to emphasise how little…

Nkosi Johnson1989–2001

📍 Soweto, Johannesburg, Gauteng 1818, South Africa

I was born Xolani Nkosi Johnson in 1989 in Johannesburg, South Africa, HIV-positive from birth. My mother Daphne was HIV-positive and died when I was twelve. I was raised by Gail Johnson, a…

Shaun Tomson1955–1975

📍 Durban, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa

Shaun Tomson was born in Durban, South Africa, in August 1955, and grew up in the warm, subtropical port city on the Indian Ocean, with its long beaches and powerful waves, with his older…

Siya Kolisi1991–2003

📍 Zwide, Gqeberha (Port Elizabeth), Eastern Cape, South Africa

Siya Kolisi was born in June 1991 in Zwide, a township on the outskirts of Port Elizabeth, now Gqeberha, in South Africa's Eastern Cape. His mother, Phakama, was a teenager when he was…

Steve Biko1946–1977

📍 Ginsberg, Qonce (King William's Town), Eastern Cape, South Africa

I grew up in Ginsberg, a small township outside King William's Town in the Eastern Cape, where my family moved when I was a baby. My father, Mzingaye, worked as a policeman and then as a…