‘The bigger they are, the harder they fall’, the strike that changed a nation, newspaper editor Percy Qoboza is released from jail and they earn how much!? All this and more. Read on...
1880 The Salvation Army is formed in the US. The social service organisation was first launched in England and operates in 90 countries, including South Africa.
1896 After Bob Fitzsimmons KOs the much larger Jim Corbett to win the world boxing heavyweight championship, in Carson City, Nevada, he laconically mutters the memorable line first coined by fellow boxer Joe Walcott: “The bigger they are, the harder they fall.”
1922 Striking white workers storm and occupy police stations, railway installations and mines on the Rand. Prime Minister Jan Smuts has the army and air force called out and within four days the revolt is crushed, but at the cost of 153 lives, with another 534 injured. The strike and the reaction to it cause a change in government (at the next election) and far-reaching consequences.
1970 With a team packed with the likes of Mike Proctor, Barry Richards, Eddie Barlow, the Pollock brothers, John Traicos, and Lee Irvine, South Africa give the visiting Australia cricket team a 4-0 series drubbing.
1978 Percy Qoboza, editor of the banned newspaper The World, is released from detention, with nine other black leaders who were seized in October 1976.
2010 Mexican Carlos Slim becomes the first person from an emerging economy to top the Forbes Richest Person list, with a net worth of $53.5 billion. The richest of the world’s 2 668 billionaires (worth $12.7 trillion) today is Bernard Arnault ($212bn), who is worth almost three times as much as Africa’s billionaires combined. He is followed by Elon Musk ($191.4bn). Africa has 19 billionaires, headed by Aliko Dangote ($13.5 bn). But the inequality couldn’t be more stark: If the 10 richest men lost 99.999% of their wealth tomorrow, they would still be richer than 99% of people, their wealth is six times more than the poorest 3.1 billion people and they enjoy lower tax rates. The richest person ever is 14th-century African emperor Mansa Musa ($400 billion).
2020 Three months into the Covid-19 epidemic Chinese President Xi Jinping finally travels to Wuhan, epicenter of the outbreak, as the rate of daily new infections declines in China falls to 19 new cases and 17 deaths.
2020 The Russian lower house of parliament passes legislation to allow Vladimir Putin to hold the office of president for the rest of his life.