Achmat Dangor, born in Newclare on 2 October 1948, was a South African writer, poet and political activist against Apartheid.
He worked extensively in the field of development and civil society, with institutions such as the Kagiso Trust, the Independent Development Trust (IDT), UNAIDS, the Nelson Mandela Childrens Fund (NMCF) and the Nelson Mandela Foundation.
His literary works included poetry collections such as Bulldozer (1983) and Private voices (1992), and novels such as Waiting for Leila (1981), the Z Town Trilogy (1990), Kafka's Curse: Novella & Three Other Stories (1997), Bitter Fruit (2001), Strange Pilgrimages (2013) and Dikeledi: Child of Tears No More (2017).
Achmat Dangor was a banned person from 1973 to 1978 by the South African government. He was active on several writers’ bodies advocating the end of segregation such as Black Thoughts, the Writers’ Forum and the Congress of South African Writers (COSAW).

Missionary and explorer

Dr Albert Davies worked at the Jane Furse Memorial Hospital in Sekhukhuniland from 1957-1982, most of the time as Medical Superintendent. Dr Davies was an avid photographer and the collection includes slides and photographs depicting the work of the hospital and the surrounding communities and vegetation. His wife, Grace Davies, wrote a book on the hospital and her source material and original manuscript is contained in the collection. The collection was deposited by his son, Andy Davies.

Joost de Blank was the Archbishop of Cape Town, South Africa from 1957 to 1963 and was known as the "scourge of apartheid" for his ardent opposition to the whites-only policies of the South African government.

Jan de Veer (1 February 1874-19 January 1964), a Dutch immigrant, describes his work at the Nederlandse Zuid Afrikaanse Spoorweg Maatschapij (N.Z.A.S.M.) and life on the Reef and in Pretoria, in the old Transvaal province. Also included in his autobiography are several vivid descriptions of various incidents in his life, as well as the lifestyle, entertainment and relaxation of the late nineteenth and early twentieth century in this area. The Jameson Raid played a role in his experiences as well. The story moves on to his involvement in the second Boer War mainly in the siege at Colesburg and the destruction of the Norvaals Pont bridge. In 1901 he was interned in the Bird Cage concentration camp which was located on the hill in the Pretoria Zoo where the lion enclosures are now situated on a charge of assisting the Boers. He was tried and found not guilty of treason due to lack of evidence, and released. De Veer later ran a shop and post office business, followed by a few years of farming, before settling into the teaching profession and raising a family in Pretoria, where he had a street named after him de Veer Avenue, in Arcadia.

Dutch army officer, journalist, mining commissioner, member of the Transvaal Volksraad, Boer prisoner of war on St. Helena Island

Mr. Verselewel de Witt Hamer came out to South Africa while still a young man after having resigned from the Netherlands Army in which he held the rank of Lieutenant. Landing in Durban in 1885 (he) there engaged in journalism, becoming editor of the Natal Afrikaner. (De Volkstem quoted on 12.2.30, when discussing his 75th birthday celebration which was given great prominence by the Netherlands community, that the newspaper was 'Natal Boeren Vriend').

Soon after the first gold rush to the Transvaal and after spending a few years in he service of the Republic - Collector Transvaal taxes, Johannesburg; Landdrost clerk, Pretoria, and in 1889 Secretary to Christian Joubert, then Head of the Dept, of Mines. in 1896 he was appointed Mining Commissioner of Leydsdorp, N.Tvl, in 1892 promoted to Mining Commissioner in Barberton in succession to the late Mr. J. L. van der Merwe. Five years later he resigned his office to enter political life as the elected member for Barberton in the Second Volksraad.

At the outbreak of war in 1899 Mr de Witt Hamer was largely instrumental in raising the Hollander Corps of which he became commander with the rank of Captain, was present with his Command at the Battle of Elandslaagte where on die dispersal of General Kock's commando by General French, he was taken prisoner and was sent with other officers and a number of rank and file of the Boers, to St. Helena. He became persona grata with the authorities and remained there until peace was signed. In 1923 Her Majesty Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands conferred the Knighthood of the Order of Oranje on Mr. de Witt Hamer.

Extracts regarding life and career of B.G. Verselewel de Witt Hamer. Born Doesburg, Holland, 1855
Extract from the Star, Johannesburg. 18.12.1930, at the time of the death of B.G. Verselewel de Witt Hamer.

South African historian and Professor at the University of the Witwatersrand.

Member of the South African Police and later the Security Police, he was one of the founders of the covert unit based at Vlakplaas.