1. Famous
South African
Women

2. Mrs Ples
Australopithecus africanus

3. Mrs. Ples
Australopithecus africanus
• The most complete skull of a specimen
ever found.
• Found in the area known as the “Cradle of
Humankind”.
• Mrs. Ples was discovered by Robert Broom
and John T. Robinson on 18 April 1947.
• Mrs. Ples may in fact be Mr. Ples.
• The fossil has been dated to around 2
million years old.

4. Nadine Gordimer
Nobel Prize in Literature

5. Nadine Gordimer
• Born 20 November 1923
• A South African writer, political activist and recipient of
the 1991 Nobel Prize in Literature.
• “through her magnificent epic writing she has been of a
very great benefit to humanity". – Alfred Nobel
• Gordimer's writing has dealt with moral and racial issues,
particularly apartheid in South Africa. July's People was
banned.
• She was active in the anti-apartheid movement, joining the
African National Congress during the days when the
organization was banned.
• She helped Mandela edit his famous speech I Am Prepared
To Die, given from the defendant's dock at the trial.
When Mandela was released from prison in 1990, Gordimer
was one of the first people he wanted to see.

6. Miriam Makeba

7. Miriam Makeba
• 4 March 1932 – 9 November 2008 nicknamed Mama Africa
• Grammy Award winning South African singer and civil rights
activist.
• In the 1960s, she was the first artist from Africa to
popularize African music around the world.
• "Pata Pata", first recorded in 1957 and released in the U.S. in
1967.
• Sang and toured with Harry Belafonte, Paul Simon, and her
former husband Hugh Masekela.
Makeba campaigned against apartheid. The government
revoked her passport in 1960, her citizenship and right of
return in 1963. As the apartheid system crumbled she
returned home for the first time in 1990.

8. The Click Song
•Qongqothwane is a traditional song of the Xhosa people.
•It is sung at weddings to bring good fortune.
•European colonials who could not pronounce its Xhosa title
•The Xhosa title literally means "knock-knock beetle“
•popular name for various species of darkling beetles that
make a distinctive knocking sound by tapping their abdomens
on the ground.
• These beetles are believed by the Xhosa to bring good luck
and rain.

9. Zolani Mahola
Singer/Song-writer and Actress

10. Zolani Mahola
• Born 19 July 1981 in the Eastern Cape
• 2002, lead singer of Freshlyground.
• 2010 FIFA World Cup, Freshlyground
and Shakira, performed "Waka Waka“
• At the Glamour Women of the Year
Awards 2011, she was declared “An
Icon" of South African women in 2011.

11. Charlize Theron
Actress

12. Charlize Theron
• Born 7 August 1975 in Benoni
• She rose to fame in the late 1990s following
roles in the films The Devil's Advocate (1997,)
Mighty Joe Young (1998), and The Cider House
Rules (1999).
• 12th on Top 100 great South Africans list

13. Mighty Joe
Young
The Italian Job

14. Monster
won the Silver Bear, Golden Globe Award, Screen Actors
Guild Award, and Academy Award for Best Actress, becoming
the first South African to win an Academy Award in a major
acting category

15. Snow White & the
Huntsman

16. Natalie du Toit
Olympian

17. Natalie du Toit
• Born 29 January 1984 in Cape Town
• She began competing internationally in
swimming at the age of 14 in the 1998
Commonwealth Games in Kuala Lumpur

18. •In February 2001 her left leg was amputated at the knee after
she was hit by a car while riding her scooter back to school after
swimming practice.
•Three months later, before she had started walking again, she
was back in the pool with the intention of competing in the 2002
Commonwealth Games.
•Du Toit swims without the aid of a prosthetic limb.

19. Medals and Awards
• 2002 Commonwealth Games, Du Toit (18) won both the 50 m and
the 100 m freestyle in world record time.
• She also made sporting history by qualifying for the 800 m ablebodied freestyle final - the first time that an athlete with a
disability had qualified for the final of an able-bodied event.
• At the Commonwealth Games, she was presented with the first
David Dixon Award for Outstanding Athlete of the Games.
• In 2003, competing against able-bodied swimmers, Du Toit won
gold in the 800 metres freestyle at the All-Africa Games as well
as silver in the 800 metres freestyle and bronze in the 400
metres freestyle at the Afro-Asian Games.

20. • She narrowly missed qualifying for
the Olympics in Athens in 2004,
but during the Paralympics that
were held in the same city, she
won one silver and five gold
medals.
• In the same year, her courage and
achievements were acknowledged
with a nomination for the Laureus
World Sportsperson of the Year
2004.
• At the 2006 Commonwealth Games
she won the same two golds as she
had in 2002.
• She also won six gold medals at
the fourth IPC World Swimming
Championships, finishing third
overall in a race which included 36
males and 20 females.

21. 2008 Beijing Olympics
• She was one of two
Paralympians to compete
at the 2008 Olympics in
Beijing
• Du Toit became the first
amputee ever to qualify
for the Olympics, where
she placed 16th in the
10K, "Marathon", swim.

22. • At the Beijing Olympics women's 10 km
race, she finished in 16th place, 1:22.2
minutes behind the winner.
• She also took part in the 2008 Summer
Paralympics, winning five gold medals.

23. 2012 London Paralympics
• On 27 August 2012, just three days
before the start of the 2012 Summer
Paralympics, she announced her intention
to retire at the end of the event.
• She then went on to win 3 gold and 1 silver
medal.