The City of Cape Town (CoCT) has conferred Civic Honours on Basil D’Oliveira.
Also read: Gift of the Givers’ Dr Imtiaz Sooliman awarded Civic Honours
D’Oliveira was born in Signal Hill in 1931, and as a boy, he reportedly visited the Newlands Cricket Ground and climbed the trees outside to watch the games.
He swapped Cape Town for Worcestershire in England in 1960 after he was denied the opportunity to play cricket for South Africa due to his race.
Although he was initially dropped from the England team to tour South Africa in 1968 due to political reasons (which caused the tour to be cancelled by the Apartheid government and the exclusion of South African cricket for 22 years), he was reinstated.
According to the City, he ‘went on to carve out a glittering cricket career for both his county and his adopted country.’
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This year, the CoCT is awarding Civic Honours to several individuals for their significant contributions to society – in Cape Town and across the globe.
These are the individuals who will be recorded in the Civic Honours Book:
- Albie Sachs: A lawyer, activist and former Constitutional Court Justice.
- Athol Fugard: A legendary SA playwright
- Basil D’Oliveira: The greatest SA test cricketer to have never played for SA
- Bennie Rabinowitz: A social justice advocate and philanthropist.
- Brenda Fassie: The queen of African pop, and Ma Brrr to her many fans
- Breyten Breytenbach: An Afrikaans poet, painter and former political prisoner
- Desiree Ellis: A former SA soccer star, captain and current national team coach.
- AG ‘Sailor’ Malan: A WWII fighter pilot hero and anti-apartheid activist
- Dr Imtiaz Sooliman: A humanitarian and founder of Gift of the Givers
- Jonathan Butler: An acclaimed singer-songwriter, guitarist and global music star.
- Pieter-Dirk Uys: A political satirist, playwright and HIV/AIDS educator
- Krotoa: A teenage interpreter and peace broker between the Khoi and the Dutch in the 17th Century.
- Dr Thabo Makgoba: A social, education and climate justice activist and Archbishop of Cape Town.
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Picture: Wikipedia
