They shaped our century

The They shaped our century survey was a top 100 list published in 1999 about which people had the greatest influence on South Africa during the twentieth century. The survey was run by South African media giant Media24 among users of its web portal. This survey preceded the SABC Great South Africans survey by three years, and evoked less public outcry. After voting closed, brief biographies were written for the top 100 names and published in English and Afrikaans in a book called "They shaped our century"[1]

There were two father-son pairs and two husband-wife pairs in the final list, namely Ernest and Harry Oppenheimer, Govan and Thabo Mbeki, Nelson and Winnie Mandela, and Walter and Albertina Sisulu. Interestingly, one of the list candidates, Andre P Brink, is also an author of some of the biographies in the list.

Contents

Procedure of the survey

An initial list of 120 names was compiled by historian Trwella Cameron and publisher JJ Human. The names of BJ Vorster and Chris Hani were initially deliberately left out. The internet viewing public was asked to vote on the initial list and to submit suggestions for additions to the list. From the submissions it was determined by the publisher that both BJ Vorster and Chris Hani should be included in the list after all. People who were not South Africans but who influenced South Africa, were also eligible for the list. During the survey and in the book no labels such as "politician", "sportsperson", "activist" etc are provided for the names.

Originally voting would have ended in July 1999[2] but was later extended to 31 August[3] and into October 1999.[4]

The survey's web site was http://news.24.com/best100. The voting portal contained a discussion forum so people could argue merits or demerits of candidates. Members of the public could vote in favour of a candidate but could also vote against a candidate. All candidates' names on the web site linked to short profiles about them.

Comparison with SABC Great South Africans survey

One of the ways in which the list differs from the SABC Great South Africans list is that it contains very few sportsmen, and certainly none of the post-1994 heroes that featured prominently in the SABC list. The biographies printed in They shaped our century as a book is often cited as a source of information.[5] The SABC survey was not limited to internet users and enjoyed coverage in many media. In the SABC survey, one could vote for a candidate but not against a candidate.

Criticism

Criticism against the survey included [6] questions about why Gustav Preller did not make the list, or why statesmen Hertzog and Steyn were ranked below sportsman Gary Player, sportsman Danie Craven and stage artist Pieter-Dirk Uys.

Another critic [7] acclaimed the biographic article about Mandela (by Vincent Maphati) but derided the articles about Verwoerd as less than satisfactory. It was also said that the survey compared apples with oranges, and questions were raised about whether Chris Barnard could truly have been said to have had more influence than Harry Oppenheimer, Jan Smuts and Gary Player.

The survey's own web site fielded questions about the omission of Barney Barnato, Ysuf Veriava, Johan de Villiers, and Sammy Marks.

The list

Here is the list of names published in the book, in order. The labels are arbitrary and is not an indication of the field in which they contributed most to South Africa.

  1. Nelson Mandela - statesman
  2. Frederik Willem de Klerk - statesman
  3. Hendrik Verwoerd - statesman
  4. Chris Barnard - surgeon
  5. Harry Oppenheimer - businessman
  6. Jan Smuts - statesman
  7. Gary Player - sportsman
  8. Cornelis Jakob Langenhoven - author
  9. Anton Rupert - businessman
  10. Cecil John Rhodes - businessman
  11. Danie Craven - sportsman
  12. Desmond Tutu - cleric
  13. Daniël Francois Malan - statesman
  14. Helen Suzman - politician
  15. Louis Botha - statesman
  16. NP Van Wyk Louw - author
  17. John Vorster - statesman
  18. JBM Hertzog - statesman
  19. Ernest Oppenheimer - businessman
  20. Steve Biko - activist
  21. Pieter Willem Botha - statesman
  22. Raymond Ackerman - businessman
  23. Chris Hani - politician
  24. Breyten Breytenbach - author
  25. Christiaan de Wet - statesman
  26. Oliver Tambo - activist
  27. Mohandas Gandhi - activist
  28. Thabo Mbeki - statesman
  29. Frederik van Zyl Slabbert - politician
  30. Mangosutho Buthelezi - politician
  31. Pieter-Dirk Uys - stage artist
  32. Walter Sisulu - politician
  33. Alan Paton - author
  34. Cyril Ramaphosa - politician
  35. Jacob Hendrik Pierneef - painter
  36. Eugène Marais - author
  37. Herbert Baker - engineer
  38. André P Brink - author
  39. Koos de la Rey - military leader
  40. Beyers Naudé - cleric
  41. Joe Slovo - politician
  42. Bruce Fordyce - sportsman
  43. Winnie Madikizela-Mandela - activist
  44. Albert Luthuli - politician
  45. Mimi Coertse - singer
  46. Louis Leipoldt - author
  47. Dimitri Tsafendas - assassin
  48. Ali Bacher - sportsman
  49. Athol Fugard - playwright and actor
  50. Marthinus Theunis Steyn - statesman
  51. Andries Treurnicht - politician
  52. Herman Charles Bosman - author
  53. Nadine Gordimer - author
  54. Bram Fischer - attorney
  55. Sol Kerzner - businessman
  56. Olive Schreiner - author
  57. Govan Mbeki - politician
  58. Hans Merensky - geologist
  59. Alfred Milner - businessman
  60. Robert Sobukwe - activist
  61. Trevor Huddleston - cleric
  62. Helen Joseph - activist
  63. Allan Boesak - cleric
  64. Walter Battiss - artist
  65. Albertina Sisulu - wife of politician
  66. Albert Hertzog - statesman (son of J. B. M. Hertzog)
  67. Hendrik van der Bijl - industrialist
  68. Sol Plaatjie - journalist
  69. James Stevenson-Hamilton - environmentalist
  70. Abdullah Ibrahim - musician
  71. Frene Ginwala - journalist
  72. Philip Tobias - scientist
  73. Irma Stern - painter
  74. Nthato Motlana - businessman
  75. Moses Kotane - fund raiser
  76. Hendrik Johannes van Eck - industrialist
  77. Richard van der Ross - historian
  78. Oubaas Markötter - sports coach
  79. Mamphela Ramphele - academic
  80. John X Merriman - politician
  81. Johannes Gerhardus Strijdom - politician
  82. Charles Kohler - farmer
  83. Arnold Theiler - biologist
  84. Raymond Dart - paleontologist
  85. Percy Qoboza - journalist
  86. Ellen Kuzwayo - activist
  87. Amina Cachalia - activist
  88. Taubie Kushlick - theatre entrepreneur, director and actress
  89. Jean Sinclair - activist
  90. Abdullah Abdurahman - politician
  91. August Aimé Balkema - author
  92. Hassan Howa - sports administrator
  93. Sydney Kumalo - stage artist
  94. Bessie Head - author
  95. Vivian Fitzsimons - herpetologist
  96. James Gear - scientist
  97. Dulcie Howes - stage artist
  98. Isie Maisels - attorney
  99. Clements Kadalie - activist
  100. Jim Bailey - journalist

See also

References

  1. ^ ISBN 978-0-7981-4008-9
  2. ^ http://152.111.1.88/argief/berigte/beeld/1999/07/27/5/1.html
  3. ^ http://152.111.1.88/argief/berigte/beeld/1999/08/06/5/9.html
  4. ^ http://news.24.com/best100 on Archive.org
  5. ^ http://www.mg.co.za/article/2003-07-18-a-statesman-to-all
  6. ^ http://152.111.1.88/argief/berigte/beeld/2000/01/11/8/6.html
  7. ^ http://152.111.1.88/argief/berigte/beeld/1999/11/29/11/7.html