Manuel João D'OLIVEIRA, born in Lisbon, was the captain of the Portuguese ship São Josef which was shipwrecked at the Cape prior to May 1795. He married Gesina VAN BLERK in May 1795 and they had 4 children. This family became Afrikaans-speaking.
João ALBASINI, born in Lisbon on 01 May 1813, was 37 years old when he married Gertina Maria Petronella JANSE VAN RENSBURG in Potchefstroom in 1850. João's father, Antonio Augusto, was a ship's captain in Portugal, but was born in the Tyrol region of Italy. He married Maria DE PURIFICACUA of Spain. The couple had three children. When João was 17 years old he accompanied his father and brother on a voyage to Brazil and Delagoa Bay. Their ship was stranded on the east coast of Africa and João, with the help of his father, set up a trading store in Delagoa Bay. His father left for Lisbon shortly afterward and never saw his son again. João was 20 when the exiled Zulu chief Shoshangane attacked Delagoa Bay, massacring many Europeans and abducting João. He escaped six months later and returned to Delagoa Bay. In 1838 he met Carel TRICHARDT when the Voortrekkers of the Tregardt Trek reached Delagoa Bay, and the two formed a hunting partnership. In 1845, Chief Magashula of the Shangaan gave him land on the Sabie River. João built a settlement known as Makashula Kraal. The ruins of his brick house are not far from where the Hippo Pools are located, near Pretoriuskop. In 1845 he became the first Portuguese to trade with the Voortrekkers. After a few years he settled on the farm Rustplaats near Ohrigstad and opened a shop there in 1847. In 1849 he had to abandon the area because of fever, and moved to Lydenburg. Again he set up as a trader, with Casimiro SIMOES being his partner and Mariano Luis DE SOUZA his clerk. In 1853 he moved to the area today known as Schoemansdal in the Soutpansberg, where he opened a trading post. Later on he moved to Ohrigstad and lived on the farm Goedewensch. The farm became a well-known visiting place where important guests, such as President M. W. PRETORIUS, were entertained. Elephant hunters on their way to the hunting-grounds also called there regularly. In 1858 the Portuguese government appointed him Vice-Consul for the Transvaal Republic. He built a store, supervised the local inhabitants and maintained trade between the Republic and Portugal . He established a postal service between Delagoa Bay and the Boer Republic. In 1859 the Transvaal Republic government appointed him as Native Superintendent in Zoutpansberg charged with the collection of a poll tax. This he did with the help of about 2000 Pedi. When Modjadji, the Rain Queen, defied him, he set off with a commando and brought back cattle and about 400 children as slaves. In 1867 Schoemansdal had few settlers left, follwing a harassment campaign by the Venda chief. A few families remained, including João, who was able to assist those who returned to the area a year later. After the restoration of the Transvaal Republic, João lived in poverty on Goedewensch because of the tribal disturbances in the 1880s and because he often had to pay for administration out of his own pocket. He continued to serve as a justice of the peace, a Bantu commissioner and a member of the district council, but his remuneration was very poor. After an illness of more than a year he died on his farm on 10 July 1888 and was buried opposite what is now the entrance to Albasini Dam. He had three sons and six daughters. Among his descendants, of whom there are still many in South Africa, there have been numerous professional people, businessmen and farmers.
One of João's daughters, Hendrika Maria, married Christian Hendrik (Doel) ZEEDERBURG in Pietersburg. The couple went to Bulawayo when he started the first regular coach service through Matabeleland. Doel was born in Pietermaritzburg in 1860 and died in London in 1907. Hendrika died in Bulawayo in 1934.
Maria, another daughter of João, married Dominee Louis BICCARD who was a mine commissioner in Pietersburg. She had many of her father's documents, including letters written by him in his capacity as Portuguese Vice-Consul. Her daughter, Tina, married Hennie ROOD. They lived at Parksig, the house next to Melrose House. Tina's son, Karel, married Steph DE KOCK. He was Secretary of Public Works and died in 1967. Steph, the niece of the poet Jan CELLIERS, died in Pretoria in 1990.
Another of João's daughters was Anna Maria Magdalena (09 Jul 1859 - 03 Apr 1920) who married Hans Jurgens DREYER.
Jacob Christovão DE COUTO was a Portuguese who also had Asian roots. He was João ALBASINI's secretary and married a DU PLOOY. The couple lived in Morgenzon, east of Goedgewensch. DE COUTO was also a brother-in-law of Antonio de Paiva RAPOSO, a trader from Delagoa Bay who made a fortune in the ivory trade.
Josephus Suasso DE LIMA was born on 27 June 1791 in Amsterdam into a Portuguese-Jewish family. He converted to Christianity and became a member of the Hervormde Kerk. He arrived at the Cape in 1818. He was a teacher, translator, author, bookseller, printer, publisher and journalist. In 1823 he taught at the Evangelical Lutheran School . Later on he became a bookseller and printer, running the first Dutch bookshop at the Cape. In 1832 DE LIMA published the Kaapsche Almanak and, between 1833 and 1854 the Kaapsche Almanak en Naamboek. The Almanak was very popular. In 1825 he published Geshiedenis van de Kaap de Goede Hoop in the form of question and answer, the first history of the Cape published in Africa. On 07 January 1826 he published the first Dutch newspaper at the Cape, De Verzamelaar, which appeared weekly. In its first year it printed the earliest letters written in Afrikaans - those of Grietje Geldenaar and Hennepikker. In 1830 DE LIMA became insolvent and C.E. BONIFACE succeeded him as editor of the paper, which was renamed De Zuid-Afrikaan. He died in Cape Town on 19 December 1858.
Artur Jose Oriolla Ferreira DE PAIVA was the Portuguese governor in the Humpata region of Angola. He was born circa 1865 to Bartolomeu DE PAIVA and Theresa FERREIRA. In February 1882 he married Jacomina Gertruida Elizabeth, eldest daughter of Jacobus Fredrik BOTHA, who was one of the Dorsland Trekkers. Their children included Bartholomeu Jose Botha Ferreira, Jacobus (became a doctor in Angola after studying in Portugal) and Maria Theresia. Jacomina became a young widow when Artur died circa 1900 during a voyage to Portugal. He was buried at sea. Bartolomeu (born 1883 in Humpata) was married in 1904 to Christina Johanna Sofia VENTER. Some of their children fled to South Africa and South West Africa as refugees during the 1970s civil war.
Lourenço (Lourens) ANTONIO was born in Portugal and became a burger at the Cape in 1836. He married Sara Johanna SWART.
João Soares DE BRITO was born in Oporto, Portugal, circa 1818 to Antonio Soares DE BRITO and Anna Jaquema. He became a trader at Victoria West. In June 1845 he married Anna Elizabeth MOCKE. He died at the age of 33 in 1851. Their children included Antonio Soares, Aletta Catharina (married Daniel COGHILL) and João Soares Frederik.
Jose DE FIGUEIREDO was born at Terros Povoa de Varzim, Portugal, in April 1873 to Caetano Marques DE FIGUEIREDO and Delfina Candida de Aroujo. He arrived in Lourenço Marques in 1891 and worked as a cabinet maker / joiner. He moved to Makapanstad, Pretoria, and worked as a shop assistant. His new employer could not pronounce his surname, so he changed it to DE FREITAS which eventually became FRATES. Jose married Eliza WILLIAMS in Pretoria in September 1887. In 1938 he started a construction business with his sons, J. Frates & Seuns (Edms.) Bpk. He died in April 1942 in Pretoria.
Antonio JOSE, from Lisbon, married Susanna Maria CEZARS v.d.K in Cape Town in April 1819. Their children included Johanna Maria and Antonio Francisco.
Manuel JOSE, from Lisbon, married Johanna Susanna KOEGELENBERG in Cape Town in July 1819.
Antonio JOSEPH, from Portugal, married Johanna Elizabeth JANSE v.d.K in Cape Town in April 1803.
Joseph Franciscus MANTANAGE, from Lisbon, married Jacoba Regina VAN VELDEN in Cape Town in March 1826.
Antonio João PEREIRA arrived in 1822 from Portugal. In Feb 1822 he married Johanna Elisabeth VAN DEN BURGH in Cape Town.
Francisco Alves PEREIRA was born in Portugal and died at 33 Hanover Street, Cape Town, in August 1877. He was married to Magdalena Sophia BUCHELING.
Augostinho PEREIRA, from Portugal, died in Kimberley in November 1875.
Gabriel Jose PEREIRA, born in Portugal, married Susanna Maria E. THUYN in March 1797.
Rev. Henry Alvarez da Costa PEREIRA was born in Oxford, England in June 1879. He married Hilda Mabel Eleanor WILLIAMS (of Somerset, England ) in August 1904. They arrived in South Africa in 1908.
Jose Correa PEREIRA was born in Quilemane, Mozambique, to Isodore Correa PEREIRA en Louisa Jocana CORREA. He died at 7 Sir Lowry Road, Cape Town, in November 1893. He was married to Johanna Josephine Maria ALMEIDA.
Manuel Nunez PEREIRA was born in Madeira, to Manuel PEREIRA and Leopoldina. The jewelery dealer was married to Louisa Elisabeth DIFFENTHAL.
Anthonie PEREIRA was married by special license in Feb 1881 to Christina LERDA.
Januario de Santa Quiteria PEREIRA died at Swartrivier, Cape, in April 1836. He was married to Helena SCHULTZE. Their son was Johan Frederik Coenraad (born 14 Oct 1817) and married in Nov 1842 at Wynberg to Susan TIBBS.
Maria PEREIRA was married by sopecial license in Jan 1882 to Antonio dos Santos DE ENCARNAEDO.
Christiaan VAN DEN BURGH, from Amsterdam, married Maria Josepha MATTHYS. Their daughter Johanna Elizabeth was born in Cape Town in 1822, and married Antonio Jogo PEREIRA from Portugal.
Georg Frederik (Friedrich) RAUTENBACH was born in Tremnik, Sakse, Ihitsland circa 1734. He was in the service of the VOC. In 1762 he married Maria Magdalena FERREIRA (widow of Frans HAARHOF), daughter of Ignatio Leopold FERREIRA.
Julio Arthur SANTOS was born in Lisbon in Apr 1896. He arrived in South Africa in 1946 with his wife, Sulmina DA GAMA.
From 1885 to 1915, the following surnames are listed as leaving Madeira for South Africa:
| ACHADINHA AGOSTINHO AGRELA ALEGRIA ALVES AMARO ANTÓNIO BACTA BALANÇO BAPTISTA BARBEITO BARQUINHO BENTO BORRAGEIRO BORRESCOS BRANQUINHO CABELEIRA CABOZ CAMACHO CARDOSO CARRUS CASIMIRO CHADA CHAMBEL CLEMENTE CORREIA COUTINHO CUNHA DA ACHADINHA DA CÂMARA DA COSTA DA LUZ DA MATA | DA SILVA DAS NEVES DE ABREU DE AGRELA DE AMIM DE ANDRADE DE ARAÚJO DE AZEVEDO DE CANHA DE CASTRO DE COITO DE FARIA DE FREITAS DE GOUVEIA DE JESUS DE LIMA DE MENESES DE NÓBREGA DE OLIVEIRA DE ORNELAS DE PONTE DE PONTES DE ROQUE DE SÁ DE SOUSA DE VASCONCELOS DELGADO DO NASCIMENTO DOS RAMOS DUARTE ESPÍNOLA FAIAS FARINHA | FARROBEIRA FERNANDES FERREIRA FOGARÉU FRANCISCO GARCÊS GOMES GONÇALVES GORGULHO GUERRA INÁCIO JACINTA JARDIM JOAQUIM LADEIRA LEÇA LEME LOURENÇO MALTEZ MARTINS MAURÍCIO MENDES MENESES MONIZ NETO NINIM NUNES ÓRFÃO PAIVA PARDAU PÁSCOA PASCOAL PATETA | PEQUITA PEREIRA PESTANA PICHEU PINTO PIRES PITA POMBO PONTE PONTES REBELO REI REIS RELVA RIBEIRO RODA RODRIGUES SALGADO SARDINHA SEQUEIRA SERINGA SERRÃO SIMÃO SOARES SPÍNOLA TEIXEIRA VALENTE VALENTIM VIEIRA VIRÍSSIMO XAVIER |
NEW IMMIGRANTS
Portuguese people first arrived in South Africa in large numbers in the 1920s. Between the two World Wars, many Portuguese settled in and around Johannesburg, where they set up shops - mainly fruit and vegetable shops, and fish and chips or take-away shops. By 1938, the community was flourishing. The largest influx was in the 1950s. H.F. VERWOERD's plans for more Whites in South Africa focused on Anglo-Saxon Protestants in Europe but few of them came to South Africa. The focus then shifted to what was then considered "third rate" immigrants from Mediterranean countries. Even into the late 1970s, many of these immigrants were referred to in derogatory terms by some white South Africans, who considered them beneath them. Being mostly of the Roman Catholic faith did not make their acceptance into local communities easier. Many of the immigrants' children left school early to work in the family business. Socialization was mostly with other Portuguese. Parents were very strict with their children. A large amount of South Africa's Portuguese immigrants came from the island of Madeira, where job opportunities were limited. Men became migrant workers in the fishing industry and many of them worked in South African ports. They could not speak English and only a few had basic schooling. The men usually went ahead to get a job and earn money so that they could then send for their families. When Angola and Mozambique gained independence in the 1970s, there was a large influx of Portuguese people into South Africa. Estimations were that about 25 000 Portuguese fled Mozambique between 10 and 23 September 1974.
The majority of Portuguese are Roman Catholic and the new immigrants soon started their own churches. Holy days are celebrated at special masses followed by social gatherings with food, music and dancing. One such day is the annual blessing of the fishing fleet in Cape Town in October. They also started their own social clubs, schools and banks. In April 1989 the community got its own TV channel, Canal Portugues. There is also DStv Portuguesa. The community has its own newspaper, O Seculo, which is produced in Johannesburg and distributed all over South Africa, Mozambique, Angola and Portugal. The weekly publication has a readership of 40 000 and keeps the community informed about what is happening in Portugal and Portuguese-speaking communities locally and internationally.
Portuguese has also contributed to South Africa 's language heritage, with words such as commando and picaninn (from the word pequeninho meaning little one).
Today, the Portuguese are involved in all spheres of the South African economy. They have served in the country's Defence Force, built community centres and introduced Portuguese cuisine to South Africa. They have intermarried into other South African communities, adding to the country's mosaic. Prior to 1994, it was estimated that the Portuguese community numbered 700 000 and that it is now about 500 000.
IN THE SPOTLIGHT
Many South Africans with Portuguese roots have carved careers in the limelight or reached the top of their careers.
Maria da Conceicao das Neves Calha RAMOS, CEO of Transnet, was appointed director-general in Finance Minister Trevor MANUEL's office in 1996. She was born in February 1959 in Lisbon. Maria's first job was as a liaison clerk at Barclays in Vereniging. She attended Wits University in the 1980s, gaining a B.Com. honours in economics. She became a lecturer at Wits and Unisa. In 1992 she received a Helen Suzman bursary and obtained a MSc in economics from the University of London. From 1990 to 1994 she was an economist in the ANC's economic planning department. Maria is one of four daughters. The family immigrated to South Africa when she was five years old. Her father worked as a builder in Vereeniging.
Journalist Marianne THAMM grew up in Pretoria. Her mother was from Aljustrel, Portugal. Her father was German and grew up in Berlin. They immigrated to South Africa from England in 1963. Marianne has worked as a journalist for more than 20 years. She has ghost-written several books and is a multiple Mondi Award winner.
Manuel Lopes DA COSTA was born in June 1965 in Portugal to Manuel Lopes DA COSTA and Cecilia Giria. He attended Lycée Francais in Venezuela. The CEO of Accenture Financial Services group has an MBA and a MSc. In December 1990, he married Ana Paula PEREIRA and they have two daughters. The family lives in Johannesburg.
Vanessa CARREIRA was Miss South Africa 2001. The then 20-year-old was a final year B.A. student and worked as a public relations officer at Caesars. Vanessa lived in Boksburg with her parents João and Adélia CARREIRA, and a sister, Melony. She was crowned Miss Portugal SA in 1998, going on to finish in the top eight at that year's Miss Portugal pageant. She finished fourth at the Miss Universe 2002 pageant in Puerto Rico. She initially boycotted the Miss World pageant in Nigeria over the Amina Lawal case and when the event was moved to London, she was not able to attend as it conflicted with the Miss South Africa 2003 crowning.
Jeannie D, the former Good Hope FM and current Top Billing presenter was born to Antonio (Tony) DE GOUVEIA and Linda MENDES, whose roots are from Ponta do Pargo in Madeira. Her grandparents are Antonio Homem DE GOUVEIA and Cidalia, and Antonio MENDES and Jean. Jeannie was the 2000 Randse Afrikaanse Universiteit Rag queen. Jeannie D has acting aspirations and had a small role as a bank assistant in a Steven Seagal film, Mercenary, that was filmed in Cape Town. She was also a warrior woman in the BBC series Cavegirl, that was filmed in the Cederberg. She also had a small role in the M-Net drama series, Known Gods.
Maria GARCIA was born in Madeira and arrived in South Africa as a child. She was orphaned at the age of seven. Maria first became known in the cosmetic industry with the launches of Jeanne Gatineau and Redken hair products. Soon afterwards she was suddenly widowed. Determined not to live in the poverty she had known as a child, she decided to turn her childhood dream into reality. She launched the Maria Garcia skincare and fragrance range, followed later by the launch of Nu-Me for darker skin tones. Nu-Me was later sold to a multinational company and Maria launched MG Labs to target the upper end of the market.
South African soccer has seen a number of Portuguese players and coaches. Roger DE SA currently coaches Santos in Cape Town. He was born in October 1964 in Mozambique and moved to South Africa with his family in 1974. In 1984, he started playing for Kwikot Benoni before moving on to play for PSL sides Moroka Swallows, Mamelodi Sundowns and Wits University. He was awarded the league's goalkeeper of the year award three years in succession. He made one appearance as goalkeeper in the national side in 1993. After finishing his playing career, he became head coach at Wits. He was voted the Premier League's coach of the year in the 2002-2003 season and served as Bafana Bafana goalkeeper coach from 2000-2002. Portuguese-born Zeca MARQUES, former coach of Moroka Swallows, is the now assistant coach at Wits University. DE SA holds a South African record for representing his country in three different national sides in a single year, namely soccer, basketball and indoor soccer. He is married and has three children.
During the National Football League (NFL) days, the Lusitano team was owned and supported by the Portuguese communities. Joe FRICKLETON, who came to South Africa as a player with Highlands Park in the mid-1960s, went on to make Lusitano a top team. They were the first league cup winners of the newly-formed multiracial Professional Soccer League in 1978.
Sonia ESGUEIRA wrote and performed a one-woman play about her roots. The hit comedy Pora! was her way of dealing with feelings of embarrassment and displacement about being Portuguese in South Africa. Pora is an often derogatory term referring to Portuguese people in South Africa. During the show, Sonia portrays three generations of a Portuguese family, via various costume changes. The idea for the show came from a comic sketch she did on her grandfather during her final year at UCT Drama School in 2000. She went on to win the Fleur du Cap award for best supporting actress for her role in Two Gentlemen of Verona. Sonia was born and raised in Nelspruit, one of five children.
Joe BERARDO was born on 04 July 1944 in Madeira. At the age of 18, he set sail for Africa. He stayed in Lourenco Marques for six months. In November 1963 he moved to Johannesburg and and then the Orange Free State. He started off selling vegetables to the mines. After two years in the Orange Free State, he returned to Johannesburg. In 1969 he married Carolina GONCALVES and they had two children, Renato and Claudia. In 1978 Joe became the owner of some of the biggest reserves of surface gold residue in Johannesburg. This led to several multinationals proposing joint ventures. He supplied the ore and they re-opened the refineries that had been closed for lack of raw material. From gold mines he diversified into other areas, especially the diamond industry and the financial sector. He was invited to join the South African Presidential Advisory Council, consisting of 22 members, of which he was the first foreigner. Joe returned to Madeira. Today his business interests included Portugal, Canada and Australia. In Portugal he is involved in media, manufacturing, financial institutions, and the hotel industry. His passion has been for the wine industry, both in vineyards and wine production. He has secured joint ventures with Baron Rothschild, Bodegas y Bebidas, and in Canada with Colio Estate Wines. Joe created the Berardo Foundation through which he grants fellowships to Madeiran students wishing to study outside of Madeira. He has also restored Madeira's Monte Palace gardens, which had been derelict for about 40 years. He replanted 79 hectares of forest in Madeira that had been devastated by fire. More recently, he bought 100 hectares of Laurisilva Macaronesea for the purpose of preserving this rare flora, which was subsequently classified as a world heritage site. In the early 1980s Joe started collecting international art which led to the 1997 launch of the Berardo 20th Century Art Collection. This collection is housed at the Sintra Museum of Modern Art.
João MENDONCA opened the original Mediterranean Fish Market in a tiny Jules Street shop, next to the present shop, in Malvern in 1969. Before that, he sold fresh hake door-to-door to the large Portuguese community in Malvern. Today his son, Paulo, carries on the family business, on a bigger scale.
Elias DE SOUSA came to South Africa at the age of 18 in 1961, with his older brother and a cousin. The woman who was to become his wife, Julia, followed him a few years later. Elias became one of five elected councillors in South Africa who represent the community in the Portuguese government on civil and cultural issues. He grew up in an agricultural family in Madeira and left school at the age of 12 to work on the family banana plantation. When he arrived in Durban, he worked at the Marburg Tearoom on the Esplanade. He later owned a supermarket and the Cosmopolitan Restaurant in Point Road. His son runs a Portuguese restaurant in Durban North.
In 1993, Paulo ANDRADE, then 22, was the youngest NP candidate to stand in a municipal election. He was also the first Portuguese immigrant to stand as a candidate. He was a final year law student at Randse Afrikaanse Universiteit. Paul was born in Maputo in 1970 and moved to South Africa in 1975.
Manuel MOUTINGO, a prominent Portuguese community leader, was leader of the Luso-South African Party, which contested the 1994 election.
Nadia ALMADA, from Madeira, moved to South Africa with her family in 1980. She later moved to England, where in 2004, she won the TV reality show Big Brother. Her parents are José Luis Corte Leodoro, who lives in Pretoria, and Conceicao. Her mother moved back to Madeira with the six children - Jorge (now Nadia), Duarte, Agostinho, Luis, Miguel and Andre - in 1993.
Leon BARNARD, ANC member, is a descendant of a Portuguese immigrant to the Cape. He married Althea, a descendant of John DUNN (known as the White Zulu).
The Vilamoura restaurants were started by Arnaldo GONCALVES, Victor GONCALVES and Luis VIANA. The Hurlingham one was opened in 1990, followed by Sandton in 1993 and Rosebank later.
In 2004 Ricky DE AGRELA (42) set a world record for the longest expedition in a microlight aircraft, flying 62 000 km over six continents. His parents immigrated to South Africa from Madeira. He has a daughter, Natasha, who lives with her mother in Adelaide, Australia. Ricky's interest in flying started when the moon landing in 1969 caught his attention. In Grade 12 he started parachuting, followed by national service in the Air Force. Among his other extreme sports adventures are the Argus cycle tour, the Berg River canoe marathon, climbing the icy Kilimanjaro and swimming from Simons Town to Muizenberg. The microlight adventure was done with Allan HONEYBORNE of Port Elizabeth, who died near Changsha, China, when his microlight lost a wing.
In 1935 Antonio (Tony) DA COSTA arrived in South Africa from Madeira to farm with vegetables. He passed away in Boksburg in May 2007. Today his sons Manuel and Johnny farm 2800 hectares at Manjoh Ranch in Nigel. Manuel's sons, Andre and Tony, are also involved. The brothers farm with mielies, beans and cattle. In 2003 they were awarded Grain South Africa 's Grain Producer of the Year award. Manuel started farming with his father in 1969 near Boksburg. In 1974, his father started another farm near Bronkhorstspruit and Johnny joined the farming business. In 1985 the brothers bought the present farm in Nigel. Manuel is married to Lyndsey, and Johnny to Rita.
Mannie CALASA came to South Africa from Madeira. Today he is one of the biggest vegetable farmers in the country.
Bill JARDINE was well-known for his anti-apartheid activities and involvement in opening up sports to all races in the 1980s. He was the grandson of Joseph Jardim DE SERA, an immigrant from Madeira, and his wife Elizabeth BARRY, a Coloured woman. Bill was born in Vrededorp, Johannesburg. He left school after standard 6 and later found work in a leather factory before starting a small green grocer.
Esmé EUVRARD was married to Gilberto BONEGIO, a Portuguese flamenco dancer and guitarist. In the early 60s, the couple toured the country, singing with Gilberto's group. After he died in 1964 after being in a coma for 20 months after a car accident, she never sang in public again. Their children Raúl and Fernando became involved with Spanish dancing. Raúl's wife, Gillian, was Charlize THERON's Spanish dance teacher. One of Raúl and Gillian's twin daughters born in 1993 was named Esmé.
Evelyn MARTIN was a popular radio broadcaster on LM Radio and later Springbok Radio and Radio Highveld. She was the longest serving announcer on LM Radio. Born of Portuguese parents in Johannesburg, she joined the station in 1950 as a programme compiler. In 1953 she took over the children's Lucky Dip and Birthday greetings and Hospital programmes. She worked on LM until she was evacuated to Johannesburg after the occupation of the studios in 1974.
Peter DE NOBREGA grew up in Johannesburg. He worked for LM Radio from the early 1970s until he made the closing station announcement from in October 1975. He then joined Radio 5 in Johannesburg and went to become the head of programming at Radio Jacaranda, where he was still working in March 2004.
Manuel Maria Lamarque ESCORCIO was first heard on radio in December 1974 on Esmé EUVRARD's music programme. He promised his dying father that he would not forget his Portuguese roots. Manuel was born in Mozambique of Portuguese-French descent. His singing talent was discovered when, while at school and taking a shower, a school prefect heard him and called the music teacher. In 1977 he sang in his first opera as Nemorino in L'Elisir d'Amore, winning the Nederburg prize. As the principal resident tenor of the Cape Town City Opera for 12 years, he has sung in over 40 productions. Manuel has recorded 30 CDs, six of which are gospel. Three recordings have gone gold and one platinum. He sings in English, Portuguese, Afrikaans, Spanish, French and Italian, and has a Master of Music degree from the University of Cape Town. In February 2005 he married Franscilla KRUGER, a Springbok basketball player and indoor cricket player from Heidelberg, Gauteng. He has two sons from a previous marriage.
In 1998, Johnny CANDELARIA of Northcliff, became the 2000th receiver of a donated kidney since the first kidney transplant operation in was done in South Africa in 1967. His wife, Rosemarie, donated one of her kidneys. Johnny was an immigrant from Madeira who met Rosemarie in South Africa.
Alice DAS NEVES was 31 when she lost her life in the SAA Helderberg crash. She was the daughter of Manuel and Maria DAS NEVES of Plattekloof. Alice was a ground hostess at D.F. Malan in Cape Town for four years before joining the travel agency Lislind International in Parow. Her parents immigrated to South Africa from Madeira over 40 years ago. Their five children were born in South Africa. Manuel owned Tygerberg Cafe in Parow.
Osiers Cane and Linen was stared in 1921 by a group of Portuguese businessmen from Madeira and a Scot.
João DOS SANTOS was born in Madeira and immigrated to Mozambique as a child. He later moved to South Africa where he completed music studies. After working as a librarian at the Cape Town Symphony Orchestra, he started a music publishing business, Amanuensis.
In 1998 when the Carlton Hotel in Johannesburg was finally closed, Fernando FONTES, then 58, was the last manager. Fernando came to South Africa from Madeira more than 30 years ago. He started working as a barman at the hotel's Three Ships restaurant in September 1972.
In 2005, Staff-Sgt. Daniel ROXO and Sgts. José (Robbie) RIBEIRO and Silva SOERIO were finally honoured with gravestones. The three Portuguese were members of the famed SADF's 32 Battalion. Two were born in Portugal and one in Guinea-Bissau. All three died in the Border War and were buried at Voortrekkerhoogte in 1976, without gravestones. Members of the South African Special Forces and the 32 Battalion Association raised funds for their grave stones. ROXO was the first foreign-born soldier to be awarded the Honoris Crux medal for bravery, for his part in the Battle of Bridge 14. RIBEIRO was nominated for the HC, but did not receive it. He was a master of infiltration. Both RIBEIRO and SOEIRO were allowed to wear the Pro Patria and Southern Africa medals, but they were never issued with them. ROXO and SOEIRO died shortly after Operation Savannah in a landmine explosion. RIBEIRO died two days later in a vehicle accident while transporting wounded soldiers. ROXO was survived by a wife and six children. RIBEIRO was survived by a wife and a daughter. SOEIRO was single.
Pedro CAMARA played the role of Carlos in the SABC TV series 7de Laan. His older brothers own the general dealer and the bottle store in Rawsonville. Fredrico owns the general dealer and Silvino, the bottle store. Silivino has done TV and magazine adverts and modelling. Their mother, Driekie, is Afrikaans and married to their Portuguese father, Abel, who was tragically murdered outside the shops in early 2008. The family lost a son, Abel, at the age of 9 to bone marrow cancer. The two youngest children live in Worcester. The parents met in Luderitz, where Driekie worked in the bank. Pedro married Karin, a graphic designer who grew up in Patensie, in 1997 and they have a son, Enzo. They live in Durbanville.
Anthony WILSON plays the role of Dan Williams in SABC's TV series Generations. His father was Portuguese. His maternal grandfather was Charles HALWORTHY who was living in Marabastad, Pretoria, when his mother went to live in Mozambique with his father. Anthony spoke Shangaan and Afrikaans. Today he is married to Wilhelmina and they have five grandchildren. They live in Eersterust.