On this day — July 7 in African history

Painting by Henri-Pierre Danloux, 1795 — Public Domain, Wikimedia Commons

British troops landed at Muizenberg and drove off the Dutch garrison, beginning the British occupation of the Cape Colony.

Photo by Eric Koch / Anefo, Nationaal Archief — CC0 1.0, Wikimedia Commons

Julius Nyerere founded the Tanganyika African National Union (TANU), a key step toward Tanzania's independence; the date is now marked as Saba Saba Day.

Fry1989 — CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons

The Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging (AWB), a South African far-right paramilitary group, was founded in Ventersdorp.

Photo by Gage Skidmore (2012) — CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons

Charlize Theron, the only African-born performer to win an Academy Award for acting, was born in Benoni, South Africa.

Photo by Ian Barbour (1984) — CC BY-SA 2.0, Wikimedia Commons

The South African Council of Churches met with President P.W. Botha to discuss unrest, forced removals, and emergency regulations.

Kenyans staged mass pro-democracy protests demanding multiparty elections, an event now commemorated annually as Saba Saba Day.

Unknown photographer (pre-1971) — CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons

Nigerian opposition leader Moshood Abiola died in prison, sparking riots that killed at least nineteen people in Lagos.