Here’s a look at what happened on this day, 8 February, throughout history. We remember the news, events, and people that influenced the course of history forever.
1906 | Policemen pursue the Bambathas homestead members for refusing to pay the ‘hut tax’
1958 | Edgar Whitehead succeeds Garfield Todd as premier of South Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe).
1979 | Denis Sassou Nguesso becomes the President of the Republic of the Congo.
1996 | Africa Air Antonov 32 cargo plane crashes into a market in Kinshasa, Zaire (now Congo), killing more than 250 people
2019 | RioZim, Zimbabwe’s second-biggest gold-mining company suspends production because the central bank failed to pay it in dollars for part of its gold deliveries
2019 | Lassa fever kills 57 in Nigeria.
READ: On This Day: What happened on 7 February?
DEATHS
1973 | South African cricket player, Herbie Taylor (83)
2019 | Former Namibian Ambassador to Germany, Hanno Rumpf (60)
BIRTHDAYS
1915 | Egyptian-French singer, dancer, and actor, Georges Guétary
1940 | Former Congolese Minister of Social Affairs, Sophie Lihau-Kanza
1988 | Zimbabwean cricket player, Keegan Meth
SPORT
2015 | Ivory Coast wins the Africa Cup of Nations, beating Ghana 9-8 on penalties.
ENTERTAINMENT
1926 | Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio is renamed Walt Disney Studios.
2015 | 57th Grammy Awards: Best Song was awarded to “Stay With Me” by Sam Smith.
2019 | Sauti za Busara Zanzibar festival with the theme of eliminating corruption in Africa through musi
AFRICA FACT
Africa is united under a political organisation known as the African Union (AU) which was established in 2001. Morocco is the only country which is not a member of the AU.
