User talk:Leuce/They shaped our century

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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".

Intertingly, one of the list items, Andre P Brink, is also an author of some of the biographies in the list. 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.

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 but was later extended to 31 August and into October 1999.

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. . 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 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 acclaimed the biographic article about Mandela (by Vincent Maphati) but derided the articles about Verword 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 - stage artist
 * 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 - 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