Steve Biko spearheaded the Black Consciousness Movement in South Africa. He died in 1977, from injuries sustained while in police custody.
Sydney Brenner is a Nobel Prize-winning molecular biologist and a science writer.
F.W. de Klerk was president of South Africa from 1989 to 1994, during which time he worked with Nelson Mandela to successfully end the country's apartheid system of racial segregation.
Winnie Mandela was the controversial wife of Nelson Mandela who spent her life in varying governmental roles.
Miriam Makeba, also known as "Mama Africa," was a popular South-African singer who introduced Xhosa and Zulu songs to Western audiences. She is best known for the songs "Pata Pata," "The Click Song" and "Malaika."
Nelson Mandela became the first black president of South Africa in 1994. A symbol of global peacemaking, he won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1993.
Dave Matthews is the front man, guitarist and singer-songwriter of The Dave Matthews Band.
Thabo Mbeki succeeded Nelson Mandela as the president of South Africa, holding leadership for more than nine years.
Elon Musk is an entrepreneur known for co-founding Tesla Motors, X.com—which later became PayPal—and SpaceX, the last of which launched a landmark commercial spacecraft on May 22, 2012.
Oscar Pistorius, the "Blade Runner," is a South African sprint runner who became the first amputee to compete in the Olympics in 2012. In 2013, Pistorius admitted to shooting and killing his girlfriend, South African model Reeva Steenkamp.
Considered one of South Africa's worst serial killers, Moses Sithole was found guilty of 38 murders and 40 rapes in 1997.
Reeva Steenkamp was a South African model and television personality who was shot and killed on February 14, 2013, by her boyfriend, paralympian and Olympian Oscar Pistorius.
Charlize Theron is a South African-born actress, best known for her roles in such films as North Country and Monster, for which she won an Academy Award.
Desmond Tutu is a South African Anglican cleric who is known for his role in the opposition to apartheid in South Africa.
Jacob Zuma was elected president of South Africa in 2009. In 2007, he won the presidency of the African National Congress, the country's leading political party.