Over seven decades of fellowship, service and community.
Round Table of Durban No. 2 has been part of Durban’s story since 1950. As the second-oldest Round Table in Southern Africa, RTD2 has spent more than seven decades bringing together young men who give their time, skills and energy to their communities.
The story of RTD2 is also part of the wider story of Round Table in Southern Africa.
Round Table of Durban No. 2 is not the second Round Table in the city of Durban. The number refers to its position in the order in which Tables were established within the Southern African association. East London became No. 1 in 1948, making Durban No. 2 the second-oldest Table in Southern Africa.
Round Table KwaZulu-Natal confirms that the lower the Table number, the older the Table is within the association.
1927–1947
1927
Round Table was founded in Norwich, England, by Louis Marchesi, a young member of Norwich Rotary Club.
Marchesi believed that young business and professional men needed a place where they could meet, exchange ideas, learn from one another and take an active role in civic life. The organisation was deliberately created as a non-political and non-religious organisation.
This became the foundation of the Round Table movement.
1936
The movement expanded beyond Britain. The first overseas Round Table was established in Copenhagen in 1936.
This demonstrated that the basic idea of young men gathering around fellowship, personal development and community service could work beyond Britain.
1945–1947
Following the Second World War, Round Table expanded rapidly across Europe and beyond.
By 1947, the idea of a wider international Round Table organisation had taken shape. The movement was becoming an international network rather than a British organisation.
1948–1959
1948
9 November 1948
Dr David Smith, who had previously been a Round Tabler in Bath, England, settled in East London, South Africa. He joined Rotary and became involved in its Youth Service Committee.
In 1948, Smith received correspondence encouraging the extension of Round Table into Southern Africa. He took the idea forward.
On 9 November 1948, the first South African Round Table was established: East London Round Table No. 1.
1948–1950
The first Southern African Table immediately took on a major community project. East London Round Table set out to raise money for a tuberculosis settlement.
The target was exceeded within two years.
This established an important pattern for Round Table in Southern Africa: identify a community need, organise people around it, and take practical action.
1950
6 December 1950 (inaugural meeting)
A second Round Table was established in Durban in late 1950. It became Round Table of Durban No. 2 — making Durban the second-oldest Table in the Southern African association.
Historical note
Historical records differ slightly on the exact date. RTD2's inaugural meeting is recorded as 6 December 1950, while ARTSA's broader historical record places the establishment of Durban No. 2 in November 1950. Both are presented here rather than picking one.
ARTSA's historical record and Tabler.Wiki's record of the inaugural meeting.
1951
By November 1951, eight Round Tables had been established in Southern Africa. This provided the foundation for a formal association.
The Association of Round Tables of Southern Africa — ARTSA — was formed. The first national conference was held in East London in 1951.
1952
Durban played an important role in the formation of the national organisation. The first ARTSA AGM was held in Durban in 1952.
RTD2 was therefore present during the earliest development of the national Round Table structure.
Cory Library records that the first ARTSA AGM was held in Durban in 1952.
1953–1955
Round Table expanded rapidly. Additional Tables were established across South Africa, and the movement also expanded into what was then South West Africa, now Namibia.
By the mid-1950s, Round Table had become a growing Southern African movement.
1954
John Conradie joined Durban Round Table in 1954. He became increasingly involved in community service, and would go on to become one of the most important figures in the early community-service history connected to RTD2.
1958
RTD2 members became increasingly concerned about elderly people living in poverty and difficult conditions in Durban. Among those involved was John Conradie.
A group of concerned citizens, led by Conradie, established an organisation dedicated to helping Durban's elderly: TAFTA — The Association for the Aged.
The organisation began by helping elderly Durban residents who were living in difficult circumstances, and by taking meals to poor and housebound people. This is one of the defining moments in the history of RTD2.
A service project started by people connected to Durban 2 helped give rise to an organisation that continues serving Durban's elderly today.
Historical note
TAFTA's own historical pages describe the founders as 'a group of Round Table members' — they do not name Durban No. 2 specifically. The connection to Durban No. 2 by name is well supported elsewhere but not stated in TAFTA's own primary text, so it is presented here as strongly likely rather than certain.
In 1958, people connected with Durban 2 became involved in helping elderly Durban residents living in difficult circumstances. That work contributed to the creation of TAFTA. More than six decades later, TAFTA continues to serve older people across Durban.
1958
RTD2 community service
TAFTA
The Association for the Aged, founded
Today
Decades of service to Durban's elderly
1959–1960
TAFTA grew from its volunteer beginnings. The organisation employed its first social worker in 1960, as the need for assistance increased.
This illustrates how the original community-service work grew beyond individual acts of charity into an organised service institution.
TAFTA records the appointment of its first social worker in 1960.
1960–present
1960
Historical research also records RTD2 engaging with wider social issues affecting Durban. A 1960 memorandum produced by Round Table of Durban No. 2 examined the consumption of illegal alcohol in Cato Manor.
RTD2's historical record shows that the Table was also engaging with serious social questions affecting Durban during the 1960s.
Historical note
This material belongs to a very different historical period. No claim is made here about the motives or attitudes of individual Tablers beyond what the record shows.
RTD2 historical record.
1960s–1970s
TAFTA expanded significantly during these years. Its work grew from direct assistance into broader services for elderly Durban residents.
One major facility was later named John Conradie House — which TAFTA describes as a memorial to its founders, John and Anna Conradie.
RTD2 service work → 1958 → TAFTA → decades of elder care in Durban.
TAFTA documents the growth of its services and the later John Conradie House.
1970s–1990s
For much of its early history, RTD2 operated in a South Africa shaped by apartheid, political division and major social change. The Table continued its activities during this period, while the communities around it changed dramatically.
Historical note
The surviving online record does not provide enough evidence to give a complete account of RTD2's position, membership practices or projects during every year of the apartheid period. The Table's archival records should be used to expand this part of the story in future.
1990s
South Africa underwent major political and social changes during the 1990s, and Round Table Southern Africa changed with it. Namibia became independent in 1990 but its Tablers remained within the association. Lesotho formally rejoined the association in 1994 through the re-chartering of a Table in Maseru. Swaziland officially became part of the association in 2002.
Historical note
This describes developments in the wider Round Table Southern Africa association, not RTD2 specifically.
2001
RTD2 developed a long-running relationship with Browns' School, supporting the school's annual fete — including fundraising through its boerewors-roll stall. The relationship continued for many years.
2020
The COVID-19 pandemic created major pressure on community organisations. RTD2 continued supporting local causes.
One example involved the Umgeni Community Empowerment Centre (UCEC) and its Salt of the Earth Feeding Scheme at St John's Parish, Sydenham — which was serving roughly 1,000 people a day and had just suffered a break-in that cost it essential cooking equipment. RTD2 member Gus Palmer handed over replacement cooking pots so the feeding operation could continue.
RTD2 also continued supporting Browns' School despite the cancellation of its normal fete, donating R15,000 — approximately what it would normally have contributed through the fundraiser.
Historical note
The Browns' School R15,000 figure is carried over from RTD2's own records and has not been independently re-verified against a public source in this round of research.
Round Table KwaZulu-Natal, 'Umgeni Community Empowerment Centre Donation' (7 August 2020).
2020
RTD2 partnered with Round Table Sani 152 on a Winter Knights blanket drive. Durban 2 marketed the project to Round Tables internationally and secured donations and commitments; Sani 152 then distributed the resulting blankets in Underberg, in the southern Drakensberg — one of the coldest parts of the country. Members of Round Table Euro 2 were separately thanked for their donations.
Historical note
Some later summaries of this project name Umhlanga 155 and Ballito 221 as co-donors and Matthew 25:35 as the receiving organisation. The original 2020 article — the only primary source found for this project — names Sani 152 as the distributing partner and Underberg as the destination, and does not mention Matthew 25:35. Both versions are recorded here until RTD2 can confirm which is correct.
Round Table KwaZulu-Natal, 'Winter Knights in the Southern Berg' (7 August 2020).
2020s
RTD2 continues to support projects across Durban and the surrounding region.
Historical note
The Christmas Shoebox Project (annual gift boxes for children aged roughly 3–12, run with partner charities) is confirmed as an ongoing Durban No. 2 project on Round Table KwaZulu-Natal's website — a recent year distributed 393 boxes to Helping Hearts Charity Foundation and Key of Hope SA — but a full multi-year history wasn't available in this research pass.
2025
RTD2 continued its winter support work. A 2025 campaign included the handover of blankets and warm clothing, including tracksuit tops, to UCEC — evidence that RTD2's service tradition continues into the present day.
2026
Childline KwaZulu-Natal marked 40 years of supporting vulnerable children and families across the province. RTD2 publicly backed the milestone, describing itself as proud to stand alongside an organisation whose work — every call answered, every child supported — continues to make a difference in the community.
For the children. For the community. For a brighter future.
Round Table Durban 2's official Instagram, post dated 7 September 2026.
2026
More than seven decades after Durban No. 2 was founded, the Table remains active.
The people have changed. Durban has changed. South Africa has changed. The projects have changed. But the basic idea remains: young men giving their time, skills and energy to the communities around them, while building friendships that last beyond their years in Round Table.
1950 → 2026 — 76 years of RTD2. The history is not finished.
1950
RTD2 founded
76
Years of history by 2026
2
Second-oldest Table in Southern Africa
1
Ongoing tradition of service
The next chapter
Every generation of Tablers inherits something from the generation before it. The founders of Durban No. 2 could not have known what their Table would become — that a community project started in the 1950s would help give rise to an organisation that would serve Durban’s elderly for generations. Today, a new generation of Tablers carries that tradition forward.
The story of RTD2 continues.
Want to be part of the next chapter?
This timeline draws on the public historical record kept by Round Table Southern Africa, Round Table KwaZulu-Natal, TAFTA, the Cory Library at Rhodes University, and Tabler.Wiki. Individual entries carry a short source note; the full list is below.
The official custodian of the ARTSA archives, which has received deposits since 1986 — a significant historical record of Round Table and Southern African male society during the second half of the 20th century.
