opinion: South Africa should not be struggling to overcome its current challenges of underdevelopment and corruption as there is an entire generation of remarkable women that is under-utilised, writes Reneva Fourie. WomensMonth shesmyrock
South Africa should not be struggling to overcome its current challenges of underdevelopment and corruption as there is an entire generation of remarkable women that is under-utilised.
Secondly, it is hoped that their rich experiences will motivate even more women of younger generations to become emboldened social activists. What is less known is that the leaders in Grassy Park during the 1980s were mostly women. And here I am not just referring to members of the local branch of the United Women’s Congress . Women led in the branches of the student movement , the Cape Youth Congress , the civic movement , and the church youth movement .
The powerful women activists from my hometown include Norma Gabriels; Lorna, Anthea and Beulah Houston; Aisha and Madeniyah Slamang; Cindy and Zenda Woodman, Fatima, Rabia and Suleila Ismail; Hilary Oostendorp; Blanche Paulse; Crystal and Dee Dicks; Carlette and Margo Johannissen; Marcella, Danielle and Celeste Naidoo and their mom, the late Willemina Naidoo; Farida Khan; Pamela Harris; Sherine Franz; Vanessa Calvert; Donna Miller; Carol-Anne Davids, Barenise Weeder, Chrissie Francis and the...
Her determination to fight for a united, non-racial and non-sexist South Africa was deepened by the murder of Iman Haroon in detention, during her time as a university student and her experiences later, as an intern at Somerset Hospital during the 1976 uprisings. Organising in conditions of severe repression was dangerous, but she and her fellow intern, Sophie, started organising workers at Somerset Hospital and subsequently facilitated a successful march in solidarity with the students.
She is an autodidact and has a lasting love, respect and allegiance for informal learning spaces, individual and group, specifically public libraries and the learning which occurs in social, cultural and workplace associations. She worked as a public librarian for the first decade and a half of her working life, which got many a young person, including myself, to visit the library daily.
As a student activist in the Congress of South African Students , the Azanian African Students Organisation ; in the Committee of 81, which spearheaded the 1980 student insurrection; and her continued community activism in Grassy Park/Lotus River, the area which she moved to in her later years, she gained awareness of her skills in coordination, administration and communication.
Her principles unflinching and her course steadfast, she remains as committed to social development as she did in during the days of her fight against apartheid. Her interest remains communications and using the medium of film to empower young people, particularly those from low-income communities, to elevate their voices, tell their stories, and to let their needs be known. Environmental justice and food sovereignty are also among current her priorities.
In response to the state brutality that was unleashed with the State of Emergency, she joined uMkhonto weSizwe in 1985, at the age of 19. She operated in deep secrecy because she already had a public profile due to her political work in the community but coordinated a small group to continue mobilisation in schools, among youth and within the religious sector.
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