Bertha Gxowa

Bertha Gxowa (neé Mashaba November 26, 1934 - November 19, 2010) was an anti-apartheid and women's rights activist and trade unionist in South Africa.

Biography

Gxowa was born in Germiston.[1] She first started working as an office assistant in the South African Clothing Workers' Union.[1] Gxowa became involved in the African National Congress's (ANC) Youth League and the Women's League at a young age.[2] She first signed up with ANC during the anti-Bantu education campaign.[3]

Gxowa took part in the Defiance Campaign in 1952.[2] Gxowa was one of the founding members of the Federation of South African Women.[3] She also was one of the organizers for the Women's March on the Union Building in 1956 which protested pass laws.[2] Gxowa, along with Helen Joseph, traveled across South Africa to collect signatures on 20,000 petitions which were presented at the march.[3]

She was eventually accused of treason in 1956 in the Treason Trial and remained on trial until 1959.[2] She was banned under the Suppression of Communism Act in 1960.[1]

In 1994, she began to serve in Parliament as an ANC member.[2] She was a member of the Home Affairs and Health Parliamentary Portfolio Committees in Parliament until 2004.[1]

Gxowa died in a hospital in Johannesburg on November 19, 2010.[2] A hospital in Gauteng Province is named after her.[4] She had five children and was married to Cecil Mntukanti Gxowa, who had died before her.[1] Her grave site has been dedicated as a provincial heritage site.[5]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 "ANC Veteran, Bertha Gxowa, Dies". SA News. 19 November 2010. Retrieved 4 September 2016.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Passing of Bertha Gxowa". Nelson Mandela.org. 19 November 2010. Retrieved 4 September 2016.
  3. 1 2 3 "Bertha Gxowa (Mashaba)". South African History Online. 17 February 2011. Retrieved 4 September 2016.
  4. ↑ "Bertha Gxowa Hospital". Gauteng Province. Republic of South Africa. Retrieved 4 September 2016.
  5. ↑ "Bertha Gxowa's Grave Site Declared a Provincial Heritage Site". Germiston City News. 8 December 2014. Retrieved 4 September 2016.

External links

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