SOPHIA THERESA WILLIAMS-DE BRUYN

Sophia Williams-De Bruyn was raised in the mixed suburb of Villageboard, Port Elizabeth, where she attended Catholic schools.

She left school, having not completed her senior certificate, to work at a textile factory where she was elected as the shop steward representative. As shop steward, she was introduced to the Congress Movement and the African National Congress (ANC). She was a founding member of the South African Congress of Trade Unions (SACTU), the predecessor to COSATU. Following a move to Johannesburg, she continued her work with the Congress Movement as an organiser for the Coloured People’s Congress, and as a consultative committee member of The .

On 9 August 1956, Sophia Williams, together with , , and , led the march of 20 000 women from to the to hand over petitions, opposing the . This unified show of strength and defiance by women from all walks of live from across the country is celebrated today as Women’s Day, a national holiday, and August as Women’s Month.

Later exiled to Lusaka, Zamibia, Aunt Sophie completed her high school education, was appointed the Secretary of the ANCWL, and assisted Oliver Tambo at the ANC Headquarters with administrative tasks. She went on to study a Teacher Training Diploma in Business Administration, and applied these skills as a founding member of the Education Council in Lusaka, and lecturer at the United Nations Institute of Namibia (UNIN) in Lusaka.

Following the unbanning of the ANC, and 21 years in exile, she was tasked with moving the ANC administration from Lusaka to , where she was later appointed as Head of Human Resources at Shell House, undergoing additional training in Civil Service Administration and Human Resources in London, Paris, Germany and Namibia, putting in place policies, systems, and guidelines, and establishing good work ethics.

She then joined her late husband in representing South Africa in Jordan, before returning to South Africa and being appointed as Commissioner of Gender Equality, in the Provincial Legislature, and appointed as an MP before her retirement. She now serves on the Integrity Commission and Current List Committee of the ANC, the ANCWL, and the ANC Veteran’s League, while serving on the board of the Ahmed Kathrada Foundation

and the Trevor Huddlestone CR Memorial Centre, and as Patron of the Sophie & Henry De Bruyn Foundation.