198 Broadway • New York, N.Y. 10035 0 (212) 962-1210 Tilden J. L. 4Ulle, Chairman Jennifer Davis, Executive Dbector ,1 February 14, 1994 To: U.S. Women's Network From: Rachael Kagan, Women's Project Coordinator Re: Biographies of ANC Women Candidates in April's Election Enclosed is a new resource which I hope you will find useful and interesting. It is a collection of biographical information about the top women running for election to the South African Constituent Assembly on the ANC slate. Among the 200 people on the ANC National Election list, one third are women. The enclosed material provides information on the nine women candidates in the top fifty. If the election is free and fair, it seems certain the ANC will win at least 60% of the votes, and these women will be members of the first democratically elected government of South Africa. No other party has released its list of candidates yet. Please let me know how you use this resource to educate your constituency and promote the efforts of South African women towards their country's liberation. I will be happy to furnish additional copies where needed. Remember - the South African Women's Charter is still expected to be released early next month. Established by Tht American Committee on Africa. 1966 , Contributionsare tax-deductible ANC WOMEN CANDIDATES IN SOUTH AFRICA'S LIBERATION ELECTION INTRODUCING THE WOMEN AMONG THE TOP 50 CANDIDATES ON THE ANC NATIONAL ELECTION LIST At the end of January 1994, the African National Congress released its list of 200 candidatesfor the national election. Early in the process of selecting candidates, the women in the ANC put forth a demand that one-third of the candidates be women. This demand was met, and out of the 200 candidates named, 67 are women. The elections on April 26-28 will elect 400 representativesto a ConstituentAssembly which will write the new South African Constitution. Each politicalparty will submit 200 names on a national list and 200 names on a regional list. Currently, only the national list is available, as the regional list has not yet been released. Following are brief biographiesof the top nine women with the number indicating their placement on the ANC's national list. It is almost certain that these women will be members of the first democratic government of South Africa. Africa Fund Executive Director Jennifer Davis (left) and Albertina Sisulu, the top ANC woman candidate, ranked number 10 on a list of 200 names. (photo by David Vita, 1989) 198 Broadway New York, NY 10038 Tel: 212.962.1210 ALBERTINA NONTSIKELELO SISULU #10 Left South Africa for Botswana to join her husband 'in exile in 1966. Served as provincial secretary of Current Affiliations: Vice Chairperson, National the Federation of South African Women in the late Executive Committee ANC Women's League; 1960's, as secretary to ANC women's section head Member, National Executive Committee ANC Florence Maphoso in the early 70s, with whom she started the publication Voice of Women. Appointed Birth Date and Place: 1918, Transkei district of Chief Representative of the ANC in Lusaka, Zambia Tsomo in 1974. In 1981, appointed head of the ANC's women's section and became a member of the Time in Exile: NA National Executive Committee of the ANC. In 1991, Shope was elected President of the ANC Time in Prison/Banned: Arrested 1958, Arrested Women's League. 1963, Detained 90 days, 1964-1983 Banned, Arrested 1981, Arrested 1985, charged with high NOMZAMO NOBANDLA WINNIFRED treason, held until 1986, Restricted 1986-1989 MANDELA #31 Anecdote: Favorite quote, "No easy walk to Current Affiliations: President, ANC Women's freedom. "--Nelson Mandela League; Regional Executive Committee Member, ANC PWV; Deputy President, South African Short History: Founding member of FEDSAW National Civic Organization (SANCO); Regional (Federation of South African Women). Organized Chairperson, SANCO Southern Transvaal the 1956 women's march to protest the extension of pass laws to women, attended by 20,000 women Birth Date and Place: September 26, 1936, Bizana, from all over South Africa. Elected Transvaal Transkei president of the anti-apartheid United Democratic Front in 1983. Charged with high treason in 1985. Time in Exile: 1977 - 1986 forced into internal exile Appointed to the Internal Leadership Core of the in Brandfort, Orange Free State ANC Women's League when the congress was unbanned in 1990. Elected Deputy President of the Time in Prison/Banned: Detained 1958, Banned ANC Women's League 1991. Married in 1944 to 1962, Arrested 1967 - served one month in prison, ANC leader Walter Sisulu. Detained 1969 - 18 months solitary confinement, remained in prison until September 1975, 1976 GERTRUDE SHOPE #22 served six months after Soweto Uprising Current Affiliations: Member, National Executive Anecdote: "Winnie Mandela's extraordinary life has Committee ANC been marked by a process of harassment from the regime and by constant separations from those she Birth Date and Place: 1925, Johannesburg; grew up has loved." - ANC Dept. of Information in Zimbabwe (then Rhodesia) until 1947 Short History: Mandela earned a social work Time in Exile: 24 years (1966-1990) - lived in diploma and then a B.A. in Political Science from Botswana, Tanzania, Zambia, Czechoslovakia, the University of Witwatersrand. She worked as the Nigeria first Black medical social worker at Baragwanath Hospital. Much of her adult life was spent under Time in Prison/Banned: NA banning and restriction orders or in prison. She served on the national executive committee of the Anecdote: "Women bring life into this world, and original ANC Women's League and when that was they have a duty to make sure this life is preserved banned, worked in the Federation of South African and protected." -- Gertrude Shope Women. She was elected as President of the ANC Women's League in 1993. Short history: Trained as a domestic science teacher, joined the ANC in 1954. Supported the campaign to boycott bantu education by resigning her teaching post and began working as an occupational therapist. THENJIWE MTINTSO #33 1976. Went into exile in 1976 to join the ANC. A singer and poet, she headed the Medu Art Ensemble Current Affiliations: Member, Central Committee in Botswana from 1984-5. Back in South Africa, she and Political Bureau, South African Communist was elected Secretary General of the ANC Women's Party (SACP) League. in 1991. She held this position and also served on the National Executive Committee of the Birth Date and Place: November 7, 1950, Shelter's ANC until 1993. Squatter Camp next to Orlando East, Soweto RUTH MOMPATI #36 Time in Exile: 1979, Lesotho; 1980, Angola; 1981, Cuba; 1982-85, Lesotho; 1986-89 Botswana; 1989 Current Affiliations: Member, National Executive 1991 Uganda, as the ANC's Chief Representative Committee ANC; Member, National Executive Committee ANC Women's League Time in Prison/Banned: Arrested 1976, detained for 5 months, then banned and restricted to Orlando Birth Date and Place: 1925, Vryburg, Northern East; detained five times from 1976-1978 Cape Short History: Attended Fort Hare University on Time in Exile: 1962 - 1990, towards the end of this scholarship in 1972, joined the South African period, served as ANC Chief Representative in the Students Organization (SASO) and was expelled in UK 1973 after the "Bush University strikes". Worked for the Border Council of Churches in the Eastern Time in Prison/Banned: NA Cape. In 1975 started working as a reporter for the Durban Daily Dispatch. In 1979 she went into exile Anecdote: "We are always being told the South and joined the ANC in Lesotho. After returning African Government is very strong, and we know from exile she was elected to the SACP's central this. We have something more powerful to put to all committee and political bureau. She was a SACP the people of South Africa, irrespective of color or delegate to the South African constitutional talks creed -- a free, democratic South Africa for all." (CODESA). Short History: Joined the ANC in 1952 in Soweto, BALEKA MMAKOTA KGOSITSILE #34 raising funds for the over 8,000 people arrested during the Defiance Campaign. Worked as secretary Current Affiliations: Spokesperson, Department of for the legal team of Oliver Tambo and Nelson Information and Publicity, ANC; Member, ANC Mandela. In 1956, she was one of the principle Women's League organizers of the women's march against pass laws, which drew over 20,000 women from all over South Birth Date and Place: September 24, 1949, Africa. She served on the executive of the Clermont Township, Durban Federation of South African Women (FEDSAW) when it was launched in 1954. In 1962 after the Time in Exile: 1976, Swaziland; 1978-81, Dares ANC was banned, Mompati went into exile to assist Salaam, Tanzania, broadcaster on Radio Freedom in setting up the organization outside the country. and regional secretary of the Women's Section; She was named by a state witness in the notorious 1982 - Nairobi, Kenya;: Botswana, 1985, also lived Rivonia Trial and had to remain in exile for almost in Zimbabwe, Zambia._ . thirty years. Elected to the ANC National Executive Committee in 1969. Time in Prison/Banned: NA MAVIVI YVETTE MANZINI #40 Anecdote: As ANC Women's League Secretary General, Kgositsile played a very important role at Current Affiliations: Member, National Executive the Multiparty Negotiating Forum, ensuring Committee ANC; Member, ANC Women's League; women's issues were addressed wherever possible. Sub-Council on the Status of Women, Transitional Executive Council (TEC) Short History: Graduated Inanda Seminary, trained at Lovedale Teacher Training College 1972-3. Date of Birth and Place: January 19, 1956, Taught high school 1974-5. Trained as a secretary Alexandra Time in Exile: 1976-1979, Botswana and Zambia; Time in Exile: 1976 - 1978 Botswana, Angola 1988-89 Holland & Tanzania Time in Prison/Banned: Imprisoned 1979 - 1988 Time in Prison/Banned: Arrested July 1976, detained for two months Anecdote: Modise was the first woman in South Africa to be jailed for participation in the armed Short History: In 1975 while on a students' choral struggle.