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Isitwalandwe Medal
Isitwalandwe/Seaparankoe, until 1994 known as the Isitwalandwe Medal, also known as the Isitwalandwe Award and also spelt Isithwalandwe and Isitwalandwe/Seaparankwe, is the highest award given by the African National Congress (ANC) "to those who have made an outstanding contribution and sacrifice to the liberation struggle", that is, those who resisted the apartheid regime in South Africa (1949−1991) in various ways. Isitwalandwe means "the one who wears the plumes of the rare bird", in particular the blue crane. This type of honor is taken directly from Xhosa culture where the plume of the Ndwe bird was used as an award. It was customarily only given to the bravest warriors, those distinguished by their leadership and heroism. Recipients Recipients include: *1955 Yusuf Dadoo *1955 Father Trevor Huddleston *1955 Chief Albert Luthuli *1975 Moses Kotane *1980 Govan Mbeki *1980 Bishop Ambrose Reeves *1982 Lilian Ngoyi *1988 Ahmed Kathrada *1992 Harry Gwala *1992 Helen Joseph ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
African National Congress
The African National Congress (ANC) is a Social democracy, social-democratic political party in Republic of South Africa, South Africa. A liberation movement known for its opposition to apartheid, it has governed the country since 1994, when the 1994 South African general election, first post-apartheid election installed Nelson Mandela as President of South Africa. Cyril Ramaphosa, the incumbent national President, has served as President of the ANC since 18 December 2017. Founded on 8 January 1912 in Bloemfontein as the South African Native National Congress (SANNC), the organisation was formed to agitate, by moderate methods, for the rights of black South Africans. When the National Party (South Africa), National Party government came to power 1948 South African general election, in 1948, the ANC's central purpose became to oppose the new government's policy of institutionalised apartheid. To this end, its methods and means of organisation shifted; its adoption of the techn ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wilton Mkwayi
Wilton Zimasile Mkwayi (17 December 1923 – 24 July 2004) was an African National Congress veteran and one of the first six members of Umkonto weSizwe to be sent for military training. Early life Wilton “Bri-Bri” Zimasile Mkwayi was born in Chwarhu area near Middledrift in 1923. His parents were uneducated farmers. He was one of seven children. Mkwayi started school at age ten in a Presbyterian church building in Keiskammahoek. He had a rural childhood herding sheep and goats, and passing through circumcision school. Mkwayi became a member of the ANC at age 17, after his father, also a member of the ANC, gave him a membership card. He left school in 1943, while World War 2 was ongoing, to work at a dynamite factory in Somerset West. Mkwayi left Somerset West for Port Elizabeth in 1945 to work offloading large trucks and trains; he also worked at the docks. Political career On 1 May 1950, he participated in the ANC Youth League’s one-day general strike and stay away acr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Winnie Madikizela-Mandela
Winnie Madikizela-Mandela (born Nomzamo Winifred Zanyiwe Madikizela; 26 September 1936 – 2 April 2018), also known as Winnie Mandela, was a South African anti-apartheid activist and politician, and the second wife of Nelson Mandela. She served as a Member of Parliament from 1994 to 2003, and from 2009 until her death, and was a deputy minister of arts and culture from 1994 to 1996. A member of the African National Congress (ANC) political party, she served on the ANC's National Executive Committee and headed its Women's League. Madikizela-Mandela was known to her supporters as the "Mother of the Nation". Born to a Xhosa royal family in Bizana, and a qualified social worker, she married anti-apartheid activist Nelson Mandela in Johannesburg in 1958; they remained married for 38 years and had two children together. In 1963, after Mandela was imprisoned following the Rivonia Trial, she became his public face during the 27 years he spent in jail. During that period, she rose t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Nkadimeng
John Kgwana Nkadimeng (12 June 1927 – 6 August 2020) was a South African politician, anti-apartheid activist and South African ambassador in Cuba. Nkadimeng was awarded the Order of Luthuli in 2003 by President Thabo Mbeki and Isitwalandwe in 2019 by President Cyril Ramaphosa. Background and career John Kgwana Nkadimeng was born on 12 June 1927 Sekhukhuneland in the rural eastern Transvaal Province (now called Limpopo Province in South Africa). After completing primary school he worked as a domestic worker in Germiston (Gauteng Province) where he remained for about a year. He returned home in 1945 and in 1946 was employed in a hat factory in Johannesburg. He again returned to Sekhukhuniland and early in 1947 went back to Johannesburg to work in a tobacco factory. Whilst employed in the tobacco factory, Nkadimeng joined the African Tobacco Workers' Union, becoming a shop steward in 1949. Following a strike in 1950, he lost his job. During the 1952 Defiance Campaign he was arr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sophia De Bruyn
Sophia Theresa Williams-de Bruyn (born 1938) is a former South African anti-apartheid activist. She was the first recipient of the Women's Award for exceptional national service. She is the last living leader of the Women's March. Early life Sophia Theresa Williams-De Bruyn was born in Villageboard, an area that was home to people of many different nationalities. She was the child of Frances Elizabeth and Henry Ernest Williams. She says that her mother's compassion for others helped her develop a sense of empathy. When her father joined the army to fight in World War II, Sophia’s mother moved the family to a new housing development, specifically built for coloureds, called Schauder. She continued her education at Saint James Catholic School. She dropped out of school and started working in the textile industry. Workers in the Van Lane Textile factory asked her to help "solve their problems with factory bosses," and she eventually became the shop steward. She later became an e ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Denis Goldberg
Denis Theodore Goldberg (11 April 1933 – 29 April 2020) was a South African social campaigner, who was active in the struggle against apartheid. He was accused No. 3 in the Rivonia Trial, alongside the better-known Nelson Mandela and Walter Sisulu, where he was also the youngest of the defendants. He was imprisoned for 22 years, along with other key members of the anti-apartheid movement in South Africa. After his release in 1985 he continued to campaign against apartheid from his base in London with his family, until the apartheid system was fully abolished with the 1994 election. He returned to South Africa in 2002 and founded the non-profit Denis Goldberg Legacy Foundation Trust in 2015. He was diagnosed with lung cancer in July 2019, and died in Cape Town on 29 April 2020. Biography Early life Denis Theodore Goldberg was born on 11 April 1933 in Cape Town, South Africa and grew up in a family that welcomed people of all races into their house. He was the son of Annie (F ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gertrude Shope
Gertrude Ntiti Shope (born 15 August 1925) is a South African former trade unionist and politician. Life and career Born in Johannesburg on 15 August 1925, Shope was raised and educated in Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe). She worked as a teacher before becoming a member of the African National Congress in 1954. Joining the campaign against Bantu education, she turned to teaching crafts instead. She then became active in the Federation of South African Women, and for a time led the Central Western Jabavu Branch of the ANC women's section. She lived in exile from 1966 to 1990, leading the party's delegation to the Nairobi Women's Meeting and working for the World Federation of Trade Unions. From 1970 until 1971 she was secretary to Florence Moposho, helping to establish publication of the newsletter ''Voice of Women''. With her husband, Mark, she lived in a variety of locations during her exile, including Prague, Botswana, Tanzania, Czechoslovakia, Zambia, and Nigeria. In Lusaka sh ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ruth Mompati
Ruth Segomotsi Mompati (14 September 1925 – 12 May 2015) was a South African politician and a founding member of the Federation of South African Women (FEDSAW) in 1954. Mompati was one of the leaders of the Women's March on 9 August 1956. Early life and education Ruth Segomotsi Mompati was born in the far north of the former Cape Province (today's North West Province). Mompati grew up in Ganyesa, a village in the North West province. Her parents, Mrs Seli Babe Seichoko and Mr Gaonyatse Seichoko, were church leaders in the London Missionary Society Church (LMSC), Vryburg. After completing Standard 6, she worked for a white family as a childminder and later went to Tigerkloof Teachers Training College where she obtained a Primary School Teacher's Diploma in 1944. Career In 1944 Mompati began teaching in Dithakwaneng Primary School near Vryburg. She later moved to Vryburg Higher Primary School, where she was a teacher until 1952. Mompati was automatically terminated from her te ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chris Hani
Chris Hani (28 June 1942 – 10 April 1993), born Martin Thembisile Hani , was the leader of the South African Communist Party and chief of staff of uMkhonto we Sizwe, the armed wing of the African National Congress (ANC). He was a fierce opponent of the apartheid government, and was assassinated by Janusz Waluś, a Polish immigrant and sympathiser of the Conservative opposition on 10 April 1993, during the unrest preceding the transition to democracy. Early life Thembisile Hani was born on 28 June 1942 in the Xhosa village in Cofimvaba, Transkei. He was the fifth of six children. He attended Lovedale school in 1957, to finish his last two years. He twice finished two school grades in a single year. When Hani was 12 years old, after hearing his father's explanations about apartheid and the African National Congress, he wished to join the ANC but was still too young to be accepted. In Lovedale school, Hani joined the ANC Youth League when he was 15 years old, even though p ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rachel Simons
Ray Alexander Simons (née Alexandrowich; (31 December 1913 – 12 September 2004) was a South African communist, anti-apartheid activist, campaigner and trade unionist who helped draft the Women's Charter. She moved to Cape Town in 1929 to escape the persecution of Jews and communists. Early life Simons was born in Varklia (Varakļāni), Latvia as Rachel Ester Alexandrowich on 31 December 1913. She was one of six children from Simka Simon and Dobe Alexandrowich. Her father was a teacher of Russian language, German Language and mathematics. He also ran a cheder where the Jewish boys studied talmud and prepared their bar mizvah. She lived in a rich household full of books which exposed her to socialist and communist ideologist. Her father died when she was 12 years old. His best friend, Leib Jaffe, influenced Ray's thinking about socialist ideas and awareness of the vital function of organization to advance worker's right. The death of her father caused Simons to become an athe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Joe Slovo
Joe Slovo (born Yossel Mashel Slovo; 23 May 1926 – 6 January 1995) was a South African politician, and an opponent of the apartheid system. A Marxist-Leninist, he was a long-time leader and theorist in the South African Communist Party (SACP), a leading member of the African National Congress (ANC), and a commander of the ANC's military wing Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK). A South African citizen from a Jewish-Lithuanian family, Slovo was a delegate to the multiracial Congress of the People of June 1955 which drew up the Freedom Charter. He was imprisoned for six months in 1960, and emerged as a leader of Umkhonto we Sizwe the following year. He lived in exile from 1963 to 1990, conducting operations against the apartheid régime from the United Kingdom, Angola, Mozambique, and Zambia. In 1990 he returned to South Africa, and took part in the negotiations that ended apartheid. He became known for proposing the "sunset clauses" covering the 5 years following a democratic el ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Oliver Tambo
Oliver Reginald Kaizana Tambo (27 October 191724 April 1993) was a South African anti-apartheid politician and revolutionary who served as President of the African National Congress (ANC) from 1967 to 1991. Biography Higher education Oliver Tambo was born on 27 October 1917 in the village of Nkantolo in Bizana; eastern Pondoland in what is now the Eastern Cape. The village Tambo was born in was made up mostly of farmers. His father, Mzimeni Tambo, was the son of a farmer and an assistant salesperson at a local trading store. Mzimeni had four wives and ten children, all of whom were literate. Oliver's mother, Mzimeni's third wife, was called Julia. Tambo graduated in 1938 as one of the top students. After this, Tambo was admitted to the University of Fort Hare but in 1940 he, along with several others including Nelson Mandela, was expelled for participating in a student strike. In 1942, Tambo returned to his former high school in Johannesburg to teach science and math ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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