Florence Mophosho (1921 – 9 August 1985) was a South African politician and

anti-apartheid activist The Anti-Apartheid Movement (AAM), was a British organisation that was at the centre of the international movement opposing the South African apartheid, apartheid system and supporting South Africa's non-White population who were persecuted by ...

of the

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 ...

(ANC). A stalwart of the

ANC Women's League The African National Congress Women's League (ANCWL) is an auxiliary women's political organization of the African National Congress, African National Congress (ANC) of South Africa. This organization has its precedent in the Bantu Women's League ...

, she was a member of the ANC

National Executive Committee National Executive Committee is the name of a leadership body in several organizations, mostly political parties: * National Executive Committee of the African National Congress, in South Africa * Australian Labor Party National Executive * Nationa ...

from 1975 until her death in 1985. After joining the ANC in 1952 in

Alexandra Alexandra () is the feminine form of the given name Alexander (, ). Etymologically, the name is a compound of the Greek verb (; meaning 'to defend') and (; GEN , ; meaning 'man'). Thus it may be roughly translated as "defender of man" or "prot ...

, Mophosho was involved in organising several historic anti-apartheid protests inside South Africa, including the 1956

Women's March Women's March may refer to: * Women's March on Versailles, a 1789 march in Paris * Women's Sunday, a 1908 suffragette march in London * Woman Suffrage Procession, a 1913 march and rally in Washington, D.C. * Women's March (South Africa), a 1956 mar ...

and the 1957 Alexandra bus boycott. From 1964 until her death, she lived in exile with the ANC, rising to prominence as the organisation's representative to the

Women's International Democratic Federation Women's International Democratic Federation (WIDF) is an international organization with the stated goal of working for women's rights. It was established in 1945 and was most active during the Cold War. It initially focussed on anti-fascism, worl ...

and then, from 1971, as the head of the ANC Women's Section.

Early life and activism

Mophosho was born in 1921 in

, a

township A township is a kind of human settlement or administrative subdivision, with its meaning varying in different countries. Although the term is occasionally associated with an urban area, that tends to be an exception to the rule. In Australia, Ca ...

outside

Johannesburg Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu and xh, eGoli ), colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, or "The City of Gold", is the largest city in South Africa, classified as a megacity, and is one of the 100 largest urban areas in the world. According to Demo ...

in the former

Transvaal Transvaal is a historical geographic term associated with land north of (''i.e.'', beyond) the Vaal River in South Africa. A number of states and administrative divisions have carried the name Transvaal. * South African Republic (1856–1902; af, ...

. Her father was chronically ill and her mother, though trained as a teacher, worked as a domestic worker. The eldest of three siblings, Mophosho left school at Standard Six to enter the workforce, first as a domestic worker and then as a worker in a garment factory. She joined the

(ANC) in 1952, inspired by the party's

Defiance Campaign The Defiance Campaign against Unjust Laws was presented by the African National Congress (ANC) at a conference held in Bloemfontein, South Africa in December 1951. The Campaign had roots in events leading up the conference. The demonstrations, ...

of that year. She became involved in organising the ANC's next major campaign, the 1955 Congress of the People; she travelled Alexandra soliciting residents' proposals for the

Freedom Charter The Freedom Charter was the statement of core principles of the South African Congress Alliance, which consisted of the African National Congress (ANC) and its allies: the South African Indian Congress, the South African Congress of Democrats ...

. She also joined the

and was a member of the executive of the

Federation of South African Women The Federation of South African Women (FEDSAW) was a political lobby group formed in 1954. At FEDSAW's inaugural conference, a Women's Charter was adopted. Its founding was spear-headed by Lillian Ngoyi. Introduction The Federation of South Afric ...

; in that capacity, she helped organise the national

of 1956. The following year, she was a member of the committee that organised the Alexandra bus boycott. Later described by

Maggie Resha Matebello Magdeline Resha, also known as Maggie Resha (May 5, 1923 - September 2003) was a nurse as well as a member of the African National Congress and the African National Congress Women's League. She organized meetings for the adoption of th ...

as "a magic organiser", Mophosho ultimately became a full-time organiser for the ANC. She was arrested in 1958 during a women's anti-

dompas In South Africa, pass laws were a form of internal passport system designed to segregate the population, manage urbanization and allocate migrant labor. Also known as the natives' law, pass laws severely limited the movements of not only black ...

protest in Johannesburg.

Activism in exile

Women's International Democratic Federation

After the ANC was outlawed in 1960, Mophosho continued to work for the organisation underground, though she was arrested on several occasions and served with a

banning order __NOTOC__ This list of people subject to banning orders under apartheid lists a selection of people subject to a "banning order" by the apartheid-era South African government. Banning was a Political repression, repressive and Extrajudicial punis ...

in 1964. Later in 1964, on the instructions of the ANC, she left the country for

Lusaka, Zambia Lusaka (; ) is the capital and largest city of Zambia. It is one of the fastest-developing cities in southern Africa. Lusaka is in the southern part of the central plateau at an elevation of about . , the city's population was about 3.3 millio ...

, later travelling to

Dar es Salaam, Tanzania Dar es Salaam (; from ar, دَار السَّلَام, Dâr es-Selâm, lit=Abode of Peace) or commonly known as Dar, is the largest city and financial hub of Tanzania. It is also the capital of Dar es Salaam Region. With a population of over s ...

. In exile, she became a full-time representative of the ANC, initially at the

(WIDF), an international

socialist Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the e ...

organisation. She was stationed at WIDF's secretariat in

East Berlin East Berlin was the ''de facto'' capital city of East Germany from 1949 to 1990. Formally, it was the Allied occupation zones in Germany, Soviet sector of Berlin, established in 1945. The American, British, and French sectors were known as ...

from 1964 to 1969. In 1969, Mophosho was the only woman delegate to the ANC's

Morogoro Conference The Morogoro Conference was a consultative conference held by the South African African National Congress (ANC) in Morogoro, Tanzania, from 25 April to 1 May 1969. The organisation had not held a large-scale meeting of its membership since it was ...

in Tanzania. Shortly afterwards, she wrote to her friend Ray Alexander, "I intend going back to Africa towards the end of the year, I feel I have done my bit some body else should come

o Berlin O, or o, is the fifteenth letter and the fourth vowel letter in the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''o'' (pronounced ), plu ...

and represent you people."

ANC Women's Section

Mophosho returned to Africa in 1970 and settled at the ANC's office in Morogoro, Tanzania, where she worked in the secretariat of the ANC Women's Section. The Women's Section was the interim replacement for the ANC Women's League – which was defunct while the ANC was exiled – and Mophosho became its head in 1971, succeeding

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. E ...

. Over the next decade, Mophosho travelled extensively to represent the ANC abroad, including at the All-Africa Women's Conference of 1972, and she received military training in Lusaka in 1978. She was particularly active in advocating for better

childcare Child care, otherwise known as day care, is the care and supervision of a child or multiple children at a time, whose ages range from two weeks of age to 18 years. Although most parents spend a significant amount of time caring for their child(r ...

for ANC members who were mothers, and, with her secretary

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 ...

, she established ''Voice of the Women'', a publication for ANC women. In addition, she was co-opted onto the ANC

in 1975. She remained a member of the committee until her death, gaining direct election in 1985.

Personal life and death

Mosphosho had children, who were raised by her family inside South Africa. She was intermittently ill in the early 1980s – she was treated for an ulcer in the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

– and died in Morogoro on 9 August 1985, the 29th anniversary of the Women's March. She was buried in Lusaka, where the ANC was headquartered at the time. In April 2007, she was awarded the

Order of Luthuli The Order of Luthuli is a South African honour. It was instituted on 30 November 2003, and is granted by the President (government title), president of South Africa, for contributions to South Africa in the following fields: (i) the struggle for ...

Thabo Mbeki Thabo Mvuyelwa Mbeki KStJ (; born 18 June 1942) is a South African politician who was the second president of South Africa from 14 June 1999 to 24 September 2008, when he resigned at the request of his party, the African National Congress (ANC ...

, the second post-apartheid president, for:

Her excellent contribution to the
anti-apartheid struggle The Anti-Apartheid Movement (AAM), was a British organisation that was at the centre of the international movement opposing the South African apartheid system and supporting South Africa's non-White population who were persecuted by the policie ...
, braving police harassment to mobilise society for a just and democratic South Africa, and striving for gender equality.

References

External links

Florence Mophosho
at

South African History Online The South African History Project (2001-2004) was established and initiated by Professor Kader Asmal, former Minister of Education in South Africa. This initiative followed after the publication of the Manifesto on Values, Education and Democracy ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mophosho, Florence 1921 births 1985 deaths People from Alexandra, Gauteng Politicians from Gauteng African National Congress politicians 20th-century South African politicians 20th-century South African women politicians South African women activists Members of the Order of Luthuli