Ida Fiyo Mntwana (1903 – March 1960) was a South African anti-
apartheid
Apartheid (, especially South African English: , ; , "aparthood") was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. Apartheid was ...
dressmaker
A dressmaker, also known as a seamstress, is a person who makes custom clothing for women, such as dresses, blouses, and gown, evening gowns. Dressmakers were historically known as mantua (clothing), mantua-makers, and are also known as a mod ...
and became active in politics in the 1950s. After
Madie Hall Xuma
Madie Hall Xuma (3 June 1894 – 10 September 1982) was an African American educator and social activist who emigrated to South Africa. She was called a 'mother of the nation'. Her husband, A.B. Xuma, was a president of the African National Cong ...
resigned as national president of
African National Congress Women's League
The African National Congress Women's League (ANCWL) is an auxiliary women's political organization of the African National Congress (ANC) of South Africa. This organization has its precedent in the Bantu Women's League, and it oscillated from b ...
(ANCWL) in 1949, Mntwana was her replacement. Mntwana was more radical than her predecessor, organizing women in demonstrations, strikes and other acts of
civil disobedience
Civil disobedience is the active, professed refusal of a citizen to obey certain laws, demands, orders or commands of a government (or any other authority). By some definitions, civil disobedience has to be nonviolent to be called "civil". Hen ...
. She was also elected to become one of ANC (Africa National Congress) executive committee
In 1954, Mntwana became the first president 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 ...
(FEDSAW). She helped organize the Congress of the People. At the second day of the congress, police invaded the congress and incited a conflict between the people and the police. It was Mntwana who calmed the people by singing
freedom song
Freedom songs were songs which were sung by participants in the civil rights movement. They are also called "civil rights anthems" or, in the case of songs which are more hymn-like, they are called "civil rights hymns."
Freedom songs were an impo ...
from the platform to keep the congress going well.
On 26 August 1952, she led the
Germiston
Germiston, also known as kwaDukathole, is a small city in the East Rand region of Gauteng, South Africa, administratively forming part of the City of Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality since the latter's establishment in 2000. It functions as ...
march. The group were consist of 29 women: 11 Indian, one
Coloured
Coloureds ( af, Kleurlinge or , ) refers to members of multiracial ethnic communities in Southern Africa who may have ancestry from more than one of the various populations inhabiting the region, including African, European, and Asian. South ...
(Susan Naude), and 17 African women. She and the group was detained and sentenced to fourteen days in
Boksburg
Boksburg is a city on the East Rand of Gauteng province of South Africa. Gold was discovered in Boksburg in 1887. Boksburg was named after the State Secretary of the South African Republic, W. Eduard Bok. The Main Reef Road linked Boksburg ...
prison. She was also a leader of the FEDSAW march to the
Union Buildings
The Union Buildings ( af, Uniegebou) form the official seat of the South African Government and also house the offices of the President of South Africa. The imposing buildings are located in Pretoria, atop Meintjieskop at the northern end of ...
in
Pretoria
Pretoria () is South Africa's administrative capital, serving as the seat of the Executive (government), executive branch of government, and as the host to all foreign embassies to South Africa.
Pretoria straddles the Apies River and extends ...
on 27 October 1955. Around 2,000 women participated in that march to protest
pass laws
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 ...
for women.
Mntwana was one of the defendants in the
1956 Treason Trial
The Treason Trial was a trial in Johannesburg in which 156 people, including Nelson Mandela, were arrested in a raid and accused of treason in South Africa in 1956.
The main trial lasted until 1961, when all of the defendants were found not gu ...
. Mntwana died in March 1960 during the treason trial.
Legacy
Mntwana is represented in one of 100 bronze statues that is part of the National Heritage Monument's project which was called ''The Long March to Freedom.'' Her bronze statue was created by Sarah Lovejoy. In August 2000, Mntwana was cited as "torchbearer" during
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 ...
's speech in the unveiling of South Africa's Women's Monument She earned a posthumous