Joyce Nomafa Sikakane, later Sikakane-Rankin (born 1943), is a South African journalist and activist. She was detained by the

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 ...

South African government for 17 months for her 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 ...

activism.

Biography

Early life and education

Sikakane was born in 1943 to Jonathan Sikakane and Amelia Nxumalo at the Bridgeman Memorial Maternity Hospital in

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 Dem ...

, South Africa. She grew up in

Soweto Soweto () is a township of the City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality in Gauteng, South Africa, bordering the city's mining belt in the south. Its name is an English syllabic abbreviation for ''South Western Townships''. Formerly a s ...

, the daughter of a lecturer at the

University of the Witwatersrand The University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg (), is a multi-campus South African public research university situated in the northern areas of central Johannesburg. It is more commonly known as Wits University or Wits ( or ). The university ...

. She attended Holy Cross Primary School until the

African National Congress The African National Congress (ANC) is a social-democratic political party in South Africa. A liberation movement known for its opposition to apartheid, it has governed the country since 1994, when the first post-apartheid election install ...

(ANC) called for a boycott due to the

Bantu Education Act The Bantu Education Act 1953 (Act No. 47 of 1953; later renamed the Black Education Act, 1953) was a South African segregation law that legislated for several aspects of the apartheid system. Its major provision enforced racially-separated educati ...

and the school was closed. Her parents eventually separated and she started to attend the boarding-school Inanda Seminary. She attended Orlando High School for a time after her mother gained custody but then returned to Inanda Seminary, from which she graduated in 1963. She did not want to enrol in any colleges in South Africa again due to the Bantu Education Act, instead she decided to become a journalist. She did later earn a Bachelor of Science Honours degree in the United Kingdom at the

Open University The Open University (OU) is a British public research university and the largest university in the United Kingdom by number of students. The majority of the OU's undergraduate students are based in the United Kingdom and principally study off- ...

Career and activism

Sikakane began her career as a journalism in 1960 at ''

The World In its most general sense, the term "world" refers to the totality of entities, to the whole of reality or to everything that is. The nature of the world has been conceptualized differently in different fields. Some conceptions see the worl ...

'', a white-run newspaper that catered to a black audience. In 1968, she left ''The World'' to freelance for ''

The Rand Daily Mail ''The Rand Daily Mail'' was a South African newspaper published from 1902 until it was controversially closed in 1985 after adopting an outspoken anti-apartheid stance in the midst of a massive clampdown on activists by the security forces. The ...

'', where she would become the first black woman hired by the newspaper. At the ''Rand Daily Mail'', she started to focus her writing on the impact that

had on the Africans of South Africa. On 12 May 1969, Sikakane was detained by police under the Terrorism Act and taken to

Pretoria Central Prison Pretoria Central Prison, renamed Kgosi Mampuru II Management Area by former President Jacob Zuma on 13 April 2013 and sometimes referred to as Kgosi Mampuru II Correctional Services is a large prison in central Pretoria, within the City of Tshwane ...

, where she was interrogated about the

(ANC). She was charged under the Suppression of Communism Act and stood trial on 1 December 1969, along with 21 other activists. The charges were dropped on 16 February 1970 but Sikakane and the other activists were re-detained shortly afterwards. After about a total of 17 months of detention, she was released in late 1970. She eventually left South Africa in 1973 and continued to work for the ANC while in exile.

Marriage

Around the same time as she started working at the ''Rand Daily Mail'', Sikakane fell in love with and became engaged to a Scottish doctor, Ken Rankin (1939–2011),"Professor Kenneth Rankin"
'' The Herald'', 23 July 2011. but as such

interracial relationships Interracial marriage is a marriage involving spouses who belong to different races or racialized ethnicities. In the past, such marriages were outlawed in the United States, Nazi Germany and apartheid-era South Africa as miscegenation. In 19 ...

were illegal in South Africa, they made plans to marry outside the country. In 1973, Sikakane left South Africa for Zambia and the exiled branch of the ANC, and she and Rankin were married in 1974, subsequently moving to

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...

. Sikakane has five children: * Nkosinathi * Nomzamo * Samora * Vikela * Allan

Later life

In 1977, Sikakane's autobiography, ''A Window on Soweto'', was published in London by the

International Defence and Aid Fund The International Defence and Aid Fund or IDAF (also the Defence Aid Fund for Southern Africa) was a fund created by John Collins during the 1956 Treason Trial in South Africa. After learning of those accused of treason for protesting against apart ...

. In 1994, she returned to South Africa, being employed by the

South African Broadcasting Corporation The South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) is the public broadcaster in South Africa, and provides 19 radio stations ( AM/ FM) as well as six television broadcasts to the general public. It is one of the largest of South Africa's state ...

until 2001. On 29 July 1997, she gave testimony before the

Truth and Reconciliation Commission A truth commission, also known as a truth and reconciliation commission or truth and justice commission, is an official body tasked with discovering and revealing past wrongdoing by a government (or, depending on the circumstances, non-state act ...

(TRC) about her experiences under

, including her treatment while she was in her months-long detainment. In 2008, an unsent letter addressed to Sikakane from Nelson Mandela was discovered by a

Nelson Mandela Foundation Nelson may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Nelson'' (1918 film), a historical film directed by Maurice Elvey * ''Nelson'' (1926 film), a historical film directed by Walter Summers * ''Nelson'' (opera), an opera by Lennox Berkeley to a lib ...

archivist.

Other

Sikakane is among the writers featured in Margaret Busby's 1992 anthology '' Daughters of Africa''."Joyce Sikakane"
at Goodreads.

Publications

Autobiography

* ''A Window on Soweto'' (1977)

References

External links

Transcript
of unsent letter from Nelson Mandela to Joyce Sikakane ("Nomvula"), dated 1 January 1971. {{DEFAULTSORT:Sikakane, Joyce 1943 births Living people South African women journalists South African autobiographers Women autobiographers 20th-century journalists 20th-century women writers 20th-century South African writers Anti-apartheid activists South African women activists Activists from Johannesburg Journalists from Johannesburg People from Soweto South African emigrants to the United Kingdom Women civil rights activists