Mary Thipe (1917-1982) was a South African anti-apartheid and human rights activist who took part in the 1956 Women's March against apartheid pass laws, the South African potato boycott of 1959 and the

Cato Manor Cato Manor is a working-class area located from the city centre of Durban, South Africa. It was formed when Indian market gardeners came to settle in the area some time after it was given to George Christopher Cato in 1865, who was the first m ...

Beer Hall boycott in the same year. Thipe was also the vice-chairperson of the

branch 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) during the 1950s.

Personal life

Mary Thipe was born in 1917 in a village called Ramhlakoane in the

Matatiele Matatiele is a town located in the northern part of the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa. According to the South African National Census of 2011, its 12,466 residents (1,113.44 per km²) and 4,107 households (366.83 per km²) make Matatiel ...

district in the

Eastern Cape The Eastern Cape is one of the provinces of South Africa. Its capital is Bhisho, but its two largest cities are East London and Gqeberha. The second largest province in the country (at 168,966 km2) after Northern Cape, it was formed in ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

. She later moved to Umkhumbane in KwaZulu Natal and joined the liberation struggle in 1952. Thipe had six children, five daughters and one son. After joining the struggle for liberation, Thipe was arrested on numerous occasions, making it difficult to spend time with her children. In describing her upbringing, Thipe's daughter Maeketso said: "We were raised by our father and some of our neighbours because my mother was arrested so many times. Sometimes people would laugh at us telling us our mother was in jail. It was hard. My mother never ever had a good life." Thipe died of a stroke in 2002.

Political work

Mary Thipe joined the

ANC 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 installe ...

during the Defiance Campaign of 1952. Thipe went on to become vice-chairperson of the

branch of the

(ANCWL). She took a train from

KwaZulu-Natal KwaZulu-Natal (, also referred to as KZN and known as "the garden province") is a province of South Africa that was created in 1994 when the Zulu bantustan of KwaZulu ("Place of the Zulu" in Zulu) and Natal Province were merged. It is locate ...

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 ...

to join hundreds of women who marched against pass laws on August 9, 1956. In an interview with the SABC, Thipe's daughter Maeketso said her mother refused to own a pass. "One day they partheid policecame to our house. It was in the middle of the day and they came and wanted to see her dompass. She didn't have it and she told them that she would not carry it. They arrested her. She spent two weeks in jail," Maeketso said. On 26 June 1959, Thipe and leaders of the

-aligned

South African Congress of Trade Unions The South African Congress of Trade Unions (SACTU) was a national trade union federation in South Africa. History The federation was established in March 1955, after right wing unions dissolved the South African Trades and Labour Council in 1954 to ...

and

Congress Alliance The Congress Alliance was an anti-apartheid political coalition formed in South Africa in the 1950s. Led by the African National Congress, the CA was multi-racial in makeup and committed to the principle of majority rule. Congress of the People ...

, launched the national potato boycott in response to the unsatisfactory working conditions of labourers in Bethal in the Eastern Transvaal, now known as

Mpumalanga Mpumalanga () is a province of South Africa. The name means "East", or literally "The Place Where the Sun Rises" in the Swazi, Xhosa, Ndebele and Zulu languages. Mpumalanga lies in eastern South Africa, bordering Eswatini and Mozambique. It ...

. Over 60, 000 people attended the launch of the boycott at Currie's Fountain in

Durban Durban ( ) ( zu, eThekwini, from meaning 'the port' also called zu, eZibubulungwini for the mountain range that terminates in the area), nicknamed ''Durbs'',Ishani ChettyCity nicknames in SA and across the worldArticle on ''news24.com'' from ...

. The boycott lasted until September 1959 after the farmers improved the conditions in the farms. The boycott is seen as one of the most successful boycotts led by the ANC and allies during the apartheid era. On 17 June 1959, women led by Thipe and Dorothy Nyembe attacked the

beer hall, forced their way inside, beating the men drinking there and wrecking the place. Rioting continued the next day and beer halls in other parts of town were attacked. This riot was organised to stop men from drinking sorghum beer while their children and wives starved. Thipe's political work caught the attention of the apartheid government. She was put under house arrest for 10 years which meant she could not attend church services, funeral services of her loved ones and was not allowed to be in the company of more than three people. Every Monday morning, Thipe was required to report at the

police station. This did not stop the security branch from harassing her even in her house arrest. She had trained her children that each time police came in the middle of the night, they would wake up and stand behind her. She had also trained them to look at the police in the eye and not flinch. When three of Thipe's children went into exile, the police intensified their terror on Thipe and her family. "They would come wake us up, wanting to know where our siblings are. When I went to college, they had someone keep tabs on me. They told me I am not allowed to participate in politics because my family was already in big trouble," said Thipe's daughter Maeketsi in an interview with SABC. When the police threatened to find Thipe's grandson and kill him, she retorted by requesting that they bring his head back to her. She refused to show fear and flinch at their threats. Even in the house arrest Thipe found ways to continue her work with the ANCWL, organising funerals of fallen comrades.

Legacy

Thipe is regarded as one of the women who were instrumental in the fight against apartheid in South Africa. A road in

is named after Thipe in honour of her work in the Chesterville and Ntuzuma townships of

. The Mary Thipe Scholarship, which seeks to help students from poor families was launched in honour of her political work in Umkhumbane,

and Chesterville in 2001. In April 2015, she was awarded the Order of Luthuli in Silver for her contributions to the South African struggle for freedom.

External links

60 Iconic Women — The people behind the 1956 Women's March to Pretoria

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Thipe, Mary 1917 births 1982 deaths South African women activists Members of the Order of Luthuli

Personal life

Political work

Legacy

See also

External links

References