Annie Silinga
Annie Silinga | |
|---|---|
Langa, Cape Town | |
| Occupation(s) | anti-pass laws and anti-apartheid political activist |
Annie Silinga (1910-1984) was a
South African anti-pass laws and anti-apartheid political activist. She is known for her role as the Cape Town African National Congress Women's League President, a leader in the 1956 anti-pass Women's March to the Union Buildings in Pretoria, South Africa and the only African woman in the 1956 treason trial in South Africa.[1]
Personal life
Annie Silinga was born in 1910 at Nqqamakwe in the Butterworth district of the
Langa township. Although Silinga was arrested numerous times, she and her family remained in Langa where she died in 1984.[2]
Political work
After moving to
ANC, she joined the African National Congress (ANC). Soon after joining the ANC, she took part in the anti-pass laws in the movement's 1952 Defiance Campaign where she was arrested and served a brief jail term for civil disobedience. She served the jail sentence with her six month old baby.[2][3]
In 1953, Silinga, then a member of the
ANC Women's League (ANCWL), was part of the core group that organised the first meeting of the Federation of South African Women (FSAW), to harness the outrage of women against the pass law issue. The group was led by Ray Alexander, communist and trade unionist, and included Gladys Smith of the Cape Housewives' League, Katie White of the Women's Food Committee, and Dora Tamanda of the ANCWL and the Communist Party of South Africa. At the first conference, held in Johannesburg in April 1954, Silinga was elected as part of the FEDSAW National Executive Committee[2] It was also at this meeting that the Women’s Charter was written by women from different races. In 1954, during a FEDSAW meeting at the Cape Town Parade, Silinga declared: “I will never carry a pass, I will only carry one similar to Mrs (Susan) Strijdom’s. She is a woman and I am too. There is no difference.” [4] After breaking the pass law and a few unsuccessful appeals, she was banished to Transkei in 1956. She returned illegally to be with her children and husband in Langa. In 1957, Silinga appealed her case successfully on the grounds that more than 15 years’ residence in Cape Town entitled her to remain there.[1]
On 9 August 1956, Silinga led 20 000 women organised by FEDSAW who marched to the prime minister's office in
ANC was banned as a political organisation in 1960. Upon her return from prison, she was involved in the formation of the Women’s Front, and was made a patron of the United Democratic Front in 1983. Silinga lived in Langa all her life and died without having carried a pass in 1984. Although she was buried in an unmarked pauper's grave, artist Sue Williamson, at the request of Annie Silinga’s family, created a piece to place at her grave in Langa cemetery. It bears Silinga's battle cry: "I will never carry a pass!" [1]
Legacy
Silinga is remembered as one of the leaders in the anti-pass campaign during apartheid
Langa Township.[5]
A street in Phillipi, Cape Town is named after Annie Silinga.
See also
Referencing
- ^ a b c "Annie Silinga". South African History Online. Retrieved 23 October 2017.
- ^ a b c d e "Silinga, Annie (1910–1983)". Encyclopedia. Retrieved 23 October 2017.
- ^ "Annie Silinga". Pipa, Pinterest. Retrieved 23 October 2017.
- ^ "Silinga, Annie". Mail & Guardian. Retrieved 23 October 2017.
- ^ "The Freedom struggle in Cape Town". South African History Online. Retrieved 23 October 2017.