Lilian Mesediba Ngoyi

(25 September 1911 – 13 March 1980)

Anti-apartheid Activist & Treason Trialist

Sourced From: SA History Online

 

 
Lilian Masediba Ngoyi was born in Pretoria in 1911 to a family of six children, and obtained her primary schooling in Kilnerton. She later enrolled for a nurses' training course, but she eventually took up work as a machinist in a clothing factory where she worked from 1945 to 1956.

She joined the Garment Workers Union (GWU) under Solly Sachs, and soon became one of its leading figures. Impressed by the spirit of African National Congress (ANC) volunteers, she joined the ANC during the 1950 Defiance Campaign and was arrested for using facilities in a post office that were reserved for white people.

Her energy and her gift as a public speaker won her rapid recognition, and within a year of joining the ANC she was elected as president of the ANC Women's League. When the Federation of South African Women (FEDSAW) was formed in 1954, she became one of its national vice-presidents, and in 1956 she was elected president.

In 1955, she travelled to Europe as a delegate to a conference called by the Women's International Democratic Federation, and was invited by socialist delegates to tour Russia, China and other eastern bloc countries. She became a member of the Transvaal ANC executive from 1955, and in December 1956 she became the first woman ever elected to the ANC national executive committee.

Ngoyi also gained wide recognition overseas as a radical opponent of apartheid. Together with Dora Tamana, she was arrested while trying to board a ship on her way to a conference in Switzerland without a passport. She addressed protest meetings against apartheid in a number of world centres, including London's Trafalgar Square.

On the 9th of August 1956, she led the women's anti-pass march to the Union Buildings in Pretoria, one of the largest demonstrations staged in South African history. Holding thousands of petitions in one hand, Ngoyi was the one who knocked on Prime Minister Strijdom’s door to hand over the petitions.

In December 1956, Ngoyi was arrested for high treason along with 156 other leading figures, and stood trial until 1961 as one of the accused in the four–year-long Treason Trial. While the trial was still on and the accused out on bail, Ngoyi was imprisoned for five months under the 1960 state of emergency. She spent much of this time in solitary confinement.

She was first issued her banning orders in October 1962, which confined her to Orlando Township in Johannesburg and she was forbidden to attend any gatherings.

In the mid-1960s, she was jailed under the 90-day detention act and spent 71 days in solitary confinement.

Her banning orders lapsed in 1972, but were renewed for a new five-year period in 1975. During the time of her banning, Ngoyi’s great energies were totally suppressed and she struggled to earn a decent living.

Affectionately known as ‘Ma Ngoyi’, she suffered heart trouble and died on the 13th of March 1980 at the age of 69.

Article Sourced From: http://www.sahistory.org.za/people/lilian-masediba-ngoyi

     

Ghana Independence Day Speech 

By Dr Kwame Nkrumah

March 6, 1957

 At long last, the battle has ended!  And thus, Ghana, your beloved country is free forever!

And yet again, I want to take the opportunity to thank the people fo this country; the youth, the farmers, the women who have so nobly fought and won the battle.

Also, I want to thank the valiant ex-service men who have so cooperated with me in this mighty task of freeing our country from foreign rule and imperialism.

And, as I pointed out… from now on, today, we must change our attitudes and our minds.  We must realise that form now on we are no longer a colonial but free and independent people.

But also, as I pointed out, that also entails hard work.  That new Africa is ready to figt his own battles and show that after all the black man is capable of managing his own affairs.

We are going to demonstrate to the world, to the other nations, hat we are prepared to lay our foundation – our own African personality.

As I said to the Assembly a few minutes ago, I made a point that we are going t create our own Africa personality and identity.  It is the only way we can show the world that we are ready for our own battles.

But today, may I call upon you all, that on this grer that at day let us all remember that nothing can be done unless it has the purport and support of God.

We have won the battle and again rededicate ourselves … OUR INDEPENDENCE IS MEANINGLESS UNLESS IT IS LINKED UP WITH THE TOTAL LIBERATION OF AFRICA.

Let us now, fellow Ghanaians, let us now ask for God’s blessing for only two seconds, and in your thousands and millions.

I want to ask you to pause for only one minute and give thanks to Almighty God for having led us through our difficulties, imprisonments, hardships and sufferings, to have brought us to our end of troubles today. One minute silence.

Ghana is free forever!  And here I will ask the band to play the Ghana National Anthem.

Reshaping Ghana’s destiney, I am depending on the millions of the country, and the chiefs and the people, to help me to reshape the destiny of this country.  We are prepared to pick it up and make it a nation that will be respected by every nation in the world.

We know were going to have difficult beginnings, but again, I am relying n your support….  I am relying upon your hard work.

Seeing you in this…  It doesn’t matter how far my eyes go, I can see that you are here in your millions.  And my last warning to you is that you are to stand firm behind us so that we can prove to the world that wen the African is given a chance, he can show the world that he is somebody!

We have awakened.  We will not sleep anymore. Today, from now one, there is a new African in the world!

Article sourced from: https://panafricanquotes.wordpress.com/speeches/independence-speech-kwame-nkrumah-march-6-1957-accra-ghana/