Caroline Motsoaledi was the wife of Andrew Motsoaledi, one of the accused in the Rivonia trial. She was held in detention and released without charge. This leaflet highlighted the situation of South African women who were arrested for questioning about their husband’s activities. Children were often left alone and uncared for when their parents were arrested.

Poster publicising a speaking tour of Europe by Putuse Appolus from the Namibian Women’s League and a representative of SWAPO’s Youth League in the summer of 1975. The two women spent two weeks in Britain, meeting women’s groups, student unions and labour movement representatives. The UN designated 1975 as International Women’s Year.

Agenda for the AAM’s first women’s conference, held in April 1976. It was attended by 150 people from women’s organisations, trade unions and church groups. Speakers included former South African political prisoners Dulcie September and Joyce Sikakane, Labour minister Margaret Jackson and Pauline Webb from the Methodist Church Overseas Division.

The AAM held its first women’s conference in April 1976. It was attended by 150 people from women’s organisations, trade unions and church groups. Speakers included former South African political prisoners Dulcie September and Joyce Sikakane, Ethel de Keyser from the AAM, Labour minister Margaret Jackson and Pauline Webb from the Methodist Church Overseas Division.

Over 150 women attended an AAM conference on Women Under Apartheid on 24 April 1976. Speakers included Dulcie September and Joyce Sikakane from South Africa, Ethel de Keyser from the AAM, representatives of the NUS and the trade union AUEW (TASS), and Methodist Pauline Webb.

Over 150 women attended an AAM conference on Women Under Apartheid on 24 April 1976. Speakers included Dulcie September and Joyce Sikakane from South Africa, Ethel de Keyser from the AAM, representatives of the NUS and the trade union AUEW (TASS), and Methodist Pauline Webb.

Poster produced for the AAM conference on ‘Women Under Apartheid’ held in London on 24 April 1976. The speakers at the conference were former political prisoners Dulcie September and Joyce Sikakane, Ethel de Keyser from the AAM, representatives of the NUS and the trade union AUEW (TASS), and Methodist Pauline Webb. 

Anti-apartheid women supporters demanded an end to police harassment of Winnie Mandela at a demonstration at South Africa House on 9 February, 1978. She was charged with breaking the banning order that confined her to Brandfort, an African township outside Bloemfontein.

ANC women picketed South Africa House to demand freedom for all women political prisoners on 7 March 1979, the eve of International Women's Day. They also called for the release of Solomon Mahlangu. In the photo are former political prisoner Dulcie September and ANC Women’s Section members Ramnie Dinat and Teresa Nannan.

Part autobiography and part a devastating indictment of apartheid, this booklet by Joyce Sikakane gives a vivid account of life in Soweto, South Africa’s largest township. The author fled South Africa in 1973 after standing trial with Winnie Mandela. The book was published by the International Defence and Aid Fund (IDAF) and distributed by the Anti-Apartheid Movement.

Women played a big role in the liberation struggles in Namibia and Zimbabwe, as well as in South Africa. This pamphlet tells the stories of Southern African women who were imprisoned and banned because they fought back against apartheid and racism. It was published by the International Defence and Aid Fund (IDAF) and distributed by the Anti-Apartheid Movement.

The AAM Women’s Committee produced this badge soon after its formation in the summer of 1980. 

Women on Merseyside set up a group to campaign for women in South Africa and Namibia in 1981, affiliated to the AAM and the SWAPO Women’s Solidarity Campaign. The group collected material aid for Namibian women refugees and material support for the ANC. In the 1980s women in many local AA groups set up women’s sub-committees or elected a women’s officer.

Leaflet publicising an event held to celebrate South African Women’s Day, 9 August 1982. The African National Congress Women’s Section was very active in London in the 1980s. It collected goods for the Charlotte Maxeke crèche and Solomon Mahlangu Freedom College in Tanzania and organised activity days for children from families of South African exiles in London.

Programme for a conference on women organised by AAM women members and the North West Regional Council of the TUC in Liverpool.

This workshop for AAM women members encouraged them to join in the activities of the AAM Women’s Committee. The workshop discussed the role of the women within the AAM and how to make women’s voices heard on other AAM committees.

One of many posters published by the Anti-Apartheid Movement to publicise the campaign for the release of political prisoners in South Africa and Namibia.

Leaflet asking AAM supporters to protest outside the South African Embassy on the opening day of the trial of Albertina Sisulu in 1983.

1984 was designated the Year of the Women by the African National Congress. This meeting in Hampstead Town Hall, organised by Southern Africa the Imprisoned Society (SATIS), the AAM Women’s Committee and SWAPO Women’s Solidaity Campaign, was one of the events held to mark the year. It highlighted the harsh conditions suffered by South African and Namibian women political prisoners.

The AAM Women’s Committee highlighted women’s role in the anti-apartheid struggle by celebrating South Africa Women’s Day, 9 August. This leaflet publicised a fundraising party in Haringey Women’s Centre, north London, in 1984.

South Africa Women’s Day was marked by a packed and enthusiastic meeting in Hackney Town Hall on 9 August 1984. The meeting was organised by the ANC’s London Women’s Committee. Left to right: ANC Women’s Section representatives Florence Maleka and Felicia Mzamo, Labour MP Joan Lestor and Glenys Kinnock. 1984 was designated the Year of the Women by the African National Congress.

Women demonstrators picketed British Nuclear Fuels plant near Preston in north-west England on 2 November 1984. Earlier in the year a group of women peace activists were gaoled after they gained entry to the BNFL’s plant at Capenhurst, Cheshire. The November picket was one of four protests at BNFL installations in Scotland and northern England. The coordinated demonstrations were part of a national week of action on Namibia organised by the AAM and Namibia Support Committee, 27 October–2 November 1984. In the 1970s and 1980s Britain imported Namibian uranium in contravention of UN resolutions declaring that South Africa’s occupation of Namibia was illegal.

Poster produced for the campaign for a boycott of South African goods. The text reads: ‘Fruit is mostly picked by black women and children in South Africa and Namibia. 60% of canned fruit and vegetables exported by South Africa is consumed by Britain and the EEC. Watch out for fresh fruit sold under the label of CAPE and OUTSPAN.’

From its formation in 1980 the AAM Women’s Committee stressed the role of South African women in opposing apartheid. This recruitment leaflet quotes the song sung by women on the Federation of South African Women’s anti-pass demonstration at the government buildings in Pretoria in 1956.

Over 500 women demonstrated outside the South Africa Embassy on International Women’s Day, 8 March 1986. They called for the release of Theresa Ramashamola, sentenced to death by the apartheid regime, and sanctions against apartheid. They also demanded immediate independence for Namibia.

Leeds Women Against Apartheid was formed in 1986 to bring together women in support of their sisters in South Africa and Namibia. The group reached out to women’s organisations in West Yorkshire, raising funds for women in Southern Africa, boycotting apartheid goods and holding day schools publicising the situation of women under apartheid. It was linked to a women’s group in Soshunguve township, near Pretoria.  This leaflet advertised a meeting held in Leeds Civic Hall in July 1986.

Poster reproducing a banner celebrating the role of women in the liberation struggle. The banner was made to commemorate Liz Hollis, a young AAM staff member who died tragically in 1986.

Resource pack showing how black women in South Africa and Namibia were doubly oppressed under apartheid by both racism and sexism. The pack also stressed the special problems of Namibian women.

The Sharpeville Six were sentenced to death in December 1985 because they were present at a protest where black collaborators were killed. One of the six was a woman, Theresa Ramashamola. After huge international protests the death sentences were commuted in July 1988.

The AAM’s 1986 annual general meeting called on the organisation to put more resources into anti-apartheid campaigning among women. This leaflet ,issued by the Women’s Anti-Apartheid Committee, asked all local AA groups to appoint a Women’s Officer and to contact the committee to co-ordinate women’s campaigning.

Leaflet advertising an afternoon of videos, exhibition and stalls in support of South African women on International Women’s Day in 1987. The afternoon was followed by a gig with Artery Band. It was organised by Ealing AA Group wih sponsorship from the London Borough of Ealing.

Poster advertising a festival held at Finsbury Park, London to celebrate South Africa Women’s Day. The main speakers were American black activist Angela Davis and ANC Western Europe representative Ruth Mompati.

Women from the ANC Women’s Section and AAM Women’s Committee demonstrated in support of Theresa Ramashamola to mark 8 March, International Women’s Day. Theresa was one of the Sharpeville Six, who were sentenced to death in December 1985 because they were present at a protest where black collaborators were killed. In December 1987 the South African Appeal Court rejected their appeal for clemency. Southern Africa the Imprisoned Society (SATIS) responded with a campaign of letters and postcards asking the British government to intervene. After huge international protests the death sentence was commuted in July 1988.

Leeds Women Against Apartheid was formed in 1986 to bring together women in support of their sisters in South Africa and Namibia. The group reached out to women’s organisations in West Yorkshire, raising funds for women in Southern Africa, boycotting apartheid goods and holding day schools publicising the situation of women under apartheid. It was linked to a women’s group in Soshunguve township, near Pretoria. This leaflet advertised an event with stalls, entertainment and discussion on International Women’s Day, 8 March 1988.

Women from the ANC Women’s Section and AAM Women’s Committee demonstrated in support of Theresa Ramashamola on 9 March, to mark International Women’s Day. Theresa was one of the Sharpeville Six, who were sentenced to death in December 1985 because they were present at a protest where black collaborators were killed. After huge international protests the death sentences were commuted in July 1988.

This multilingual leaflet publicised the rally in Hyde Park held on 17 July 1988, the eve of Mandela’s 70th birthday, as the culmination of the ‘Nelson Mandela Freedom at 70’ campaign. It was produced by the AAM Women’s Committee. The rally was attended by around 250,000 people.

‘Sisters of the Long March’ toured Britain, September–December 1988, to win support for South African workers in their long-running dispute with the British-owned company BTR Sarmcol. The Sisters were a seven-woman song and dance group from Natal. They took their show to over 20 venues all over the country. The year before, a theatre group set up by the BTR workers brought their play about the strike ‘The Long March’ to Britain. Both tours were sponsored by the British TUC and supported by the AAM. 

Front cover of a booklet about the ‘Sisters of the Long March’, a South African theatre group that toured Britain, September–December 1988, to win support for South African workers in their long-running dispute with the British-owned company BTR Sarmcol. The Sisters were a seven-woman song and dance group from Natal. They took their show to over 20 venues all over the country. The year before, a theatre group set up by the BTR workers brought their play about the strike ‘The Long March’ to Britain. Both tours were sponsored by the British TUC and supported by the AAM. 

This leaflet advertised a dayschool held in 1988 to inform British women about the living conditions of women in Southern Africa. It also aimed create greater awareness of the role of women in the anti-apartheid struggle within the AAM.

In 1989 the AAM appointed a women’s organiser and held a month of anti-apartheid action on women in March. Women all over Britain held meetings, exhibitions and demonstrations outside supermarkets selling South African and Namibian products. This leaflet advertised a women’s cabaret evening held in Tottenham, north London to raise funds to buy a minibus for the ANC’s Solomon Mahlangu Freedom College in Tanzania.

In 1989 the AAM appointed a women’s campaign organiser and held a month of anti-apartheid action on women. All over the country women organised meetings, exhibitions and demonstrations outside supermarkets selling South African and Namibian products. This poster advertised a Women’s Cabaret Evening in Tottenham, north London to raise funds to buy a minibus for the ANC’s Solomon Mahlangu Freedom College in Tanzania.

In March 1989 the AAM held a month of anti-apartheid action on women. Women all over Britain held meetings, exhibitions and demonstrations outside supermarkets selling South African and Namibian products. The month had three themes: the collection of material aid for South African and Namibian women, freedom for women prisoners and the boycott of South African and Namibian products.

Many local AA groups organised women’s campaigns in solidarity with their sisters in Southern Africa. This leaflet advertised a women only concert orgaised by Sheffield AAM women members on International Women’s Day 1989 to raise funds for women in Southern Africa.

In 1989 the AAM appointed a women’s organiser and produced this leaflet to attract new women members. The leaflet highlighted the situation of South African and Namibian women and asked women in Britain to support the AAM’s ‘Boycott Apartheid 89’ campaign.

The AAM held its first women only conference on 3 June 1989, following a Month of Action in March, which publicised the impact of apartheid on South African women. All over Britain, women held meetings, exhibitions and benefit concerts.

This women-only conference, held at Wesley House Women’s Centre in central London in 1989, discussed ideas for campaigning in solidarity with women in Southern Africa. It also talked about the position of women within the AAM and pressed for women to have a more distinctive voice.

South Devon AA Group mounted an exhibition about the lives of women and children under apartheid in the high street in Totnes, Devon in 1989.

Leaflet advertising a picket of South Africa House on International Women’s Day, 1990. South Africa continued to hold hundreds of political prisoners and detainees, including many women, after the release of Nelson Mandela in February 1990. The campaign for the release of all political prisoners was one of the priorities of the AAM in the early 1990s.

Leeds Women Against Apartheid was formed in 1986 to bring together women in support of their sisters in South Africa and Namibia. The group reached out to women’s organisations in West Yorkshire, raising funds for women in Southern Africa, boycotting apartheid goods and holding day schools publicising the situation of women under apartheid. It was linked to a women’s group in Soshunguve township, near Pretoria. This leaflet advertised a meeting with women from the African National Congress and South West Africa People’s Organisation in 1990.

Leeds Women Against Apartheid was formed in 1986 to bring together women in support of their sisters in South Africa and Namibia. The group reached out to women’s organisations in West Yorkshire, raising funds for women in Southern Africa, boycotting apartheid goods and holding day schools publicising the situation of women under apartheid. It was linked to a women’s group in Soshunguve township, near Pretoria. This poster advertised a fundraising skills auction in 1991.

Leeds Women Against Apartheid was formed in 1986 to bring together women in support of their sisters in South Africa and Namibia. The group reached out to women’s organisations in West Yorkshire, raising funds for women in Southern Africa, boycotting apartheid goods and holding day schools publicising the situation of women under apartheid. It was linked to a women’s group in Soshunguve township, near Pretoria. This poster advertised a fundraising karaoke night in November 1991.

These women were part of the Europe-wide demonstration outside a meeting of European Community Foreign Ministers held at Brocket Hall, Hertfordshire on 12 September 1992. They asked the EC to press de Klerk to take measures to end the violence in South Africa, so that negotiations for a democratic constitution could go ahead.

As soon the date of South Africa’s first democratic election was agreed, the AAM launched a ‘Countdown to Democracy’ campaign. This leaflet highlighted the special problems faced by South African women in casting their votes freely and without fear of violence.

The AAM Women’s Committee campaigned to ensure that individual women political prisoners were not forgotten. This leaflet gave details of the sentences of six women prisoners and asked people to write to the South African ambassador in London, the British Foreign Secretary and the British Red Cross calling for their release.

Set of postcards illustrating South African women’s resistance to apartheid, produced by Leeds Postcards for the International Defence and Aid Fund and distributed by the AAM.

T-shirt produced by the ANC Women’s Section. ANC women members in exile in Britain worked closely with the AAM Women’s Committee. Activities included highlighting the situation of women political prisoners and collecting goods for women in ANC camps and the Solomon Mahlangu Freedom College in Tanzania.

T-shirt produced for SWAPO Women’s Council. SWAPO women members worked with the AAM Women’s Committee to collect goods needed by women living in SWAPO camps in Angola.

Pauline Webb was a Methodist minister who began her career in the church’s Overseas Division and worked for the Methodist Missionary Society. In 1968 she attended the seminal Fourth Assembly of the World Council of Churches in Uppsala, Sweden, which led to the setting up of the Programme to Combat Racism. She served as Vice-Moderator of the WCC and later became Head of Religious Programmes at the BBC World Service. She was a strong supporter of the Anti-Apartheid Movement and spoke at numerous meetings and conferences, including the AAM’s first women’s conference in 1976.  

This is a complete transcript of an interview carried out as part of the Forward to Freedom history project in 2013.

Chitra Karve was an Anti-Apartheid Movement staff member from 1986 to 1989 and helped organise the 1988 Nelson Mandela: Freedom at 70 campaign. She was a member of the AAM Women’s and Black Solidarity Committees, and was Chair of the latter. After the formation of Action for Southern Africa (ACTSA) in 1994 Chitra was elected to ACTSA’s Executive Committee. She is currently Chair of ACTSA.

This is a complete transcript of an interview carried out as part of the Forward to Freedom history project in 2014.

Chitra Karve was an Anti-Apartheid Movement staff member from 1986 to 1989 and helped organise the 1988 Nelson Mandela: Freedom at 70 campaign. She was a member of the AAM Women’s and Black Solidarity Committees, and was Chair of the latter. After the formation of Action for Southern Africa (ACTSA) in 1994 Chitra was elected to ACTSA’s Executive Committee. She is currently Chair of ACTSA.

In this clip she recalls how the AAM Women’s Committee publicised the role played by women in opposition to apartheid within South Africa.

Jan Clements taught English as a volunteer in Angola. She was one of the founders of the Anti-Apartheid Women’s Committee and became the Secretary of the London Anti-Apartheid Committee, that coordinated the activities of local London AA groups. In 1984 she worked with Archbishop Trevor Huddleston on organising an interfaith colloquium on apartheid. She later joined the staff of the International Defence and Aid Fund, supporting the families of political prisoners in South Africa, and visited Robben Island in the early 1990s to assess the needs of prisoners on their release. She now works as a lawyer on the Guardian newspaper.

This is a complete transcript of an interview carried out as part of the Forward to Freedom AAM history project in 2013.

Elaine Unterhalter was born in South Africa and became active in politics through the National Union of South African Students (NUSAS). She left South Africa in 1975 to study in the UK, and became involved in her local Anti-Apartheid group in Hackney, north London. She was a founding member of the AAM Women’s Committee in 1981 and remained one of its leading activists until the mid-1980s, when she began to work more directly with the ANC in exile.

This is a complete transcript of an interview carried out as part of the ‘Forward to Freedom’ AAM history project in 2013.

Elaine Unterhalter was born in South Africa and became active in politics through the National Union of South African Students (NUSAS).  She left South Africa in 1975 to study in the UK, and became involved in her local Anti-Apartheid group in Hackney, north London.  She was a founding member of the AAM Women’s Committee in 1981 and remained one of its leading activists until the mid-1980s, when she began to work more directly with the ANC in exile.

In this clip she talks about the importance of the AAM Women's Committee.

The Anti-Apartheid Women’s Committee was formed in 1980 and published a regular newsletter from late 1981. The first issue highlighted the deportation of women from Cape Town to the Transkei, reported on meetings to celebrate South Africa’s Women’s Day in Cape Town and Durban and called for protests against the apartheid government’s promotion of the contraceptive drug Depo Provera among young black women.

This double issue of the Women’s Newsletter reported on a legal challenge to apartheid rules that prevented women from living with their husbands in urban areas and on the number of babies born in South African prisons. It featured articles on donations in kind by London shoppers to the ANC’s creche set up in Tanzania for South African political exiles and the role of women in building new societies in Mozambique. It also pointed out parallels between British immigration legislation and South Africa’s citizenship laws.

In August 1982 journalist, academic and former political prisoner Ruth First was assassinated by South African agents in Mozambique. She was mourned by the women who had known her as an activist in the AAM. The Women’s Newsletter obituary highlighted her biography of Olive Schreiner as a contribution to British feminism. This issue also featured the new wave of above-ground organisation among women inside South Africa and a conference held in Liverpool on how British women could support their sisters in South Africa. 

The apartheid government tried to change the racial population balance in South Africa by forcing African women to use the cheapest forms of birth control, especially Depo Provera. This issue showed how apartheid distorted women’s control over their own fertility. It also featured an interview with SWAPO Women’s Council member Frieda Williams.

Issue No. 6 of the newsletter introduced a debate column, a guest column and a letters page. The first issue for debate was the relevance of the demands of Britain’s women’s liberation movement to women in South Africa. The column argued that some demands, for example for equal pay, were the same, but others, such as access to full-time childcare, were not relevant to South African women. The newsletter also carried a report of the AAM women’s workshop held on 22 January 1983.

The May Day issue looked at the situation of women workers in Namibia and South Africa. The debate column called on the AAM to do more to involve the British black community and to appeal to people’s awareness of racism in Britain as a basis for fighting racism in South Africa.

In June 1983 three young Umkhonto we Sizwe combatants, Simon Mogoerane, Jerry Mosololi and Marcus Motaung, were hanged by the apartheid government. The newsletter reported on their mothers' bravery and asked readers to send messages of support to their families. Its guest column presented an analysis of the relation of feminist concerns and national liberation struggle by SWAPO Women’s Council member Bience Gawanas. It also carried a response from a black woman AAM member to the debate column in the previous issue questioning the argument that the AAM should ‘make a particular point of addressing itself to the Black community’.

Issue No 10 highlighted the situation of Ida Jimmy, a SWAPO member imprisoned by the apartheid government whose son was born in prison and died when he was two years old. The debate column argued that collections of material aid must be set in the context of building political support for the anti-apartheid struggle. It reported on the growth of the United Democratic Front in South Africa and the prominent role played by women in its formation.

In November 1983 the AAM Women’s Committee and the ANC Women’s Section organised a meeting to publicise the impact of forced removals on South African women, featured in the newsletter together with an exposure of the high incidence of cervical cancer. Its guest column focused on the apartheid government’s plans to destroy Cape Town’s Crossroads ‘squatter camp’. The newsletter also announced the formation of a new AAM Women’s Committee drama group in co-operation with Women in Entertainment.

This issue asked British women’s organisations to celebrate 1984 as ‘The Year of the Women’, designated by the African National Congress. Its debate column defended the decision to set up the women’s committee, partly on the grounds that women faced special obstacles in taking part in political campaigns. It also remembered the women and children who died in the South African armed forces attack on Namibian refugees at Kassinga, Angola in May 1978. Its guest column, by the Greater London Council’s Anti-Racist Year Co-ordinator Pamela Nanda, reported on the action taken by the GLC to implement its Anti-Apartheid Declaration.

Issue 13 featured an interview with veteran anti-apartheid campaigner Helen Joseph, former Secretary of the Federation of South African Women and treason trialist, for many years banned for her role in the struggle. The debate column presented an alternative perspective on the contraceptive Depo Provera, arguing that it was a convenient option for many black South African women. The issue called for the release of Albertina Sisulu and highlighted the special deprivations faced by women political prisoners.

South African Prime Minister P W Botha’s visit to Britain in 1984 provoked an unprecedented wave of opposition. This issue of the newsletter asked women to join the AAM’s demonstration against the visit on 2 June. It also celebrated the release from prison of ANC women’s leader Dorothy Nyembe and carried Part 2 of an interview with Helen Joseph.

The South African Women’s Day issue mourned ANC member Jeanette Schoon and her daughter Katryn, assassinated by a parcel bomb in Angola, where they were living in exile. Its guest column by writer Beverley Naidoo exposed the racist literature available in many British public libraries. SWAPO activist Magdalena Nghatanga joined the debate on Depo Provera, arguing that all South African women should be offered a full choice of contraceptive methods and not be forced to use Depo Provera. 

Issue 16 featured 100 years of struggle for self-determination in Namibia and the visit to Britain of three leading members of the SWAPO Women’s Council. It reported on a 1000-strong meeting in Hackney Town Hall, held to celebrate South African Women’s Day on 9 August. It reproduced an article that first appeared in the South African War Resisters Journal Resister about the role of women in armed struggle in Namibia and South Africa.

In 1984 South Africa’s townships rose in revolt, marking a new phase in the anti-apartheid struggle. The newsletter highlighted the role of women in the new militancy and sent solidarity greetings to the resurgent Federation of South African Women. A guest column by Glenys Kinnock argued that South African women were oppressed on the grounds of sex, class and colour and pledged to campaign among British women in response to their courage.

Issue 18 focused on the boycott campaign and ‘the politics of shopping’, listing products and companies that should be boycotted. In the debate column Mildred Mkandla exposed the UN Decade for Women’s failure to have any significant effect on the discrimination and exploitation faced by Southern African women.

As part of the AAM’s relaunch of the South African boycott campaign, this issue of the newsletter focused on how to refute arguments against the boycott. It called for the release of Albertina Sisulu, arrested and held in solitary confinement. It celebrated the 30_^th anniversary of the South African Congress of Trade Unions (SACTU). A guest column reported on the mushrooming of anti-apartheid campaigns in the USA

As repression spiralled in South Africa, the newsletter asked readers to campaign in Britain for support for the UDF’s demands for an end to forced removals and massacres of unarmed people. It reprinted reports from the front line on the impact of police brutality on women, including an interview with members of the Uitenhage Women’s Organisation in the Eastern Cape.

Issue 21 reported on a rare success for women workers in South Africa, who won a maternity agreement at a Metro store through their trade union CCAWUSA (Commercial, Catering and Allied Workers Union of South Africa).  It advertised a meeting to celebrate South African Women’s Day in Islington Town Hall, London and carried a review of Ellen Kuzwayo’s book, Call Me Woman. 

South African human rights lawyer Victoria Mxenge was brutally murdered by apartheid agents outside her home near Durban in August 1985. This issue of the newsletter celebrated her life and quoted from the speeches made at her funeral. It carried extracts from a new book on South African women, South African Women Speak, and reported on the AAM Health Committee’s campaign for South Africa’s expulsion from the International Planned Parenthood Federation.

Issue 23 celebrated the release from prison of SWAPO women’s leader Ida Jimmy after she had served a five-year sentence. It interviewed members of the ANC’s cultural group Amandla and asked them how British women could help in the anti-apartheid struggle. The newsletter asked readers to send messages of support to Mamike Moloise, the mother of Benjamin Moloise, a young Umkhonto we Sizwe member, who was hanged after being falsely accused of murdering a South African policeman. 

ANC Women’s Section president Gertrude Shope shared her memories of working with Albertina Sisulu, after charges against 12 UDF leaders were dropped in Pietermaritzburg. The newsletter advertised an International Women’s Day picket of South Africa House to call for the release of Theresa Ramashamola and recorded successes in the campaign for a boycott of South African goods.

Liz Hollis, AAM staff member and activist, died tragically in February 1986. The newsletter celebrated Liz’s life and carried tributes from her friends and co-workers. A round-up of local events celebrating International Women’s Day showed the growing support for the AAM all over Britain. News briefs from inside South Africa included reports on amendments to Winnie Mandela’s bail conditions, a women’s march to protest against the harassment of school pupils and the 30,000-strong funeral for ANC member Molly Blackburn in Port Elizabeth. 

Issue 26 carried an interview with Winnie Mandela, in which she endorsed the call for international sanctions against South Africa. It asked readers to help raise funds to buy sanitary towels for Namibian women living in SWAPO camps in Angola and Zambia, and to support the campaign for the release of the Sharpeville Six, sentenced to death for taking part in a township demonstration. It reported on the affiliation of Women Against Pit Closures to the Anti-Apartheid Movement.

Women from all over Britain joined the march to a Festival in London’s Clapham Common, coming together in a special women’s section. From inside South Africa the newsletter carried an interview with Nozizwe Madlala, Chair of the Natal Organisation of Women and a letter from Helene Passtoors, a Belgian citizen convicted of terrorism.

Issue 28 focused on the situation of black women workers under apartheid, with an article on women’s struggle for a living age and for political rights, and an interview with Mary Mkhanazi about the formation of the domestic workers union, South African Domestic Workers Association. It also reported on a meeting to celebrate South Africa Women’s Day, 9 August, in Hackney, East London.

News briefings on women’s resistance to apartheid inside South Africa included reports about squatter camps in the Western Cape, the arrest and imprisonment of women activists, and violence against women and children by South African police and soldiers in Namibia. A round-up of campaigning activities in Britain reported on material aid collections and a conference organised by the National Assembly of Women. The newsletter asked for support for an AAM Women’s Committee resolution to the AAM AGM proposing the appointment of an AAM Women’s Organiser.

News briefings from South Africa and Namibia reported on the launch of a trade union for domestic workers (SADWU), the arrest of striking women hospital workers and the rape of women in northern Namibia by South African soldiers. The issue advertised a conference on women in Southern Africa organised by the National Assembly of Women and the Women’s International Democratic Federation. It highlighted the detention of over 8000 children following the declaration of a State of Emergency in South Africa in June 1986. It reported on the refusal by some women’s magazines in Britain to carry ads from the TUC calling for a consumer boycott of South African goods.

Issue 31 highlighted a resolution passed by the AAM AGM recommending an increased profile for women’s work in the Movement. It reported on a conference on women in Southern Africa organised by the Women’s International Democratic Federation and carried an interview with Makhosazana Njobe from the ANC Women’s Section. Under the headline ‘Front Line Women Seek Trade Links’ it advertised earrings, textiles and handicrafts sourced by AA Enterprises from women’s co-ops in Angola and Zimbabwe.

Issue 32 featured LINKS, a women’s organisation that encouraged liaison among women’s groups set up to campaign on single issues, and reported on a meeting to celebrate International Women’s Day organised by the AAM Women’s Committee. It asked women to support the AAM’s sanctions campaign by taking part in its National Convention for Sanctions Against South Africa.

Issue 33 carried a centrespread on the growth of the South African Domestic Workers Union and the plight of domestic workers forced to leave their children with grandparents in poor rural areas. It gave advice about how to collect goods for South African and Namibian women and children living in exile in ANC and SWAPO camps in Tanzania and Angola, and asked readers to celebrate South Africa Women’s Day, 9 August, by taking action to support South African women.

Issue 34 focused on women in Namibia, celebrating Namibian Women’s Day, 10 December, and exposing the exploitation of Namibian women workers. It showed the almost total lack of medical facilities for women and looked at SWAPO’s plans for training in basic health care in a liberated Namibia.

Theresa Ramashamola was the only woman among the Sharpeville Six, who were condemned to hang because they took part in a township demonstration at which a black councillor was killed. The AAM Women’s Committee campaigned for her release and this issue of the newsletter advertised a women’s protest at the South African Embassy in London. It also carried an interview with Sister Bernard Ncube, released after being held in detention for 16 months and a report of Leeds Women Against Apartheid’s car cavalcade collecting materials for the ANC’s Solomon Mahlangu Freedom College in Tanzania.

The Anti-Apartheid Women’s Committee published a regular newsletter from its formation in 1981. This issue mourned the death of Dulcie September, assassinated in Paris by apartheid agents. It publicised the ill-treatment of young girls and women held in detention in South Africa and reported on the South African Domestic Workers Union’s living wage campaign.

In the face of Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher’s obdurate refusal to impose any form of sanctions against South Africa, the AAM called for a people’s boycott of South African goods under the slogan ‘Boycott Apartheid ’89’. The women’s newsletter advertised a special month of action on women as part of the campaign. This issue also celebrated the release from prison of Umkhonto we Sizwe member Thandi Modise and reported on the South African drama group Sisters of the Long March’s tour of Britain.