Women activists from South Africa

"The full African moon poured down its light from the blue sky into the wide, lonely plain. The dry, sandy earth, with its coating of stunted ‘karroo’ bushes a few inches high, the low hills that skirted the plain, the milk-bushes with their long, finger-like leaves, all were touched by a weird and almost oppressive beauty as they lay in the white light.”"

"And you do not need to. When you are seventeen this Boer-woman will go; you will have this farm and everything that is upon it for your own; but I,’ said Lyndall, ‘will have nothing. I must learn.’”"

"Very tenderly the old man looked at him. He saw not the bloated body nor the evil face of the man; but, as it were, under deep disguise and fleshly concealment, the form that long years of dreaming had made very real to him."

"It is delightful to be a woman; but every man thanks the Lord devoutly that he isn’t one."

"We have been so blinded by thinking and feeling that we have never seen the World."

"This dirty little world full of confusion, and the blue rag, stretched overhead for a sky, is so low we could touch it with our hand."

"Marriage for love is the beautifulest external symbol of the union of souls, marriage without it is the uncleanliest traffic that defiles the world."

"Men are like the earth and we are the moon; we turn always one side to them, and they think there is no other, because they don't see it—but there is."

"What need had he of experience? Experience teaches us in a millennium what passion teaches us in an hour."

"And so, it comes to pass in time, that the earth ceases for us to be a weltering chaos. We walk in the great hall of life, looking up and round reverentially. Nothing is despicable—all is meaning-full; nothing is small—all is part of a whole, whose beginning and end we know not. The life that throbs in us is a beginning and end we know not. The life that throbs in us is a pulsation from it; too mighty for our comprehension, not too small. And so, it comes to pass at last, that whereas the sky was at first a small blue rag stretched out over us, and so low that our hands might touch it, pressing down on us, it raises itself into an immeasurable blue arch over our heads, and we begin to live again."

""And she said, in a voice strangely unlike her own: “I see the vision of a poor, weak soul striving after good. It was not cut short, and in the end it learnt, through tears and much pain, that holiness is an infinite compassion for others; that greatness is to take the common things of life and walk truly among them; that”—She moved her white hand and laid it on her forehead—“happiness is a great love and much serving. It was not cut short; and it loved what it had learnt—it loved—and—”"

"“All things on earth have their price, and for truth we pay the dearest. We barter it for love and sympathy. The road to honour is paved with thorns; but on the path to truth, at every step you set your foot down on your heart.”"

"“Experience teaches us in a millennium what passion teaches us in an hour.”"

"“[O]nly the sea is like a human being . . .always moving, always something deep in itself is stirring it. It never rests; it is always wanting, wanting, wanting. It hurries on; and then it creeps back slowly without having reached, moaning. It is always asking a question and it never gets the answer.”"

"“When the curtain falls no one is ready”"

"“I am not in so great a hurry to put my neck beneath any man's foot; and I do not so greatly admire the crying of babies”"

"“If the bird does like its cage, and does like its sugar and will not leave it, why keep the door so very carefully shut?”"

"“The bees are very attentive to the flowers until their honey is done, and then they fly over them. I don't know if the flowers feel grateful to the bees, they are great fools if they do.”"

"“There are some of us who in after years say to Fate, 'Now deal us your hardest blow, give us what you will; but let us never again suffer as we suffered when we were children.' The barb in the arrow of childhood's suffering is this: its intense loneliness, its intense ignorance.”"

"“So age succeeds age, and dream succeeds dream, and of the joy of the dreamer no man knoweth but he who dreameth."

"“I am a man who believes nothing, hopes nothing, fears nothing, feels nothing. I am beyond the pale of humanity [...]”"

"“The meanest girl who dances and dresses becomes something higher when her children look up into her face and ask her questions. It is the only education we have and which they cannot take from us”"

"“I think,' said Lyndall, 'that he is like a thorn-tree, which grows up very quietly, without any one's caring for it, and one day suddenly breaks out into yellow blossoms.”"

"“why am I so alone, so hard, so cold? I am so weary of myself! It is eating my soul to its core,--self, self, self! I cannot bear this life! I cannot breathe, I cannot live! Will nothing free me from myself?' She pressed her cheek agains the wooden post. 'I want to love! I want something great and pure to lift me to itself! Dear old man, I cannot bear it any more! I am so cold, so hard, so hard; will no one help me!”"

"“I have discovered that of all cursed places under the sun, where the hungriest soul can hardly pick up a few grains of knowledge, a girls' boarding-school is the worst. They are called finishing schools, and the name tells accurately what they are. They finish everything but imbecility and weakness, and that they cultivate.”"

"“Why hate, and struggle, and fight? Let is be as it would.”"

"“For a little sould that cries oout aloud for continued personal existence for itseld and its beloved, there is no help. For the sould which know itself no more as a unit, but as part of the Universal Unit of which the Beloved also is part; which feels within itself the throb of the Universal Life; for that soul there is not death.”"

"“I have sought,” he said, “for long years I have laboured; but I have not found her. I have not rested, I have not repined, and I have not seen her; now my strength is gone. Where I lie down worn out other men will stand, young and fresh. By the steps that I have cut they will climb; by the stairs that I have built they will mount. They will never know the name of the man who made them. At the clumsy work they will laugh; when the stones roll they will curse me. But they will mount, and on my work; they will climb, and by my stair! They will find her, and through me! And no man liveth to himself and no man dieth to himself.”"

"“On the path to truth, at every step, you set your foot down on your own heart.”"

"When Olive Schreiner, aged seventeen, wrote the South African Farm, some among her friends were disappointed she had not called more upon her imagination and described wild and thrilling adventures, as her country might have suggested. "Such works," she says in her Preface to this wonderful book, "are best written in Piccadilly or the Strand; there the gifts of creative imagination, untrammelled by contact with fact, may spread their wings. Those brilliant phases and shapes are not for her to portray. Sadly she must squeeze the colour from her brush. She must paint what lies before her.""

"The Story of an African Farm by Olive Schreiner is often thought of as being the beginning of South African literature. She stood more or less alone."

"Life ought to be about living beyond one self and that despite our own challenges in life."

"Reft of a physical place in this world we can call home, exile makes us love the idea of South Africa. We are bottle-fed the dream: South Africa is not simply about non-racialism and equality but something much more profound."

"I decided I will fight them to the last drop of my blood, and I will show them that women are going to bring about change in South Africa, and we did."

"It is an individual choice you make in your life to make a difference. It is an individual choice to understand that my neighbour is not as privileged as I am. Extend your heart to those around you, and that is the democracy you should protect.It is an individual choice you make in your life to make a difference. It is an individual choice to understand that my neighbour is not as privileged as I am. Extend your heart to those around you, and that is the democracy you should protect."

"To those who oppose us, we say, Strike the woman, and you strike the rock."

"If you are to free yourselves you must break the chains of oppression yourselves. Only then can we express our dignity, only when we have liberated ourselves can we co-operate with other groups. Any acceptance of humiliation, indignity or insult is acceptance of inferiority."

"I’m not sorry. I will never be sorry. I would do everything I did again if I had to. Everything."

"It has never been about me, the person. I’ve never regarded myself as an individual, I’m just part of this whole liberation machine … I always talk about us - as we - because I’m just part of the whole collective."

"I wish to acknowledge Mama Winnie Madikizela Mandela for her efforts and steadfastness for standing with Tata Mandela before and during Tata's imprisonment and for being in the forefront of ANC's struggle for liberation."

"She is an admirable woman. Her husband, one of the leaders of the African National Congress, is imprisoned for life on our Devil's Island. As for Winnie, she never gave up the struggle. She is put in and out of prison constantly. For example, she was arrested after the events of Soweto because she had organized, in collaboration with other blacks, an association of parents that seemed, at first, insignificant but quickly became extremely important. This organization strove to eliminate the estrangement that had developed between the young blacks, who had revolted, and the older generation. This is one of the very serious problems facing the black community today, this gap between the generations. The young accuse their parents: "You allowed yourselves to become discouraged; you were afraid to take risks. Us, we are not afraid. We demonstrate; we confront the guns; we want to fight." And they radicalized their elders in an extraordinary manner. By speaking out in favor of the action of the young people, Winnie Mandela, thanks to her eminence, certainly influenced a part of the black community that until then had been traumatized by the acts of the young. That is the reason she was judged and condemned. When she is not in prison, she is placed under house arrest and thus prevented from moving about or working. For a while after the rebellions, the government permitted her to live in Soweto in her house but basically forbade her to leave or to receive anyone there. Then they did something even more horrible; they exiled her to a small village deep in the countryside. It is there that she is living at present. And the only news published about her appears when those who brave the interdiction visit her and get caught."

"He (Nelson Mandela) walked like a man who does not take the earth for granted. He took one step after another with obvious care and delight. Right next to him, Winnie Mandela stayed close, attuned and alert, and radiant."

"She was a defining symbol of the struggle against apartheid. She refused to be bowed by the imprisonment of her husband, the perpetual harassment of her family by security forces, detentions, bannings and banishment. Her courageous defiance was deeply inspirational to me, and to generations of activists."

"She suffered so much bringing up her two girls when @NelsonMandela was in prison: beaten up banned banished to remote Brandfort harassed imprisoned. Fearless defiant in face apartheid state. Remember that when correctly criticising her rogue later life"

"This work is not for yourselves. Kill that spirit of self and do not live above your people but live with them and if you can rise, bring someone with you."

"Women are the people who are going to relieve us from all this oppression and depression. The rent boycott that is happening in Soweto now [in the 1980s] is alive because of the women. It is the women who are on the street committees educating the people to stand up and protect each other"

"We are each required to walk our own road and then stop, assess what we have learnt, and share it with others. It is only in this way that the next generation can learn from those who have walked before them. We can do no more than tell our story. Then it is up to them to make of it what they will."

"She deserves so much credit for the quality of a life of service that Walter led. Her own sacrifice and service deserve as much of our respect and recognition. The naming of this Center after Walter is a tribute to her as well."

"Among these revolutionary giants was stalwart Albertina Sisulu who played a formative role in the opposition to apartheid and in building a non-racial, non-sexist and democratic South Africa...we celebrate the centenary anniversary of the life of Mama Sisulu – who took on the mantle of leadership during our darkest hours and remained a selfless servant of the people throughout her life. For her bold role in the fight for freedom, she suffered immensely at the hands of the apartheid regime. She was jailed several times for her political activities and constantly harassed by the apartheid’s security police."

"An inspirational leader. An activist. A passionate educator. A philanthropist. A woman, inspired by the idea that one can change the world, the idea that one can change the existing conditions of the people – that all South Africans are treated equal. A champion of the rights and emancipation of women."

"I cannot give up myself and my soul simply because I need some exposure."

"If I wait for someone else to validate my existence, it will mean that I’m shortchanging myself."

"Fine artists deal with finery, but I deal with painful material."

"It is personal issues that makes me do what I do, for I have been raped more than 50 times by just listening to what women who have confessed and confirmed their love for other women have been through."

"But the fact that we have one of the most advanced constitutions has had little impact on mindsets in townships. Members of our community are celebrating the constitution, but it is very different in the society."

"It is being both black and gay which is problematic."

"They should hold workshops on the constitution in all the townships - people are not aware of our rights and needs."

"Today we meet here to honour a great South African woman who made an immense contribution to the people of South Africa, a woman who although she was taken away from us and deliberately silenced, is still loved, a woman who many of us remember and still treasure through the memories we have of her."

"You who have no work, speak. You who have no homes, speak. You who have to run like chickens from the vulture, speak. Let us share our problems so that we can solve them together."

"We must share the problems so that we can solve them together. We must free ourselves. Men and women must share housework...must work together in the home and out in the world. Women must unite to fight for...rights. We have opened the way for you. We must go forward!"

"Her sustained and brave fight against unjust laws and promoting the rights of workers. She consistently pushed back against the injustices meted out on the disenfranchised."

"In Winnie Mandela’s trials and tribulations we have in microcosm the experiences of thousands of wives and mothers of political prisoners and detainees who pass through the dungeons of the apartheid regime. These torments inflicted on one woman are a vivid example of the ruthless persecution to which opponents of racism and apartheid are subjected."

"Adelaide’s servant-leadership towards marginalised communities under the apartheid state traversed to serving those who were close to her heart and in society’s margins, such as the elderly and children living with disabilities. Adelaide strongly believed in serving all members of society equally, regardless of their socio-economic status."

"I will never carry a pass!"

"We don’t work around it; we work through it. We don’t deny our feelings when they arrive or even attack us."

"Be honest about who you are and where you’re standing at the moment. Don’t rush, and have fun without focusing on the end goal."

"“There can be no equal future without the full participation of all women and girls everywhere and this is the generation to accomplish that.”"

"“Forcibly displaced women are agents of change, challenging the status quo and fighting for girls’ rights, and using their voices to demand equality.”"

"“Do not compare your step 2 to someone else’s step 10. Because immediately when you see somebody way ahead, perhaps maybe your age or not even your age, you immediately feel like you're not doing enough.”"

"“My end goal has always been to strive to become a better me.”"

"Rejection is absolutely fantastic because it is a moment of pause, evaluate and growth all at once and it's the biggest motivation your self can ever intake spiritual."

"“If you believe in something, be headstrong in something. Whoever is going to come into your life must be able to match that.”"

""Together we are much better, collaboration is key.”"

"“I have to learn to take failure in my stride, failure in work, and failure in relationships.”"

"The idea behind access and benefit sharing policy is laudable: it was created to try to harness the economic benefits of biodiversity and indigenous knowledge as a way to achieve economic and social justice, and to fund biodiversity conservation."

"Although access and benefit sharing has encouraged more equitable research partnerships in certain cases, from early on it became clear that that commercial demand for genetic resources was insufficient to incentivise biodiversity conservation."

"When I wrote Love and Courage, the Story of Insubordination, I was not just telling the story of some isolated individual operating in a bubble. It was really about my learning about the power of love and how to connect, to draw courage and be insubordinate, to injustice and to systems of injustice"

"My father used to say the person who writes the story shapes our consciousness. So it’s not just about whose stories get told, but it’s about if you are writing the story yourself, if it’s your story, if it’s your experience, the power of that is enormous. Because our stories have been written for us and they’ve been re-written. And many times we’ve been written out."

"When we were fighting against apartheid, we recognised it wasn’t just a racist state. It was a racist, capitalist and patriarchal state. And we have to understand that. So how do we actually fight against that? How do we change that"

"It’s really people who exploit the earth and humanity with fairly little consequence and then set themselves up as the people with the solution or who will fund the solutions"

"Power Systems work to fragment us. They fragment us as individual beings. And they set up these hierarchies – the hierarchy of the body, mind, heart, spirit; hierarchies of race, colour, and gender, and they set up these divisions within and between us"

"That’s how Power Systems work. They set up divisions between us. One of the most powerful things is reclaiming that connection"

"Share [your] personal intergenerational stories of [your] forebears who had defied race, culture, gender and power"

"In our country, as in all others, rape and sexual assault have been interwoven into wars of patriarchal conquest and colonisation, genocide, slavery, apartheid and capitalism. Religious texts justify violence against women and children"

"God is male – male is god’ is deeply embedded in the human psyche. Those taught to be subordinate are female and those taught to expect subordination are male. The world order mirrors apartheid and has deepened inequality and poverty. Economic, military and religious fundamentalism have increased vulnerability to misogyny, and rape and sexual abuse will affect an estimated one billion women and girls over their lifetimes"

"This is where depression regularly ends in suicide and there is no place to run for women, girls, transgendered and gender non-conforming people"

"The impending destruction of humanity and our planet, presented by climate scientists, does not penetrate the thick wall of denial and inaction, with devastating consequences for people who are poor, especially women"

"I want to incite insubordination against this in each of us. Like you, I have felt the fear and hate of subordination land on my skin, course through my blood, unsettle my nerves… its paralysis, impotent rage and helplessness"

"There is wisdom in the everyday beauty of fragile complex beings grappling with contradiction"

"We can reclaim ourselves by recognising that love is intrinsic to our being. From it we can invoke the courage to dance with our fear"

"Some people said that apartheid disappeared after removing the signs that said ‘non-Europeans’ … but the structural institutional roots of it remained. When we begin to get insubordinate, we begin to get to the roots of things. Oppressive systems thrive in our subordination"

"It’s about harnessing the power we all have within us and begin to practise moving that power. It’s about seeing the dignity in others and [seeing how] the quality of what we create together becomes substantially different"

"Without seeing the dignity in those who bear the brunt of gender-based violence, the result will be a narrow focus on the criminal justice system and not the root causes of the problem, and how we have to address this to change the reality of our own country and our world"

"From love we can invoke the courage to dance with our fear. Inherent dignity is our individual and collective birth right that underpins substantive rights. When we forget our birth right, as we often do, we can look in the mirror of ourselves, of each other, or let the rising sun remind us of the radiance we were born with"

"Was a teacher in a NYC high school and noticed absenteeism was a huge problem from the first day I stood in front of my students. I realized that parents, an essential partner to help get kids to class, were often uninformed, parents play major role in education besides we teachers."

"When a lot of other kids during breaks from school were playing or doing other fun activities, I was going to work with my dad, which maybe didn’t seem that fun at the time but I actually thought it was a pretty cool experience. Early entrepreneurship shapens mind"

"The last three years at Telkom have been intense, challenging, rewarding - overall an incredible and life-changing experience."

"It's true that past efforts have failed. There's been a lot of energy and a lot of great ideas, but it's been inconsistent."

"I've learned over the years that leadership is everything."

"I'm a very driven personality, there's no doubt about that. For success in bringing about this kind of change, you have to be pretty ruthlessly focused. I deal with intense stuff at Telkom and it's an enormous challenge and there's pain and pleasure. It's very exciting, but what if you fail? You can't fail."

"China has moved beyond the stage of imitation and has a growing community of designers and innovators."

"A visit to Shanghai begs an exploration of art, fashion, design, and technology."

"Chinese urban planning is legendary, and great thought has been devoted to public spaces."

"Learning some Mandarin can really change the overall experience."

"when they do understand, I’ve experienced more random acts of kindness in China than anywhere else."

"Leadership instability is the top challenge faced by many SOEs, and this was certainly the case at Telkom."

"Staff were quite probably going to say one thing, do another, and wait for Maseko to pass through."

"Eskom could not build up sufficient reserves to cover the costs of maintenance, replacement or new capacity."

"Eskom will have to convince creditors that there is commitment to good governance and a pathway to sustainability. Eskom’s new board is the most important first milestone. Next steps will be to urgently appoint a permanent CEO and round out the Exco in a way that demonstrates a new beginning. Eskom’s communication needs to be open, humble and give stakeholders a true reflection of the state of affairs whether good or bad."

"Stuck in a ditch on that lonely Lesotho mountain road, one can try to drive out of it, wait, or walk to the next village for help. One thing is certain. If the truck does not lift out of the ditch, it is going to be a long time before one is back on course to deliver services."

"Performance of tertiary education institutions will specifically need to be targeted. One option is to tie some part of the government’s institution grant to achieving improved governance, capacity, quality and labour market alignment."

"The fastest route back to economic activity, charted in a way that enables physical distancing, will always be the best one. It is always better to generate revenue, in companies and through tax, than it is to save companies or borrow for the shortfall."

"Young people should leave school with a recognised certificate, be channelled into post-school education and training, and then enabled to access to earning opportunities."

"The absolutely most important thing for us is that we should be investing in human capability. It is, I think, the most important ingredient to success in any high-growth developing country, and it’s something that we underplay so significantly in South Africa. I think it’s the reason we don’t make progress."

"One of the most important ways of growing, expanding and developing is to have easy movement of people between countries."

"You could see that one of the problems in the company, even though it wasn’t in a competitive market, was that people still had this idea like they were in a monopoly."

"Communications is everything for people. It’s the most fundamental thing. And people are getting cut out of communication if they’re not online. It is an incredible enabler, especially when you have an urban configuration like we do, or spatial configuration, where people are very far from opportunity. So it could be a game changer."

"I think that the key problem we face is unproductive ways of doing things. I don't think it’s the technical problem."

"If you walk away when things aren't going well, I can guarantee you it's a recipe for failure. Participation doesn't guarantee success, but that grip, commitment, and continuation step by step is what's going to make us win."

"People ask about growth. The only way to have sustained growth is actually to have inclusion. It is physically whatever anybody thinks."

"The only way to have sustained growth is by building human capability, and the reality is the economy. You know, economists, I guess, confuse people, and we're all trained to think about business, but it's not actually a bunch of businesses; it's actually a bunch of people doing a whole lot of things. It’s actually a human system, and that's how we need to treat it to move on."

"I hope of course that the women will be inspired by the lessons offered by those who are walking the path with them, and that networks of solidarity and connection would develop from this meeting. Practically, I am keen to work on a publication that would capture the insights and wisdom that emerged from the gathering"

"Equip yourself. I believe that knowledge is power. If you want to engage power and authority you need to equip yourself with knowledge. Don’t be ashamed of the knowledge that lives in your body. Equip yourself with book knowledge but also embodied knowledge."

"I went to stay with an older sister who lived in better circumstances. Her son was only three years younger than me so I essentially became like a daughter in the house."

"I became an overachiever because of my experiences of the mud. So I feel that my roots are firmly in the mud because those are the experiences that shape me…I hold the commitments that I have to gender justice, social transformation, to economic justice for women in particular…because of, and not in spite of, the muddy experiences."

"I confronted the man who had abused me. He denied abusing me, so I took him to court."

"I wake up at 4am every day; that is my work ethic. There are many things stacked against women in the workplace so we have to work doubly hard to prove ourselves."

"You have to build your own confidence and you need to do what you are passionate about, that job you would still do even if you were not getting paid to do it."

"We broke that barrier and we are continuously breaking barriers."

"Young people are the future. We need young people to take on the mantle and continue that fight to protect the hard-won gains of activists that came before them."

"“We are therefore challenged by the generation of 1976, as this law-making body, to transform through democratic means the institutions of power in our society that continue to resist and reproduce inequality and social difference.""

"As an activist legislature, our immediate task is to refashion and reengineer all our efforts to ensure clear government response to these pressing challenges."

"She also stated that the legislature would continue to involve the public in the processes and programmes of the legislature through public hearings, petition processes, sector parliaments, sittings of the house and initiatives such as Taking the Legislature to the People.""

""In light of the financial constraints and budget cuts faced by the legislature, we shall continue with more cost-curtailment measures and a reprioritization of programmes,”"

"We feel small to say thanks all the time."

"Let us be brave: we have heard of men shaking in their trousers, but who ever heard of a woman shaking in her skirt?"

"My mother firmly believed our tears shall be wiped away in the next world. I believed we should start enjoying life here."

"She can toss an audience on her little finger, get men grunting with shame and a feeling of smallness;Ezekiel Mphahlele"

"She spoke the language of the worker, and she was herself an ordinary factory worker. When she said what she stood for, she evoked emotions no other person could evoke;Winnie Madikizela-Mandela"

"Some women in the ANC had wanted the quota beefed up to one in two candidates. They failed in their bid, but it remains the only party with a quota of seats reserved for women"

"Whenever female members stood up, they were clearly not interested. They [male MPs] started talking on their own.”"

"A measured and God-fearing woman not usually given to such outbursts"

"The gender quota is not up for debate in the ruling party and their gains have given a fillip to women in more conservative parties."

"Many women say that if Parliament – the legislative arm of government – is to be the locale of power and not the executive, then women must be better trained. Many women MPs had not seen draft statutes and, having come from the trenches, were not au fait with parliamentary proceedings."

"If it weren’t for the ANC ladies and the pressure they put on the government, females would have been much worse off."

"MPs need a legal desk to explain legislation to them. When the department briefs you, you have no way of understanding. You’re not debating with effective input,”"

"Women have brought a different culture to Parliament. It’s less of a beer-swilling, let’s sort things out in the bar kind of place."

"even in the apartheid times, although there was segregation, there was all these laws that"

"And we believe in the same, and we should be calling it national core"

"What we did then was have a"

"This democracy run by this government which is a liberated country, but nothing has changed. The"

"The country is bedeviled with a lot of issues. And you know you have hardly been recovering from the one blast, or controversy, then you when you turn around, there is another volley"

"It was an unusual background and I often felt a cultural clash between my school and home environments."

"It was interesting to note that every time events in our history offered people a choice between race or class solidarity, race seemed to win. Marxists were ingenious at explaining this away, but it was all rather tortuous. Marxists have to squeeze facts into their framework, to prove the historical inevitability of the working class revolution and the demise of capitalism."

"Today this kind of analysis is entirely obsolete, but at the time it was taken as self-evident by many activists. This kind of ideology does not respect alternative views or allow an open society."

"well-staffed schools would lose teachers and under-staffed schools would gain teachers. I supported this objective, as well as the original strategy to achieve it, which would have enabled well-staffed schools to determine which posts to lose on the basis of educational criteria."

"Liberals make space for people with opposing views. I believe in the falsification principle — one must always look for reasons why one may be wrong rather."

"I must tell you that the attitude of the staff, which had been one of anger initially, changed quite fundamentally after this incident. I think what changed the dynamic was that I had experienced some of their daily reality, and the conditions under which they work."

"The challenge of transformation is to improve quality. Time management is essential but we also have to measure our performance against benchmarks. For instance we need to know how many days are spent teaching and how well learners are doing."

"Education takes the most extraordinary amount of discipline, effort and hard work. Reward is always related to this. Time management, beginning with arriving on time for lessons, is essential, but it is a very hard thing to learn."

"Thank you for such a stimulating and often controversial presentation. As they say: "Three Jews, four different opinions"."

"We apologise for holding this meeting during the month of Ramadan. We have begun at 6.30 to allow the Parliamentarians to arrive. One of the functions of the Trust is to promote intellectual debate in post democratic South Africa. We produce a pamphlet of these monthly meetings. Many thanks to Leslie Liddell."

"Jonathan Shapiro (Zapiro) will open the discussion. He has studied Architecture and Fine Art at the School of Visual Arts in New York. He is published in newspapers and educational magazines and in fact is "the cartoonist for most newspapers." Milton Shain is Director of Jewish Studies at UCT and has written and edited many books on Jewish History. He has also received numerous awards both at Jerusalem and Yale Universities."

"Whiteness Just Isn't What It Used To Be."

"The central question for whiteness in post-apartheid South Africa can be put simply: how to maintain privilege in a situation in which black people have achieved political power. Many stances to the new dispensation are available to white South Africans, but this article concerns only resistant white discourses, referred to as White Talk."

"Working with the recollections of everyday experiences of apartheid collected by the Apartheid Archives project, and drawing on the emerging theorization of ignorance in the critical philosophy of race, this article explores how an ‘ignorance contract’ – the tacit agreement to entertain ignorance – lies at the heart of a society structured in racial hierarchy. Unlike the conventional theorization of ignorance that regards ignorance as a matter of faulty individual cognition, or a collective absence of yet-to-be-acquired knowledge, ignorance is understood as a social achievement with strategic value."

"The apartheid narratives illustrate that for ignorance to function as social regulation, subjectivities must be formed that are appropriate performers of ignorance, disciplined in cognition, affect and ethics."

"Both white and black South Africans produced epistemologies of ignorance, although the terms of the contract were set by white society as the group with the dominant power."

"Contemporary post-colonial geopolitics has witnessed the changing nature of the nation state. Initially conceived of as the territorial “home” of an ethnically and racially homogenous group, the notion of the nation state is increasingly characterised by difference and complexity. There are few contexts where people are not confronted by difference in the workplace, in organisations and public spaces, and as an aspect of the general body politic. The challenge therefore is how to value what different groups may bring to the collective while, at the same time, maintaining cohesive societies. In difficult economic times, this includes rejecting policies that approach difference through segregation, expulsion and ethnic cleansing in favour of inclusive political and economic measures and equitable sharing of resources. It also requires public spaces that are characterised by accessibility and safety for all raced, gendered and differently abled bodies. For organisations, the challenges cluster around such issues as how to create environments that can bring into play the strengths of difference to promote organisational goals, while at the same time enabling employees to reach their full potential, to have their contribution valued and to feel recognised and respected."

"As current and past events show us, this is an extremely apt point. Let us not forget Germany's international human rights campaign ad which depicted a woman in a blue burqa posed next to blue trash bags. This picture and its role in advocating for women’s rights is discussed by Maya Dusenbery in Feministing, an online platform run by and for young feminists dedicated to viewing the world through a feminist lens."

"The picture couldn’t be any more clear; women wearing veils, hijabs or burqas are in need of the West’s superior morals, education and protection. Dusenbery aptly terms this campaign and the message behind it as ‘paternalistic bullshit.’ Campaigns such as this do the opposite of help women, they only serve to burden them with another obstacle to overcome, imposed by Westerners who refuse to listen with respect."

"Instead of women of colour not being recognised within the movement at all, they’re now being ‘othered’ to such an extent that the white Western feminist is cast in the role of educated saviour, and women of colour cast in the roles of uneducated victims in desperate need of feminism as the white woman sees it."

"I was born intersex. I was born with ambiguous genitalia, and for a very long time in my life I was extremely ashamed about it, and because the idea of sex and genitals is not an open conversation in African culture, it is not something that we talk about as Africans,"

"I really struggled to get clarity from my parents about who I am and, you know, ‘where I come from."

"I became so abused by the doctors to a point whereby even when I got sick, and I was seriously sick, I could not go to the doctor. The only doctors I could go to were private medical doctors but those were expensive and I could not afford them. And I was so angry at myself that I could not go to a private doctor because I needed to get an operation. That’s what I thought in my head."

"But the more I met other people like me the more I realized how privileged I am that I didn’t get an operation -- that, I’m thankful that I did not get an operation when I was born."

"Because people who did, they’re going through a very hard time at the moment because the surgeries have got very negative effects on them. So, I’m not ashamed of who I am anymore. I love myself. And I want to tell intersex people that you can’t expect people to love you if you don’t love yourself first, and to live your life because No Body Is Shameful"

"I never wanted to become an activist, all I ever wanted was to reach out and support people that had similar experiences as mine, people that felt isolated and needed someone who understood what they were going through."

"This led me to joining NGOs that claimed to support intersex people, I don’t remember many intersex people being supported but in the end I was caught up with policy meetings, legislation consultations, movement politics and eventually we all forgot about the people we were trying to serve. I had to leave and here I am constantly dealing with the guilt of “leaving the movement”."

"Access to healthcare is still difficult for the average South African, access to healthcare for an intersex person is even worse, there are only a few hospitals in the country that can cater for the needs of intersex persons with care and understanding."

"My work as an activist also involves a lot of media visibility, and it is not easy being visible. The first time I appeared in a national magazine, I had to spend an entire month avoiding calls or being alone in public."

"It is hard to talk about intersex activism in South Africa and not mention the ground breaking work of Sally Gross, a South African intersex activist and founder of the Intersex Society of South Africa."

"I am so pleased I never had surgery. The people I met, most of them, black and white, who have had surgery as babies, usually have confused parents who the doctors incorrect informed, and the children were subjected to surgery which has ended up being far more traumatic and confusing.” “We have been raised in a world that makes us feel like monsters. My advice to other intersex people is to love and accept. Only then will you make the right decision about surgery. Read and research the situation, meet others like yourself and get in touch with an intersex support group. Surgery is not a magic pill that has no consequences."

"Ifared no better at Church, where as a youth pastor I desperately tried to find a sense of belonging. When I told the pastor I was intersexed and probably wouldn’t have children I learnt that in Christian belief they deny intersexed people are not created in the likeness of God. We are a variant of sexual development, as are homosexuals."

"There is a lot of pressure (in society) to be more than what you are and, in the process, we are not having conversations that matter"

"My grandmother was able to raise 11 kids, providing for them while also holding down different jobs (as a domestic worker and in a shop)"

"I think subconsciously seeing my grandmother work so tirelessly and being a happy woman influenced me to think that I can do a bunch of things and demand more out of life for myself"

"The conversations are set under the covering theme of Love, Loss and Life, because these are broad topics. Guests get to share their experiences with loss, life and what they have learnt"

"I hope each question I ask my guests, viewers can ask themselves so they can stop and think and consider their own journeys"

"I talk to the person (guest) behind the art. Not about what you do, but who you are. And I think some of these women have been longing for a space where people can be interested in who they are outside of the drama of fame"

"It was more about the different cultures rather than about colour but we have managed to work through that and we are still learning"

"1959 was declared Anti-Pass Year by the ANC in honour of the women because we fought so bravely against the passes"

"I don't know what you mean by "tired". I can't give up because the spirit is still there. I can't help it, even if I wanted to give up. Although I can't do everything physically, the spirit still wants what I have always wanted."

"A pass is this little book you must get when you are 16, and it says where you can work, and where you can be, and if you have got work. You can't get a job without this book. And you can only get a job where they stamp your pass to say 'Johannesburg' or 'Pretoria' and so on. You must carry it with you all the time because the police can ask you, 'Where is your pass?' any time, and then you must show them. If you haven't got your pass, they put you in jail for some days or else you must pay some money to get out."

"My spirit is not banned — I still say I want freedom in my lifetime."

"Before transformation there must be the belief that transformation is possible, and the willingness to be transformed."

"If we as a world ever got even a hint of the incredible love with which God loves us, we would be living in such a different world than we do now."

"To me, authentic leadership is leadership from the heart; from the center: that one recognizes the core of one’s being and leads from that space."

"If you conceptualize leadership as power over people, Ubuntu doesn’t have a place in that conceptualization. If you conceptualize leadership as power with people, it completely changes the way you operate, even as a leader."

"Forgiveness is not easy; it can seem like an impossible task. According to Mpho, only through walking this fourfold path, we free ourselves from the endless cycle of pain and retribution."

"forgiveness is the biggest help to transition away from the stereotypical patriarchal model that both women and men suffer under."

"Privilege is there is almost nothing about you that I have to know, and yet you know so much about me."

"we have to search our souls in order to find our own truth, to understand when we have been responsible for perpetuating inequality whether explicitly or complicitly. It is a painful process, but only then can we address it."

"I am working to create a world that is good for girls."

"For girls to flourish our world must be safe, our environment clean, our planet healthy"

"For girls to flourish their voices must be heard, their choices honoured, and their right to bodily integrity affirmed."

"When girls flourish the whole world flourishes."

"like every LGBTQIA+ child who has come out of the closet only to be thrown out of the house, I feel bereft. The South African church that was the mother of my faith has disowned me."

"After the Boer War I saw that Boer and Briton would have to unite, but would they try to do it at the cost of their dark brothers"

"One of the most influential women in South Africa during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries"

"Your gift of seeing into the heart of things is so great and you have control of such exquisite language for expressing moral and spiritual aspects."

"She trained to be a teacher, refused to marry, and when she turned thirty, decided to study further at the all-female Newnham College at Cambridge"

"She rejected the Christianity of her parents and joined the philosophical and spiritualist Theosophical Society. She dressed eccentrically, favouring sandals over tight boots, and when travelling would wear two dresses at once to save the bother of having to take a suitcase"

"She was fierce to the very end. One of the last things she said was that her feet were cold"

"I put her socks on but a few moments later she asked me to take them off her"

"She led a significant life and contributed immensely to the struggle"

"Auntie Lilly remained rooted in her community and did not accept anything in return for the role she played"

"She was someone who called a spade, a spade"

"Nelson Mandela Bay mayor Eugene Johnson said Diedericks was the kind of woman she was always eager to learn from"

"Her fighting spirit, knowledge and courage were inspiring, Johnson said"

"Mabuyane said:We bid farewell to yet another colossal legend of our beloved Eastern Cape"

"We say rest in peace to Mama Diedericks, you have served your people with diligence, steadfastness, dignity, with your integrity and legacy intact"

"If Ray Alexander-Simons landed in Cape Town today, on the 7th of November 2016 and started organising workers five days later, which indeed she did when she landed in Cape Town in 1929, she would find a vastly different scenario," he said."

"the late activist would have her work cut for her, as she would find 3.11 million workers representing 25.3% of the workforce organised in trade unions, a shop steward movement which I believe has 300 000 men and women in almost every industry"

"She will have in her toolbox the most vanguard industrial labour relations, processes and procedures, rights and obligations in the Labour Relations Act"

"She will have legislation on Employment Equity, the Basic Conditions of Employment Act which incidentally updates the one Ray and her fellow unionists fought for in the late 1920s and 30s in the last century"

"She would also take a fresh look at the structure and role of the trade unions in South Africa, especially the methods of organisation and the scourge of corruption. And the duplication of trade union organisations competing against each other for members and revenue. For example, there are five unions servicing the transport industry and a large number of unions servicing the security industry - the largest security service in the world, which employs 450 000 people"

"Mrs Alexander-Simons's daughter, Ms Tanya Barben, said: "It is appropriate that the function takes place on the 7th of November for it is the date on which teenager Rachel Esther Alexandrowich (Ray Alexander) arrived in Cape Town from Latvia and it is also the anniversary of the October Revolution [which took place in Petrograd, Russia, from the 7th to the 8th of November, 1917]. She was undaunted when facing the bosses, the bargaining councils or the police forces. She sacrificed a lot, including her own family to fight for a democratic South Africa"

"Growing up in an ethnic family, food was always central. In the Jewish religion, on Friday nights you bring in the Sabbath – for us it wasn’t so much a religious occasion but more a ritualistic one."

"Research shows that out of every five shopping bags of produce we buy, we throw one away; we waste one."

"Since starting OzHarvest I’ve repurposed my life, and that has allowed me to find my true calling. I’m not special; I’m not exceptional – if there’s a lesson to learn it’s that all of us have the ability and capacity to be the best we can be."

"So when I suddenly looked at myself with this six inch ‘fro’ it made me feel like a newly born woman."

"Many white people of that apartheid-era have never really discussed that we were all raised by these loving black nannies."

"To look after me, Florrie had to leave her own family. Yet those black nannies came and went, and were considered disposable."

"Mary Burton described Cleminshaw as “a really strong and determined woman” despite being physically frail in her later years"

"One of her most important achievements was to lobby for a change to the laws on abortion,” said Burton."

"She was very alive and very alert to injustice and her concerns were for a better world;Former Cape Town mayor Gordon Oliver said"

"Bishop David Russell, who worked closely with Cleminshaw in the Christian Institute, said;She never gave up, she was indefatigable. The people who knew her were tremendously impressed by her courage"

"You will not move us today."

"The voices of the women from Lavender Hill will be heard and respected."

"I’m talking about the whole social justice system because it's not just the perpetrators. It is the victims, their families, everybody around them. So, this whole matter of bringing justice to victims has many dimensions."

"We went into it with our eyes open. We were not afraid, and we were prepared to face jail and brutality. We knew that our struggle was just."

"When we joined the struggle, we never thought of ourselves as heroes. We only thought that it was our duty."

"Women have always been in the struggle, whether in the background or in the front. Without women, the movement would never have survived."

"Never mind the wind and the rain, we’ll fight."

"I believe in anti-racism so much because I believe it's at the core of us solving so many other social issues 12 May, 2025"

"The minute we lose the ability to see the humanity in the next person that looks different from you—that's when racism is planted into the fibre of society, and that's when we desensitize ourselves to the importance of existing in a just and equitable world with people that look different from us"

"As much as the apartheid regime has no longer been constitutionalised, racism hasn't disappeared"

"I first-hand got to see racism from my identity not being welcomed or understood"

"The generation of Nelson Mandela brought political emancipation. But political emancipation doesn't exist without economic and mental emancipation"

"Laws can change, but people still have to change"

"I've realised that a big part of fighting racism deals with the mind — and the only way to unlock and liberate the mind is through access to knowledge"

"the oppressed — Black people, people of colour — need to get to a point where they take themselves out of their own mental prison and liberate their minds"

"I believe that books play a big role, especially books by Africans, in seeing representation, seeing yourself being written up in a positive light, seeing your existence reflected in the pages of literature"

"One of the things that the apartheid regime was very successful at was making all schools in rural areas and townships environments in which it's difficult to come out and be a leader in society"

"I believe that if we can work on empowering those schools, we'll definitely be doing a huge job in society"

"Poverty is a manmade crisis"

"The economy in South Africa is still divided, and wealth and poverty have opposite faces"

"The fight against racism is a fight for the betterment of all of humanity, because it determines how we will live amongst each other, and how resources will be shared"

"Young people make up a majority of the global population, but they are still not included in building a world that they are going to inherit"

"I still lived in a world where every last bit of your life was determined by your race: what kind of opportunities you're going to be exposed to, the kind of school you'll go to, the environment you’ll live in. My entire world still was determined on the basis of race."

"One of the things that made me unable to escape activism was that growing up, I experienced a huge amount of anti-Blackness, which I became very aware of just being in a family with both my parents of colour"

"I realised that you have one of two choices: either you try to speak up and see what the effects of speaking up will be, or you die in silence over the silent war you constantly find yourself in"

"I chose to speak up because I felt it was an injustice of its own for me to see the reality of the institution and still choose to be silent."

"I chose to be an activist because I don't want a generation of young South Africans to still be having the same kind of conversations about systemic and institutional racism 30 years from now"

"I was 13, 14 years old, a child basically, [and] I was receiving death threats from old white adults"

"we spoke up about something we were always taught to be silent about"

"I work in these spaces where you're constantly speaking up and you’re always pouring into other people's cups and your cup is hardly poured into"

"Black children see the diversity of the world around them and understand that just because someone doesn't look like them, that doesn't make them inferior"

"The most urgent thing that needs to happen to ensure that education is used as a tool to change the world is firstly, it needs to be accessible"

"We need to ensure that previously poorly funded schools aren't continuing to be disadvantaged now"

"So, in my journey of finding my voice to speak up against racism I began to decolonise my mind, unlocking the shackles, and unlearning the belief of looking at Eurocentric beauty as the standard for beauty"

"I then began to see my hair as not just hair but a central core element of identity"

"asking me to change my hair is like asking me to erase my blackness and you cannot separate the two"

"I hope that when children pick up my book it empowers them to feel proud of their existence and their identity and it ultimately empowers their existence and enables them to proudly be themselves"

"Your greatest power lies in proudly being yourself and that awakens a new level of consciousness"

"Societal beauty standards largely impact children’s self-esteem especially in a world where children are exposed to social media without any boundaries or limitations"

"Representation plays a huge role in prompting acceptance and inclusivity, as well as decolonising what is already represented out there, Whether It Be In Books, media outlets, or television"

"As long as we have not won the war on racism in this country, we have not won the war on hair policies"

"The hair policy is a symptom of a greater diagnosis of institutionalised racism and systemic racism"

"Too many young people are over-mentored and underfunded"

"I believe young people are not as engaged in various aspects of activism, primarily because of being excluded"

"I hope that my activism leaves a trail of impact by Empowering more people to feel empowered to see the power in their voices and use their voices to effect change around them"

"There was a pencil test [during the apartheid in South Africa],” she said. “If a pencil was put into your hair and when you shook your head, it did not slide out, you would pass for coloured, if it stayed inside you would be considered Black"

"I was being forced to assimilate to whiteness and being forced to assimilate to an image that I did not fit into"

"You can't separate any expression of Black hair from Black identity, especially because for Black people it's more than just hair"

"I’ve always kept that close to my heart, understanding that everything I do is not just for me but for those who came before me who walked so I could fly, who did not have the means to do what I do but ensured that I would"

"You don’t need to justify your place, you are valid and so is your place here"

"You are capable of being great regardless of anything anyone says."

"I would like to see a South Africa where young people and the tools to empower them — such as education, literacy and employment — are prioritised"

"The most important message is that bravery doesn't have a size or age"

"You don't have to be a famous person person to bring about change in the world or in a community"

"Before 2016, i was already someone shaped by my experiences and beliefs, preparing me for the moment I finally stood up for myself"

"Bravery can co-exist with fear"

"Fear, anxiety, self doubt is normal. But at the end of the day, bravery is doing it regardless."

"Asking me to change my hair is like asking me to erase my blackness"

"I believe no young person should abandon their childhood to fight struggles that should have been fought decades ago"

"My activism has thrust me into the public domain from a tender young age, and ultimately I spent all my teenage years growing up directly in the public eye, which at times became difficult as I had to grow up much quicker than my years in order to navigate public commentary and critique"

"the 1956 march continues to remain a “source of inspiration for me on the power that women’s voices hold and a source of inspiration to continue advocating for justice and human rights."

"A huge part of my activism has been to empower people to use their own voices to change the world and their circumstances"

"The world is changed by ordinary people that have the audacity to use their voices for change"

"I strongly believe that seeing yourself represented in the pages of books empowers one’s existence"

"I wanted to ensure that no other Black child that comes after me should ever experience this severe form of intimidation"

"Even in communities of colour, there is a lot of anti-blackness"

"Gender-based violence isn't only physical, there's TGBV (Technology-Facilitated Gender Based Violence) and a lot of it starts on social media."

"When you wear your Afro out, you are already starting your politics"

"Small acts begin in your home"

"[My conviction] is inspired by a deep desire for change and justice, and the fact that as young South African people we are defined as ‘Born-Free’, but have never had a chance to interrogate freedom and ask questions about our democracy"

"We’re not seeing enough young people at the decision-making table"

"When we demand change for the future that we’re going to inherit, we’re told we’re overly radical or that people at the [decision-making] table speak for us"

"Activism is playing such a big role in shaping the future. It’s giving young people and marginalised communities a voice to define their future,"

"South Africa is a perfect example of how destructive reform is as opposed to abolition"

"Young people also belong where policies are being drafted, where policies are being made"

"Stay genuine to your cause, constantly ensure that you listen"

"So I believe that there is power in choosing to select your thoughts in the same manner that you select clothing in the morning"

"take a seat, look at how far you've come, congratulate yourself and work on bettering yourself in whatever skills you have because we will never get a time like this ever again"

"I do not like being labelled as a born-free because I've always questioned whether the freedom is a reality"

"My activism located me at a time when I couldn’t reject it due to the conditions"

"I want a young black girl child to understand her capabilities are not limited by her physical appearance but are enhanced when she is confident and owning who she is"

"It is our duty to make sure that our future and that of future generations is safe"

"I saw a problem, and decided to act by advocating for urgent climate justice in my country to make sure no African child is left behind in the just transition to 100% renewable energy."

"Sometimes I feel like I am being used as a token."

"Since our leaders are failing us, we really should try to be active citizens and participate in these spaces as much as we can, so we can hold them to account, because no one is coming to save us"

"We do not know if we might get robbed or not, but that does not stop us from continuing our work"

"We understand the risks,” she says, “but we are willing to work regardless of them"

"I will never surrender activism because I have seen how much of a difference the work I do has made"

"It's important that everyone plays their part in making sure that our future and the future of the next generation is safe and sustainable"

"It’s very important for poor people and people of color to go to these protests and marches because they are feeling the wrath of climate change the most. It’s important for them to have a say, for their voice and their demands to be heard"

"Poetry is part of the struggle. You use the armed struggle; you use political methods… You recite a poem. It’s better than a three-hour speech. It gets to the heart of the matter. It moves people"

"On behalf of my mother, Lindiwe Mabuza we thank Rhodes University for this prestigious award. As a family, we are both humbled and honoured at the recognition of her contribution and commitment to the struggle and her beloved country, South Africa. It is most heartening that she was aware of this accolade as she received the letter from Rhodes shortly before her death. Indeed, I am convinced she is smiling down from the heavens"

"Our nation owes her an enormous debt of gratitude and appreciation for all the sacrifices she has made throughout her life as a committed freedom fighter, a determined cultural and literary activist and a champion for women’s emancipation. She was a phenomenal woman; a woman of grace; a woman of elegance; an embodiment of humility; and courage and dedication personified. Her use of poetry and other writings as a weapon against the brutal and iniquitous system of apartheid created hope for many who could not return to the place of their birth"