Women Activists From South Africa

"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"

"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"

"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"

"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 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"

"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."

"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."

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

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

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

"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."

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

"“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.”"

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

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

"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."

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

"I will never carry a pass!"

"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."

"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."

"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."

"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."

"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!"

"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."

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

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

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

"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 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."

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

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

"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."

"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."

"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."

"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."

"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"

"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."

"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"

"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."

"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 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."

"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."

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

"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."

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

"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."

"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."

"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."

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