Women of today, myself included, stand on the shoulders of these brave women who made huge sacrifices to get to the Union Buildings and stand in silence for 30 minutes, says the writer.
THE whole month of August is usually set aside to celebrate the brave women who marched on the Union Buildings on the 9th August 1956, some 70 years ago. To many, it’s just another public holiday to go about your business. This year we had an added bonus of an extra day off because someone in their moment of stupidity or insanity (you choose which), decided that if any public holiday falls on a Sunday, then the Monday after should be a public holiday as well.
Anyway, I was quite intrigued to read a little of the behind-the-scenes of how those 20,000 women mobilised to march.
Lilian Ngoyi reflects in her book on how the leadership of the ANC at the time was not entirely sure about this march. They questioned the ability of the women being able to handle the brutality of the apartheid police. But the women were undeterred and managed to convince the leadership that all would be well and that a backup contingency plan was in place.
We focus only on the actual day of the march. The detail of the actual planning is quite stunning to say the least. It started two years before the actual march. There was no technology seven decades ago. It involved the women going door to door in the evenings, seeking the permission of the men of the house to allow their wives and daughters to join the march. The reason for going in the evening was because that was when the men had returned from work. We are talking about a time mid-winter and when it was not really safe for anyone, let alone women, to be outside.
