Dearest Eve,
Accept my sincere greetings for the coming year, may it usher in a new era in the progress of our struggle, I am convinced there must be a great change, we are moving to our goal, despite grievous obstacles.
Incidentally, I must apologise for my very long silence again, you must get used to me now, everything has changed, I am no longer that efficient correspondent; with more problems on my head, at times I feel I am starting to have a breakdown, my transfer to Lusaka has, contrary to expectations, aggravated the situation. I have become more unproductive, if ever I was. Can you imagine not having an office, above all being a perpetual boarder, I can't determine my way of life.
I am hoping, at least, that the latter will be soon solved, the comrades of MPLA gave us their house, which I will occupy as soon as it is cleaned, but I went away for two weeks and came back and they still hadn't cleaned it. I was attending a meeting of the NEC in Morogoro, I am leaving for Lusaka tomorrow. I was waiting here to attend the OAU meeting on Angola which was supposed to take place on the 20th, but reactionary heads of state have managed to have their way and postponed it until the 10th January, a dangerous delaying tactic, to allow fascist South Africa to entangle itself deeper and deeper in order to annihilate progressive MPLA, but the MPLA are knocking the hell out of them despite their manoeuvrings. We of the ANC have made no bones about our support of MPLA.
I was very happy to see Agnes after a long time, she does look well, the pity is that I saw her for such a short while - we were terribly pressed by the deliberations of the World Congress, which was indeed mighty impressive - the organisational part of it was fantastic. Germans are by nature are more efficient, I am convinced. The ladies from the West were astounded by this aspect of the GDR. There were over 2000 delegates from all parts of the world. We were a delegation of 10 and kept busy day and night, after official sessions we had bilateral meetings with other delegations.
We have established very good contacts, especially with anti-imperialist forces in the US. They are moved by, and feel very committed to our struggle. In all there were 9 commissions, in the main their speeches all lashed out against S.A.
In one of the meetings they collected $300 on the spot, as they went deep into their pockets, it was fantastic. What was impressive was that our delegation was multiracial, though short of an Indian. There was one coloured from London and an african, the rest from Lusaka and 3 whites: Ray Jess, Martin and Isabelle Jordan.
We felt committed to include them in our delegation, as they had done marvelous work in their International Woman's Year committees which we established, and they raised an enormous sum of money, from Bazaars, Parties, film showings, etc. All on their own, as organisers, and the money was handed over to the mother organisation for the promotion of the struggle.
They are prepared to carry on as a fund raising committee. They were very impressed by what they experienced, it was their first time attending a Congress. From London it was Hetty September, who seems to be back in the fold. Rica Hodgeson was representing Defence and Aid, naturally, as a South African she carried the banner high.
To be quite honest, I had made up my mind not to attend the Congress, to give others a chance, but at the last minute, on my arrival in Lusaka to help them in the final preparation, the women pressured me into leading it, as a public servant I had no alternative.
I hope Aggy is feeling well after the holidays, I told her she was living in the poshest hotel, one I have never stayed in, of the Bwana Mkubwas (Central Committee). Please tell her that I will attend to all her mail as soon as I am settled. She has done very well, or rather, is doing very well - especially on August 9th,
We were very impressed that you reproduced the cover of our VOW [Voice of Women - the ANC's woman's magazine], for your information, even upn to this moment we have not been able to produce a single copy, all because I have done nothing but run around from conference to conference. I hope this will come to a stop this year's end. There have been too many of them and we don't have enough personnel.
Full time politicians are too busy to attend conferences. By the way, I hope you received a copy of the conference report from Mexico. I only prepared the draft and left it with Maindy to process and dispatch.
Greetings to Tony and the boys, let me end there. I decided to drop you a line, but it's not very well thought out.
Fondest love
Sis Flo
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From the website of the Presidency of South Africa:
Profile of Florence Mophosho (1821 to 1985)
Winner of the Order of Luthuli in Silver
For her excellent contribution to the anti-apartheid struggle, braving police harassment to mobilise society for a just and democratic South Africa, and striving for gender equality.
Florence Mophosho was born the first of three children, in Alexandra, Johannesburg, in 1921. Her father was chronically ill, and her mother (who had trained as a teacher) worked as a domestic worker. Because of the need to help her mother bring up the younger children, Florence left school at Standard Six and went to work, first as a domestic worker and later in a factory.
Inspired by the Defiance Campaign of 1952, Mophosho joined the African National Congress (ANC). She was first inspired by the leaders of Alexandra, which included Alfred Nzo and T T Nkobi. As she became more involved in the ANC, she met other leaders such as Moses Kotane, J B Marks, O R Tambo and Nelson Mandela. Learning from these leaders, she grew more determined to wage the struggle against apartheid oppression.
Mophosho helped to organise the Congress of the People, which adopted the Freedom Charter. She also took part in a house-tohouse campaign in Alexandra, contributing to eliciting the demands of the people, which were later incorporated in the Freedom Charter. Later, she became a full-time organiser for the ANC and participated in many of the campaigns of that time. She was active in the women’s movement, organising, among others, the Transvaal demonstrations against passes for African women in Alexandra, and mobilising the nationwide anti-pass women’s demonstration on 9 August 1956.
In 1957, Mophosho was a member of the Alexandra Bus Boycott Committee. The repercussions of this boycott, which took place before the 1960 state of emergency and the banning of the ANC, were felt far beyond the boundaries of the then Transvaal. During the state of emergency, she went underground and continued to work as an organiser for the ANC. In the course of her work as an ANC stalwart she was arrested a number of times, before being banned in 1964.
Mophosho was instructed by the ANC to leave South Africa. She went to Lusaka and later to Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. She was sent to Berlin, in the German Democratic Republic (GDR), to represent the ANC’s Women’s Section at the Women’s International Democratic Federation, and remained in that position for four and a half years.
Mophosho met many women from all over the world. She compared their lives with those of her oppressed sisters back home. She became an internationalist. She spoke at numerous public meetings in the GDR, held radio and television interviews, and helped to strengthen the relations between the GDR, especially the women’s organisation, and the ANC.
Mophosho assisted with giving guidance to the ANC students in the GDR, drawing on her massive political experience. She had developed these qualities in South Africa, when she was a member of the Executive of the Federation of South African Women.
She was a delegate to the famous Morogoro Conference of the ANC in 1969. It was partly because of her experiences at the conference that she came to the conclusion that her role was in Africa. She returned in the early seventies and was elected in 1975 to the National Executive Committee (NEC) of the ANC. As a member of the NEC, she did her best to upgrade the women cadres in the ANC, and helped to put the Women’s Section on a higher pedestal.
Florence Mophosho stood out as an embodiment of courage, waging a multiple struggle against both racial and gender oppression. She defied the forces of apartheid oppression and was committed to the overthrow of the oppressive system. Her fight for gender equality helped raise consciousness regarding issues of gender oppression in society to an even higher level.
Florence Mophosho passed away on Women’s Day, 9 August 1985.
More on Florence Mophosho
Early Life
Florence Mophosho was born in 1921 in Alexander Township, Johannesburg. She was the first of the three children. Florence's mother was a qualified teacher, but worked as a domestic worker. Household conditions forced Florence to drop out of the school during Std 6 and look for a job to assist her mother to raise her siblings. She first worked as a domestic worker and later in a factory.
Political Life
Mophosho drew inspiration from the 1952 Defiance Campaign and joined the ANC. She came into contact with the ANC leaders in Alexander such as Alfred Nzo and T.T. Nkobi. And as her involvement in the ANC activities grew she met other leaders in other parts of the country such as Moses Kotane, Moretsele, J.B. Marks, O.R. Tambo and Nelson Mandela . Florence was instrumental in organising the Congress of the People, which adopted the Freedom Charter in 1955. Later she became full time organiser for the ANC and participated in many of the campaigns of that time. She was actively involved in the women's movement and women issues. Mophosho mobilised women in Alexander for the Transvaal demonstrations against the passes for African women. She also participated and mobilised women to participate in the nation wide anti pass women's march on 9 August 1956. She mobilised domestic workers in the urban areas and later in the rural areas, including Lichtenburg.
In 1957 Florence served in the Alexander Bus Boycott Committee. In 1960 when the government announced the state of emergency Florence went underground and continued to further ANC activities and objectives. She was detained on numerous occasions and subsequently banned in 1964. After she was banned Florence went into exile to Lusaka and later to Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania. While she was in exile the ANC and its Women's section decided to send her to Berlin in the German Democratic Republic to represent the organisation at the Women's International Democratic Federation. While she was in Germany she delivered speeches at numerous public meetings. She also conducted radio and TV interviews. She also assisted in consolidating the relations between the GDR, especially the women's organisation and the ANC. She served in that post for a period of four and half a years.
In 1969 She was a delegate to the ANC famous Morogoro Conference. She headed the Women's section to this conference. Her loyalty, commitment, sacrifice and fiery spirit to the ANC were compensated with her election to the NEC of the ANC in 1975. Her election to the NEC provided her with an opportunity to upgrade the women cadres in the ANC. She marvelously integrated the struggle for the women rights with the national liberation struggle. As a result of her unwavering commitment to the liberation struggle, she was re-elected to the NEC by the ANC conference in June 1985. Less than two months later she died in Lusaka on Women's Day, 9 August 1985. Her death was a great loss to the ANC and liberation struggle in the country.
At the funeral hundreds of mourners converged and numerous messages of condolence from all over the world were read. And the ANC leaders, President O.R. Tambo, T.T. Nkobi, S. Dlamini, D. Tloome, Chris Hani, Ray Simons - paid tribute to this Iqhawe lama Qhawe – “the hero of heroes”.
From: http://www.sahistory.org.za/
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