Linda Komape
Linda Komape was born in the Transvaal in 1949 and came into contact with apartheid at a young age when her father's land and cattle were taken away. She began work in a factory in 1975, joining the Metal and Allied Workers Union, taking an active part in the strikes of 1976. In 1977 she became an organiser for the Metal and Allied Workers Union and then moved from organising to recruiting. She founded, and became prominent in the Transport and General Workers Union. Here she worked with improving wages and conditions and by the time she left membership stood at about 24 000. She was an avid campaigner for the rights of women in the workplace.
SAHO biography
Caesarina Kona Makhoere
Caesarina was born near Pretoria in 1955. When she was a very young child her family was forcibly removed in terms of the Group Areas Act and relocated to Mamelodi. When she had completed her education she became active in politics, being particularly involved in the students' resistance to Bantu Education, the campaign that was behind the Soweto riots of 1976. In the immediate aftermath of Soweto she was arrested under Section 6 of the Security Act of 1967. A year later, after a brief period of freedom she was found guilty of recruiting people for military training in MK and was sentenced to five years imprisonment. After her release in 1982 she worked for the Black Sash counselling victims of discriminatory laws and detention ( JL Coullie 2004, 270-271).
SAHO Biograhy
