Lilian Masediba Ngoyi
Lilian worked from 1945 to 1956 as a machinist in a clothing factory. She joined the Garment Workers Union (GWU) under Solly Sachs and soon became one of its leading figures. A tireless worker against discrimination, with a great gift as a fiery speaker, Lilian joined the ANC and worked her way up until she was president of the ANC Women's League . When FSAW was formed in 1954, she became one of its national vice-presidents, and in 1956 she was elected president. In 1955 she became the first woman to be elected to the ANC's National Executive.
Ngoyi also gained wide recognition overseas as a radical opponent of apartheid. Together with Dora Tamana she was arrested while trying to board a ship on her way to a conference in Switzerland without a passport. She addressed protest meetings against apartheid in a number of world centres, including London's Trafalgar Square.
On the 9th of August 1956 Lilian was one of the leaders of the women's anti-pass march on the Union Buildings in Pretoria. One of the most telling testimonies to her leadership skill was her masterly request for a 30 minute silence by the 20 000 women present. As Gail Smith puts it ‘For thirty minutes, a thunderous silence conveyed the message of defiance the women had come to deliver to a prime minister who refused to accept their petitions' (Daymond et al 2003, 241).
In December 1956 she was arrested for high treason along with 156 other leading activists and stood trial until 1961 as one of the accused in the Treason Trial . She was imprisoned for five months in 1960 and was first issued banning orders in October 1962, which confined her to Orlando Township in Johannesburg. In the mid-1960s she was jailed under the 90-day detention act and spent 71 days in solitary confinement. Her banning orders lapsed in 1972 but were renewed for new five-year period in 1975. Affectionately known as ‘Ma Ngoyi', she suffered heart trouble and died in March 1980 at the age of 68.
Lilian Masediba Ngoyi. © Bailey's Archives
SAHO biography
