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Politics & Governance: 9th of August 1956
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Organisations: African National Congress (ANC)
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Organisations: ANC Womens's league
Names: Ngoyi, Lilian Masediba.
Date of Birth: 1911.
Place of Birth: Pretoria, South Africa.
Date of Death: 13 March 1980.
Place of Death: Orlando Township in Johannesburg, South Africa.
Gender: Female.
In Summary: Politician and activist against apartheid. President of the ANC Women's League.
Lilian Masediba Ngoyi was born in Pretoria in 1911 to a family of six children and obtained her primary schooling in Kilnerton. She later enrolled for a nurses training course, but eventually took employment as a machinist in a clothing factory where she worked from 1945 to 1956. It was during this time that she joined the Solly Sachs-led Garment Workers Union (GWU), and later became one of its leading figures. Impressed by the spirit of ANC volunteers, she joined the ANC during the 1950 Defiance Campaign and was arrested for facilities in a post office that was reserved for white people.
Her energy and her gift as a public speaker won her rapid recognition and within a year of joining the ANC she was elected as president of the ANC Women's League. When the Federation of South African Women was formed in 1954, she became one of its national vice-presidents, and in 1956 she was elected president. In 1955, she travelled to Europe as a delegate to a conference called by the Women's International Democratic Federation and was invited by socialist delegates to tour Russia, China and other eastern bloc countries. She became a member of the Transvaal ANC executive from 1955, and in December 1956 she became the first woman ever elected to the ANC national executive committee.
On the 9th of August 1956 she led the women's anti-pass march on the Union Buildings in Pretoria, one of the largest demonstrations staged in South African history. Holding thousands of petitions in one hand, Lilian was the one who knocked on prime minister Strijdom’s door to hand over the petitions. In December 1956 Lilian was arrested for high treason along with 156 other leading figures, she stood trial until 1961 as one of the accused in the four–year-long Treason Trial. While the trial was still on and the accused out on bail, Lilian was imprisoned for five months under the 1960 state of emergency. She spent much of this time in solitary confinement. She was first issued her banning orders in October 1962, these confined her to Orlando Township in Johannesburg and forbidden to attend any gatherings. 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. During the time of her banning Lilian’s great energies were totally suppressed and she struggled to earn a descent living. Lilian Ngoyi, affectionately known as ‘Ma Ngoyi’ suffered heart trouble and she died on the 13th of March 1980 at the age of 68.