Shanthivathie (Shanthie) Naidoo, the eldest of Manonmoney (Ama) Naidoo’s children grew up in a family that was actively involved in politics. Her parents’ home was a place for political meetings and many important leaders of the struggle were in and out of the house. Walter Sisulu in particular came often to meet with her father, Roy Naidoo. As a child, Shanthie took mass meetings, demonstrations and protests as a normal part of life. She and her siblings played meetings rather than the usual children’s games. At school, Shanthie was involved in organising school boycotts and hartals and distributing leaflets. She attended mass meetings at the Red Square where the Oriental Plaza now stands.

In 1960 Shanthie became a member of the African National Congress (ANC) and worked as an office manager for the Congress of Democrats (COD).

In 1963, when the COD was banned, she became office manager at South African Congress of Trade Unions (SACTU) and was involved in providing assistance to political detainees. She worked for SACTU for only a couple of months before she herself was banned. She had to quit her job with SACTU and went to work at Vanguard Booksellers. In 1968, Shanthie’s banning order was renewed for another five years. In June 1969, while under banning orders, she was detained under the Terrorism Act along with many others including Winnie Mandela and Joyce Sekukane. She was held in solitary confinement for a year and a week at Pretoria Central Prison.

In December 1969, while still in detention, she was brought to court to give evidence in the trial of Winnie Mandela and Joyce Sekukane. She refused to do so and was sentenced to two months imprisonment and for two months out of her year of solitary confinement, she had to wear a prison uniform. Shanthie was released in June1970.

In 1972, at the end of her second banning, she left the country on an exit permit. She went to the UK, worked for a short while for the Soviet Weekly and then with the International Defence and Aid Fund. During this time she also worked for the ANC Women’s Section and SATIS, a society dealing with people detained, tortured and sentenced to death. They organised petitions, marches and all-night vigils outside South Africa House.

In 1980, Shanthie and her fiancé, Dominic Tweedie, a British anti-apartheid activist, went to work at the ANC school, Mazimbu at Marogoro in Tanzania. Shanthie worked in the Principal’s office while Dominic, a woodwork specialist, was busy with the design and construction of the settlement at Marogoro. Shanti and Dominic got married during their year in Tanzania.

When they returned to London, Shanthie and her husband resumed their work in anti-apartheid organisations. Shanthie and Dominic returned to South in 1991 for the launch of the ANC Women’s League and have now settled in South Africa.

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