What a wonderful person she is. I will be purchasing her book the first thing next week.

Mashinini was a political activist and freedom fighter who  spent many years incarcerated. Upon her release 25 years ago she wrote Strikes Have Followed Me All My Life, which was banned in South Africa at the time and it was only published some months ago.

After the birth of her youngest child in 1956, she worked in the garment and textile industry and was the first black  women to be appointed as a supervisor.

She used this position to further her aims of forming a trade union. She formed CCAWUSA in 1975, the predecessor of the biggest trade union in the retail sector, Sacccawu.

Her quest for equality didn’t end there. She fought tooth and nail for the equality of women.

In those days in most black families the women had to raise the children and  stay in the kitchen. Mashinini thought otherwise, and became the voice of the women in the townships.

One can go on forever about the trials, tribulations and triumphs of this wonderful person, but  my advice to you is to read her book.

When she was asked if she had any regrets, her answer was “no, not for the past, but for the future”.

 She is extremely worried about how the elderly are treated, the state of the education system in the country and she said that the public health sector provided better service pre-1990 to what is available today.

Mashinini has extremely strong virtues, like holding yourself accountable for what you do.

If only the modern day ANC  could follow in her footsteps.