#IMadeMyMark: Black Sash Movement a strong influence in Heather’s life
"The police would knock on our door and my mother would open and she would offer them tea and biscuits, meanwhile there were about 20 people hiding in our home.”
With the 2019 general elections one week away, Ward 18 Clr Heather Hart reminisced about her late mother, Joy Wright, who was one of the many women who volunteered in the Black Sash Movement.
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The Black Sash was an anti-apartheid movement founded in the mid-’50s by a group of middle-class white women who were adamant to fight tirelessly against injustice and inequality in South Africa.
“My mother always went to the Black Sash advice offices to volunteer.
“She and many other women in the community supported African women and ordinary South Africans whose lives were turned upside down by the apartheid regime. I remember my mom coming home from the office, being both angry and sad as she was fighting against absolute injustice,” said Heather.
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With the many great lessons she learned from her late mother, Heather said she was her biggest inspiration and influence.
“My mother always told me to be the voice of the voiceless.
“As cliché as it might sound, it was definitely what she stood for, and it is no surprise that I turned out the way I did.
“She also taught me there is no right way of doing the wrong thing and another important lesson was that if something is worth doing then do it right,” said Heather.
In 1963, Black Sash became inclusive to women of all races, but nevertheless, it remained mainly a “white” organisation.
In the mid-’60s, Heather started participating in the Black Sash Movement by joining in the silent vigils and protests.
“I was about 16 when I started participating and I remember how the women were not allowed to stand in a group.
“They had to be at arm’s length from each other, but they were not discouraged. We stood in lone vigil, holding posters, fighting for what was right. I also had things thrown at me,” said Heather.
Heather recalled how her mother always said she should respect the law even when the law doesn’t deserve respect.
“She would always say there was no reason to be rude.
“We had an informant at Norwood Police Station who would tell us whenever there was a raid.
“The police would knock on our door and my mother would open and she would offer them tea and biscuits, meanwhile there were about 20 people hiding in our home.”
Her mother was born in 1919 and died in March 1991, a year after Nelson Mandela was released from prison.
“My mother would always say this is a new chapter for South Africa,” said Heather.
And although her mother never got to cast her vote in the first democratic elections, as a member of the Black Sash she took part in the work to develop a new Constitution. The Black Sash engaged in extensive voter education in the run up to the 1994 first democratic elections.
Heather said just as her mother and all the women in the Black Sash Movement were desperate to turn South Africa into a better country, she is also desperate to see a better South Africa.
“If my mother was still alive today, she would be in tears. I urge everyone to value their vote as being their contribution. Your vote is your lottery ticket to what the future of this country is going to be because we don’t know what is going to happen tomorrow and good people can become bad people. But if you don’t take that lottery ticket then you are never going to win,” said Heather.
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