Ida Mntwana

Ida Fiyo Mntwana (5 August 1903 – March 1960) was a South African activist and dressmaker who led significant organizations promoting women's rights and opposition to apartheid.

Beginning in 1949, she led the African National Congress Women's League (ANCWL) as its first national president after succeeding Madie Hall Xuma. During the 1950s, she was elected to the ANC's (African National Congress) National Executive Committee and introduced more aggressive tactics to organize women against legislation that discriminated against the employment and mobility of women. She organized multiple large-scale protests from the Western Native Township.

Mntwana served as the Federation of South African Women's (FEDSAW) first president from 1954-1956 leading interracial initiatives to combat gender-based persecution during segregation. Her organizational skills were crucial at the 1955 Congress of the People in Kliptown, where she led freedom songs from the platform to calm the assembly and allow the passage of the Freedom Charter's provisions while delegates were surrounded by police. She and other anti-apartheid leaders were charged with subversion in the 1956-1961 Treason Trial, but they were all found not guilty.

Education and profession Ida Mntwana's political career started in 1927 when she joined the Industrial and Commercial Workers Union while working as a dressmaker. Since the union's founding in 1919, it has been the first general workers' trade union to include Black workers from all industries. She was subjected to the daily constraints of racial segregation and economic exclusion in this occupation, which was prevalent among urban Black women in early 20th-century South Africa. During this first stage, she concentrated on organizing women through campaigns to raise awareness of social and political inequalities, such as protests against discriminatory laws like pass laws and boycotts. At the foundation meeting, Ida Mntwana, a well-known member of the ANCWL, was chosen as the organization's first national president, with Ray Alexander acting as national secretary. Her choice was a reflection of her background in grassroots women's organizing and her dedication to interracial solidarity, both of which were essential components of FEWDSAW's charter, which placed a strong emphasis on equality and opposition to pass laws. Under her direction, FEDSAW grew through public protests and regional chapters, elevating the voices of women in the larger Congress Alliance. Participants escalated from previous passive resistance to direct confrontation by delivering memos emphasizing the laws' role in labor exploitation and family disruption. thumb

Later years Mntwana's uncompromising dedication to the nonviolent Congress Alliance tactic against apartheid policies was demonstrated by her participating in the lengthy Treason Trial procedures, which started in December 1956 and continued sporadically until 1961 amid accusations of high treason against anti-apartheid leaders for suspected communist-inspired actions. Although attendance was constrained by the restrictive legal environment, the event demonstrated the tenacity of women's networks in the face of increasing official crackdowns. In August 2000, Mntwana was cited as "torchbearer" during Thabo Mbeki's speech in the unveiling of South Africa's Women's Monument She earned a posthumous Order for Meritorious Service in silver in 2003 in recognition of her efforts to combat discrimination and promote women's freedom.