Johanna Cornelius

Johanna Catharina Cornelius (27 February 1912 – 21 June 1974) was an Afrikaner activist and trade unionist. She served as the Afrikaner Garment Workers' Union of South Africa (GWU) president after Solly Sachs.

Biography Cornelius was born in Lichtenburg, South Africa, and grew up in rural South Africa as one of nine children. Her father and grandfather both fought in the Anglo Boer War and her mother was held in a concentration camp during the war. She and her older sister, Hester Cornelius, moved to Johannesburg in the 1920s, where Johanna eventually started working in a garment factory. After she was released from jail, she spoke to the workers and encouraged them to "demand a living wage and freedom." in 1933.

Cornelius was accused in 1938 of being a "communist accomplice of Sachs and for spending all her time organising black people." and was able to successfully fight off attempts by Afrikaner nationalists who wanted to take control of the union. When Sachs was exiled from South Africa in 1952, she took over the GWU and worked that position until her death.

Cornelius died on 21 June 1974 in Johannesburg.