Lydia Kompe

Makwena Lydia Komape-Ngwenya (née Ngwenya; 6 August 1935 – 11 October 2023), also known as Lydia Kompe, was a South African politician, activist, and trade unionist. She represented the African National Congress in the National Assembly from 1994 to 2009 and in the Limpopo Provincial Legislature from 2009 to 2019.

The child of tenant farmers in the Northern Transvaal, Komape-Ngwenya rose to political prominence in the mid-1970s as one of the few senior women in the Metal and Allied Workers' Union. In 1986, she returned to the rural Transvaal, where she worked for the Black Sash and founded the Rural Women's Movement to attract greater attention to women's issues in the negotiations to end apartheid. She joined the South African Parliament after the end of apartheid. in rural Matlala, a village near Pietersburg in the former Transvaal. One of seven children, Komape-Ngwenya later described herself as the "daughter of a peasant"; she grew up on the farm of the local Lutheran Mission, where her father was deacon and raised livestock and sweet potatoes. Her family and other tenants lost their land rights in 1950 under an apartheid betterment planning scheme.

Labour and rural activism While working at the Heinemann Electric factory outside Alexandra, Komape-Ngwenya was recruited by the Metal and Allied Workers' Union (MAWU) in 1974. For example, to challenge the presumption that she would be responsible for domestic chores in the office, she drew up a chore roster for the men. She was re-elected to further terms in 1999 and 2004, representing the Limpopo constituency. Komape-Ngwenya was a member of the Portfolio Committee on Agriculture and Land Affairs, in which capacity she was involved in processing the Restitution of Land Rights Bill, a major piece of land reform legislation. She later said that, during discussions on the Bill, "I could talk from experience about the importance of women being included in that legislation." She was also a member of the Joint Monitoring Committee on the Improvement of the Quality of Life and Status of Women and supported the passage of the Maintenance Bill to grant legal recognition to customary marriages. She served two terms there, gaining re-election in 2014, and retired after the 2019 general election.

Personal life Komape-Ngwenya had three adult children, all of whom trained to be teachers. She was buried in Tsimanye, a village near Groblersdal in Limpopo, and received a special official funeral which was addressed by Limpopo Premier Stan Mathabatha and ANC Deputy Secretary-General Maropene Ramokgopa.