On Sunday, 24 August, former minister Naledi Pandor gave the Gertrude Shope Memorial Lecture, at the Gertrude Shope Annual Dialogue Forum, which serves as an institution for women to discuss issues related to African peace-building and development.
On learning of this, I felt the familiar pang that often visits me when people I know who have had an influence on my life are mentioned in conversation or publications.
You see, Ma Shope, as she was affectionately known, is one of those liberation movement heroes who is not properly recognised for her part in South Africa’s liberation; and perhaps more importantly for the impact of her stewardship in Umkhonto weSizwe and the ANC Women’s League, before its decline to the shell it is today.
In the Women’s League, Ma Shope played a key role in moulding the next generation of principled feminist leadership, among whom were my mom and her cohort. These were the women who went on to form a formidable part of the first democratic parliamentary contingent in 1994.
I remember afternoons after school spent at the then ANC headquarters, Shell House, in the early 1990s waiting for my mom to finish work before she could take me home.
It was there that the likes of Ma Shope, Mme Ruth Mompati, Ma Sisulu and others would grace the corridors and meeting rooms as they readied for the business of running the country. I remember them as larger than life, spirited and upright women who commanded respect not by virtue of titles but because of the reputation of their work, carrying themselves with an unmistakable surety of purpose.
Inspiration
I was, of course, never part of those very serious conversations but my mom would — and still does today — relay the inspiration she drew from these courageous and dignified women and how they influenced her commitment to the country and refusal to be intimidated by the hostile and murderous apartheid regime.
Shope, who died on the precipice of her centenary in May, was able to harness her admirable capacity for empathy, fierce feminist principles and razor-sharp political acumen, but above all a deep sense of humanity.
Speaking at the lecture, Pandor said: “The ANC and its Women’s League and Youth League require selfless, committed leaders for the people.”
Of Shope, she said: “She knew of the corruption that had dragged the revolutionary morality of our leaders down. She was aware of our failures at the local government level and of the inadequate capacity to serve, which is prevalent in our public service.
“She knew well about the decline of her beloved African National Congress, not just in election results, but in its ability to stay true to its role as a leader of society and to the values of serving the people.”
I imagine that Ma Shope was quite heartbroken at what the ANC and its Women’s League have become, despite having dedicated 71 years of her life to the organisation in the pursuit of being of service to our country.
The Ma Shope annual lecture should be looked on by us all as an opportunity for a reset to take inspiration from a loving and moral leadership that was willing to dedicate its life to being of service to others. DM
This story first appeared in our weekly Daily Maverick 168 newspaper, which is available countrywide for R35.
