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Viola Hashe (1926-1977) was a teacher, anti-
Viola Hashe
Ma Hashe - True Child of Africa
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hashe, Viola People from Roodepoort 1926 births South African anti-apartheid activists South African women trade unionists 1977 deaths South African blind people Blind activists
Viola Hashe (1926-1977) was a teacher, anti-apartheid
Apartheid ( , especially South African English: , ; , ) was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. It was characterised by an ...
activist and trade union
A trade union (British English) or labor union (American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers whose purpose is to maintain or improve the conditions of their employment, such as attaining better wages ...
ist in South Africa
South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...
. Hashe was also blind.
Biography
Hashe was born in 1926 in theOrange Free State
The Orange Free State ( ; ) was an independent Boer-ruled sovereign republic under British suzerainty in Southern Africa during the second half of the 19th century, which ceased to exist after it was defeated and surrendered to the British Em ...
. She started working with the trade unions and joined the African National Congress
The African National Congress (ANC) is a political party in South Africa. It originated as a liberation movement known for its opposition to apartheid and has governed the country since 1994, when the 1994 South African general election, fir ...
(ANC) in the 1950s. She became a member of the South African Congress of Trade Unions
The South African Congress of Trade Unions (SACTU) was a national trade union federation in South Africa.
History
The federation was established in March 1955, after right wing unions dissolved the South African Trades and Labour Council in 1954 t ...
(SACTU) in the mid-1950s. In 1956, she worked on the South African Clothing Workers Union (SACWU) where she became the first woman leader of an all-male South African union. Hashe spoke at the SACTU conference in Durban
Durban ( ; , from meaning "bay, lagoon") is the third-most populous city in South Africa, after Johannesburg and Cape Town, and the largest city in the Provinces of South Africa, province of KwaZulu-Natal.
Situated on the east coast of South ...
where she discussed passes for women, since women weren't allowed to hold passes.
Hashe became the first woman to be threatened with deportation under the Urban Areas Act in 1956. She had the counsel of Shulamith Muller
Shulamith Muller (née Movshowitz, December 1922 - July 1978) was a South African lawyer, communist, and anti-apartheid activist. Muller was one of the attorneys for the 1956 Treason Trial.
Biography
Muller was born in Pretoria in December 192 ...
, and the order to deport her was rescinded "barely seven hours before the order was to take effect." In 1963, Hashe was banned under the Suppression of Communism Act, 1950
The Suppression of Communism Act, 1950 (Act No. 44 of 1950), renamed the Internal Security Act in 1976, was legislation of the national government in apartheid South Africa which formally banned the South African Communist Party, Communist Party ...
and then "restricted to Roodepoort
Roodepoort ( ) is a city in the Gauteng province of South Africa. Formerly an independent municipality, Roodepoort became part of the City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality, Johannesburg municipality in the late 1990s, along with Randburg ...
" until her death in 1977.
Hashe influenced many people who became activists or who were already working as activists. These included Bertha Gxowa
Bertha Gxowa, OLS, (née Mashaba; 26 November 1934 - 19 November 2010) was an anti-apartheid and women's rights activist and trade unionist in South Africa.
Biography
Gxowa was born in Germiston. She first attended the Thokoza Primary School ...
, Mabel Balfour, and Mary Moodley. A branch of the African National Congress
The African National Congress (ANC) is a political party in South Africa. It originated as a liberation movement known for its opposition to apartheid and has governed the country since 1994, when the 1994 South African general election, fir ...
Youth League is named after Hashe.
See also
*List of people subject to banning orders under apartheid
This is a selection of people subject to a "banning order" by the apartheid-era South African government. Banning was a repressive and extrajudicial measure used by the South African apartheid regime (1948–1994) against its political opponent ...
References
External links
Viola Hashe
Ma Hashe - True Child of Africa
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hashe, Viola People from Roodepoort 1926 births South African anti-apartheid activists South African women trade unionists 1977 deaths South African blind people Blind activists