Mme Dorothy Nyembe
Participated as a volunteer in the Defiance Campaign in Durban and faced imprisonment twice.
Mme joined the ANC in 1953 and she also participated fully in the establishment of the ANC Women’s League in Cato Manor. She then became the Chairperson of the Two Sticks branch committee.
She was one of the leaders who stood against the removals from Cato Manor in 1956, she also was among the leaders who lead the boycotts of the government controlled beer hall. “The beer halls were perceived to destroy traditional beer brewing, the only viable source of income for women in the townships.”
During the same year Mme Dorothy was elected as the Vice-President of the ANC Women’s League in Durban and a leading member of the Federation of South African Women (FEDSAW).
” On the 9th of August 1956, she led the Natal contingent of women to the Union Buildings in Pretoria to protest against the introduction of passes for women.
In December of that same year she was one of the 156 people arrested and charged with high treason, but the charges against her and sixty others were dropped on the 18th of December in 1957.
Mme Dorothy resumed her political work and was elected into the ANC’s National Executive Committee along with Mme Lilian Ngoyi in December 1958.”
La Nkosi Writes 