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15 - 22 August 20 Tel : 011 023-7588 / 011 402 - 1977 Inner-City Gazette
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Hero gets Freedom of the City
City honours one of the leaders of the 1954 March Moses Moyo moses@inner-city-gazette.co.za
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Joburg Mayor Parks Tau and Council Speaker Conny Bapela present a certificate of the Freedom of the City to Sophie De Bruyn during the conferment ceremony. Pic: Enoch Lehung
he City of Johannesburg has conferred the Freedom of the City to freedom struggle icon Sophie de Bruyn, one of the leaders of the Women’s March of 1956 to the Union Buildings in Pretoria. During the ceremony Joburg Mayor Parks Tau said through the conferment the city honours the over 20 000 women who participated in the 1956 march. “We are extending our gratitude and our enduring appreciation to the millions of brave women who preceded them, and followed them, the mothers and daughters, upon whose sacrifices a free South African society was built. We do this in Women’s Month, a period to reflect on the contribution made by women in the past, but also on their current position in society and the role they will play in future.” He said the first major collective act of defiance by women took place in 1913. “Charlotte Maxeke, who would later be-
come the galvanising force in the establishment of the ANC Women’s League, was one of the primary leaders of these protest actions. Women representing different political traditions joined together in 1954 to form the Federation of South African Women. Among the prime movers behind this, were Helen Joseph and Lilian Ngoyi. They drafted a comprehensive Women’s Charter setting out their demands in great detail and fiercely rejecting each and every aspect of the apartheid system.” Mayor Tau added that in the past 15 years Conferment of Freedom of the City to exceptional individuals has only been bestowed on five people; Walter Sisulu in 1997; Beyers Naude in 2001; Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela in 2004; Joe Slovo in 2007 and Ahmed Kathrada in 2012. “It is our honour to do this in the presence of one of the leaders of the 1956 March, Sophie De Bruyn, families of the other recipients, women leaders from our city and civil society, and so many other citizens,” he added.