By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
President Cyril Ramaphosa paid tribute to African National Congress (ANC) veteran Gertrude Shope at her funeral on Saturday, hailing her as a torchbearer for women’s emancipation.
Ramaphosa delivered the eulogy at the Special Official Funeral of the late Ma Shope, who died last week Thursday.
Former President Thabo Mbeki and Former President Kgalema Motlanthe were among mourners at the stalwart and anti-apartheid activist Shope’s funeral.
Ramaphosa said, she was a celebration of a life that helped to shape South Africa’s democracy.
“Today, South Africa stands tall as a constitutional democracy that enshrines the human rights and fundamental freedoms for all. We have stood firm in our conviction that the struggle for racial equality cannot be separated from the struggle for gender equality.”
He described Ma Shope, as she was affectionately known, as a trailblazer for women’s emancipation.
Ramaphosa said South Africa’s democracy would be incomplete without the affirmation of women and their rights.
“She taught us that liberation, without the liberation of women, means our revolution is unfinished. She also taught us that democracy, without the voice of women, is a fragile and partial democracy.”
Shope was also praised for rejecting Bantu education and instead joining forces to fight for a liberated South Africa.
Ramaphosa told mourners that she refused to accept dictates that included imparting inferior education to Black children.
This, he said, was intended to prepare them for menial labour once they joined the workforce.
The president said Shope embodied the spirit of the Freedom Charter, which was a guiding document of the South Africa they envisioned 70 years ago.
At 29 she joined the ANC and soon afterwards left teaching as part of a campaign to boycott Bantu Education.
In 1966 the ANC convinced her to leave South Africa and join her husband, Mark Shope, in exile.
While in exile, Gertrude and her husband travelled frequently to lobby as representatives of the ANC. In 1991 Shope was elected president of the ANC’s Women’s League, a position she held until 1993.
She worked together with Albertina Sisulu in convening the ANC’s Internal Leadership Corps Task Force from 1990-1991. In 1994 Shope became a member of parliament in the Government of National Unity.