The start of mass campaigns

From the book: My Spirit Is Not Banned by Frances Baard and Barbie Schreiner

In 1948, the same year that I joined the ANC and the trade union the Nationalists won the election and they became the government. That was a very bad thing and we all knew, no, things are going to be worse for us all now the Nationalists are boss. We knew now we were going to have to work very hard to change things and make things how we want them.

We started this thing of boycotts and campaigns, fighting to make things right. There used to be sympathy boycotts too. There would be a boycott of buses in Alexandra because of the fares, and then in Port Elizabeth we would boycott too so they must know that we are in solidarity with them. I know when we had a boycott in Port Elizabeth not to use the buses because of fare increases and so on, the coloured people on this side in Korsten, some of them also tried to be in sympathy with us. When they also wanted to have their boycott they wanted to know why don't we help them, even though their boycott in sympathy with us was just nothing. Ours was even quite a long boycott. I remember there was this fare increase that they wanted to make, and then too the buses were running late sometimes, and the drivers were rude. So the people were not happy about the buses and they boycotted for a long time. But I can't remember what happened with the strike if it was successful or what. There were so many campaigns that time it is hard to remember each one.

It was a very exciting time. A lot of our campaigns were very successful and we were fighting, fighting all the time. There was a lot of support for these campaigns; the people were very strong about what they wanted. The women too, they were very strong, very militant at that time, saying this is what we want and this and this and this. I think the women even surprised the men with how strong they were.

There were so many things that we organized at that time that it is hard to talk about all of them. Also it is very hard to say the ANC did this, or the Federation [of South African Women did this or the trade union did this, because we worked so closely together in that time. Chief Luthuli even said that the ANC was the shield and SACTU was the spear, meaning that we work together like the shield and spear carried by a warrior. That is how we will win the battle.

I know in Port Elizabeth we worked very closely together because one person, like myself, would be a trade union member, and at the same time a member of the Federation, and at the same time a member of the ANC. So the same people were doing lots of work in different organizations. In fact, since you couldn't join the Federation as an individual, the African women who were members of the Federation had to join the ANC first. The ANC organized the women into the Women's League, and then the Women's League would take them into the Federation. And it was the same with the coloured women too. They had their own organization, which they joined, and then they could join the Federation. And these organizations worked very closely together on many of these campaigns. And we also worked together with the trade unions. Some of those campaigns were especially successful in Port Elizabeth because we were so united and strong there.