Annie Silinga OLG was a South African anti-pass laws and anti-apartheid political activist.
15 Facts About Annie Silinga
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Annie Silinga is known for her role as the Cape Town African National Congress Women's League President, a leader in the 1956 anti-pass Women's March to the Union Buildings in Pretoria, South Africa and the only African woman in the 1956 treason trial in South Africa.
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Annie Silinga was born in 1910 at Nqqamakwe in the Butterworth district of the Transkei, now known as the Eastern Cape, where she only completed a few years of primary school, leading to near illiteracy for most of her life afterward.
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Annie Silinga took part in the anti-pass laws in the movement's 1952 Defiance Campaign where she was arrested and served a brief jail term for civil disobedience.
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Annie Silinga served the jail sentence with her six month old baby.
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At the first conference, held in Johannesburg in April 1954, Annie Silinga was elected as part of the FEDSAW National Executive Committee It was at this meeting that the Women's Charter was written by women from different races.
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Annie Silinga returned illegally to be with her children and husband in Langa.
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In 1957, Annie Silinga appealed her case successfully on the grounds that more than 15 years' residence in Cape Town entitled her to remain there.
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On 9 August 1956, Annie Silinga led 20 000 women organised by FEDSAW who marched to the prime minister's office in Pretoria to protest the issuing of passes.
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Annie Silinga was arrested alongside other FEDSAW leaders Lilian Ngoyi and Helen Joseph, as well as ANC leaders Oliver Tambo and Nelson Mandela.
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In 1958, Annie Silinga was elected as the president of the Cape Town ANCWL in 1958.
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The apartheid government declared a state of emergency and Annie Silinga was one of the people arrested.
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Annie Silinga lived in Langa all her life and died without having carried a pass in 1984.
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Annie Silinga is remembered as one of the leaders in the anti-pass campaign during apartheid South Africa.
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Besides political work, Annie Silinga is remembered for her selfless character, having started a creche along Winnie Seqwana in Langa Township.