Viola Hashe

Viola Hashe (1926-1977) was a teacher, anti-apartheid activist and trade unionist in South Africa. Hashe was also blind.[1]

Viola Hashe addresses the crowd in a poster designed by Thami Mnyele.

Biography

Hashe was born in 1926 in the Orange Free State.[2] She started working with the trade unions and joined the African National Congress (ANC) in the 1950s.[2] She became a member of the South African Congress of Trade Unions (SACTU) in the mid-1950s.[2] In 1956, she worked on the South African Clothing Workers Union (SACWU) where she became the first woman leader of an all-male South African union.[2] Hashe spoke at the SACTU conference in Durban where she discussed passes for women, since women weren't allowed to hold passes.[3]

Hashe became the first woman to be threatened with deportation under the Urban Areas Act in 1956.[2] She had the counsel of Shulamith Muller, and the order to deport her was rescinded "barely seven hours before the order was to take effect."[4] In 1963, Hashe was banned under the Suppression of Communism Act, 1950 and then "restricted to Roodepoort" until her death in 1977.[2]

Hashe influenced many people who became activists or who were already working as activists. These included Bertha Gxowa,[5] Mabel Balfour, and Mary Moodley.[6] A branch of the African National Congress Youth League is named after Hashe.[7]

See also

References
  1. Kellner, Clive (2000). Thami Mnyele and Medu Art Ensemble Retrospective. Jacana. ISBN 9781770096882.
  2. "Viola Hashe". South African History Online. 23 January 2013. Retrieved 3 September 2016.
  3. The Role of Women in the South African Trade Union Movement (PDF). Aluka. p. 14.
  4. Luckhardt; Wall. "Organize... or Starve! - The History of the SACTU". South African Congress of Trade Unions. South African History Online. Retrieved 7 September 2016.
  5. "Bertha Gxowa (1934-)". The Presidency: Republic of South Africa. Retrieved 4 September 2016.
  6. "60 Iconic Women — The people behind the 1956 Women's March to Pretoria (41-50)". Mail & Guardian. 25 August 2016. Retrieved 4 September 2016.
  7. "ANCYL Fundraises for the Elections". Soweto Urban. 1 April 2014. Retrieved 4 September 2016.
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