ABSTRACT
Elizabeth Mafeking shined in the field, drawing workers into the unions with thoughtful responses to their concerns and plain language that demystified politics behind the trade union movement, but she could not escape the tedious, nuts and bolts of everyday administrative work. Welcoming the “special gifts and attitudes” that made women valuable assets to the struggle against racial discrimination, Lutuli actually suggested men learn from the example of women in their passionate protest. Reaffirming international alliances, combatting government harassment, and educating workers – both to the dignity of their own labors and more formally as a means of developing new leadership – were some of the most critical issues facing the union, and Mafeking displayed a vested interested in each. The 1958–1959 survey conducted by the South African Institute of Race Relations showed little improvement in the lives of Africans in the Union, and increased repression of leaders like banned individuals ex-Chief Inkosi Albert John Lutuli and Elizabeth Mafeking.
