ABSTRACT
In this chapter the writer shares the steps she took to find the women who were held in detention in 1969 along with struggle stalwart Winnie Mandela. Finding that some of the women had died, she explains that the women who are still alive were in exile around the world, while some remained in South Africa, and how they returned to the country post-democracy.
It is important to understand the context of the Trial of 22. During the 1960s, the “second phase” of apartheid, which was when the separatist laws were deeply entrenched, the oppressive government increased the police force and gave more power to law enforcement by passing the General Law Amendment Act of 1963 – or 90-day detention law. This meant that lengthy and unsubstantiated detentions were written into law. The power of the state control at the time was described as fortified and brutal. The intention was to capture and silence those who were the driving forces behind the liberation struggle. The period was benchmarked by the Rivonia Trial, at the end of which the ANC (African National Congress) leadership was sentenced to life imprisonment on Robben Island in 1963/64.
