Rahima Moosa

20th Century

Rahima with Lillian Ngoyi, Helen Joseph, and Sophie de Bruyn. They were the leaders of the 1956 Women’s March. Image: Scientology News

“We, the women of South Africa, wives and mothers, working women and housewives, Africans, Indians, Europeans and Coloureds, hereby declare our aim of striving for the removal of all laws, regulations, conventions and customs that discriminate against us as women, and that deprive us in any way of our inherent right to the advantages, responsibilities and opportunities that society offers to any one section of the population.” － A part of the Women’s Freedom Charter, written by Rahima Moosa and her comrades.

Armed with thousands of petitions, Rahima and her comrades Helen Joseph, Lilian Ngoyi and Sophie de Bruyn made their way up the steps of the Union buildings towards the office of prime minister Strijdom. Each petition was a voice, lifted up against the pass laws to be imposed on women of colour in South Africa. Behind them walked an army of approximately 20 000 women from across the four provinces of South Africa: An army of dignified, determined women. Rahima wore a white sari wrapped around her

pregnant stomach. The symbol of carrying the next generation of empowered, free women was not lost on many.

The Women’s March on 9 August 1956 made history. Before Rahima co-lead the march, she had lived as a defiant political activist for close to two decades. Born in the Strand near Cape Town on 14 October 1922, Rahima dropped out of school to take a more active role in labour politics. She worked with the Cape Town Food and Canning Workers Union before moving to Johannesburg and joining the Transvaal Indian Congress.

Rahima was deeply impacted by the life and work of Mahatma Gandhi (founder of the Transvaal Indian Congress), and his words guided her activism. Her work at the Congress led her to join the ANC and in 1955 she played a key role in forming the Congress of the People where the words of the Freedom Charter were formally accepted.

The apartheid government blacklisted Rahima, which meant she was constantly under police surveillance and her movement was restricted.

Rahima Moosa struggled with ongoing health problems, and she passed away in 1993, a year before South Africa’s first democratic election.

Her gravesite in the Newclare Cemetery in Johannesburg is a national heritage site.