Joyce Sikakane

Joyce Nomafa Sikakane, later Sikakane-Rankin (born 1943), is a South African journalist and activist. She was detained by the Apartheid South African government for 17 months for her anti-apartheid activism.

Biography

Early life and education

Sikakane was born in 1943 to Jonathan Sikakane and Amelia Nxumalo at the Bridgeman Memorial Maternity Hospital in Johannesburg, South Africa.[1] She grew up in Soweto, the daughter of a lecturer at the University of the Witwatersrand.[1] She attended Holy Cross Primary School until the African National Congress (ANC) called for a boycott due to the Bantu Education Act and the school was closed.[2] Her parents eventually separated and she started to attend the boarding school Inanda Seminary.[2] She attended Orlando High School for a time after her mother gained custody but then returned to Inanda Seminary, from which she graduated in 1963.[2] She did not want to enroll in any colleges in South Africa again due to the Bantu Education Act, instead she decided to become a journalist.[2][1] She did later earn a Bachelor of Science Honors degree in the United Kingdom at Open University.[3]

Career and activism

Sikakane began her career in 1960 at The World, a white run newspaper that catered to a black audience.[1] In 1968, she left The World for The Rand Daily Mail, where she became the first black women to be hired by the newspaper.[2][1] At the Rand, she started to focus her writing on the impact that apartheid had on the Africans of South Africa.[1][2]

On 12t May 1969, Sikakane was detained by police under the Terrorism Act and taken to Pretoria Central Prison, where she was interrogated about the African National Congress (ANC).[1][2] She was charged under the Suppression of Communism Act and stood trial on the 1st of December in 1969 along with 21 other activists.[1] The charges were dropped on the 16th of February in 1970 but Sikakane and the other activists were re-detained shortly afterwards.[2][1] After around 17 months of detainment in total, she was released in late 1970.[2] She eventually left South Africa in 1973 and continued to work for the African National Congress (ANC) while in exile.[4][1]

Marriage

Around the same time she started at the Rand,[1] Sikakane fell in love with a Scottish doctor,[5] Ken Rankin (1939–2011),[6][4] but as interracial marriages were illegal, they could not marry. After she left South Africa, Sikakane and Rankin married in 1974 and subsequently moved to Scotland.[6]

Sikakane has five children:[1]

  • Nkosinathi
  • Nomzamo
  • Samora
  • Vikela
  • Alan

Later life

In 1977, her autobiography A Window on Soweto was published in London by the International Defence and Aid Fund.[1]

In 1994, she returned to South Africa, being employed by the South African Broadcasting Corporation until 2001.[5]

On July 29 in 1997, she gave testimony before the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) about her experiences under apartheid, including her treatment while she was in her months long detainment.[7]

In 2008, an unsent letter addressed to Sikakane from Nelson Mandela was discovered by a Nelson Mandela Foundation archivist.[8]

Other

Sikakane is among the writers featured in the anthology Daughters of Africa.[9][10]

Publications

Autobiography

  • A Window on Soweto (1977)
gollark: I also shortened the stringy names of things.
gollark: (and a written_at timestamp)
gollark: Muahahaha, header devised (it's just a map of filenames to metadata and location in file).
gollark: I'd better write this fast so it can be part of that version!
gollark: It now has a magic number which is actually a magic string because it's 16 bytes.

References
  1. "Sikakane, Joyce Nomafa (1943—) | Encyclopedia.com". www.encyclopedia.com. Retrieved 25 November 2018.
  2. Rajgopaul, Jeeva (2011-10-08). "Joyce Sikhakhane-Rankin". South African History Online. Retrieved 25 November 2018.
  3. "Joyce Sikhakhane-Rankin | The Southern African Liaison Office". www.salo.org.za. Retrieved 25 November 2018.
  4. Jeeva (8 October 2011). "Joyce Sikhakhane-Rankin". South Sfrican History Online. Retrieved 30 October 2017.
  5. Kathleen E. Sheldon (2005). Historical Dictionary of Women in Sub-Saharan Africa. Scarecrow Press. ISBN 978-0-8108-5331-7.
  6. "Professor Kenneth Rankin", The Herald, 23 July 2011.
  7. "TRC/Special Hearings". www.justice.gov.za. Retrieved 25 November 2018.
  8. "The lost letter – Nelson Mandela Foundation". www.nelsonmandela.org. Retrieved 25 November 2018.
  9. Margaret Busby (1992). Daughters of Africa: An International Anthology of Words and Writings by Women of African Descent from the Ancient Egyptian to the Present. Ballantine Books. ISBN 978-0-345-38268-9.
  10. "Joyce Sikakane" at Goodreads.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.