Holly Y. McGee - Radical Antiapartheid Internationalism and Exile: The Life of Elizabeth Mafeking

Elizabeth Mafeking was a titanic figure in the history of resistance to Apartheid in South Africa, a mother of 11 who traveled to Bulgaria to publicize the evils of racial segregation, before escaping into exile from a banning order that would have separated her from her home and family. Radical Antiapartheid Internationalism and Exile: The Life of Elizabeth Mafeking analyzes Mafekings life and the union work that cost the activist her family and home, leading to 32 desperate years in self-imposed exile. The book simultaneously sheds light on one of the many ways in which the protests of women of African descent evolved from localized issues of race-based discrimination to international, anti-colonial struggles in the mid-twentieth century.

Holly Y. McGee is an intellectual historian of black women and social movements in South Africa and the United States who specializes in oral histories, the radical transatlantic, comparative civil rights politics, and local histories of the American South. She is an Assistant Professor of History at the University of Cincinnati.

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Radical Antiapartheid Internationalism and Exile

The Life of Elizabeth Mafeking

Holly Y. McGee

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First published 2019

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2019 Holly Y. McGee

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British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: McGee, Holly Y., author.

Title: Radical antiapartheid internationalism and exile : the life of

Elizabeth Mafeking / Holly Y. McGee.

Description: New York : Routledge, 2019. | Series: Routledge studies in

modern history ; 51 | Includes index. |

Identifiers: LCCN 2018053116 (print) | LCCN 2018053756 (ebook) |

ISBN 9781315144320 (Ebook) | ISBN 9781138501447 (hardback :

alk. paper)

Subjects: LCSH: Mafekeng, Elizabeth, 19182009. | Women anti-

apartheid activistsSouth AfricaBiography. | Anti-apartheid

activistsSouth AfricaBiography. | Women labor union members

Biography. | Labor union membersBiography. | Labor unionsSouth

AfricaHistory20th century. | Anti-apartheid movements

South AfricaHistory20th century. | South AfricaPolitics and

government19481994.

Classification: LCC DT1949.M24 (ebook) | LCC DT1949.M24 M34 2019

(print) | DDC 323.168092dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2018053116

ISBN: 978-1-138-50144-7 (hbk)

ISBN: 978-1-315-14432-0 (ebk)

Typeset in Times New Roman

by Apex CoVantage, LLC

Dedicated to Mrs. Elizabeth Rokie Mafeking, who finally came home.

Lala kahle, qhawe la maqhawe .

FM.1 Map of South Africa, Lesotho, and Paarl in the Western Cape.

I have been enamored with the untold life story of Elizabeth Mafeking since 2004, shortly after first seeing her photograph in an archived newspaper at the University of Cape Town. Her bright smile, round cheeks, and kind eyes were a striking departure from the predictable images of woe that filled the pages of national newspapers of African men and women who seemed cowed by the strictures of Apartheid and resigned to their devolving status in South Africa in the 1950s. Id only begun to undertake research for my dissertation topic, which was broadly focused on black womens political activism beyond state and national boundaries, and Elizabeth Mafeking eventually became one of four women whose lives and works I included in my study. Throughout the years dedicated to research, writing, my first hire, and into the revision process for dissertation-to-manuscript publication, I could not stop seeing Elizabeth Mafekings smiling face in my minds eye, nor could I stop wondering about the unknown personal life of an activist whose public persona cost her everything. After much deliberation I settled upon a radical idea: to turn ten pages from my dissertation into a full manuscript project. A former committee member pointedly warned me not to jettison three quarters of [my] dissertation in lieu of going back to the drawing board to write a manuscript about Elizabeth Mafeking, reminding me of the time and work it might take to re-create the wheel. While it has, indeed, been difficult to re-create the wheel for the past seven years, Radical Antiapartheid Internationalism and Exile has been more than worth the effort.

I have been honored to work with dozens of scholars, archivists, language instructors, and laymen who have enriched my life both personally and professionally in the course of this project, and I would like to offer my humble thanks for their amazing aid, guidance, and direction at various points in my journey. First and foremost, my most sincere thanks to the Mafeking family. Words cannot express how much I appreciate you welcoming me into your family and allowing me to present your mothers complicated life story. I will always be grateful for your candor in our conversations, and sincerely hope I have done justice to the memory of your mother with this manuscript. The Mafeking family was one of many that consistently demonstrated the capacity for acceptance and love that is possible in a place as unique as South Africa. As such I thank my two families umndeni wakwaJikazi nomndeni wakwaMthembu for their loving care and hospitality over the years. Culture may dictate I claim a single isibongo, but my heart demands I recognize you both.