A dedication to Mama Helen Joseph on the 70th anniversary of the Women’s March

Seventy years after the Women's March, I find myself contemplating the spirit of Helen Joseph. On this day, we remember the words she helped immortalize: "Those words are not a slogan for a single day of remembrance. They are a living command. They are the sound of defiance that rose from the amphitheatre in Pretoria in 1956 and that continues to demand courage from every generation that refuses to bend the knee."

I return to her teachings, understanding the true meaning of her words through her guidance. Mama Helen taught me the politics of resistance and the struggle against apartheid. She showed me that the fight was not merely about laws and identity documents, but about rejecting a system built on racial domination and economic theft. Her own life exemplified this principle, making the legacy of the great women involved in the 1956 Women's March come alive.

The Women's March was organized with meticulous planning and discipline, with ordinary women refusing to comply with apartheid. The Freedom Charter, launched at the Congress of the People in Kliptown, still demands fulfilment, standing as an unpaid debt. During the bans on the ANC and other liberation movements, I witnessed Mama Helen keep alive the memory of those in exile and political prisoners.

Her Christmas Day tradition of raising a glass of champagne in solidarity with political prisoners was a powerful act of defiance and remembrance.

When the regime confined her and forbade visitors, Mama Helen would still appear at her front gate, surrounded by comrades raising fists in the black power salute. Her spirit remained unbreakable, even in the face of attacks on her home. Her unwavering support for Mama Winnie Madikizela-Mandela and her concern for the dangerous compromises in the early negotiations were a guiding light for political visionaries. Mama Helen's legacy lives on, a testament to her unyielding spirit and commitment to the struggle for justice.