Pretoria - Minister for Women, Children and Persons with Disabilities, Lulu Xingwana, has saluted ANC struggle stalwart, Bertha Gxowa, for her role in the struggle for gender equality and liberation in the country.
Gxowa, one of the organisers of the women's march to the Union Buildings in 1956, passed away early on Friday morning.
In a statement, the ministry expressed its condolences at her death while paying tribute to her.
"MaGxowa dedicated all her life to the struggle for a non-racial, non-sexist and democratic South Africa," the Ministry said.
Gxowa was born on 28 November 1934, in Germiston Location. She started her working life as an office assistant for the South African Clothing Workers' Union.
Between 1956 and 1958, she was a defendant in the Treason Trial and in 1960 she was banned under the Suppression of Communism Act, a status she held in for 11 years.
After the first democratic election in 1994, Gxowa was elected to Parliament where she served as a member of the Home Affairs and Health Parliamentary Portfolio Committees from 1994 to 2004. She later served as ANC electoral commission chairperson during the 52nd ANC National Conference in Polokwane, Limpopo.
Her other activities involved sitting as chairperson on the boards of two women's skills development projects, Malibongwe and Kwazekwasa - which are both are committed to the total emancipation of women.
