Tributes pour in for Late Struggle Veteran Gertrude Shope

President Cyril Ramaphosa has expressed his profound sadness at the passing of veteran freedom fighter, educator, trade unionist, and former Member of Parliament, Ma Gertrude Shope, who has passed away at the age of 99 at home on Thursday May 22.

Ma Shope, as she was affectionately known, was a recipient of the official Order for Meritorious Service (Silver) in 2003, which recognized South Africans who had rendered exceptional public service.

President Ramaphosa offers his deep condolences to Ma Shope’s daughters, Ms. Lyndall Shope-Mafole and South African Ambassador to Cuba, Ms. Thaninga Shope-Linney.

He notes that their father was the late trade unionist, freedom fighter, and revolutionary intellectual Mark Shope, and their brother, Lenin Magigwane Shope, who had been South Africa’s Ambassador to Senegal, passed away in December 2020.

“We have lost an eminent national heroine and mother to our nation. During a lifetime of close to a century, Ma Shope made a monumental contribution to our struggle for a free and inclusive South Africa, while inspiring generations of women and men to emulate her commitment.”

Affectionately known as Ma-Shope, she was among the first women to mobilise against the injustices of the brutal, racist apartheid regime.

From the early days of resistance, she stood on the frontlines, participating in protest marches and galvanising communities against the atrocities committed by the oppressive minority government.

As a founding member of the Federation of South African Women and a leading figure in the African National Congress Women’s League, she emerged as a torchbearer for women’s resistance, defying systemic injustice with unmatched grace and determination.

The President highlighted Ma Shope’s sacrifice, service, and revolutionary bravery, which played out in various formations, including the African National Congress, where she was elected President of the Women’s League in 1990, the Federation of South African Women, the World Federation of Trade Unions, and the first Parliament of democratic South Africa.

“Her sacrifice included almost a quarter century in exile with her husband Mark and children in locations ranging from Botswana, Tanzania, and Zambia to the then Czechoslovakia. She organized women and communities in our country as well as international organizations to oppose apartheid and alleviate the plight of oppressed communities while the struggle was underway,” said the president.

Ramaphosa further said that Ma Shope was also listed as a co-conspirator in the Rivonia Trial, alongside notable figures such as Oliver Tambo, Joe Slovo, Ben Turok, Duma Nokwe, Joe Modise, Jack Hodgson, and others. President Ramaphosa described her as “an mbokodo that apartheid failed to erode or fracture.

The President praised Ma Shope’s vibrancy and vision as a parliamentarian in the first democratic Parliament in 1994, saying she was an exemplary first-generation parliamentarian.

“Gertrude Shope lives on in our national memory, and her life’s work is reflected in the transformation we have attained and continue to affect in our society,” he said adding that, “May her soul rest in peace.”

The Presiding Officers of Parliament have also learnt  with great sadness of the passing of Mme Shope, calling her a principled and pioneering woman, a fearless voice for justice, and a towering figure whose life embodied the spirit of South Africa’s long and painful struggle for freedom.

“As Parliament, we extend our deepest condolences to the Shope family, her comrades, and all who walked with her on the long and noble road to freedom. We bow our heads in mourning, even as we raise our voices in honour of a life lived in service of justice, peace, and human dignity.”