A RARE GIFT TO THE STRUGGLE, Ma Vesta Smith and the everyday politics of liberation

266pp., b/w & colour illus., map, paperback, Jacana, Johannesburg, 2024

ISBN: 9781431435197

Reconstructs the life history of Vesta Smith (née Mpama, 1922-2013). Born in Johannesburg's multicultural inner city, she and her family were forcibly relocated to Noordgesig in the early 1940s, an area adjoining Soweto designated for those classified as ‘coloured’. Close to the Federation of South African Women, she participated in the signing of the Freedom Charter and the 1956 Women’s March. She later joined the Young Women’s Christian Association (YWCA), where she began advocating for Christian involvement in anti-apartheid politics. Influenced by the Black Consciousness Movement, Smith worked with the South African Council of Churches, joined the Christian Institute until its ban, and assisted political detainees and student activists throughout the 1970s. Soon after the Soweto uprisings, she was imprisoned under the Internal Security Act. Her engagement with youth activism continued into the 1980s, when she supported students during the 1980 school boycotts, leading to her arrest under the Prohibition of Illegal Gatherings Act and a five-year suspended sentence. After playing an important role in the Anti-President’s Council Committee, the United Democratic Front and the Federation of Transvaal Women, she was detained in 1986 under the State of Emergency Regulations. At the time, she worked at the Legal Resources Centre and helped to establish advice centres in impoverished townships. After the advent of democracy, she remained dedicated to improving the lives of South Africa’s Black majority. Drawing on oral interviews, press coverage, archival sources and private papers, the book highlights Smith’s non-racial and non-sectarian politics and the role Christianity played in her pursuit of social justice.

"This uplifting biography of a remarkable woman, a legend in the shadows, illuminates the multi-layered essence of humanity’s struggle, from the shoots of green grass to the limitless sky." Ronnie Kasrils, author of Armed & Dangerous

"A candid and absorbing account of the life and times of Vesta Smith and activism from below; it boldly unsettles the master narrative of the liberation struggle." Ali Hlongwane, author of The Lion of Azania

Maria Suriano is Associate Professor of African History at the University of the Witwatersrand.