MARY MOODLEY, a dedicated community organiser, unionist and activist

24pp., b/w & colour illus., paperback, Lenasia, (2019)

South African trade unionist and anti-apartheid activist Mary Moodley (1913 – 1979) was involved with the South African Clothing Workers' Union, the South African Congress of Trade Unions, the African National Congress, the Federation of South African Women, the New Age newspaper and the Congress of the People. She collected demands for the Freedom Charter and participated in the 1956 Women's March. Between 1960 and 1961 she helped many people escape into exile. In 1964 she was detained for 180 days under the 90-Days Detention Law, charged with aiding and abetting known communists and transporting them out of the country, and given a suspended sentence. Upon her release, she was served with the first of three five year banning orders which restricted her to Benoni.