From Meadowlands to Libya: Love, family, and the betrayal of freedom - STIAS Public lecture by Siphokazi Magadla

“By surfacing women’s political awakening, education and militarisation, love is defined as the ethic that ignites women into political struggle to liberate themselves, their communities and the nation. I focus on how women defined and established romantic connection and family in the tenuous context of the transnational anti-apartheid movement,” said Siphokazi Magadla. “I also discuss how these women have had to negotiate anguish, grief, and the betrayal of the dreams and visions they had for a free and democratic South Africa.” Magadla was presenting the first STIAS Public Lecture of the second semester of 2025. STIAS Fellow Magadla is Associate Professor in Political and International Studies at Rhodes University. She teaches and researches war and militarism in Africa, the armed struggle in South Africa, women and South African foreign policy, and African feminisms, gender, and citizenship. She is the author of Guerrillas and Combative Mothers: Women and the Armed Struggle in South Africa (UKZN Press, 2023; Routledge, 2024), which won the National Institute for the Humanities and Social Sciences Award for Best Non-Fiction Monograph; the Rhodes University Vice Chancellor’s Book Award, and the Academy of Science of South Africa (ASSAf) Humanities Book Award in the Established Scholar category. She is also the co-editor of  Inyathi Ibuzwa Kwabaphambili: Theorising South African Women’s Intellectual Legacies (Mandela University Press, 2024) and Ubuntu: Curating the Archive (UKZN Press, 2014), as well as co-editor of a special issue: ‘Thirty years of Male Daughters, Female Husbands: Revisiting Ifi Amadiume’s Questions on Gender, Sex and Political Economy’ (2021) in the Journal of Contemporary African Studies. In her introduction, Uhuru Phalafala of the English Department at Stellenbosch University and STIAS Iso Lomso fellow, spoke of the need for these critical studies on women especially “those who lived history”. She described Magadla’s work as lineage work providing witnessing and a dutiful presence in the space. “In meeting them where they are, we extend ourselves in grace,” she said. In her lecture, Magadla explored how love appears in the writing of 17 women former liberation fighters who were part of South Africa’s armed struggle against apartheid. These women belonged to uMkhonto we Sizwe (MK), the military wing of the African National Congress (ANC); the Azanian People’s Liberation Army (APLA) of the Pan Africanist Congress (PAC); and, the Azanian National Liberation Army (AZANLA) of the Azanian People’s Organisation (AZAPO). She also read extracts from the chapters of some of the women including Jumaimah Modiakgotla, Malekgoloane Malapane, Ntsiki Memela-Motumu, Totsie Memela, Nontsikeleo Gabela, Elizabeth Ramaoka, Nomsa Ngcipe, Naomi Ribbon Mosholi and Thandeka Gqubule Mbeki. This book project entitled ‘S’obashaya Ngamatye’: Women and Sixty Years of the Armed Struggle in South Africa began with three writing workshops between 2022 and 2024 led by Magadla and another STIAS fellow, Makhosazana Xaba, resulting in handwritten drafts by the women – telling their own stories in their own words. “Women’s armed struggle memoirs show that the love of self, that is tied to the broader project of national liberation, is punctuated by a sense of courage, joy, adventure, longstanding solidarity, friendship and family,” said Magadla. She began by highlighting other works like Malibongwe a collection of poems by ANC women that was first published in 1981 - “You can feel the pain, violence, anger and desperation of women under apartheid as well as their courage and conviction that it would be defeated”; as well as the memoir of Ellen Kuzwayo Call me Woman in which she described the experience of young women detainees in the cells next to her -  “Just imagine how they yearned for justice, peace and love in their country of birth”; and of Peter Present Quiet Activists: A Memoir of Love, Purpose, Family and Fighting for Justice in South Africa who wrote that there is no separation between the love for freedom and justice, and romantic love. “Women became girlfriends, wives and mothers while in exile and this shaped the vision of their liberation and the vision of a democratic South Africa,” said Magadla. “There has been a deliberate brushing out of women in the armed struggle,” she continued. “The story must be told by the women themselves. There is also renewed urgency in how women want to be remembered - which aspects of the story are told and how they are told when the teller is the owner of the story. It’s important to capture their stories for posterity.” The extracts emphasised the profound impact of witnessing events like Sharpeville in 1960 which heralded the period of armed struggle and the 1976 Soweto Uprising when the women – many of whom were only teenagers - realised “the state was armed so they needed to be armed to avenge their lost brothers and sisters,” said Magadla. “Centring women’s work – lets us see how women were an active part in fantasising national freedom. They reveal missing parts of the liberation story.” “Their stories give insight into the struggles of the past, present and future,” she continued. “Love as revolution names the past, recovers the present and imagines the future.” She also emphasised that the stories provide a window into the culture within the liberation movements – including experiences of women being given low political status, their vulnerability and the need to be vigilant about their safety, as well as the lack of basic facilities like healthcare and family planning. “For many, plans to return from exile never materialised. They studied, got degrees and diplomas, qualified, got jobs and had children – all in the tenuous context of exile.” “Falling in romantic love even when it might end in separation and death. But love surfaces humanity even when war dehumanises.” “Their love for nation led to acts of courage. But there was also love and woundedness in relationships which is still play out in the gender violence struggles of today,” continued Magadla. “Freedom and love as an ongoing struggle. There is always some kind of deficit. Not just what is passed on but what is left undone and still to be struggled for.” “The memories reflect the fullness of women’s experiences. But each sits side by side with the realities of deferred freedom, inequality and gender violence,” she said. In discussion, Magadla was asked to expand on her perspectives of betrayal. “The true betrayal is the change in values – people are now caring about self-enrichment. The collective revolution mentality didn’t continue. Also, the ability to contest ideas is lost.” She was also asked about the language in which the women wrote. “They were given the option of writing in any language and also of mixing languages,” she explained. “But most wrote in English. It’s the ongoing dilemma African writers face – we want to be read in a language that sells. What we need now is podcasts in African languages that can be used on radio stations and children’s books.” “This is just the beginning,” she continued. “Many of these women are still active and working in and outside political parties. They are still working hard. But we are running out of time.” She also pointed to the need for more detailed research on the gender aspects and sexism in these organisations as well as more transnational studies to find connections in the experiences of women across liberation struggles. “There are also deep debates and contestations about what black/African and decolonial feminisms look like and how African women can untangle feminism from colonial histories of conquest. It’s a rich period for debates about African feminisms,” she said. Michelle Galloway: Part-time media officer at STIAS Photograph: SCPS Photography