Mabel Balfour

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Mabel Balfour was a South African trade unionist and an anti-apartheid activist. Balfour was first involved with the unions representing food and canning workers. [1] After many leaders in the South African Congress of Trade Unions (SACTU) were arrested in the 1956 Treason Trials, she became part of the Management Committee in 1957. [1] Balfour was considered good at keeping "the spirits of workers high during very difficult times." [2]

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Balfour was arrested in 1958 for her participation in the April Stay-At Home and sentenced to £20 or 30-days hard labor for "inciting non-white workers on the Rand." The punishment was eventually suspended. [1] In 1962, she became the General Secretary of the African Food and Canning Workers Union (A-FCWU) in Transvaal. [1] She was banned in 1963 [3] and confined to house arrest in Roodepoort. [1]

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References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Luckhardt; Wall. "Organize... or Starve! - The History of the SACTU". South African Congress of Trade Unions. South African History Online. Retrieved 5 September 2016.
  2. "Mabel Balfour". South African History Online. Archived from the original on 5 October 2016. Retrieved 5 September 2016.
  3. Berger, Iris (1992). Threads of Solidarity: Women in South African Industry, 1900-1980. Indiana University Press. p. 267. ISBN   9780852550779.