Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-g8jcs Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-21T23:54:58.608Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Zenzele: African Women's Self-Help Organizations in South Africa, 1927–1998

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 May 2014

Catherine Higgs
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract:

The Zenzele clubs of the Eastern Cape of South Africa, which date from the late 1920s, were founded by mission-educated African women who sought to improve the lives of rural African women by enhancing their subsistence farming and cooking skills and educating them about household cleanliness, basic child care, and health care. Unlike associations for African women in British colonial Africa, Zenzele clubs did not evolve into political organizations. In the white-run segregated and apartheid states that persisted through 1994, Zenzele women did not engage in direct political action; rather, they sought to unite African women across class and ethnic lines and focused their efforts on community development.

Résumé:

Résumé:

Les clubs Zenzele du cap oriental de l'Afrique du Sud datent des années 1920 lorsqu'ils ont été fondés par des Africaines éduquées par des missionnaires dont le but était d'améliorer la condition des femmes africaines en milieu rural en perfectionnant leurs compétences dans le domaine de l'agriculture de subsistance et de la cuisine, et en leur donnant une formation sur l'hygiène domestique, les rudiments de la puériculture et la santé. Contrairement aux associations pour Africaines au temps de l'Afrique coloniale britannique, les clubs Zensele ne se sont pas transformées en organisations politiques. Dans les états dominés par l'Apartheid et la ségrégation raciale, sous la domination blanche, qui ont persisté jusqu'en 1994, les femmes Zenzele ne se sont pas engagées directement dans l'activisme politique. Elles ont plutôt cherché à unifier les Africaines au-delà des barrières sociales et ethniques et ont concentré leurs efforts sur le développement des communautés.

Type
Research Article
Information
African Studies Review , Volume 47 , Issue 3 , December 2004 , pp. 119 - 141
Copyright
Copyright © African Studies Association 2004

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

References

Archival Sources

Note: The National Archives of South Africa (NASA) are located in Pretoria, South Africa. The Cory Library for Historical Research (CLHR) is located in the Rhodes University Library in Grahamstown, South Africa. The University of the Witwatersrand Library (UWL) Historical and Literary Papers are located in the William Cullen Library at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa.

CLHR (Cory Library for Historical Research).

1962–1994. V. Boniwe Moleshe Papers (hereafter Moleshe Papers). Zenzele Minute Book. “Minutes of the Ciskeian Zenzele Women's Association.”Google Scholar
1975. Linda Mahlasela Papers. “The Ciskeian Zenzele Women's Association.” Dec. 2.Google Scholar
[1986]. Mdyesha Papers. “Federation of Women's Clubs of Southern Africa.”Google Scholar
1988a. Harriet M. Mdyesha Papers (hereafter Mdyesha Papers). “Minutes of the Federation Executive Meeting, May 28.”Google Scholar
[1988]b. Virginia N. Nabe Papers (hereafter Nabe Papers). “Federation of Women of Southern Africa,” Dec. 16–18.Google Scholar
1990. Nabe Papers. “Zenzele Federation of Women's Association, 12th Biennial Conference,” August 31-Sept. 2.Google Scholar
[1991]a. Mdyesha Papers. “Ciskei Association Report.”Google Scholar
1991b. Nabe Papers. [Federation of Women's Clubs of South Africa] “General Meeting,” Sept. 2.Google Scholar
1992. Mdyesha Papers. “13th Biennial Conference of Federation of Women's Associations of S.A.,” Dec. 11–13.Google Scholar
1994. Mdyesha Papers. “Minutes of the 14th Biennial Conference of the Federation of Women's Clubs of Southern Africa Held in Umtatata,” Sept. 23–25.”Google Scholar
1996. Mdyesha Papers. H. Mdyesha to Floyd J. Malveau, Oct. 4, 1996; H. Mdyesha to Dr. Ndaki, July 23, 1996.Google Scholar
[1997]. Moleshe Papers. “Ciskeian Zenzele Women's Association. Associated Country Women of the World. Evaluation Workshop Manual.”Google Scholar
[1938]a. NTS 7243 177/326. Annual Report of the African Women Self-Improvement Association.Google Scholar
1938b. NTS 7244 181/326. Report on the Bantu Women's Home Improvement Association for 1938.Google Scholar
1939a. NTS 7243 177/326. Daily Dispatch, Sept. 4.Google Scholar
1939b. NTS 7243 177/326. Secretary for Native Affairs to J. D. Rheinallt Jones, Sept. 2.Google Scholar
1939c. NTS 7243 177/326. Chief Native Commissioner, King William's Town to Secretary for Native Affairs, Sept. 11.Google Scholar
1939d. NTS 7244 181/326. C. H. Malcomess to D. L. Smit, Nov. 4.Google Scholar
1944. VWN 602 SW 94/31. L. D. Mahlasela to M. Ballinger, May 10.Google Scholar
1948. VWN 602 SW 94/31. Social Welfare Officer to Secretary for Social Welfare, Feb. 18.Google Scholar
[1923]. A2052/Ca. Annual Reports, Helping Hand.Google Scholar
Coko, Nomadeshi. 1998. Interview by author. Grahamstown, South Africa, August 21.Google Scholar
Davidson, James Taylor, and Sipo Makalima. 1987. Interview by author. Alice, Ciskei, South Africa, Oct. 27.Google Scholar
MacQuarrie, John, and Irene MacQuarrie. 1988. Interview by author. Somerset West, South Africa, April 11.Google Scholar
Mdyesha, Harriet, Cecilia Nduna, and Gladys Makhupula. 1998. Interview by author. Grahamstown, South Africa, August 9.Google Scholar
Mini, Lezina. 1998. Interview by author. Alice, South Africa, August 14.Google Scholar
Mini, Nomisa. 1998. Interview by author. Middledrift, South Africa, August 22.Google Scholar
Mohapeloa, Joel, and Bernice Mohapeloa. 1988. Interview by author. Mafeteng, Lesotho, April 1.Google Scholar
Mqhayi, Esther. 1998. Interview by author. Middledrift, South Africa, August 22.Google Scholar
Nduna, Cecilia. 1998. Interview by author. Grahamstown, South Africa, August 17.Google Scholar
Nduna, Cecilia, and Gladys Makhupula. 1998. Interview by author. Grahamstown, South Africa, August 26.Google Scholar
Njokweni, Ester N., Virginia N. Nabe, and N. Maria Macembe. Interview by author. 1998. Healdtown, South Africa, August 18.Google Scholar
Sondlo, Tandi, Nomthetho Ngqase, Blanche Zonke, and Alice Ngqase. 1998. Interview by author. Queenstown, South Africa, August 10.Google Scholar
Tunsi, Nomsa, Stella Mhlambisa, Thelma Halane, Nora Njeza, and Mercy Bekwa. Interview with author. Peddie, South Africa, August 9.Google Scholar
Badcock-Walters, Peter. 2002. “Impacts: Education.” In Impacts and Interventions: The HIV/AIDS Epidemic and the Children of South Africa, edited by Gow, Jeff and Desmond, Chris, 95–110. Pietermaritzburg: University of Natal Press.Google Scholar
Bozzoli, Belinda, with the assistance of Mmantho Nkotsoe. Women of Phokeng: Consciousness, Life Strategy, and Migrancy in South Africa, 1900–1983. Portsmouth, N.H.: Heinemann.Google Scholar
Brink, Elsabe. 1990. “Man-Made Women: Gender, Class and the Ideology of the Volksmoeder .” In Women and Gender in Southern Africa to 1945, edited by Walker, Cheryl, 273–92. Cape Town: David Philip.Google Scholar
Canadine, David. 2001. Ornamentalism: How the British Saw Their Empire. London: Penguin.Google Scholar
Cape ZWA (Cape Zenzele Women's Association). Constitution. 1985.Google Scholar
Cobbing, Julian. 1988. “The Mfecane as Alibi: Thoughts on Dithakong and Mbolompo,” Journal of African History 29: 487–519.Google Scholar
Cock, Jacklyn. 1990. “Domestic Service and Education for Domesticity: The Incorporation of Xhosa Women in Colonial Society.” In Women and Gender in Southern Africa to 1945, edited by Walker, Cheryl, 76–96. Cape Town: David Philip.Google Scholar
Costello, Dawn. 1990. Not Only for Its Beauty: Beadwork and Its Cultural Significance among the Xhosa-Speaking Peoples. Pretoria: University of South Africa.Google Scholar
Tim, Couzens. 1985. The New African: A Study of the Life and Work of H. I. E. Dhlomo. Johannesburg: Ravan Press.Google Scholar
Dorrington, Rob, and Johnson, Leigh. 2002. “Impacts: Epidemiological and Demographic.” In Impacts and Interventions: The HIV/AIDS Epidemic and the Children of South Africa, edited by Gow, Jeff and Desmond, Chris, 13–58. Pietermaritzburg: University of Natal Press.Google Scholar
Gaitskell, Deborah. 1983. “Housewives, Maids or Mothers: Some Contradictions of Domesticity for Christian Women in Johannesburg, 1903–1939.” Journal of African History 24: 241–56.Google Scholar
Gerhart, Gail M., and Karis, Thomas. 1972–1977. Political Profiles, 1882–1964. Vol. 4, From Protest to Challenge: A Documentary History of African Politics in South Africa, 1882–1964. Stanford, Calif.: Hoover Institution Press.Google Scholar
Geiger, Susan. 1997. TANU Women: Gender and Culture in the Making of Tanganyikon Nationalism, 1955–1965. Portsmount, N.H.: Heinemann.Google Scholar
Hamilton, Carolyn Anne. 1995. The Mfecane Aftermath: Reconstructive Debates in Southern African History. Johannesburg: Witwatersrand University Press.Google Scholar
Higgs, Catherine. 1997. The Ghost of Equality: The Public Lives of D.D. T. Jabavu of South Africa, 1885–1959. Athens: Ohio University Press.Google Scholar
Higgs, Catherine. 2002. “Helping Ourselves: Black Women and Grassroots Activism in Segregrated South Africa, 1922–1952.” In Stepping Forward: Black Women in Africa and the Americas, edited by Higgs, Catherine, Moss, Barbara A., and Ferguson, Earline Rae, 59–72. Athens: Ohio University Press.Google Scholar
Hofmeyr, Isabel. “Building a Nation from Words: Afrikaner Language, Literature and Ethnic Identity, 1902–1924.” In The Politics of Race, Class and Nationalism in Twentieth-Century South Africa, edited by Marks, Shula and Trapido, Stanley, 95–123. New York: Longmans.Google Scholar
Jabavu, D.D.T. 1952. “Ibumba Yamayama” (Unity is Strength). Translated by Cecil Wele Manona.Google Scholar
Jabavu, , [Florence.] 1928. “Bantu Home Life.” In Christianity and the Natives of South Africa: A Year Book of South African Missions, edited by Taylor, James Dexter, 164–76. Lovedale: Lovedale Institution Press.Google Scholar
Mager, Anne Kelk. 1999. Gender and the Making of a South African Bantustan: A Social History of the Ciskei, 1945–1959. Portsmouth, N.H.: Heinemann.Google Scholar
Manona, Cecil W. 1997. “The Collapse of the ‘Tribal Authority’ System and the Rise of Civic Associations.” In From Reserve to Region: Apartheid and Social Change in the Keiskammahoek District of (Former) Ciskei: 1950–1990. Occasional Paper no. 34, edited by Wisson, Chris de Wet and Michael, 49–68. Grahamstown, South Africa: Institute for Social and Economic Research, Rhodes University.Google Scholar
Marks, Shula, ed. 1987. Not Either an Experimental Doll: The Separate Worlds of Three South African Women. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.Google Scholar
Marks, Shula. 1991. “Patriotism, Patriarchy and Purity: Natal and the Politics of Zulu Ethnic Consciousness.” In The Creation of Tribalism in Southern Africa, edited by Vail, Leroy, 215–40. Berkeley: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Mashinini, Emma. 1990. Strikes Have Followed Me All My Life. New York: Roudedge.Google Scholar
Noah, Mary V. [1993]. Zenzele History. Compiled by V. B. Moleshe.Google Scholar
Ntantala, Phyllis. 1993. A Life's Mosaic: The Autobiography of Phyllis Ntantala. Berkeley: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Ntuli, Linda, n.d. “Zenzele Women's Self-Improvement Association.” Translated by Cecil Manona.Google Scholar
Nyquist, Thomas E. 1983. African Middle Class Elite. Occasional Paper no. 28. Grahamstown, South Africa: Institute of Social and Economic Research, Rhodes University.Google Scholar
Omer-Cooper, J. D. 1966. The Zulu Aftermath: A Nineteenth-Century Revolution in Bantu Africa. London: Longmans.Google Scholar
Peires, Jeffrey B. [Anonymous]. 1989. “Ethnicity and Post-Ethnicity in the Ciskei.” In The Creation, of Tribalism in Southern Africa, edited by Vail, Leroy, 395–413. Berkeley: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Phillips, Ray E. 1938. The Bantu in the City: A Study of Cultural Adjustments on the Witwatersrand. Lovedale: The Lovedale Press.Google Scholar
Ranchod-Nilsson, Sita. 1992. “‘Educating Eve’: The Women's Club Movement and Political Consciousness among Rural African Women in Southern Rhodesia, 1950–1980.” In African Encounters with Domesticity, edited by Hansen, Karen Tranberg, 195–217. New Brunswick, N.J.: Rutgers University Press.Google Scholar
Redding, Sean. 1990. “A South African Town in Black and White: Umtata 1870–1955.”Google Scholar
Redding, Sean. 1993. “Legal Minors and Social Children: Rural African Women and Taxation in the Transkei, South Africa. African Studies Review 36 (3): 49–74.Google Scholar
Shepherd, Robert H. W. 1940. Lovedale, South Africa: The Story of a Century, 1841–1941. Lovedale: Lovedale Press.Google Scholar
Thompson, Leonard M. 1995. A History of South Africa. New Haven: Yale University Press.Google Scholar
Tripp, Aili Mari. 2000. Women and Politics in Uganda. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press.Google Scholar
Walker, Cheryl. 1990. “The Women's Suffrage Movement: The Politics of Gender, Race and Class.” In Women and Gender in Southern Africa to 1945, edited by Walker, Cheryl, 313–45. Cape Town: David Philip, 1990.Google Scholar
Yergan, Susie W. 1936. Home Improvement: Suggestions for Promoting the Work of the Women's Home Improvement Association. Alice, n.p.Google Scholar
“Zenzele: The African Women's Self-Improvement Association: Constitution.” n.d.Google Scholar