Epainette Mbeki - A political matriarch

Moments in South African History

Epainette Mbeki was the second black woman to join the South African Communist Party in the late 1930s. Although she was inextricably linked to the ANC, she officially only joined the former liberation movement in 1990 after it had been unbanned. She was also one of the country's oldest and most politically outspoken citizens, who supported the breakaway of the Congress of the People from the ANC in late 2008.

Credits: Angie Kapelianis, Lulama Matya, Mandla Gceya, Zanele Jambane and the SABC Media Library.

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