South Africa Releases Stamp Sheet
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The celebration of the 50th anniversary of the 1956 Women’s March to the Union Buildings in Pretoria, Africa is commemorated today (August 9, 2006) with the release of a special miniature stamp sheet. The photograph used on the miniature sheet was taken by the prominent South African photographer, Peter Magubane, a photo taken during the march in 1956, featuring some of the women involved on that day: Lillian Ngoyi, Helen Joseph, Sophia Williams and Rahima Moosa. The South African Post Office issues this sheet, a commemorative envelope and a special canceller on National Women’s Day.
It all began on 9 August 1956 as 20,000 women from all parts of South Africa staged a second march on the Union Buildings (the first march was in 1955). They were quite organized, leaving petitions that contained more than 100,000 signatures. These were left at the Prime Ministers door.The women then ended their demonstration by singing freedom songs, including a new one composed especially for the occasion: Wathint abafazi, Strijdom!, Wathint imbokodo uzo kufa! (Now you have touched the women, Strijdom! You have struck a rock. You will be crushed!) Feisty weren’t they! It was all in effort to fight the pass laws. Passes were the symbol of the South African women’s deepest oppression. It was through this law that the influx control system was enforced. Influx control turned their husbands into migrant workers and made them widows. So these Passes deprived them of the basic right to live with their husbands and to raise their children in a stable family unit.
An important part of South Africa’s history and well deserved of recognition. To have such a large group of women, well organized, and peaceful carry out such a demonstration is remarkable for the time. Below is the miniature stamp sheet.
