Ivy Gcina

Gcina was born on 13 July 1937. She was orphaned as a child and received her primary education through a church school.{{Cite web |date=27 May 2021 |title=ANC EC mourns the passing on of Mama Ivy Cikizwa Gcina |url=https://anceasterncape.org.za/anc-ec-mourns-the-passing-on-of-mama-ivy-cikizwa-gcina/ |access-date=2023-04-11 |website=ANC Eastern Cape |language=en-US}} She joined the ANC Youth League in the 1950s and was active in protests against the apartheid-era Bantu Education Act.{{Cite web |date=28 May 2021 |title=Nelson Mandela Bay ANC stalwart Ivy Gcina has died |url=https://www.timeslive.co.za/politics/2021-05-28-nelson-mandela-bay-anc-stalwart-ivy-gcina-has-died/ |access-date=2023-04-11 |website=Sunday Times |language=en-ZA}} After the ANC was banned by the government in 1960, Gcina remained active in anti-apartheid politics in Port Elizabeth in the Cape Province, from 1979 through the Port Elizabeth Black Civic Organisation (PEBCO). Dedicated to reviving the Federation of South African Women, she headed PEPCO's women's committee and in 1983 became the founding chairperson of the Port Elizabeth Women's Organisation, the women's wing of PEBCO.{{Cite book |last=Gasa |first=Nomboniso |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YOHHNsobjPIC&q=ivy+gcina |title=Women in South African History: They Remove Boulders and Cross Rivers |date=2007 |publisher=HSRC Press |isbn=978-0-7969-2174-1 |pages=284–285 |language=en}} In the 1980s, she was a regional leader of the United Democratic Front, to which PEBCO affiliated.{{Cite web |date=2021-06-04 |title=ANC stalwart Ivy Gcina laid to rest |url=https://www.sabcnews.com/sabcnews/anc-stalwart-ivy-gcina-laid-to-rest/ |access-date=2023-04-11 |website=SABC News |language=en-US}}

Gcina's children were also active in the movement: all four of her sons were ultimately recruited into the ANC's armed wing, Umkhonto we Sizwe. While they were children, she had taught them about the Freedom Charter (also banned by the government) using a copy handwritten from memory by a relative. Three of her sons – Mthetheleli, Mkhululi  and Mziwoxolo – died while stationed with MK, two in combat and one in an accident at a military camp.{{Cite web |date=3 June 2021 |title=COSATU Eastern Cape bids farewell to a stalwart, Mama Ivy Gcina |url=https://mediadon.co.za/2021/06/03/cosatu-eastern-cape-bids-farewell-to-a-stalwart-mama-ivy-gcina/ |access-date=2023-04-11 |website=COSATU |language=en-US}} In addition, Gcina's brother was Sipho Hashe, one of the PEBCO Three who disappeared in 1985, presumably into police custody; in the 1990s, it was confirmed that he had been murdered by the police's Security Branch.{{Cite news |date=14 December 1994 |title=Truth has consequences in probing apartheid |work=Christian Science Monitor |url=https://www.csmonitor.com/1994/1214/14111.html |access-date=2023-04-11 |issn=0882-7729}}

Gcina herself was detained on several occasions, including during the state of emergency of 1985 and later from June 1986 to June 1987.{{Cite web |title=Gcina, Cikizwa Ivy |url=https://sabctrc.saha.org.za/victims/gcina_cikizwa_ivy.htm?tab=report |access-date=2023-04-11 |website=Truth Commission Special Report}} After her initial release in 1985, she was a witness in a class-action lawsuit against the state in which she testified to having been severely tortured in detention.{{Cite web |date=1985-12-20 |title=S. Africa Police Torture Prisoners, Doctor Says |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1985-12-20-mn-4980-story.html |access-date=2023-04-11 |website=Los Angeles Times |language=en-US}}{{Cite news |last=Frankel |first=Glenn |date=1986-03-23 |title=Detainees, Doctor Allege Torture in South Africa |language=en-US |newspaper=Washington Post |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1986/03/23/detainees-doctor-allege-torture-in-south-africa/f7213c7c-4fab-4e93-b0c2-b5c12868d3c3/ |access-date=2023-04-11 |issn=0190-8286}} Later, at the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, a Security Branch agent applied for – and was refused – amnesty for having petrol-bombed her home.

In the 1994 general election, South Africa's first under universal suffrage, Gcina was elected to represent the ANC in the National Assembly, the lower house of the new South African Parliament.{{Cite web |date=24 May 1994 |title=Minutes of proceedings of the Constitutional Assembly |url=https://www.justice.gov.za/legislation/constitution/history/MINUTES/CA24054.PDF |access-date=2 April 2023 |publisher=Department of Justice and Constitutional Development}} She served three terms in her seat, gaining re-election in 1999{{cite magazine |date=11 June 1999 |title=General Notice: Notice 1319 of 1999 – Electoral Commission: Representatives Elected to the Various Legislatures |url=https://gazettes.africa/archive/za/1999/za-government-gazette-dated-1999-06-11-no-20203.pdf |magazine=Government Gazette of South Africa |location=Pretoria, South Africa |publisher=Government of South Africa |volume=408 |issue=20203 |pages= |access-date=26 March 2021}} and 2004,{{cite magazine |date=20 April 2004 |title=General Notice: Notice 717 of 2004 - Electoral Commission – List of Names of Representatives in the National Assembly and the Nine Provincial Legislatures in Respect of the Elections Held on 14 April 2004 |url=https://www.gov.za/sites/default/files/gcis_document/201409/262770.pdf |magazine=Government Gazette of South Africa |location=Pretoria, South Africa |publisher=Government of South Africa |volume=466 |issue=2677 |pages=4–95 |access-date=26 March 2021}} and she represented the Eastern Cape constituency. She retired after the 2009 general election.

Gcina died on 27 May 2021 after a long illness. President Cyril Ramaphosa granted her a special provincial official funeral, which was held in Port Elizabeth, by then renamed Gqerberha.{{Cite web |date=2021-06-04 |title=Struggle stalwart Ivy Cikizwa Gcina to be laid to rest on Friday |url=https://www.sabcnews.com/sabcnews/struggle-stalwart-ivy-cikizwa-gcina-to-be-laid-to-rest-on-friday/ |access-date=2023-04-11 |website=SABC News |language=en-US}}

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Category:1930s births

Category:2021 deaths

Category:African National Congress politicians

Category:Members of the National Assembly of South Africa 1994–1999

Category:Members of the National Assembly of South Africa 1999–2004

Category:21st-century South African women politicians

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Category:South African anti-apartheid activists

Category:20th-century South African women politicians

Category:Women members of the National Assembly of South Africa