Magdalene Resha was born on the 5th of May 1923 in Matatiele, Eastern Cape. She was the daughter of Mr. Oziel Tsekiso and Lidia Mamodise Tsiu, who had been blessed with ten children - five daughters and five sons.
Maggie began her schooling at Ramohlakana Combined School, where two rooms were shared (simultaneously) by five classes. She went on to study for a junior certificate at the Welsh High School in East London.
By 1948 she had come to Johannesburg and joined the African National Congress. She became increasingly politicised, attending meetings every Sunday at Freedom Square in Kliptown, which were addressed by Nelson Mandela, Walter Sisulu Chief Albert Luthuli, JB Marks and Lilian Ngoyi, to name a few. In the same year she tied the knot with Robert Mweli Resha, who was then a leader of the ANC Youth League.
By 1952 Maggie was serving as an office-bearer in the ANC Sophiatown Branch and was also elected to the NEC of the Federation of South African Women.
Of course, the National Party had come to power in 1948 and during the 1950' s their programme of racial domination reached unprecedented heights. Maggie became part of the movement resisting the extension of passes to African women and participated in protests together with her fellow nurses at Baragwanath hospital. But her activism extended beyond the workplace to the community where she lived. Maggie led a march of more than 1,000 women to protest against the planned removal of the Sophiatown 'black spot'. Hundreds of women were arrested and, together with women who were arrested while protesting in Alex and Orlando, Maggie spent time in jail.
From 1954 onwards she was one of the most important organisers of the campaigns against the forced removal of the Sophiatown community. She also devoted her attention to the Congress of the People campaign, which culminated in the adoption of the Freedom Charter in 1955. In 1956, Maggie was a leading organiser of the march of 20,000 women to the Union Buildings in Pretoria, where a petition against the extension of passes to women was handed over to the government.
During 1958 she participated in several protest marches. She was arrested for leading a march from Sophiatown to the Johannesburg Pass Offices and spent two weeks in prison. She was arrested again later in 1958 during a protest march against the whites-only elections. The magistrate sentenced her to one year for 'incitement', but after appeal she served four months imprisonment plus a R50 fine. In recognition of here unstinting dedication to the liberation of her people and her leading role in the anti-pass campaigns, Maggie Resha was awarded a certificate of merit, signed by the then President of the ANC Chief Albert Luthuli and the then Secretary General, Duma Nokwe.
These protests, as can be gauged from the award of merit, significantly advanced the role and stature of the women's movement within the African National Congress. But they did not prevent the demolition of Sophiatown. Beaten but not defeated, Maggie moved to Mofolo South, which formed part of the townships that were soon to be known as Soweto. There she became the Chairperson of the ANC Women's League branch.
The state was determined that the 1960's should not be marked by the resistance witnessed in the 1950's and was prepared to use brute force to achieve this. But Maggie Resha's courage rose with danger. During the 1960 state of emergency, despite frequent police raids on her house, she joined an underground cell and continued to work for the ANC even though the movement had been banned.
In 1962 the movement smuggled her out of the country to continue her work in exile. After five months in Tanzania, Maggie's was reassigned to the ANC's new diplomatic office in Algeria, where her husband Robert had been appointed chief representative.
During the time she was based in Algeria, Maggie travelled throughout the world trumpeting the cause of the oppressed people of South Africa. She attended numerous Organisation of African Unity meetings and African solidarity conferences, playing a crucial role in advancing the diplomatic recognition of the ANC.
By 1966 she was appointed as the ANC's Deputy Chief Representative to the North African countries. She was also the ANCs representative to the Pan African Women's Organisation, to which women's organisations from throughout the continent were affiliated, and in 1973 she was elected General Secretary of the All-Africa Women's Conference
Following the death of her husband in 1973 Maggie moved to London, where she became the chairperson of the ANC London Branch and deputy chairperson of the Women's League branch. She concentrated on her tireless work to inform the people of the world of the struggle inside South Africa, and collected valuable funds for those who were arrested and detained.
Magdalene Resha returned to South Africa in 1993, and wrote the book "My Life in the Struggle: Mangoana tsoara thipa ka bohaleng". She lived in Romohlokana location until she passed on in September 2003.
She is survived by her brother Caiphus Tsiu, her youngest sister Ruth Molly Mpati Tsiu-Tlhagwane, her daughter Nosipho Malie-Resha and her grand children Nomonde, Malie, Muwelisi, S'busiso, Nobube and Buhle Mkhwanazi. And also her son in law Jahniela Mkhwanazi.
MAY HER SOUL REST IN PEACE
ROBALA KA KHOTSO MOFOKENG
TSHATSHO