Caesarina Kona Makhoere
Caesarina Kona Makhoere | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1955 |
| Education | Vlakfontein Technical High School |
| Occupation(s) | anti-apartheid activist and prison writer |
| Notable work | No Child’s Play: In Prison Under Apartheid (1988) |
Caesarina Kona Makhoere (born 1955) is a former South African anti-apartheid activist and prison writer.
Biography
[edit]Makhoere was born near Pretoria in 1955 and attended Vlakfontein Technical High School.[1] Alongside her family, she was forcibly removed under the terms of the Group Areas Act and relocated to Mamelodi as a child.[1]
Makoere became associated with the resistance organisation Black Sash. She was arrested in October 1976 under the Terrorism Act and spent ten months in the Silverton Police Station, Mamelodi, Gauteng, awaiting trial.[1] In 1977, she was convicted for attempting to undergo military training in order to resist legislation that school classes throughout South Africa were to be taught in Afrikaans.[1]
In 1982, alongside fellow imprisoned anti-apartheid activists Elizabeth Komikie Gumede, Thandi Modise, Elizabeth Nhlapo and Kate Serokolo, Makhoere made an application to the Minister of Justice, Kobie Coetsee, hoping to have their isolation declared illegal[2] and to improve their living conditions.[3] This was denied, but she was released from prison in October 1982.[1]
Makhoere also become a prison literature author, writing No Child’s Play: In Prison Under Apartheid (1988) about her experiences in prison.[4][5] In the book, she represents her body as a weapon in political battles, both inside and outside prison, and uses the plural pronoun we to identify herself with other incarcerated activists.[6]
References
[edit]- ^ a b c d e "Caesarina Kona Makhoere". South African History Online. Retrieved 14 March 2025.
- ^ "Elizabeth Komikie Gumede (1921 - )". The Presidency, Republic of South Africa. Archived from the original on 2024-07-20. Retrieved 2025-03-14.
- ^ Barrett, Jane (1985). South African Women on the Move. Zed. p. 259. ISBN 978-0-946848-81-2.
- ^ Young, Sandra (1 May 2009). "Pain and the Struggle for Self-Restoration: The Prison Narratives of Ruth First, Caesarina Kona Makhoere and Emma Mashinini". English Studies in Africa. 52 (1): 88–101. doi:10.1080/00138390903172567. ISSN 0013-8398.
- ^ Gititi, Gitahi (1 January 1991). "Self and society in testimonial literature: Caesarina kona Makhoere's no child's play: In prison under apartheid". Current Writing: Text and Reception in Southern Africa. 3 (1): 42–49. doi:10.1080/1013929X.1991.9677872. ISSN 1013-929X.
- ^ Young, Sandra Michele (1996). "Negotiating truth, freedom and self : the prison narratives of some South African women". Masters Dissertation, University of Cape Town.