Kate Serokolo
Kate Serokolo was a South African anti-apartheid activist.
Biography
[edit]Serokolo was from Mamelodi. She worked as a sales assistant and was married to Fritz Serokolo.[citation needed]
In 1979 Serokolo, her mother and her aunt Elizabeth Komikie Gumede were accused of harbouring terrorists in their family home. She was aged 28 and pregnant with her second child at the time of her trial. She was sentenced to five years' imprisonment under the Terrorism Act.[1]
During her incarceration, Serokolo gave birth to her son Kabelo at the Kalafong Hospital in Atteridgeville, Gauteng, surrounded by soldiers who refused to leave the maternity ward.[2] She later refused to follow prison rules, went on hunger strike and disrupted religious gatherings.[3]
In 1982, Serokolo, her aunt Gumede and fellow imprisoned anti-apartheid activists Caesarina Kona Makhoere, Thandi Modise and Elizabeth Nhlapo, made an application to the Minister of Justice, Kobie Coetsee, hoping to improve their living conditions in prison.[4] This was denied.
In 1996, Serokolo was interviewed by the South African Truth Commission. She was featured in a Special Report broadcast on South African television, along with activists Zubeida Jaffer and Shirley Gunn.[5]
References
[edit]- ^ To Honour Women's Day: Profiles of Leading Women in the South African and Namibian Liberation Struggles. International Defence and Aid Fund for Southern Africa. 1981. p. 56. ISBN 978-0-904759-46-4.
- ^ "WOMAN TELLS TRUTH COMMISSION HOW SOLDIERS WATCHED". South African Press Association. Retrieved 2025-03-16.
- ^ Kenney, Padraic (2017). Dance in Chains: Political Imprisonment in the Modern World. Oxford University Press. p. 191. ISBN 978-0-19-937574-5.
- ^ Barrett, Jane (1985). South African Women on the Move. Zed. p. 259. ISBN 978-0-946848-81-2.
- ^ "Documentary Segment". South Africa: Overcoming Apartheid. Retrieved 2025-03-16.