A new generation of activism
AS DEMOCRATIC South Africa celebrates its 21st birthday, the Black Sash celebrates its 60th – we could almost consider the Black Sash to be one of the mothers of our democracy. As Nelson Mandela mentioned in his first address to the world after his release, “The Black Sash was the conscience of white South Africans”. So who or what is this organisation?
Formed in 1955 as the Women’s Defence of the Constitution League by six feisty women in response to the National Party’s packing of the Senate in order to disenfranchise coloured voters, it soon became known as the Black Sash for the sashes the women wore in mourning for the demise of the constitution.
During the 1950s and 60s the organisation grew despite its members being regularly reviled as communists and traitors by the government of the day.
Silent vigils were held, with placards spelling out the laws being promulgated to entrench apartheid. Sash members were women who came to know a great deal about pass laws, migrant labour and forced removals because they made it their business to know what was happening in their country and in their name as white voters.
Through advice offices around the country, manned by Sash volunteers with the aid of interpreters (who interpreted on multiple levels), information was collected and filed and government officials were badgered to do their jobs with some level of decency despite the fact that they were administering heinous laws. By virtue of this work, Sash members were aware of the extensive devastation of the fabric of society brought about by the migrant labour system and all its ramifications.
This devastation is still manifesting itself in the dire poverty (on every possible level) that has contributed to the current plethora of violent “delivery protests” and South Africa’s current status at the top of global inequality rankings.
One of the features of the troubled early years was the silent protest that Sash members held. Initially large groups of women, wearing their black sashes, stood outside Parliament and at other prominent places holding placards spelling out the latest unjust laws that the state was promulgating.
After the Riotous Assemblies Act, more than one person demonstrating constituted a riotous assembly so one woman would stand with a poster, wearing her sash, while a back-up would stand nearby to deflect anyone who tried to engage her in conversation.
This led to some interesting occasions: one member was handed a bunch of flowers by an admiring passer-by and people hooted in support as they drove past.
On the other hand, a motorist once mounted the pavement in an attempt to run down a Sash member and the security police regularly arrived, camera in hand, to record the action.
As the government cracked down on any form of opposition, particularly from the political movements that represented the black majority, Black Sash membership dwindled and some offices had to close down due to severe intimidation. Hope for a peaceful transition from apartheid through the political process faded.
But the Black Sash continued to study the law, follow parliamentary debates, write letters to the press, hold public meetings and carry out silent protests. Members also monitored the pass law courts and thus deepened their understanding of the terrible price being paid by black people for ongoing white supremacy.
Every comment, statistic and statement issued by the Sash was underpinned by these daily experiences and this strong foundation of first-hand knowledge earned the respect of many, not only in South Africa but across the world. Sash offices and advice offices were regularly visited by foreign journalists.
The dramatic unbanning of political parties in 1990 was followed by the release of political prisoners. At last it was time to prepare for the building of a new South Africa. Now Sash members could take part in work on the new constitution, debate the nature of transition and of a new society that could arise, phoenix-like, from the ashes of apartheid. Through the advice offices voter education became a priority as people eagerly awaited the first inclusive democratic election for a truly national government.
1994 saw the momentous achievement of this democratic national government and, in 1996, the adoption of the much admired new Constitution of the Republic of South Africa – “one law for one nation”. Now the Black Sash needed to reconsider its role. No longer the “Women’s Defence of the Constitution League”, the organisation needed to celebrate the new constitution and find ways to defend it. And so the Black Sash began to transform itself.
It gradually moved away from being a member-driven body made up of mainly white women volunteers. It evolved into a non-governmental organisation led by a national director accountable to a board of trustees with a special focus on the socio-economic rights of the poorest, most vulnerable members of society who continued to pour into the advice offices. Its aim of achieving a just and equal society was a long way off.
So where is the Black Sash today as it celebrates 60 years of service to South Africa? It is abundantly clear that transformation is a complex and challenging process that takes time and dedicated effort from those who care about it. The values and principles that underpinned the organisation in the past are enshrined in its new role and form, and the staff who work in its regional and national offices are a diverse collection of South Africans who embrace these values and principles. The organisation has a vision for the unfolding of just laws and a competent, reliable, just administration that will benefit the particular needs of the poorest and least protected members of society, especially women and children.
One of the organisation’s aims today is to “enable all, with the emphasis on women, to recognise and exercise their human rights, particularly their social and economic rights (and to) create a society that has effective laws and delivery systems, including comprehensive protection for the most vulnerable”.
Working towards this goal, the Black Sash today co-operates with many like-minded organisations on three programmes that include both campaigns and projects. These are: rights education; citizen-based monitoring; and advocacy in partnership, particularly around the extension of the child-support grant, foster care, bread price-fixing and access to social security.
The Hands Off Our Grants (HOOG) campaign continues to fight against unlawful, fraudulent and immoral debit deductions from the social grants intended for the protection of poor recipients.
In 2012, the Black Sash decreased its staff by half and changed its model. The advice offices (the first office opened in 1958) and face-toface counselling services were phased out. The national helpline was scaled up.
The You and Your Rights section on its website receives about 157 000 hits each year and public rights education, including information tables near service points to distribute You and Your Rights flyers, offers answers to questions.
The three Black Sash programmes are delivered in partnership with 400 Community Based Organisations (CBO) nationally, a vital and invaluable grass-roots footprint. Workshops and training courses are designed to enhance the skills of CBO staff and volunteers so that they can better serve their respective constituencies by making human rights real.
One such example is the launch of the annual Dullah Omar School in 2015 for 120 paralegals.
The Community Monitoring and Advocacy project (CMAP) had as its aim the improvement of skills and effectiveness to hold government accountable for the realisation of social and economic human rights.
The Reproductive Maternal and Child Health (RMCH) project aimed to strengthen public accountability at primary community health facilities.
Out of the CMAP and RMCH projects, and drawing on its rich history of monitoring and advocacy, the Black Sash launched the Making All Voices Count pilot project. Part of a global initiative, it aims to empower CBOs to take ownership of and participate actively in citizen-based monitoring of government services in 20 sites across South Africa. Our key innovation is dialogue between citizens and government to improve services at facility level, made possible by infographic reports. While some of the service challenges identified can be addressed at a local level, others are escalated for advocacy at a national level.
A working relationship with the Department of Performance Monitoring and Evaluation is in place to ensure the institutionalisation of citizen feedback into government’s performance system.
Our SASHES cannot yet be rolled up and put away. A new generation has embraced principled, disciplined activism to make human rights real in South Africa.
Townsend is a teacher and former co-ordinator of the Black Sash’s Cape Town Advice Office