Wombman

Picture of Moon, Pyramid and Apep

The rising of the matriach

To understand where we are today, lets start from the 1800s and bring it all together until around 1994.

The Legal Architecture of Erasure

Top-tier investigative reporting often highlights the “double burden” the bantu women faced: racial oppression from the state and gender-based subordination codified into law.
 
1. The Customary Law Trap (The Natal Code of 1878)
 
Journalists look for the “root cause.” The Natal Code is the foundation of institutionalised sexism in South Africa. By freezing fluid traditions into rigid statutes, the British colonial government declared all Bantu/Black women perpetual minors. Under this law, a woman could not own property, enter into contracts, or marry without a male guardian’s permission, regardless of her age.
 
2. The Weaponization of Superstition (Witchcraft Suppression Act of 1957)
 
From an analytical perspective, this act was a tool for cultural policing. While it aimed to “modernise,” it effectively criminalised indigenous knowledge systems. According to South African Law Reform Commission discussions, the law disproportionately targeted elderly women in rural communities. This created a climate of fear where independent or non-conforming women were vulnerable to both state prosecution and communal violence.
 
3. The Mobility Crisis (The 1952 Pass Laws)
 
The Natives (Abolition of Passes and Coordination of Documents) Act is often reported as the breaking point for civil society. By extending the pass system to women, the state attacked the heart of the family. A woman without a stamp in her book could be deported from an urban area instantly, separating her from her children and livelihood. This sparked the iconic cry of the 1956 Women’s March: “Wathint’ abafazi, wathint’ imbokodo” (You strike a woman, you strike a rock).
 
4. Economic Disenfranchisement (The 1913 Land Act)
 
Economic journalists highlight that land is the primary source of wealth. By enforcing male primogeniture, the state ensured that even if a Black family held land, the woman was merely a “user” and never an “owner.” When her husband died, the land often reverted to a male relative, leaving her destitute.
 
The matriarch was attacked
These laws were not accidental; they were a tripartite system of control:
  • Civilly: They were seen as minors (Natal Code).
  • Spiritually: They were suspected as potential criminals (Witchcraft Act).
  • Physically: They were restricted migrants instead of owners (Pass Laws).
“We must examine the dialectic of oppression: every time the state tightened the “legal screws” to immobilise Bantu/Black women, it inadvertently forged a more sophisticated and militant resistance.”
 
Here is a deep dive into the cause-and-effect relationship between state suppression and the rise of the women’s liberation movement in South Africa.
 

The Friction of Control: A Deep Dive into Resistance

 
1. The Urban Crisis (1913 & 1952 Pass Laws)
 
  • The Cause: The state viewed Bantu/Black women as “superfluous appendages” to male labour. If women were allowed in cities, Black families would settle permanently, threatening the “temporary migrant” labour model.
  • The Effect (Early Resistance): As early as 1913 in the Free State, women like Charlotte Maxeke led a defiance campaign, refusing to carry permits. They burned their passes in front of municipal offices and accepted arrest.
  • The Radicalisation (1950s): When the Apartheid government tried to re-enforce passes for women in 1952, it led to the formation of the Federation of South African Women (FEDSAW). This culminated in the 1956 Women’s March, where 20,000 women of all races stood in 30 minutes of absolute silence at the Union Buildings in Pretoria. (research further personally)
  • Insight: This changed the liberation movement from a male-led petitioning body into a mass-based, militant struggle.
 
2. The Economic Strangulation (Customary Law & Land Acts)
 
  • The Cause: By making Bantu/Black women “perpetual minors” under the Natal Code, the state ensured that women’s labour remained unpaid or underpaid, and their wealth remained under the control of male heads of household who were easier for the state to manage.
  • The Effect: This birthed the Beer Hall Protests of 1959. Because women were denied formal land and jobs, they turned to “informal” economies—specifically brewing traditional beer (umqombothi). When the government banned home brewing to force men into government-owned beer halls, women in Cato Manor rioted, destroying state-owned halls.
  • The Shift: This proved that women were the primary economic “shock absorbers” of the community. Their resistance wasn’t just political; it was a fight for survival for the Bantu/Black families.
 
3. The Spiritual & Social Policing (Witchcraft Suppression Act 1957)
  • The Cause: This law was a strategic strike against the healers and matriarchs who held moral authority in rural villages. By criminalising traditional practices, the state sought to replace indigenous social structures with Western-aligned “Bantu Authorities.”
  • The Effect: Rather than disappearing, these practices went underground or merged with the growing African Independent Churches (AICs). Women became the backbone of these churches (like the Zion Christian Church), using them as “safe spaces” for community organising under the guise of religious gathering.
  • The Impact: It re-ignited a deep-seated distrust of the “White Man’s Law,” reinforcing the role of Bantu/Black women as the guardians of cultural identity and clandestine resistance.
 
Comparative Summary: Cause and Effect
 
The LawState Intent (The Cause)Response (The Effect)Long-term Impact
Pass LawsControl of movement & familyMass marches & pass burningsInternationalised the Bantu/Black struggle.
Natal CodeLegal infantalizationRise of “Shebeens” & informal tradeEconomic independence outside the law. “Which was also attacked.”
Witchcraft ActCultural erasureUnderground spiritual networksPreservation of indigenous identity.
“To maintain an honest and informed journalistic perspective, we must look at the symbiotic nature of oppression of the Bantu/Black family.”
 
While the laws we’ve discussed aimed to domesticate women, the laws targeting men were designed to turn them into units of labor.
The state’s strategy was “Dislocate the Man, Immobilise the Woman.” Here is what the men were facing during this same period.
1. The Migrant Labour System: The “Bachelor” Paradox

 

The most profound pressure on Black men was the Natives Land Act of 1913. By stripping Bantu/Black families of the land, the state forced men into a “tax trap.” They had to pay “Hut Taxes” and “Poll Taxes” in cash, which could only be earned by leaving their families to work in white-owned mines or farms.

  • The Effect: Men were forced into Single-Sex Hostels. Legally, they were treated as “temporary sojourners” in cities. Even if a man worked in Johannesburg for 30 years, he was never legally an “urban resident”—he was a “migrant” whose home was a distant rural reserve.
  • The Psychological Toll: This created a “broken branch” family structure. Men were physically separated from their wives and children for 11 months of the year, leading to the erosion of traditional patriarchal roles they were simultaneously being told to uphold by the Natal Code.
 
2. The “Section 10” Noose (The Pass Laws)
 
While women fought against getting passes in the 1950s, men had been carrying them since the 1800s. Under the Urban Areas Act, a man’s right to exist in a city depended on Section 10.
  • The law: He had to prove he had worked for one employer for 10 years or lived in the area for 15 years.
  • The Consequence: Failure to produce a “signed” pass on demand resulted in immediate arrest or “deportation” to the homelands. This created a state of permanent anxiety. Every Bantu/Black man was a potential criminal by virtue of standing on a street corner.
 
3. The Crushing of Professional Ambition
 
For educated Bantu/Black men, the Bantu Education Act (1953) and the Job Reservation Act were the primary tools of suppression.
  • The Cause: The state feared a Black middle class.
  • The Effect: These laws ensured that no matter a man’s talent, he could not hold a position of authority over a white person. A Black man with a degree could still be legally relegated to “unskilled” labor wages. This was an attempt to strip away the “provider” identity that was central to their social status.

 

4. Direct State Violence and Conscription
 
As the liberation movement grew, men faced the brunt of the state’s militarized response:
  • The Sharpeville Massacre (1960): While both genders were present, the police killing of 69 people protesting pass laws was a turning point.
  • The Gallows: Men were the primary targets of the General Law Amendment Act (1963), which allowed for indefinite detention without trial. The majority of political executions at Pretoria Central Prison were of Black men.
 
Comparison: The “Pincers” of Apartheid
 
Journalistically, we describe this as a pincer movement:
 
FocusTarget: WomenTarget: Men
Legal StatusPerpetual Minors (Dependence)Migrant Units (Displacement)
Primary FearFamily Separation / PovertyArrest / Police Brutality
Economic RoleUnpaid Rural Labor / Domestic WorkCheap Industrial/Mining Labor
Control MethodThe “Home” (Natal Code)The “Street” (Pass Laws)
 
The Intersection: The “Total Onslaught”
 
By keeping men in hostels and women in “homelands” as legal minors, the state prevented the formation of stable, wealthy, and politically powerful Bantu/Black family units.
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