Veronica Zondeni Sobukwe - “The Mother of Africa” - turns 90 today.
One of South Africa’s renowned authors, Es’kia Mphahlele, described Veronica, the wife of Struggle icon Robert Mangaliso Sobukwe, as “a devoted wife and mother, who turned pain into an ever-glowing shrine”.
Veronica was born on July 27, 1927, in Hlobane, KwaZulu-Natal. She and Sobukwe met in the Struggle and fell in love at first sight, Veronica said some years ago.
Sobukwe was the president of the Student Representative Council at Fort Hare University in 1949, while Veronica was a trainee nurse at Victoria Hospital in Lovedale.
The nurses at the hospital had been in a labour dispute with hospital management. Veronica was one of the leaders in that strike, which caught the attention of Sobukwe.
She and Sobukwe married in 1950. Veronica supported him throughout, including when he handed himself over for arrest in protest against the pass laws.