Revisiting a South African Struggle story

OVERLOOKED ACTIVIST

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FAITH & Defiance: The Life of Sally Motlana by Mukoni Ratshitanga offers a detailed account of one of South Africa’s significant yet often overlooked activists.

Through the life of Sally Motlana, the book revisits key moments in the country’s liberation history while examining the role of faith, community leadership and resistance during the apartheid era.

“I am generally interested in history not only for its sake but also for its implications for the present and the future,’ Ratshitanga explained.

“Sally Motlana is not widely known among: middle-aged people like myself and certainly the younger generations. That her story risks fading from our memory stands to deprive us of lessons from her contribution to the development of our society.”

Spanning nearly a century, the biography traces Motlana’s life from her early years in the village of Moremela, near Pilgrim's Rest, in what was then the Transvaal. She later moved to Johannesburg with her mother and joined her father there.

The family first lived in Vrededorp and later in Sophiatown, a community that became central to the political and cultural life of Black South Africans before its destruction under apartheid.

Motlana was educated at St Cyprian’s School, where she came under the influence of Anglican priest Trevor Huddleston. The book shows how her Christian upbringing shaped her outlook and commitment to social justice.

Ratshitanga connects this faith with her later activism and work in communities affected by poverty and discrimination.