Ma Shope lecture is a chance for us to seek inspiration for a reset

On Sunday, 24 August, former minister Naledi Pandor gave the Gertrude Shope Memorial Lecture, at the Gertrude Shope Annual Dialogue Forum, which serves as an institution for women to discuss issues related to African peace-building and development.

- Zukiswa Pikoli

On learning of this, I felt the familiar pang that often visits me when people I know who have had an influence on my life are mentioned in conversation or publications.

You see, Ma Shope, as she was affectionately known, is one of those liberation movement heroes who is not properly recognised for her part in South Africa's liberation; and perhaps more importantly for the impact of her stewardship in Umkhonto weSizwe and the ANC Women's League, before its decline to the shell it is today.

In the ANC Women's League, Ma Shope played a key role in moulding the next generation of principled feminist leadership, among whom were my mom and her cohort. These were the women who went on to form a formidable part of the first democratic parliamentary contingent in 1994.