Guerrillas and Combative Mothers: Women and the Armed Struggle in South Africa

Guerrillas and Combative Mothers is a narrative of women participating in the armed struggle against apartheid from 1961 to 1994 and their lives in a democratic South Africa. Focusing on their agency, commitment, beliefs and actions, it describes how women got politicised and the decisions and circumstances that led them to join the armed struggle in South Africa and exile.

Siphokazi Magadla discusses the forms of military training they received, the combat activities and their transformation as women and soldiers. Magadla also talks about theirparticipation in the South African National Defence Force-led demobilisation process and their contributions to the democratic transformation of the SANDF. By illuminating the different eras and arenas of their participation, this book shows the broadness of the armed struggle against apartheid as a historical truth and as a matter of gender equality and justice for an inclusive and more democratic future.