Ruth Segomotsi Mompati

Ruth Segomotsi Mompati (born September 14, 1925 in Tlapeng Village near Ganyesa , Transvaal ; † May 12, 2015 in Cape Town ) was a South African activist, politician of the African National Congress (ANC) and South African diplomat .

Life

Ruth Mompati grew up in a family with five other siblings in Tlapeng, a village near Ganyesa. Her father was a farm laborer, but later went into mining near Kimberley and Klerksdorp . The mother was initially a housewife and after the death of the father found a job as a laundress. Three siblings died at an early age. Ruth and the other two were initially tutored by their mother. She later attended the United Vryburg Primary School (1933-1936) and the United Vryburg Higher Primary School (1937-1940) in Huhudi . She completed her school days at the Tigerkloof Institution of Education ( LMS ), which she was able to leave with the Native Lower Primary Certificate .

She received her teaching diploma from Tiger Kloof Teachers Training College . She started teaching at the age of 19. From 1944 to 1952 she taught at the Tiger Kloof Primary School in Dithakwaneng and at the Vryburg United Higher Mission . In 1952 she had to quit this job because after her marriage, legislation forbade women to teach. She went to Johannesburg and joined the ANC in Orlando .

In 1952 she took part in the Defiance Campaign , from 1953 to 1961 she was a secretary in the law firm of Nelson Mandela and Oliver Tambo . In 1956, she was one of the central organizers of the "March of the 20,000" carried out on August 9th to the government buildings in Pretoria to demonstrate against the reference books for women.

In 1962 she went into exile in Tanzania . She also entered the MK and in 1963 was one of the first women of the ANC to complete military training in the Soviet Union .

From 1962 to 1972 she headed the ANC's Women’s Department in Tanzania. She was bureau chief to the ANC chairman from 1966 to 1976. From 1966 to 1973 she was a member of the management of the ANC. From 1976 to 1980 she headed the Intl Democratic Foundation . From 1981 to 1984 she represented the ANC in London. From 1985 she was part of the ANC delegation in talks with the South African government. From 1989 to 1990 she headed the political arm of the ANC in Lusaka , and in 1990 she was a member of the politico-military working commission.

From 1991 to 1994 she chaired the ANC Religious Affairs Council and chaired the ANC Congress in Kimberley . From 1994 to 1996 she was a member of the National Assembly . From 1996 to 2000 she was ambassador in Bern .

From 2001 to 2011 she was mayor of Vryburg for two terms . On June 15, 2004, at the Howaldtswerke-Deutsche Werft in Kiel , she christened a class 209 submarine with the name Manthatisi and the corvette Mendi .

Honors

• 1996: Honorary Masters Degree in Education from North West University in Mahikeng ,
• 1996: Dr Ruth Segomotsi Mompati Scholarship Fund of the Huston-Tillotson University ( UMC ) in Austin ,
• 1998: Honorary doctorate from the Medical University of South Africa ,
• 1999: Order of Meritorious Service in silver,
• 2004: Human Rights and Democracy Award ,
• 2008: Renaming of the South African district of Bophirima to Dr Ruth Segomotsi Mompati ,
• 2014: Mahatma Gandhi Satyagraha Award by the Gandhi Development Trust ,
• 2014: Award of the Isitwalandwe by ANC President Jacob Zuma ,
• 2015: Ubuntu: OR Tambo Lifetime Achievement in Diplomacy Award .

There is also a Dr Ruth Segomotsi Mompati Bursary Fund , which provides financial help for young people who want to study finance, IT, agriculture, mechanical engineering, medicine, sports or tourism in the future. Requirements for the granting of support are their South African citizenship, they must come from the Dr Ruth Segomotsi Mompati District Municipality , have good school results and come from socially disadvantaged living conditions.

In 2009 she initiated the Ruth Segomotsi Mompati Foundation , named after her , a donation-based foundation that created a hospice facility at the Vryburg hospital for terminally ill people. On September 16, 2017, the foundation unveiled an elaborately designed tombstone for Ruth Mompati in a cemetery in Vryburg.

Individual evidence

1. ^ President Zuma pays tribute to freedom fighter Mompati at funeral in Vryburg. ( Memento of the original from September 9, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. In: The Citizen , May 23, 2015 (English). Retrieved August 24, 2015. 
2. ↑ ^{a b c d e f g h} Republic of South Africa, Department of arts & culture: The life of the late Dr Ruth Segomotsi Mompati . on www.artsculturesa.wordpress.com (English)
3. ↑ Shelagh Gastrow: Who's who in South African Politics, Number 3 . Johannesburg 1990, pp. 227-228
4. ^ Republic of South Africa. Department of Arts and Culture: In Memorial: Dr Ruth Segomotsi Mompati . on www.dac.gov.za (English)
5. ^ South African History Online : Ruth Mompati . on www.sahistory.org.za (English)
6. ↑ Biography Mompatis ( Memento of the original from November 7, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (English) 
7. ↑ Mittler, Europäische Sicherheit , Volume 53, Issues 7–12, Federal Academy for Security Policy, 2004 p. 6
8. ^ ^{A b c} South African History Online: Dr Ruth Segomotsi Mompati . on www.sahistory.org.za (English)
9. ↑ List of recipients of the medal 1999 (English), accessed on August 25, 2018
10. ↑ Dr Ruth Segomotsi Mompati District Municipality Web presence of the district municipality at www.rsmompatidm.gov.za (English)
11. ^ GDT: Gandhi Development Trust . Web presence at www.gdt.org.za (English)
12. ^ Republic of South Africa: Dr Ruth Segomotsi Mompati Bursary Fund . on www.rsmompatidm.gov.za (English)
13. ^ Republic of South Africa. Department of Military Veterans: Dr Ruth Mompati's Tombstone unveiling . at www.dmv.gov.za (English)

predecessor	Office	successor
Johann Frederik Pretorius	South African ambassador in Bern from 1996 to 2000	Patricia Nozipho January-Bardill
WW Townshend of Lewes, LJ Taljaard, Henry Frylinck, Harry Walker	Mayor of Vryburg (South Africa) 2001 to March 2005 and 2011	Elvis Choganyetso Tladinyane