Epainette Mbeki was born in February 1916 in Mangoloaneng at Mount
Fletcher, Transkei. She taught at the Taylor Street Secondary School
after being educated at the Mariazell Mission, the Lovedale Teachers college
and graduating from the Adams College in Durban. She taught with Govan
Mbeki, whom she later married. In 1937, Epainette Mbeki became the second black
woman to join the Communist Party of SA, after Josie Palmer.
She then became
an active member of the liberation movement in Durban. She married Govan in
1940 and moved to the Transkei where the family set up a trading store in the
Idutywa district. The store earned the family a living and was run by
Epainette Mbeki after her husband became involved in national politics.
The couple had four children, Linda, Thabo, Moeletsi and Jama. Epainette
Mbeki raised them and contributed to her husband's newspaper, Inkundla ya
Bantu. Epainette Mbeki was also a founding member of the National African
Chamber of Commerce.
After Govan was sentenced to life imprisonment at the Rivonia Treason
Trial, Epainette's children Thabo, Moeletsi and Jama went into exile. She
remained at Mbeluweni and kept the store open. She was continuously harassed by
the authorities. She moved to Ncgingwane in 1974, closer to the town of Dutywa
where she continued to work as an activist for social upliftment and re-opened
the family shop.
She continued to work toward uplifting her community
until her death, supervising her many projects and giving advice to those who
sought it. In her later years, Epainette Mbeki - by then affectionately
known as MaMbeki - ran a beadwork and sewing programme in her community.
Condolences to the family and friends of MaMbeki. May she Rest in
Peace
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