Phumi Mtetwa

Phumi Mtetwa born in November 1973 in KwaThema on the East Rand, 45 km west of Johannesburg, South Africa,has served as a political activist since the 1980s. She focuses on linking economic history, violence, discrimination, and exclusion as crucial elements of the reimagination of rights Quotes “History is important.” Human Rights watch “Women are erased in their contribution to the ending of apartheid. We have to hold that history very close.” Human Rights watch “The majority of women in South Africa today are carrying the brand of inequality and what this country has gone through.” Human Rights watch South Africa’s Constitution and the Bill of Rights are a promise, not what’s guaranteed – it’s an aspiration of what we want to become.” Daily Maverick Narratives are about invisible power: how perceptions, belief systems and ideology shape the way people define what is “right” and what is “wrong”. ** The power to determine what is ‘right’ and what is ‘wrong’, is essentially the power to decide who lives and who dies. It’s the power to determine who can access things, who cannot, and who’s voice counts. ** There are stories that seek to exclude women, telling them that their place is nowhere in the brokering of power, in determining livelihoods, nor in talking about land. ** Communities have their own knowledge systems and means of culture production that are critical ways to put forward new narratives, claim space and challenge mainstream conservative narratives that are contributing to oppression and marginalisation. ** “South Africa’s Constitution and the Bill of Rights are a promise, not what’s guaranteed – it’s an aspiration of what we want to become. ** “People come together joined by the needs that speak to their reality and identity. It may be black people coming together as black people and they should do this unapologetically. ** “But in movement spaces we listen, we recognise that we have to understand points of divergence and we have to create spaces to discuss difficult issues. We don’t elevate individualism – my ego, my self-righteousness – over the collective.” ** “We march proudly as we value all life, value people in all their identities and fight on for the promise in the Bill of Rights.” ** External links https://onthinktanks.org/articles/phumi-mtetwa-the-black-feminist-queer-internationalist/ https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2020-05-29-friday-activist-phumi-mtetwa/ Category:Women from South Africa Category:Anti-apartheid activists Category:African National Congress politicians Category:1973 births