Bertha Mkhize Biography
Bertha Mkhize was a pioneering South African woman whose life spanned nearly a century of profound change. Born in the late nineteenth century, she became one of the first Black women in Natal to own and operate her own business, a successful tailoring enterprise in Durban. She joined the labour movement, led campaigns against pass laws for women, rose to the presidency of the African National Congress Women’s League, and helped found the Federation of South African Women. Arrested and charged with treason, she was later acquitted. In her later years she turned to the Bahá’í Faith and worked to build communities grounded in the principle of human equality. Her story is one of quiet determination, practical independence and steadfast commitment to justice.
Bertha Mkhize An Interesting Fact That Draws the Reader In
In 1909, while still a young teacher, Bertha Mkhize appeared before a magistrate and obtained legal emancipation as a feme sole. This status allowed her to conduct business and manage her own affairs without the approval of male guardians. At a time when African women had almost no independent legal standing, the step was both unusual and necessary. It enabled her to train as a tailor and later to open a business in Durban that she ran for decades. The same independent spirit that secured her legal freedom would later carry her into the front ranks of the struggle for women’s rights and against apartheid.
Bertha Mkhize Early Life
Nhlumba Bertha Mkhize was born on 6 June 1889 in Embo, near Umkomaas on the south coast of the Colony of Natal. Her father, Mashobane Mkhize, worked as an ox wagon driver, transporting goods along the rough routes of the time. When Bertha was about four years old her father died. The family then moved to Inanda, a mission community north of Durban that was becoming an important centre of African education and independent life.
In Inanda she entered the Inanda Seminary, one of the earliest schools established for African girls. She was among its early students. The seminary offered a solid education grounded in Christian values and practical skills. From there she proceeded to the Ohlange Institute, founded by John Langalibalele Dube, which further prepared young Africans for leadership and useful work. These institutions shaped her character and gave her the literacy, discipline and confidence that marked her later life.
After completing her education she became a teacher. She taught for a number of years, including a period at Inanda Seminary itself, beginning around 1907. Teaching was one of the few respected professions open to educated African women. Yet Bertha was not content to remain only in the classroom. While teaching she took classes in tailoring, learning the craft thoroughly. In 1909 she took the significant legal step of emancipation, appearing before a magistrate with the necessary documents from her guardians. The emancipation gave her the right to manage her own property and business affairs. It was a foundation for the independent life she would build.
Bertha Mkhize Personal Life
Bertha Mkhize never married. She chose a path of personal and economic independence that was rare for African women of her generation. While working in Durban she lived in the Thokoza hostel for women, a residence that housed many single African women employed in the city. The hostel provided community and practical support in an urban environment that could be hostile and restrictive.
Her closest working partnership was with her brother, who was also a tailor. Together they established and ran the tailoring business that became the centre of her economic life. She remained deeply connected to Inanda, the community that had shaped her childhood and education. In later years, after leaving Durban, she returned there and devoted energy to local needs, including efforts to establish an old age home. Those who knew her remembered a woman of strong Christian background who later found a spiritual home in the Bahá’í Faith, with its emphasis on the unity and equality of all people. She lived simply, worked hard, and directed her energies toward the welfare of women and her community until her final years.
Bertha Mkhize Rise to Prominence
Bertha’s public life began with her move into business and the labour movement. After teaching until about the age of thirty, she and her brother opened a tailoring workshop in Durban. They started in modest premises and later operated from Victoria Street. Because white owned shops were often unwilling to deal directly with an African owned factory, a sympathetic contact in the Industrial and Commercial Workers Union helped them obtain materials. The business prospered and continued for more than three decades, making Bertha one of the first Black women in Natal to sustain an independent commercial enterprise.
At the same time she entered organised labour and women’s politics. She joined the Industrial and Commercial Workers Union and worked against low wages, the absence of notice pay, and the curfews that restricted African workers. She also took part in early campaigns against the extension of pass laws to African women. In 1925 she was among approximately five hundred women who marched to the Durban City Council to protest regulations that would have required women to obtain permission to enter the city. She addressed the authorities and the women achieved a measure of success. Further anti pass actions followed in 1931 and 1936.
Her involvement deepened with the African National Congress Women’s League. She participated in the 1952 Defiance Campaign in Durban. When the Federation of South African Women was founded in 1954, she attended the inaugural conference and was elected one of its four national vice presidents. By 1956 she had become president of the ANC Women’s League. That year she stood at the centre of the women’s resistance to the new pass laws. Her leadership and long record of activism made her a natural target when the state moved against the Congress movement.
Bertha Mkhize Major Achievements
Bertha Mkhize’s achievements rest on three pillars: economic independence, labour and women’s organisation, and national political leadership. As a businesswoman she proved that an African woman could own and operate a viable enterprise in the heart of Durban for more than thirty years. The tailoring business provided employment, skills and a measure of dignity in a city that offered few such opportunities to Black women. Her legal emancipation in 1909 was an early and necessary step that made this independence possible.
In the labour field she helped give African workers, and especially women, a collective voice through the Industrial and Commercial Workers Union. She fought practical grievances such as unfair dismissal practices and restrictive curfews. Her participation in the anti pass campaigns of the 1920s and 1930s placed her among the early organisers of women’s resistance to influx control.
At the national level she helped shape the organised women’s movement of the 1950s. As a founding vice president of the Federation of South African Women she contributed to the Women’s Charter, which called for equal rights in every sphere of life. As president of the ANC Women’s League in 1956 she led at a moment of intense mobilisation against the pass laws. Although the great women’s march to Pretoria that year is often associated with other names, the provincial and national leadership of women such as Bertha Mkhize made the broader campaign possible. Her arrest in the Treason Trial of 1956 confirmed her status as a recognised leader of the movement. She remained among the accused until she was discharged in December 1957.
In her later years she embraced the Bahá’í Faith and worked tirelessly to establish communities across KwaZulu Natal. She is credited with helping to found twenty eight Bahá’í groups and with translating literature into isiZulu. This spiritual work extended her lifelong commitment to human equality into a new form of community building.
Bertha Mkhize Challenges and Setbacks
Bertha Mkhize faced the full weight of colonial and later apartheid restrictions on African women. As a young woman she had to secure legal emancipation simply to control her own affairs. As a business owner she operated in a city where white merchants and municipal authorities placed constant obstacles in the path of African enterprise. In 1965 the Durban City Council enforced removals that drove African businesses out of the central areas. After more than thirty years she was forced to close the tailoring workshop that had been her livelihood and her base.
Politically she endured the risks that came with open opposition. She took part in marches and campaigns that challenged the state directly. In December 1956 police came for her in the night. She was charged with high treason along with more than one hundred and fifty other leaders. The Treason Trial dragged on for years, disrupting lives and draining resources. Although she was discharged in 1957, the experience was a severe test of endurance.
The banning of the ANC and the intensification of apartheid in the 1960s closed many avenues of formal political work. Bertha responded by shifting her energy. She left the centre of Durban politics, returned to Inanda, and devoted herself to the Bahá’í Faith and to local community needs. The transition was not a retreat but a change of method. She continued to serve the principle of equality in a different form. Through all these difficulties she maintained her independence of spirit and her commitment to the welfare of women and her people.
Bertha Mkhize Legacy and Current Status
Bertha Mkhize died on 3 October 1981 in Inanda at the age of ninety two. She is remembered as a pioneer of African women’s economic independence, a leader of the early anti pass campaigns, a founder of the Federation of South African Women, and a president of the ANC Women’s League. Her long career links the mission educated elite of the early twentieth century with the mass women’s movement of the 1950s and with later spiritual and community work.
In Durban a street has carried her name, recognising her place in the city’s history. Historians of women’s resistance and of African enterprise in Natal continue to study her life as an example of the multiple strategies African women used to claim dignity and rights. Her legal emancipation, her decades in business, her trade union work, her national political leadership, and her later Bahá’í service together form a record of unusual breadth and consistency. She remains an inspiration to those who seek to understand how ordinary determination, sustained over a lifetime, can help change the conditions of an entire society.
Conclusion
Bertha Mkhize’s life teaches that freedom is built in many ways. It is built in the classroom and in the workshop, in the union meeting and on the protest march, in the courtroom and in the quiet work of community. She secured her own legal and economic independence, then used her strength to defend the rights of other women and of all African people. When political space closed she found new ways to serve the ideal of human equality. Her nearly ninety three years stand as a testament to resilience, practical courage and unbroken commitment. In the history of South African women her name deserves an honoured place.
FAQs
Who was Bertha Mkhize?
Bertha Mkhize, also known as Nhlumba Bertha Mkhize, was a South African teacher, tailor, businesswoman and political activist. She was a leader in the struggle for women’s rights and against apartheid, serving as president of the ANC Women’s League and as a founding vice president of the Federation of South African Women.
When and where was Bertha Mkhize born?
She was born on 6 June 1889 in Embo, near Umkomaas on the south coast of the Colony of Natal.
What was significant about her business career?
She was one of the first Black women in Natal to own and operate her own business. After training as a tailor she ran a successful tailoring enterprise in Durban with her brother for more than thirty years until forced out by apartheid removals in 1965.
What legal step did she take in 1909?
She obtained legal emancipation as a feme sole, which allowed her to conduct business and manage her affairs without the approval of male guardians.
What role did she play in the Federation of South African Women?
She attended the founding conference in 1954 and was elected one of the organisation’s four national vice presidents.
Was Bertha Mkhize involved in the Treason Trial?
Yes. As president of the ANC Women’s League she was arrested in December 1956 and charged with high treason. She was discharged in December 1957.
What did she do in her later years?
She embraced the Bahá’í Faith around 1958 and worked to establish twenty eight Bahá’í communities in KwaZulu Natal. She also translated Bahá’í literature into isiZulu and supported community projects in Inanda.
When did Bertha Mkhize die?
She died on 3 October 1981 in Inanda at the age of ninety two.