Epainette mbeki biography sampler letter

Her parents, Christians active in the Catholic Church, were successful peasant farmers strongly committed to securing the best available schooling for their children. Piny, as her friends and family called her, had moved from the nearby boarding school at Mariazell to Lovedale and then to Adams College Amanzimtoti, near Durban , Natal now KwaZulu-Natal where she completed her teacher training.

Govan mbeki

One of her fellow teachers was Govan Mbeki , the man who would later become her husband. They lived in an area where there was no electricity, no telecommunications and no water. MaMbeki had to travel several kilometres daily to collect water from the nearest well. The Mbekis obtained a concession to set up a trading store in Mbewuleni, in the ldutywa district, which became the family livelihood.

MaMbeki was also a founding member of the National African Chamber of Commerce and was the secretary of the ldutywa agricultural show for many years. After her husband was sentenced to life imprisonment at the Rivonia Trial and her three sons went into exile, MaMbeki remained at Mbewuleni. It was a time of deep trauma and hardship for heras she attempted to eke out a living from her shop while enduring unspeakable harassment from the authorities.

Here she set up her shop again, and continued to work as an activist for social upliftment to the community. An ardent supporter of land tenure reform in the Transkei, Ma Mbeki has chosen, to remain with her community. She is the patron of a successful community farming project and has organised the women of her village into a successful craft and beadwork co-operative called Khanyisa.