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The Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) mourns the passing of comrade Lydia Komape-Ngwenya. Mam Lydia, as she was affectionately known, dedicated her life to serving the trade union movement, to fighting the injustices of apartheid, and playing her part in paving way for the emancipation of workers and propelling South Africa to a new democratic dispensation.

Born in 1935 in Ga-Matlala, in Limpopo province, Lydia was forced to drop out of school at a tender age to seek employment to support her family. Together with her older siblings, she left for Johannesburg, where for decades she would struggle against pass laws, was repeatedly imprisoned and forced to settle for low paying jobs to avoid arrest. 

Having had to work early in her life, especially during the apartheid era, Lydia understood the hardships and oppression of workers. Her passion for trade union activism began in 1974, where as a young factory worker and a member of the Metal and Allied Workers’ Union, now amalgamated into the National Union of Metal Workers of South Africa (NUMSA) she became a key recruiter and later a shop steward. 

Her activism would escalate in 1977 when she took up a position of full-time organizer, proceeding to being a leader in the formation of a Transport and General Workers Union (TGWU)’s KwaZulu Natal branch. The union would later participate in the formation of the Federation of South African Trade Unions in 1982, a forerunner to the Congress of South African Trade Unions launched three years later. 

She was instrumental in campaigns against the ill treatment of women and general workers such as cleaners and security guards and didn’t shy away from denouncing abusive supervisors. With her strong rebuke over such employers, she became a voice of the voiceless.

The devastating experience of her family losing its farming land fueled her devotion to the upliftment of communities in rural areas and the importance of land ownership and rights. Her indelible role in opposing farm evictions and forced removals was evident in her formation of the Rural Women’s Movement in 1990. She continued with her drive for land injustices when she was elected as Member of Parliament in 1994, serving as a member of the Portfolio Committees on Land and Agriculture until 1999.

COSATU is grateful to Mam Lydia for her unwavering commitment to the working class and the poor. We dip our revolutionary banner in memory of this selfless heroine.

We send our heartfelt condolences to her family and comrades. May she rest in peace.

Issued by COSATU