Kate Serokolo is a South African anti-apartheid activist known for her imprisonment under apartheid-era security laws and for her testimony about the treatment of political prisoners during apartheid.International Defence and Aid Fund. You Have Struck a Rock: Women and Political Repression in Southern Africa. London: IDAF, 1980.
Early life Serokolo was born in Mamelodi, South Africa. She worked as a sales assistant and lived with her family in the township during the Era of strongest apartheid rule. During this period she became associated with individuals involved in the anti-apartheid struggle.South African History Archive. TRC Special Report Records. Available at SAHA archives.
Arrest and imprisonment In 1978–1979, Serokolo, her mother and her aunt Elizabeth Komikie Gumede, was accused of accommodating anti-apartheid activists in their home in Mamelodi. At the time of her trial she was about 28 years old and pregnant with her second child. She was convicted under the Terrorism Act and sentenced to five years in prison.Kenney, Padraic. Dance in Chains: Political Imprisonment in the Modern World. Oxford University Press, 2017.
she gave birth to her son, Kabelo in prison, at Kalafong Hospital in Atteridgeville while under military guard.Truth and Reconciliation Commission of South Africa Report, Testimony Records, 1996.
Activism in prison While in prison, Serokolo protested against prison conditions faced by political prisoners. She reportedly participated in protests and hunger strikes organised by women inmates in apartheid prisons.International Defence and Aid Fund. You Have Struck a Rock: Women and Political Repression in Southern Africa. London, 1980.
In 1982 she and other imprisoned activists, including Caesarina Kona Makhoere and Thandi Modise, submitted a request to the Minister of Justice Kobie Coetsee asking for improved prison conditions. The request was rejected by authorities.South African Broadcasting Corporation. Truth and Reconciliation Commission Special Report archives.
Truth and Reconciliation Commission testimony After the end of apartheid, Serokolo testified before the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in 1996. During her testimony she described the treatment she experienced as a political prisoner, including the circumstances surrounding the birth of her child while under guard.Truth and Reconciliation Commission Human Rights Violations Hearing Transcript, 18 July 1996.
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