Vilified Then, Vilified Now: How Media Repeats Apartheid-Era Tactics Against Women Leaders

From the 1956 marchers dismissed as agitators to Jacinta Ngobese-Zuma and Princy MaDuma Mthombeni branded vigilantes, history shows that women who fight for the poor are first demonised, then celebrated.

The writer argues that the hypocrisy of the government and media persists – but one day, these women too will be honoured as heroines of our struggle for true economic freedom.