Mary Moodley

Mary Moodley (also Aunty Mary; 1913 – October 23, 1979)[1] was a trade unionist and anti-apartheid activist in South Africa. Moodley regularly shared her home in the black district of Wattville Township with her family and homeless people, both black and white.[2] She was generous with the little money she had and was a "regular churchgoer."[1]

Moodley was involved with the South African Congress of Trade Unions (SACTU), the Food and Canning Workers Union, the African National Congress (ANC), the Federation of South African Women, and a founding member of the South African Coloured People's Congress (SACPO).[1] She was working with the Food and Canning Workers Union in the 1950s in the East Rand.[3]

In 1963, she was banned under the order of the Suppression of Communism Act.[4] Because of her ban, she was not allowed to participate in trade unions or attend meetings and was confined to her magisterial district in Benoni.[2] In 1964, she was detained under the 90-Days Act.[5] She had been helping people who had become fugitives leave South Africa.[1] Her Ban, which was to last five years was consistently renewed and in order to go to the hospital, she had to request a permit from local authorities.[1] She died on October 23, 1979.[1]