BACKGROUND ON THE

RAHIMA MOOSA

National Heritage Site declaration: 26 May 2006
Inscription as a World Heritage Site: 1999

Shop Steward of Cape Town Food and Canning Workers Union, Transvaal Indian Congress and FEDSAW

Rahima Moosa (8 April 1905 – 25 December 1992) worked as a secretary at a food factory where she joined the Cape Town Food and Canning Workers Union in 1943. She was elected as a shop steward and worked tirelessly in the Union. 

Moosa was also a member of FEDSAW and, together with Helen Joseph and Lilian Ngoyi collected signatures for a petition against the pass laws. In 1956 while heavily pregnant, she together with Lilian Ngoyi, Helen Joseph and Sophia Williams-De Bruyn, led a 20 000 strong delegation of women to the Union Buildings to hand over the thousands of signatures.

In the 1960s Moosa became a “listed person”, a label which remained with her until 1990 when ANC and other liberation movements were unbanned. This meant restrictions on her movements and constant police harassment and surveillance. After a heart attack in the 1970s her health deteriorated until her death in 1993, just before the first democratic elections. 

To access the gazette notice, records of issued permits and decisions, and other technical information please visit the site record in the inventory of the national estate, accessible via SAHRIS - follow the link below.