The Speaker of the National Assembly and the National Chairperson of the ANC, Ms Baleka Mbete, will present the first Charlotte Maxeke Memorial Lecture at the University of the Free State (UFS) on Thursday 21 August 2008, as part of the National Women’s Month festivities.

Maxeke was one of the founder members of the Bantu Women’s League (the forerunner of the ANC Women’s League) and the first African woman from South Africa to graduate with a B.Sc. degree from the University of Wilberforce in Ohio, USA.

On her return from the USA, she and her husband established the Wilberforce Institute in Evaton, Vereeniging.

According to Prof. Philip Nel of the Centre for Africa Studies at the UFS, the lecture series will become an annual event to commemorate Women’s Day and build on the partnership between the Premier's Office and the UFS.

This first lecture – to be delivered by Ms Mbete – will be dedicated to Charlotte Maxeke’s life and times, as well as the early years of the Bantu Women’s League.

The lecture will begin at 18:00 in the Mabaleng A Auditorium.

Media Release
Issued by: Mangaliso Radebe
Assistant Director: Media Liaison
Tel: 051 401 2828
Cell: 078 460 3320
E-mail: radebemt.stg@ufs.ac.za  
19 August 2008

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