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Zondeni Veronica Sobukwe OLS (27 July 1927 – 15 August 2018) was a South African nurse who played an integral role in the Defiance Campaign. Her husband, Robert Sobukwe, was a prominent political dissident. Her family was constantly harassed by the police.B.Sands. Herald Live.Tribute to women warriors.http://www.heraldlive.co.za/the-algoa-sun/2014/01/25/tribute-to-women-warriors/ Accessed Thursday, June 29, 2017
The dispute escalated to strike action and Sobukwe was one of the leaders, which caught the attention of Robert Sobukwe who was the president of the Student Representative Council at Fort Hare University in 1949. Truth and Reconciliation Commission: Human Rights Violations, 12 May 1997, Accessed 4 August 2017 Zondeni Sobukwe was expelled from Lovedale College the same year for her participation in the Victoria Hospital Strike. After her expulsion, the Fort Hare ANC Youth League sent Sobukwe to Johannesburg to deliver a letter to Walter Sisulu to bring to his attention the struggles of the nurses in Alice.
On 6 June 1954, she married Robert Sobukwe and they had four children, Miliswa, Dinilesizwe, Dalindyebo and Dedanizizwe. After they married she worked at Jabavu Clinic in Soweto. While her husband was in prison, Zondeni unsuccessfully petitioned Jimmy Kruger and Prime Minister B.J. Vorster, demanding the release of her husband so that he could get medical treatment at home. Sipuye, T. “Zondeni Veronica Sobukwe: 90 years of struggle, suffering and sacrifice” Pabazuka News, 27 July 2017, Online.
In a bid to find the truth about the cause of her husband’s death, Zondeni Sobukwe testified to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in King Williams Town on May 12, 1997.
She died on 15 August 2018 at the age of 91 years after a long illness.
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