page_title: Elizabeth Maria Molteno
section_title: Political activism
hierarchical_section_title: Elizabeth Maria Molteno / Political activism
caption_attribution_description: Gandhi and his wife Kasturbhai in 1914.
context_page_description: Elizabeth Maria Molteno, was an early South African British activist for civil and women's rights in South Africa.
context_section_description: She was openly against the Anglo-Boer War when it began, and for this reason was forced to give up her job. Anti-war activists were generally labelled as "pro-Boer" by their opponents, and were put under great social pressure. The white community of Port Elizabeth was also strongly pro-British and when Miss Molteno refused to stop her protests she was forced to resign, despite a campaign of support from her ex-pupils and colleagues.
  She moved back to Cape Town in 1899 and became a founding member of the South Africa Conciliation Committee. Here she co-organised a series of mass meetings, attended by thousands, to protest the war and the ethnic divisions it was causing. 
  Miss Molteno had become close friends with Emily Hobhouse and Olive Schreiner and worked with them on humanitarian and anti-war causes both during and after the Boer War. With them, she passionately campaigned for the victims – especially the children – of the British concentration camps and the pillaging of the Boer farms. In Port Elizabeth she also made the acquaintance of Alice Greene (aunt of the writer Graham Greene), who was her employee as the vice-principal of the Collegiate School and was also involved in anti-war activism. The two women had very similar views and thereafter maintained a lifelong friendship.
  After the war, Miss Molteno opposed the radical new political developments in South Africa and left for England. There she met Gandhi in 1909. They became friends, exchanged ideas and regularly corresponded over the next few decades. In London she also became a follower of the suffragette movement, and its more radical leaders such as Christabel Pankhurst.
  She returned to South Africa in 1912, and became heavily involved in the causes of non-racialism. She was an extremely talented public speaker and this, together with her confidence and social standing, meant that she was greatly in demand to address public meetings on these causes. Throughout her life she was also a writer for a range of British and South African publications. Emily Hobhouse later wrote of her: "Your gift of seeing into the heart of things is so great, and you have control of such exquisite language for expressing moral and spiritual aspects". In addition, her writings drew considerable attention due to their radical (and often anti-imperialistic) language.
  She remained in close contact with the Gandhis, regularly visiting Mr and Mrs Gandhi at Phoenix Settlement, and moved there to join the satyagraha campaign. She bought a cottage nearby at Ohlanga, as a base for her work to support several movements operating from the area, including the Gandhis, and those of early African statesmen such as John Dube. In speeches given with Gandhi at meetings in Durban she urged Indians to identify with Africa.  
  The Gandhis came to Cape Town in 1914 and Miss Molteno worked to facilitate their meetings with the most powerful political figures in South Africa. She also facilitated their introduction to Emily Hobhouse and the Prime Minister himself, General Botha, who had long ignored Gandhi's requests for an interview but thereafter maintained cordial communications. Gandhi was later to write about Miss Molteno's role as "peacemaker", enabling him to make contact with some of the most powerful figures in the country.
  In the following years, she joined a range of campaigns in support of political and land rights for Black South Africans, working with prominent Black leaders such as John Dube (first President General of the ANC) and Sol Plaatje. 
  A particularly important cause for her was the abuse of prisoners at the hands of the South African police force. While Gandhi himself was in prison, she worked with beaten or abused prisoners and testified at inquests. She lobbied against the neglect that Mrs Gandhi also suffered whilst in prison and, in a particularly severe case, visited the imprisoned and badly beaten "satyagrahi" Soorzai, who had been fatally assaulted for supposedly leading a strike. The man died from his injuries, and Miss Molteno became deeply involved in the (ultimately un
caption: Gandhi and his wife Kasturbha in 1914.
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