Manonmoney Pillay Naidoo (November 1908 – 25 December 1993) or Amma Naidoo was a South African freedom fighter.

Family and early life

Naidoo was of South African Indian Tamil

Tamil people

Tamil people , also called Tamils or Tamilians, are an ethnic group native to Tamil Nadu, India and the north-eastern region of Sri Lanka. Historic and post 15th century emigrant communities are also found across the world, notably Malaysia, Singapore, Mauritius, South Africa, Australia, Canada,...

 descent and was born in Asiatic Bazaar Pretoria

Pretoria

Pretoria is a city located in the northern part of Gauteng Province, South Africa. It is one of the country's three capital cities, serving as the executive and de facto national capital; the others are Cape Town, the legislative capital, and Bloemfontein, the judicial capital.Pretoria is...

. She had her primary school education in the Pretoria primary school. She was the only daughter and had 8 brothers. Her parents had a family business.

She had to care for the family and home and hence she did not pursue an independent career. In 1934 at the age of 26 she married Naransamy Roy Naidoo

Naransamy Roy Naidoo

Thambi Naransamy Naidoo or Roy Naidoo was a South African political activist and freedom fighter. He was of South African Indian Tamil descent. He is the son of an early collaborator of Mahatma Gandhi, Thambi Naidoo...

. He was the son of one of Mahatma Gandhi

Mahatma Gandhi

Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi , pronounced . 2 October 1869 – 30 January 1948) was the pre-eminent political and ideological leader of India during the Indian independence movement...

’s closest friends and a dedicated Satyagrahi, Thambi Naidoo

Thambi Naidoo

Thambi Naidoo was an early collaborator of Mahatma Gandhi. From 1906 to 1913, he helped Gandhi in the South African Indian communities as they struggled against pre Apartheid racial repression by the local white and the colonial British authorities in Durban....

. He sent his children to live and learn under the tutelage of Gandhi at the Tolstoy Farm in Johannesburg

Johannesburg

Johannesburg also known as Jozi, Jo'burg or Egoli, is the largest city in South Africa, by population. Johannesburg is the provincial capital of Gauteng, the wealthiest province in South Africa, having the largest economy of any metropolitan region in Sub-Saharan Africa...

.

Roy Naidoo was among the children who went to Tolstoy Farm where he received training in simple living and self sufficiency. In 1914 after Gandhi finally left South Africa

South Africa

The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...

, Roy Naidoo together with the Phoenix boys went to Rabindranath Tagore

Rabindranath Tagore

Rabindranath Tagore , sobriquet Gurudev, was a Bengali polymath who reshaped his region's literature and music. Author of Gitanjali and its "profoundly sensitive, fresh and beautiful verse", he became the first non-European Nobel laureate by earning the 1913 Prize in Literature...

’s Ashram, Shantiniketan where they lived for two years and received some training in arts and crafts as well as Indian culture and language. The party then moved to Sabarmati Ashram

Sabarmati Ashram

Sabarmati Ashram is located in the Ahmedabad suburb of Sabarmati adjoining to famous Ashram Road, at the bank of River Sabarmati, 4 miles from the town hall. This was one of the residences of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi...

.

Political activism

Naidoo's husband Roy returned home to South Africa in 1928. He began work with the trade union movement and joined the Communist Party of South Africa CPSA. Naidoo worked closely with him. She joined him in the 1946 Passive Resistance campaigns and courted imprisonment which she served bravely.

In 1952 she again joined the defiance campaign and was again imprisoned. In 1954 she joined the Federation of South African Women (FEDSAW) and was elected on to its executive committee. She attended the Kliptown People’s Congress and participated in the adoption of the Freedom Charter

Freedom Charter

The Freedom Charter was the statement of core principles of the South African Congress Alliance, which consisted of the African National Congress and its allies - the South African Indian Congress, the South African Congress of Democrats and the Coloured People's Congress...

. In 1956 she marched to the Union buildings with 20,000 women against the pass laws. She participated in almost all the campaigns and marches held in Johannesburg. There were candlelight processions, night vigils, and in 1963 she marched to the Union Buildings in protest against the formation of the South African Indian Council created by the apartheid government. She was outspoken and ready to participate in political activity.

She watched her children being imprisoned, detained tortured and harassed by the apartheid security police but remained steadfast right to the end. The Naidoo home was always a hive of activity. Leaders such as Moses Kotane

Moses Kotane

Moses Mauane Kotane was a South African politician and activist. Kotane was secretary general of the South African Communist Party from 1939 until his death in 1978.-Early life:...

, Nelson Mandela

Nelson Mandela

Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela served as President of South Africa from 1994 to 1999, and was the first South African president to be elected in a fully representative democratic election. Before his presidency, Mandela was an anti-apartheid activist, and the leader of Umkhonto we Sizwe, the armed wing...

, Walter Sisulu

Walter Sisulu

Walter Max Ulyate Sisulu was a South African anti-apartheid activist and member of the African National Congress .-Family and Education:...

and many others were constant visitors.

Death

On 25 December 1993 she died without being afforded the opportunity to see South Africa’s transition to democracy or to be able to finally cast her vote in a democratic South Africa.