Ellen 'Maposholi Molapo

During the 1950s Molapo lived in the Newclare area of Johannesburg, where she was a member of the Garment Workers Union and became an activist for the African National Congress.^[1][2] Having attended first conference of the Basutoland Congress Party (BCP),^[3] she began campaigning for the party amongst other Basutoland expatriates working in Transvaal, becoming the first woman amongst the party leadership.^[2][4] She also joined the Pan Africanist Congress and was elected treasurer.^[5]

In 1960 she left the BCP after a falling out with party leader Ntsu Mokhehle.^[3] She and several other PAC leaders were convicted by South African courts in 1961 for running an illegal organisation, with Molapo receiving a twelve-month sentence.^[6] The following year she was deported by the South African authorities.^[7] She subsequently became a member of the Marematlou Freedom Party headed by her brother Seth Matotoko, who had lived with her while she was in South Africa.^[8] She frequently upstaged Matotoko at campaign rallies with her rhetoric and singing,^[8] and was regarded as one of the party's most effective campaigners.^[4] In April 1965 she was appointed to the Senate, becoming the country's first female member of parliament.^[9]