Frances Baard
| Frances Goitsemang Baard | |
|---|---|
| Born |
Frances Maswabi (or Masuabi) 1 October 1909 Green Point, Beaconsfield, Kimberley |
| Died | 1997 |
| Nationality | South Africa |
| Other names | Frances Maswabi (or Masuabi) |
| Education | Racecourse Primary School and the Lyndhurst Road School in Malay Camp, Kimberley, Perseverance School |
| Occupation | Trade unionist, organiser |
| Organization | African National Congress Women's League, United Democratic Front, South African Congress of Trade Unions |
| Known for | Helped draft the Freedom Charter; one of the leaders of the 1956 Women's march to the Union Buildings in Pretoria; one of the defendants in the Treason Trial; protest against the pass laws |
| Spouse(s) | Lucas Baard |
| Parent(s) | Herman Maswabi, Sarah Voss |
Frances Goitsemang Baard (1 October 1909 – 1997) was a South African trade unionist, organiser for the African National Congress Women's League and a Patron of the United Democratic Front, who was commemorated in the renaming of the Diamantveld District Municipality (Kimberley) as the Frances Baard District Municipality. Schoeman Street in Pretoria was also renamed in her honour.
Baard (also referred to as Frances Maswabi (or Masuabi)) was born Frances Maswabi (or Masuabi), in Green Point, Beaconsfield, Kimberley, on 1 October 1909 (other sources suggest 1901). Her father was Herman Maswabi from Ramotswa in Botswana, who had gone to Kimberley to work on the mines, while her mother, Sarah Voss, was a Tswana person from Kimberley. She married Lucas Baard in Port Elizabeth in 1942, having known him from school days in Kimberley.
She attended the Racecourse Primary School and the Lyndhurst Road School in Malay Camp, Kimberley, before enrolling for a short time at Kimberley's famous Perseverance School (cut short owing to the death of her father). She worked briefly as a teacher and then, moving to Port Elizabeth, as a domestic servant and a factory worker.
It was at this time that Baard became an activist in the African National Congress, which she joined in 1948, and a trade unionist, as a result of her experiences of oppression and exploitation under Apartheid. She was influenced by Raymond Mhlaba and Ray Alexander.
She was an organiser in the African National Congress Women's League in 1952 at the time of the Defiance Campaign, serving later in various posts including Secretary and Treasurer of the League's Port Elizabeth branch. In the mid 1950s she served as National Treasurer of the Women's League and was also an Executive committee member and local branch President of the Federation of South African Women (FEDSAW).
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