Isabella Winkie Direko was born on the 27 November 1929 in Bochabela Township, in Bloemfontein. She attended school at the Anglican St. Alban’s Church School, and after completing her sub-standard B, she proceeded to another Anglican Church School known as St. Patrick’s Higher Primary School.
Her commitment to social and community activities started while she was at that school, and it later grew into a life-long mission to serve the African communities at a local, provincial and national level in the Girl Guide Association of which she eventually became national president.
She completed her teacher training at Modderpoort Teacher Training Institution[1], returning to Bloemfontein to take up a teaching post, where she spent more than four decades in the teaching fraternity. It was here that she acquired an understanding of the impact of apartheid in so far as imbalances in education were concerned.
In the field of education, while she served as a teacher, deputy principal and later principal of Sehunelo High School, Winkie was part of the delegation urging the then Ministry of Education to allow African students to register as students at the Orange Free State University [ currently University of the Free State], a mission which was unsuccessful. Through further negotiations with representatives of the Education Ministry, the delegation was successful in attaining the establishment of Vista University in Bloemfontein[2].
This was a victory for Winkie because African students were able to enroll and improve their qualifications. She sometimes spent time in courts mitigating on behalf of students arrested for political reasons who because of their trials could not continue with their schooling.
Her greatest achievements in and around Bloemfontein ensued in the field of community service which was to some extent politically motivated, wherein she would take a bold standpoint in tackling the problem of evictions of widows from their homes by the municipal authorities after the death of their husbands. She served as an executive of the National Institute for Crime Prevention and the Reintegration of Offenders [NICRO] and in the council of Childcare, furthermore she was a member of the Vista University Council.
Winkie was 70 years old when she was appointed premier of the Free State and had only 5 years’ experience of full-time party politics. Although she faced some challenges in the portfolio to which she was appointed as the premier of the Free State Province, Direko never allowed herself to be deterred from her vision of making the province one of the most successful provinces in the country. She commenced programs to reach out to the communities, this time not as a community worker but as a politician.
She met with the Public Service Anti-Corruption Unit in Bloemfontein in an attempt to engage the unit in uprooting corruption in the public sector. She engaged her MECs in promoting what was termed “Imbizo”[3] . This is a meeting where the various communities have direct talks with the MECs and the premier. In such meetings Winkie addressed issues of social concern such as dealing with the HIV/AIDS pandemic, poverty, high levels of crime and job creation.
In almost every debate in the provincial legislature, whether on education, health or social welfare, Winkie used the opportunity to entreat for better treatment of people under the adopted principle of the government known as “Batho Pele”[4]. Her commitment to the interests of her constituency was best illustrated in the provincial opening address on 16 February 2001, when she allocated R3 million to the Maluti-a-Phofung Local Municipality[5] to relieve unemployment problems, improve the infrastructure, pursue resource development and establish an Aids Council to educate people about that disease. The allocation of funds to that municipal area caused her to become the champion of service delivery and she was labelled as the leader who addresses “bread and butter” issues. Winkie’s character traits of dogged persistence, single-mindedness, tenacity, courage and to a certain extent fixed sense of purpose made her a formidable opponent of corruption. Winkie Direko passed away on 17 February 2012 after suffering a stroke she was 82 years old.
References
C. Twala & L. Barnard. Winkie Direko-A Political Leader in Her Own Right?
Staff Reporter. Strict ‘mistress’ left her mark on politics. https://mg.co.za/article/2012-02-24-strict-mistress-left-her-mark-on-politics/ [Accessed 10/07/2020].
Profile of ANC Candidate Premier of the Free State Winkie Isabella Direko. https://www.sahistory.org.za/archive/announcement-anc-candidate-premiers-23-april-1999 [Accessed 10/07/2020].
[1] Near Ladybrand in the Free State.
[2] In 1977, I.W. Direko was part of a delegation that negotiated with the Department of Education under the National Party Government for allowing African students to register at the Orange Free State University. In 1978 the government appointed a commission of inquiry to investigate the needs and requirements of Urban Africans in South Africa … After the meeting with the then Minister of Education, Dr F. Hartzenberg, Vista University was established in terms of Act 106, of 1981 and came into existence on 1 January 1982.
[3] ‘Imbizo’ means coming together and this is an interaction of the government’s leadership with ordinary citizens.
[4] This is the government service delivery principle, holding that all public service points, clients must be prioritized in rendering service. Batho Pele means People First.
[5] Maluti-a-Phofung is a municipal area composed of the following towns in the former Eastern Free State area: Harrismith, Kestell, Golden Gate and Phuthaditjhaba [QwaQwa].
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