Sonia Bunting
Sonia Bunting (née Isaacman) was born in Johannesburg in 1922 to Dora and David Isaacman, two Jewish exiles who had fled from Eastern Europe to escape anti-Semitic pogroms. After her matriculation, Sonia enrolled at the University of the Witwatersrand to study Medicine, but after joining the CPSA in 1942, she ultimately gave up her university studies to do full-time political work. Sonia went to work in the SACP offices, where she met Brian Bunting, a young World War II veteran and fellow communist. They married in 1946, and relocated to Cape Town.
After the banning of the CPSA in 1950, Sonia joined the staff of the Guardian newspaper, and in 1955, she was one of the platform speakers at the Congress of the People in Kliptown, where the Freedom Charter was adopted. She was arrested and charged with high treason in 1956. After a stint in Pretoria Central Prison in 1960, she went into exile in 1963, where she continued her work for the Communist Party and liberation movement.
From left: Albie Sachs, Denis Goldberg and Ruth First. Click on the the faces to read more about them.