Anti-apartheid strikers honoured with plaque

A plaque commemorating a group of supermarket workers who staged a two-and-a-half year anti-apartheid strike in the 1980s will be unveiled in central Dublin today.

In 1984, 11 staff members at Dunnes Stores on Henry Street refused to work and picketed in support of trade union Mandate’s policy of boycotting South African products.

Their picket only ended when the Government agreed to ban the importation of South African fruit and vegetables until the apartheid regime was ended.

The plaque was presented to Mary Manning, one of the lead protesters, by the South African President Thabo Mbeki.

It will be unveiled by Foreign Affairs Minister Micheál Martin at a ceremony this morning attended by Deputy Lord Mayor Anne Carter.

“It is astonishing that there is a street named after Mary in Johannesburg and that she and her colleagues have received so little recognition for their brave stance in their own home city where the strike took place,” Ms Carter said.

“I hope in one small way this plaque helps to address that.”

The strike was one of the longest in trade union history and turned the workers into household names.

Dublin City Council has agreed to place the plaque as a permanent feature outside Dunnes Stores.

Professor Kader Asmal, former South African Minister and a leading member of the Irish Anti-Apartheid movement, will also attend today’s unveiling, as will the South African Ambassador Priscilla Jana.