A role model of substance for local women

Writer & Photographer: Hedda Mittner.

More than ever before, 2020 has been the year when people around the globe are sitting up and taking notice of the impressive way in which female world leaders are steering their countries through a devastating pandemic. From Angela Merkel in Germany to Jacinda Adern in New Zealand, these women have demonstrated the ability to be both warm and authoritative in times of crisis, with an effective leadership style that is driven by humility and kindness, and a willingness to listen to representatives of diverse backgrounds and expertise.

These are the very qualities that the Overstrand’s Deputy Mayor, Elnora Gillion possesses. Born and bred in Hawston, she comes from a family of community activists – among them was her aunt, Florence de Villiers, a founding member and the first general secretary of the South African Domestic Workers Union in the eighties who later served as an ANC councillor. It seems almost inevitable that Elnora, too, would become a pillar of strength in her community and end up in the political arena, fighting for the vulnerable and the oppressed.

Her father was a fisherman who was often away at sea for days and weeks at a time. The family moved often and Elnora remembers one time when her father came home and couldn’t find his family. “We’d had to move again because my mother couldn’t afford to pay the rent and my father had no idea where we were!” After asking around, community members soon pointed him in the right direction and the family was reunited.

Click below to read more. (The full article can be found on page 12)