[2] She joined the ANC Youth League in the 1950s and was active in protests against the apartheid-era Bantu Education Act.
[2][5] Gcina's children were also active in the movement: all four of her sons were ultimately recruited into the ANC's armed wing, Umkhonto we Sizwe.
[2] Three of her sons – Mthetheleli, Mkhululi and Mziwoxolo – died while stationed with MK, two in combat and one in an accident at a military camp.
[9][10] Later, at the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, a Security Branch agent applied for – and was refused – amnesty for having petrol-bombed her home.
[2][3] President Cyril Ramaphosa granted her a special provincial official funeral, which was held in Port Elizabeth, by then renamed Gqerberha.