[2] She attended Orlando High School for a time after her mother gained custody but then returned to Inanda Seminary, from which she graduated in 1963.
[1][2] On 12 May 1969, Sikakane was detained by police under the Terrorism Act and taken to Pretoria Central Prison, where she was interrogated about the African National Congress (ANC).
[1][4] Around the same time as she started working at the Rand Daily Mail,[1] Sikakane fell in love with and became engaged to a Scottish doctor,[5] Ken Rankin (1939–2011),[4][6] but as such interracial relationships were illegal in South Africa, they made plans to marry outside the country.
In 1973, Sikakane left South Africa for Zambia and the exiled branch of the ANC,[1] and she and Rankin were married in 1974, subsequently moving to Scotland.
[5] On 29 July 1997, she gave testimony before the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) about her experiences under apartheid, including her treatment while she was in her months-long detainment.