Born in Durban, Nala worked at the Frame Group textile mill as a weaver.
In September, the National Union of Textile Workers was established, and Nala was elected to its executive.
The Government of South Africa believed that she was involved in instigating strikes at the Natal Cotton and Woollen Mills, and in May 1976 both she and Obed Zuma were arrested and detained.
[1] On release, Nala was elected as general secretary of the Metal and Allied Workers' Union (MAWU).
[1] In 2007, Nala spoke at the congress of the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa, the successor of MAWU.