[1] After the end of World War II, Shope began work as a dry cleaner at a steam laundry company, where he first became involved in organised trade unionism.
[1] Banned in 1963,[1] Shope went into exile that year, delegated by the ANC to replace Moses Mabhida as SACTU's representative at the World Federation of Trade Unions headquarters in Prague.
[4] In 1975, John Gaetsewe replaced him as secretary-general; thereafter he remained a member of SACTU, and continued to play a leadership role in its political education programmes,[4] but he also redoubled his activities with the ANC, which sent him to Angola.
[9] According to Stanley Manong and James Ngculu, who lived at the camp during this period, Shope's slogan was, "a soldier without politics is a mercenary.
[13] Shope returned to South Africa during the negotiations to end apartheid and was named as honorary president of the Post and Telecommunication Workers' Association.
[16][17] Observers linked the local opposition to tribalistic rejection of Shope's Tsonga name by Sotho residents.
[18] On 10 December 2002, South African president Thabo Mbeki admitted Shope posthumously to the Order of the Baobab, Gold.
[12] In 1957, during the Treason Trial, he married his second wife, Gertrude Shope, with whom he had three more children:[12] politician Lyndall and diplomats Lenin and Thaninga.