Obituary: Lauretta Ngcobo, writer and activist who gave vulnerable women a voice

Lauretta Ngcobo, who has died at the age of 84, was a South African writer and activist who gave a voice to the ordinary, the marginalised and the vulnerable. She was born in the village of Cabazi in Ixopo in KwaZulu-Natal in 1931. She was surrounded by books as a child and became an avid reader. She also loved listening to the traditional stories her parents told her.