Betty Radford was arrested after the 4 August 1946 miner’s strike, together with, among others, WH Andrews and Moses Kotane. She was the editor of the Guardian newspaper, and the newspaper had shown support for the strikers. Libel action was taken against the newspaper for publishing extracts from the Africa Mineworkers’ Union’s evidence to the Lansdown Commission. She was elected to the Cape Town City Council in 1943.