Frene ginwala biography of barack

Frene Ginwala was born on April 25, 1932 in Johannesburg in what was then the Province of the Transvaal (now Gauteng Province). Her politics would be influenced by where and how she grew up. Johannesburg was a growing city in the 1930s. The discovery of gold on the Witwatersrand in the late nineteenth century caused something of a boomtown that would become Johannesburg. The city was tied to the mineral revolution: its economy was centred around the mining, processing and transport of gold and this focus shaped the types of people and society that developed in Johannesburg. The gold fields of the Rand were only one part of the mineral revolution in South Africa, the other part being the diamond mines, and foreign capital poured into South Africa to develop the resources, much of it from Great Britain. Unskilled workers came from all over the country to find employment as the country moved away from agriculture towards manufacturing .  A hierarchy of labour soon developed. Managerial positions and skilled labour were reserved for white worker; unskilled tasks were at first open to white, African, and Coloured workers but as segregation ideology spread, unskilled labour displayed signs of the system as well. Because of the demands of the gold standard and the general commodity value of the product, the owners of the gold fields desired workers who would work most efficiently and cheaply for them.

Many African workers came to work in the gold fields from Native reserves, leaving their homes and families hundreds of miles away. This meant that cheap housing needed to be provided for them and gave the managers an effective way of controlling their work force .  If managers could control where their workforce lived, they could monitor their actions and better produce results. Women were thus discouraged from moving with their husbands, they remained on the land with families and Johannesburg and the surrounding areas had

Frene Ginwala became active in resisting apartheid while still a young woman. She joined the African National Congress (ANC), the main anti-apartheid group in South Africa. She was involved in the establishment of secret escape routes for ANC members following the Sharpeville Massacre of 1960. Ginwala herself went into exile from South Africa after the banning of the ANC in 1960, and established an ANC office in the British territory of Tanganyika (shortly to become the independent nation of Tanzania) along with two leaders of the anti-apartheid movement, Oliver Tambo and Yusuf Dadoo. From here, she continued to help ANC members including Nelson Mandela to travel out of and back into South Africa covertly.

Ginwala remained active in the ANC throughout her legal studies and her Call to the Bar in 1964. Eventually, though, her activity made her persona non grata in Tanzania, and she was deported in the late 1960s. She returned to the UK and began to study for a doctorate in philosophy at Oxford University, and also to continue her political activity by giving lectures and writing articles against apartheid. She returned to Tanzania in 1970, at the invitation of President Julius Nyerere, who lifted her bans and asked her to be the managing editor of the Standard, the country’s newly-nationalised English-language newspaper. She travelled further afield as well, speaking and writing in support of the anti-apartheid struggle and working with UNESCO and the UN to raise awareness of human rights abuses in her homeland. She was a strong supporter of economic sanctions against South Africa, using her legal training to construct powerful arguments in their favour.

The re-legalisation of the ANC and the release of Nelson Mandela in 1990 were made possible by the actions of thousands of people like Dr Ginwala. In 1991, she was finally able to return to South Africa, where she played a significant part in the re-launched ANC Women’s League and th

I knew of Frene from my early childhood days.  My family and her family were very good friends and often met and socialised.  I do not remember meeting her as a child.  She was over eight years my senior, but  I used to hear glowing stories about her from my parents. 

My family and the Rustomjee family were close friends.  This friendship began from 1893 when my grandfather, Mahatma Gandhi, arrived in South Africa and sought refuge in the home of Rustomjee. Later Rustom Rustomjee married Frene’s sister Dr Khorshed Ginwala.   So, I used to hear stories of Frene and the work she was doing as a lawyer and as a journalist.  Later we also heard of her courageous work with the underground movement and her association with great African leaders, such as President Julius Nyerere and Oliver Tambo and others. 

Frene was etched in my mind as a powerful role model, a woman of substance.  I did not even dream that one day I would meet her and that I would serve in the same parliament with her.   It was a moment of awe for me when I first met her as we gathered together as women parliamentarians to look at how we can further women’s empowerment and support each other in the powerful position we found ourselves occupying in parliament. 

Frene’s powerful words of encouragement and assertion of women’s rights echoed in my ears as we began to play our role in the legislative assembly and in the constitution making processes.  

When we elected Frene to the position of Speaker of the National Assembly we were all so proud to see her elegant figure rise to the elevated seat in the South African parliament where I believe Frene occupied the seat as the first woman speaker of this house. During the years of apartheid even though there were a few powerful white women in parliament, women’s status was at a very low   leve

South African politician (1932–2023)

Frene Noshir Ginwala (25 April 1932 – 12 January 2023) was a South African journalist and politician who was the first speaker of the National Assembly of South Africa from 1994 to 2004. She was influential in the writing of the Constitution of South Africa and an important figure in establishing democracy in South Africa.

Biography

Born in Johannesburg, on 25 April 1932, Ginwala was an Indian South African from the Parsi-Indian community of western India.

Ginwala has written a number of books dealing with various aspects of the struggle against injustice. For her efforts, she has been honoured by international and local institutions and governments.

Using her anonymity, she played a tremendous role in establishing underground escape routes for ANC (African National Congress) members in the period following the Sharpeville massacre and the declaration of the State of Emergency (SOE) in 1960. These included Deputy-President of the ANC Oliver Tambo and Yusuf Dadoo, two leaders of the liberation movemen