Frene Ginwala: speaker of truth to power

Abstract

Frene Noshir Ginwala is a lawyer, researcher, academic doctor, journalist, smuggler, lobbyist, freedom fighter, lecturer, radio jockey, speaker of Parliament, and university chancellor. She's an academic and a political intellectual who spent most of her life in pursuit of democracy and equality. It would be near impossible to place Ginwala into a single category; she seamlessly straddles the political and academic spheres. Through her grounding in academia, she struggled against an oppressive regime, facilitated the parliamentary process in a new democracy and continues to strive for women's empowerment. Frene Ginwala was born in Johannesburg on 25 April 1932. Her childhood, therefore, took place in a city that was in its infancy and where a system of racial segregation was slowly intensifying. She actively took part in the resistance movement against institutionalised apartheid. It is not certain when she entered politics, or if her parents were already politically active.