Interviews with Frene Ginwala

I’m Frene Ginwala.

My grandfather came to Southern Africa in about 1870, so both in what was then Lorenco Marques [Portuguese colonial capital that is now Maputo, Mozambique] and into South Africa. I, because there were – my father did not want us studying in Portuguese, we were sent to school to what was then the Transvaal where we – but these schools, it didn’t matter where in South Africa they were. They were for different racial groups. So I was in the school which was for the Indian community because we were living around Johannesburg. And I studied here in primary school. And then I went – we were sent – my father insisted we get a proper education, and a good one, so we went to India on a visit, the first visit I’d been on. And then this was during World War II and ships were being torpedoed, so we then stayed in India for four years til after the war. By that time, I went to England and got my matric [matriculation] there, did my first university programs there.

[The Transvaal was the former northeastern province of South Africa that was settled by the Dutch-speaking people known as Afrikaners in 1830.]

Whatever you did was governed by politics – where you lived, which schools you could go to, whether you could go to a playground on the beach. You couldn’t; that was for whites only, and so political questions came up. But later on, we became more actively political. Mostly the Congress movement, and that was whether it was the Indian Congress, the African National Congress, used to have – the system was not so much individual membership as having public meetings, and every time deputations were being sent or when the case was going to the United Nations, these things would happen at public meetings, so large members of the community, large numbers went to these meetings.

[The Indian Congress movement started on a regional basis in 1894 to represent the interests of the Indian minority living in South Africa. By the 1920s, the various regional organizations functioned under the umbrella of the South African Indian Congress. The African National Congress (ANC) is a political party that served as the most prominent resistance movement against South Africa’s apartheid system, at times resorting to violence through its military wing, Umkhonto we Sizwe. It was officially banned by the South African government from 1960 to 1990. As apartheid collapsed, the ANC’s leader, Nelson Mandela, was elected President of South Africa in 1994 and established a democratic government.]

“Why can’t I go to that playground? Why do I have to travel all the way from Kenton Park where we were living to Johannesburg, when there were so many schools there?” And it was explained that the laws were such that you had to stay there. And then, obviously, you grew more conscious as you started asking questions. Now, Africans couldn’t be in the city or in the main urban centers without a permit.

Now, if you had somebody working in your house or wherever, you had to give a sort of letter saying this person is working here and has permission to be out. Now, I remember being asked to write the letter. It was a copy, and I remember after that saying, “Look, I’m only about twelve years old. Why am I giving permission to the person who looked after me to be able to walk out?” And my father would explain it to us, my mother would explain it to us. So we were all – I’m sure this was happening in all – most houses.

And you always asked why, and there was never a satisfactory explanation. It was after I left the Johannesburg school, that when the police raided the school, the kids would come out and they’d let down the tires of police cars. I mean, it was something they did automatically.

Frene Ginwala was born in 1932 in Johannesburg. A South African of Indian descent, Ginwala was keenly aware of the role race played in South African society. She studied law at the University of London and then returned to South Africa.

As political tensions rose between the white minority government and non-whites, Ginwala joined the African National Congress (ANC), the country’s main opposition group to the apartheid government. Following the 1960 Sharpeville Massacre, during which police shot at thousands of demonstrators protesting travel restrictions for non-whites, the government banned the ANC. Ginwala was tasked with coordinating the escape of senior ANC leader Oliver Tambo to Tanzania and establishing the organization’s external mission. She wouldn’t return to South Africa for thirty years.

During her exile, Ginwala headed the Political Research Unit in the Office of ANC President Oliver Tambo. She also served as the ANC spokesperson in the United Kingdom, often addressing matters on sanctions against South Africa’s apartheid government.

In 1990, President F.W. de Klerk’s government lifted the ANC ban and Ginwala returned to South Africa. Prior to the country’s first democratic elections in 1994, she helped set up the Women’s National Coalition, which gathered organizations from across the political spectrum to ensure women’s common interests were reflected in South Africa’s post-apartheid constitution. Ginwala was elected to parliament in 1994 where she served as Speaker of the National Assembly until 2004. As the first post-apartheid speaker, she was instrumental in setting a new course for the government, promoting an atmosphere of cooperation and reconciliation.

Since leaving government, Ginwala served as the First Chancellor of one of South Africa’s flagship universities, The University of Kwazula-Natal, until 2009. She has continued promoting democracy, good governance, development and human rights through her participation with various international organizations such as the United Nations and the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance.

South Africa is a nation of almost 53 million on the southern tip of Africa. The nation has a unique multicultural character and is approximately 80 percent African and 10 percent European, with the remaining 10 percent being of mixed race or Asian heritage. These broad racial categories include a multitude of ethnic and linguistic groups.

Although it has the largest economy on the continent, much of the nation remains in poverty and there is great economic disparity. Historically, the mining industry has played a key role in South Africa’s economy and it continues to remain an important industry today, alongside manufacturing, tourism, and financial services.

South Africa was first settled by non-natives in 1652, when the Dutch established an outpost in what would later become Cape Town. Soon after, British, French, and German settlers came to the area. The descendants of the original Dutch settlers became known as Afrikaners. Conflicts over land and power arose between the settling groups as well as between the settlers and the native people of the region. In 1910, Britain formally created the Union of South Africa as a self-governing dominion within the British Empire.

Throughout South Africa’s history, non-whites were subjected to widespread discrimination. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the government passed a series of laws institutionalizing discrimination and segregation. In the 1948 elections, the National Party, which served as a platform for Afrikaner nationalism, gained power. The National Party program was centered on the system of racial segregation known as apartheid. Supporters of apartheid argued that South Africa was made up of four distinct racial groups: white, black, “Coloured” or mixed-race, and Indian.

The white minority oppressed the African majority and other non-white groups. Black Africans were particularly disadvantaged in terms of education, housing, income, and health. Blacks were denied citizenship and not permitted to use the services and facilities accessible by the white minority. Many blacks were forced to relocate when their neighborhoods were declared “white.” A series of laws enacted in the 1950s further codified and expanded racial segregation. In part, the National Party justified its policies by branding its opponents as communists.

The African National Congress (ANC) was founded in 1912 to advocate for the rights of black South Africans. As apartheid expanded, the ANC and other groups used both nonviolent and violent actions to combat the government. The ANC and other groups were oppressed by the government, and many of their senior leaders were banned or imprisoned. Nelson Mandela, a prominent ANC leader, was imprisoned from 1962 to 1990.

In the 1970s and 1980s, the anti-apartheid movement gained strength. Foreign governments and the international community isolated South Africa. International sanctions damaged the economy and helped erode domestic support for apartheid. Meanwhile, the end of the Cold War weakened the government’s claim that yielding power would lead to a communist takeover.

In 1990, the government of South Africa took its first steps toward ending apartheid when it ended a ban on certain political organizations including the ANC. Nelson Mandela and other opposition leaders were released from prison and apartheid legislation was repealed. F.W. de Klerk, President from 1989-1994, helped to broker this transition of South Africa from the apartheid-era to a multi-racial democracy. In 1993, de Klerk and Mandela received the Nobel Peace Prize for their work.

In 1994, South Africa held its first election that allowed all adults to vote, regardless of race. The ANC gained power and Nelson Mandela was elected president. South Africa enacted a liberal, democratic constitution, backed by a strong and independent judiciary. While the ANC has remained the strongest party, elections are vigorously contested and democratic safeguards are respected. A Truth and Reconciliation Commission investigated abuses and crimes committed during the apartheid era.

Freedom House’s 2013 Freedom in the World report categorized South Africa as “free” with an overall freedom rating of two, with one being the most free and seven being the least. The country also received ratings of two in political rights and civil liberties. However, in the 2013 Freedom of the Press report, the nation was categorized as “party free” due to government restrictions on the press and the prevalence of civil cases brought against journalists for libel.