Frene Ginwala was, without doubt, a force of nature who made a considerable contribution to the struggle against apartheid and the liberation of her country. She was a member of the South African Parsee community, who had been brought to the country from the British Raj as indentured labour in the nineteenth century.
She was once described by Mandela as “a beautiful young Parsee woman” and she berated him firmly for his impertinence, asking if he would have described Thabo Mbeki as “a handsome young Xhosa man”. It was this feminism that was the driving force of her politics. She expected to be recognised for her achievements and not for her looks, her gender, her skin colour or anything ephemeral. On this she was utterly uncompromising.
Frene was born in Johannesburg on 25th April 1932. She studied law at the University of London and then returned to South Africa, to work amongst the Indian descended community in Durban. She was not politically active in the 1950s as, once she had her law degree, she had to establish herself as a practising lawyer. As a woman of Indian descent, that was a challenge in itself in the misogynistic and racist milieu that was the South African legal system. Then came the Sharpeville Massacre of 1960, followed by the banning of the African National Congress (ANC), the Pan Africanist Congress (PAC), and the other black-led opposition organisations.
This was the decisive moment in Frene’s life. She offered her services to the banned and now illegal African National Congress. As a lawyer she understood only too well the implications of her actions and the risk that she was taking. The fact that she had not attracted the attention of the Security Police was to be a great advantage. She was sent to what was then Lourenco Marques (now Maputo) in what was then the Portuguese fascist colony of Mozambique, where she set up an “underground railway” that arranged the escape routes for ANC leaders, including Oliver Tambo and Yusuf Dadoo, and numerous others. She also helped to arrange the return of Nelson Mandela to South Africa after his clandestine and ‘illegal’ trip abroad in 1962.
She then moved to Dar-es-Salaam, in what is now Tanzania, where she helped Oliver Tambo to set up the first ANC offices in exile. This was a vital task that helped to ensure the continuance of the ANC in exile until its unbanning and return to South Africa in 1990. Frene’s efficiency and political sense was pivotal in this achievement It was during the 1960s that Frene gained her doctorate from the University of Oxford, where she also gave lectures to trainee diplomats, and wrote for a number of media including the BBC. She was invited by President Julius Nyerere to become the managing editor of the leading English-speaking newspapers in Tanzania, the Standard and the Sunday News, and continued in this role for some years.
At some point in her exile, she came to the UK, where she became an established figure in the South African exile community and the leadership of the ANC. Her presence at an event was never anonymous, as she always dressed in a stunning saree that made her stand out in the crowd as she proudly asserted her heritage.
Frene spent many years on the international campaign trail against apartheid, lecturing to expose the evils of that regime and rallying thousands upon thousands worldwide in the campaign for sanctions. When she returned to South Africa she became part of the team – Jessey Duarte, Barbara Masekela and herself – that organised Mandela’s office. Mandela said it was important to have people leading his team who would not always agree with him, and who could argue their cases. It was a testimony to the way that he valued the three women.
In 1994, Frene was elected to the first democratically elected South African Parliament, and was nominated by the ANC as Speaker of the National Assembly, which was a role that she held for ten years. There she played a central role in the creation of the democratic institutions of the new South Africa, making sure that the Assembly functioned efficiently, and allowing voices to be heard that had either been forbidden or ignored by the previous apartheid regime. Frene’s contribution to democracy in South Africa is inestimable.
None of this reflects Frene’s private nature, so I will tell one personal story. Betty Boothroyd, former Speaker of the British House of Commons, (who has also just died) organised a reception for Frene at the House of Commons to which many friends were invite. I stood in the queue to meet Frene, and when it was my turn to greet her, I hugged and kissed her. Bob Hughes MP, who was in the greetings party, said to me “You’ll be kissing Betty Boothroyd next” and Frene turned and said “Bob, don’t encourage him”.
Frene was a hero of the struggle. It will need many people to take up her spear. Let us praise the women. Malibongwe! Igama la makhosikazi! Malibongwe”.
Author: David Kenvyn, Vice Chair ACTSA and former AAM member