Human rights activist Rhoda Kadalie, 68, has died after a battle with lung cancer.
Kadalie had been living with her daughter Julia Pollak in Los Angeles, USA, for the last seven months.
Kadalie was active in the struggle against apartheid.
She was instrumental in establishing the Gender Equity Unit at the University of the Western Cape in 1973.
Dr Mary Hames, who was Kadalie’s successor at the unit, described her as ‘fierce and fearless’. Hames said ‘What she has done for women, not only at the university, but countrywide, is immeasurable.’
‘There was a time when there were hardly any non-governmental organisations in South Africa that didn’t have a former student of Rhoda’s fighting for women’s rights and feminism,’ said Hames.
She served in President Nelson Mandela’s administration as a commissioner of the South African Human Rights Commission.
She was previously a director at the Impumelelo Centre for Social Innovation, an organisation which supports private-public partnerships in poor communities.
She was also an active political commentator until shortly before her death. She was one of the first activists to call out the ANC and its leadership.
Kadalie’s son-in-law, Joel Pollak, said in a recent article that Kadalie ‘rejected political correctness, and was at her sharpest when criticising the South African media, academia and corporate leaders’.
‘A committed Christian, Rhoda has also spoken out throughout her life for gay and lesbian rights… Rhoda has a unique ability to embrace political contradictions.
‘Her approach to democracy is pragmatic, not ideological: she favours a diversity of views, even ones she dislikes because it gives citizens the most leverage to hold politicians accountable,’ he said.
Kadalie was the granddaughter of the first black unionist, Clements Kadalie.
She also described Donald Trump as a ‘skollie’ but said he was what America needed.