KADER ASMAL’S STORY

Asmal was born and grew up in Stanger in Natal. While still a schoolboy, he met Chief Albert Luthuli, who inspired him and gave him a life-long interest in human rights. At an early age, he was involved in the Defiance Campaign. After qualifying as a teacher, he went into exile, qualified as a barrister in London and Dublin, and received a Masters in Human Rights Law from the London School of Economics and Trinity College in Dublin. He taught at Trinity College for 27 years, specialising in human rights, labour law and international law. He helped to form the British Anti-Apartheid Movement and the Irish Anti-Apartheid Movement, and was also involved in the ANC in exile.

Return to South Africa

In 1990, he returned to South Africa and was elected to the ANC’s national executive committee. He was a member of the ANC negotiating team at the constitutional negotiations, and later served in the post-1994 government as Minister of Water Affairs and Forestry and Minister of Education. His interest in and preoccupation with constitutional liberties and freedoms never diminished, and he brought these different aspects of his academic skills and humanitarian passion to bear on all his portfolios.