Pregs Govender

Childhood, education and early activism

Govender was born in Cato Manor, Durban in 1960. Her father is the award-winning South African playwright Ronnie Govender. Govender studied at the Durban Indian Girls High School (now Sastri College) and went on to do a Bachelor of Arts degree at the University of Durban-Westville.

Govender became an anti-apartheid activist in 1974, at the age of 14. While at high school, she raised funds for political detainees. A few years later, she publicly confronted apartheid police, "charg[ing] into the guns and batons". She taught English at schools and universities in Durban, before going on to join the trade union movement in the 1980s, including as the National Educator for the Clothing and Textile Union. She was also a volunteer for the Natal Organisation of Women during the 1980s. In 1991, she established South Africa's first Workers' College at the University of the Western Cape.

Career in democratic South Africa

During the negotiated transition to democracy in South Africa, Govender was employed by the Women's National Coalition to manage its Women's Charter campaign. This mobilised two million women to influence the drafting of South Africa's Constitution.

In 1994, she was elected to the inaugural democratic Parliament as an ANC Member of Parliament (MP), and chaired the Parliamentary Committee on Women as well as convened the gender and economic group of the finance committee. She became known for her spearheading of the South African Women's Budget, one of the first instances of Gender Budgeting in the world. Govender resigned as MP in 2002, registering her opposition to the arms deal in the Defence Budget vote in 2001, especially at a time when the ANC needed to address the impact of HIV/AIDS on women and girls. She was the only member of Parliament to oppose the arms deal, and following her farewell speech, the former ANC political prisoner Ahmed Kathrada said, "Please continue to make us walk tall, by your courage and devotion."

Commenting on Govender's career as an MP, political scientist Tom Lodge said in 2003, "In 2001, the most obviously independent ANC parliamentary initiatives were to be found in the joint monitoring committee on the status of women, chaired by Pregs Govender, which challenged government on spending priorities and Aids policy. In 2001, Govender abstained from voting on the defence budget. Such assertive behaviour may become increasingly exceptional."

Govender chaired the Independent Panel Assessment of Parliament from 2007–2009. In November 2008, Govender was voted unanimously by the South African Parliament to become SAHRC Commissioner, and began her term in January 2009. She was then appointed Deputy Chairperson in October 2009. Govender leads the Basic Services, Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) and Promotion of Access to Information Act (PAIA) programmes at the SAHRC.

Awards and recognition

In 1999, Govender was awarded the Inspiration Award by the Association for Women's Rights in Development (AWID), for her initiative, leadership and commitment towards gender equality and social justice around the world. She received the inaugural Ruth First Fellowship in 2004 for "courageous writing and activism", as well as an honorary doctorate in Philosophy from her alma mater, the University of Durban-Westville, for her contribution to political transformation in South Africa.

Selected publications

In 2006, Govender published her memoirs, Love and Courage: A Story of Insubordination, which describe her life and times, especially her years in the post-apartheid South African Parliament of the 1990s. Most critically, however, the book explores the nature of power, both personal and political, and the courage and conviction needed (especially by women) to achieve true power. As South African cartoonist Zapiro describes it, the book is a "shining and disturbing account of speaking truth to power. Pregs Govender's every move is guided by humanity and integrity, at a great personal cost."