Rhoda Kadalie`s impact on South Africa and the world – OPINION – Politicsweb

Rhoda Kadalie was born on September 22, 1953, in Cape Town, the daughter of a pastor and a factory worker, and the granddaughter of Clements Kadalie, the first black trade union leader in Africa. She grew up in District Six, the colorful area later destroyed by the apartheid regime. Her family, which was classified as “Coloured,” was forcibly removed from the “white” suburb of Mowbray. She attended segregated schools.

At the University of the Western Cape, or UWC, Rhoda studied library science and anthropology. She attended Bible study meetings and political events, and became involved in the anti-apartheid struggle. Defying apartheid’s laws against interracial relationships, Rhoda married a white lecturer from a German family. They had to leave the country to get married and were harassed by police on their return.

In 1985, Rhoda traveled to Europe to study. There, Rhoda completed a master’s degree in social studies at The Hague, where she met female activists from all over the world. When she returned to South Africa, Rhoda began organizing women at UWC. They fought against discrimination and sexual violence on campus, and challenged the anti-apartheid movement to treat women’s rights as urgently as racial equality.

Rhoda soon became one of the leading feminists in South Africa, and within the anti-apartheid struggle in particular. She rejected the idea that women’s liberation had to defer to national liberation. She was feared and admired within the anti-apartheid movement. She mentored many young women, academically and professionally, including the American Fulbright Scholar Amy Biehl, who was tragically murdered in 1993.

She was also one of the leading voices for gay and lesbian rights. A committed Christian, Rhoda became disillusioned with the conservative theology of the church under apartheid. But through her own study of the Bible, she came to embrace a vision of a more caring, tolerant, and compassionate God. She argued for the ordination of women as ministers and for the acceptance of gay marriage by the Dutch Reformed Church.

In 1993, Rhoda founded the Gender Equity Unit at UWC, a unique institution promoting women’s rights and women’s studies. Her leadership inspired similar efforts at other campuses, and gained national attention. After South Africa’s first multi-racial democratic elections in 1994, President Nelson Mandela appointed Rhoda to be one of eleven members of the Human Rights Commission, upholding the country’s new values.