Fatima Ismail Chohan (formerly known as Fatima Chohan-Kota) is a South African politician and activist who is currently deputy chair of the

South African Human Rights Commission The South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) was inaugurated in October 1995 as an independent chapter nine institution. It draws its mandate from the South African Constitution by way of the Human Rights Commission Act of 1994. Commission ...

. A member of the

African National Congress The African National Congress (ANC) is a social-democratic political party in South Africa. A liberation movement known for its opposition to apartheid, it has governed the country since 1994, when the first post-apartheid election install ...

(ANC), Chohan was formerly a member of the

National Assembly of South Africa The National Assembly is the directly elected house of the Parliament of South Africa, located in Cape Town, Western Cape. It consists of four hundred members who are elected every five years using a party-list proportional representation sys ...

, where she served from 1996 to 2019. From 2010 to 2019, Chohan served as Deputy Minister of Home Affairs under President

Jacob Zuma Jacob Gedleyihlekisa Zuma (; born 12 April 1942) is a South African politician who served as the fourth president of South Africa from 2009 to 2018. He is also referred to by his initials JZ and clan name Msholozi, and was a former anti-apart ...

. A Muslim South African, Chohan is a former member of the Executive Committee of the Muslim Student Society.

Early life and education

Chohan completed her schooling in

Laudium Laudium () is an Indian township (apartheid classification) in southwest of central Pretoria, in the City of Tshwane Metropolitan Municipality. Claudius is a residential suburb that is effectively an extension of Laudium. History Older aer ...

Gauteng Gauteng ( ) is one of the nine provinces of South Africa. The name in Sotho-Tswana languages means 'place of gold'. Situated on the Highveld, Gauteng is the smallest province by land area in South Africa. Although Gauteng accounts for only ...

. She attended the

University of Witwatersrand The University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg (), is a multi-campus South African public research university situated in the northern areas of central Johannesburg. It is more commonly known as Wits University or Wits ( or ). The university ...

, where she received her B.Proc degree. As a student, Chohan was a member of the Black Students Society from 1987 to 1990, and also served as a member of the Executive Committee of the Muslim Student Society.

Legal career

In 1998, Chohan was admitted to the Side Bar. Chohan was a legal advisor to the Gauteng Legislature and chairwoman of the

Western Cape The Western Cape is a province of South Africa, situated on the south-western coast of the country. It is the fourth largest of the nine provinces with an area of , and the third most populous, with an estimated 7 million inhabitants in 2020 ...

's Provincial Committee on the Magistrates Commission. She later became deputy head of Metro Legal Services in

Greater Johannesburg The term Greater Johannesburg may mean: * The area governed by the Greater Johannesburg Metropolitan Council (GJMC) from 1995 to 2000. * The current City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality, which superseded the GJMC in 2000 with the incorpor ...

Political career

In 1996, Chohan became a member of the

. During the presidency of

Thabo Mbeki Thabo Mvuyelwa Mbeki KStJ (; born 18 June 1942) is a South African politician who was the second president of South Africa from 14 June 1999 to 24 September 2008, when he resigned at the request of his party, the African National Congress (AN ...

, Chohan was considered a "rising star" within the ruling

(ANC). Chohan was appointed Deputy Minister of Home Affairs in November 2010 and was reappointed in May 2014, serving in the position until May 2019. In this role, Chohan was an outspoken supporter of liberal refugee resettlement policies. In the

2019 South African general election General elections were held in South Africa on 8 May 2019 to elect a new President, National Assembly and provincial legislatures in each province. These were the sixth elections held since the end of apartheid in 1994 and determined who would ...

, Chohan served as a surrogate for the ANC's outreach into Muslim communities. However, as a result of the party receiving a reduced majority in the election, Chohan lost her seat in parliament.

South African Human Rights Committee (SAHRC)

In 2021, Chohan was recommended for the position of deputy chair of the

(SAHRC) by the parliamentary committee on justice and correctional services. Since taking office, Chohan has advocated for an increase in funding for the SAHRC, arguing that budget constraints hinder the commission's activities.

External links

Fatima Ismail Chohan, Ms

References