PIONEER
Mohammed Valli Moosa
Politician | Business leader | Constitution drafter
Born : 9 February 1957
“The issue of compromises , however, is quite interesting because some people would say ‘oh well, the ANC compromised during the negotiations and during the drafting of the Constitution. Thus the Constitution is the result of compromises.’ These people would even argue that when something is a product of compromise, it is less than perfect. However, I can quite confidently state that if you were to ask anyone how he or she would have drafted the Constitution differently, they would struggle to provide an answer.”
Who is
Mohammed Valli Moosa?
Politician, active in the United Democratic Front (UDF) and subsequently the African National Congress (ANC), leading the ANC’s team on the drafting of the Constitution.
Professions
and Roles
Politician, Constitutional drafter,Non-Executive Chairman of Sun International Limited, independent Non-Executive Director of SAPPI Ltd, Independent Director at Sanlam Limited, Chair of Lereko Holdings, and Chairman of the World Wide Fund for Nature South Africa.
Best Known For
Represented the ANC on a Convention for a Democratic South Africa (CODESA) working group, focusing on constitutional principles and formulation. Led the ANC team on the drafting of the Constitution from 1994 to 1996.
Life highlights
- Moosa joined the Black Consciousness Movement in 1976. He became the branch secretary for Durban-Westville and an executive member of the South African Students’ Organisation in 1977.
- Moosa faced detention many times in his life, the first being in 1980 when he was detained in connection with education boycotts. In 1988, he was incarcerated for another 14 months, but was then able to escape. In 1989, he was again detained and placed under house arrest. He managed to escape detention by working underground and staying on the run.
- Moosa was a founding member of the Transvaal Indian Congress in 1983. Moosa also served on the executive committee of the Congress.
- Moosa was elected General Secretary of the United Democratic Front (UDF) for the Transvaal region and was a member of the National Executive Committee (NEC). He was appointed Acting National General Secretary of the UDF.
- After the dissolution of the UDF in 1991, Moosa was elected to the NEC of the ANC and was given the portfolio of negotiation.
- Moosa was appointed as Deputy Minister of Constitutional and Provincial Affairs, and later promoted to Minister of Constitutional and Provincial Affairs. In 1999, he was appointed as Minister of Environmental Affairs and Tourism.
IN THEIR OWN WORDS
“The attitude of the ANC right from the beginning was that we are drafting a Constitution for the people of South Africa, for the current generation and, more importantly, for future generations. We always reminded the ANC negotiators and the people involved in the Constitution-making process of that noble objective – that we were not drafting the Constitution in order to give us short-term advantages over opposition parties. We were drafting a Constitution that had to be durable and had to reflect the interests of the nation, not party-political interests.”
– Mohammed Moosa
In 1971, at the age of 14, Moosa had his first taste of politics, when he was involved in the Republic Day burning of the national flag and refusing to sing the national anthem “Die Stem”.
References
