Positions last held in government

Mr Aziz Goolam Hoosein Pahad was a Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of South Africa from 1994 until 2008 and he has served as a Member of Parliament of the Republic of South Africa from 1994 until 2008.

Academic Qualifications

Mr Pahad holds a Masters of Arts degree in International Relations, University of Sussex, England 1968 and Bachelor of Arts degree majoring in Sociology and Afrikaans, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg 1963. He also obtained a Diploma in International Relations, University College of London 1966. He Matriculated at Central Indian High School in Johannesburg, South Africa in 1959.

Career/Positions/Memberships/Other Activities

Mr Pahad was given a banning order which restricted his movements and prevented him from attending public gatherings or at any work place and during that time; in 1960s, he could be detained for short periods of time, often for violating his banning order. He left South Africa after the Rivonia trial and he lived mostly in London, and also spent some time in Angola and Zambia. He did full-time work for the African National Congress (ANC) and his primary responsibility was to develop the anti-apartheid Movement in the United Kingdom and Europe during 1966 period. He was a member of the ANC's Revolutionary Council and the Political Military Committee and a member of the ANC Negotiating team that secretely met representatives of the Apartheid regime and also with leading members of the Afrikaner community. He was also a Member of the Organising Committee that organised public meetings in Dakar, France and Germany between the ANC and representative groupings from South Africa. Mr Pahad returned to South Africa from exile in 1990 and he became a Deputy Head of the ANC Department of international Affairs in 1991. He was a member of the National Peace Executive Committee for the period 1991 until 1992 and he served as a member of the Transitional Executive Councils (Sub-Council) on Foreign Affairs in 1994 and a member of the National Executive Committee (NEC) of ANC from 1985 until 2007.

Source: Deputy Ministry of Foreign Affairs