Zainunnisa Gool was an anti-apartheid political and civil rights leader in South Africa. She was the daughter of prominent physician and politician Abdullah Abdurahman

Abdullah Abdurahman

Abdullah Abdurahman was a South African politician and physician, born in Wellington, South Africa...

. Cissie founded the National Liberation League and helped to create the Non-European United Front (NEUF). She was known and loved as the "Jewel of District Six" and "Joan of Arc" by South Africans as a champion of the poor.

Education

As a child, Cissie was tutored by Olive Schreiner

Olive Schreiner

Olive Schreiner was a South African author, anti-war campaigner and intellectual. She is best remembered today for her novel The Story of an African Farm which has been highly acclaimed ever since its first publication in 1883 for the bold manner in which it dealt with some of the burning issues...

 and Mahatma Gandhi

Mahatma Gandhi

Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi , pronounced . 2 October 1869 – 30 January 1948) was the pre-eminent political and ideological leader of India during the Indian independence movement...

. Cissie attended the Trafalgar Public School which had been founded by her father, an advocate of equality in public education. She finished her secondary school education by correspondence through London University. In 1932, Cissie became the first colored woman to receive a masters degree from the University of Cape Town and in 1962, she became the oldest and first colored woman to graduate from law school in South Africa and to be called to the Cape Bar .

Political Work

Cissie was first elected to the Cape Town city council in 1938 on which she represented District Six, a historically diverse belt. Cissie maintained this post until 1951 .

Family

Cissie was the daughter of Dr. Abdullah Abdurahman and his wife Helen James Potter . She married Dr. J. M. H. Gool, with whom she had three children, Marcina, and medical doctors Rustum and Shaheen .

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