Zackie Achmat

Zackie Achmat launched TAC in 1998, and remained active in its leadership until late 2010. On 16 June 2008, he jointly founded the Social Justice Coalition, an organisation with the aim of promoting the rights enshrined in South Africa's Constitution, particularly amongst poor and unemployed people living in the country. Zackie currently serves as the Co-Director of Ndifuna Ukwazi, (formerly the Centre For Law & Social Justice), a political, economic and legal research centre based in Cape Town. He is also a co-founder and chairperson of the board of Equal Education Board - a social movement of high school learners, their parents, teachers and communities organising to transform education. Born in 1962, Zackie joined the anti-apartheid struggle in 1976 as a youth leader in the school uprisings. He was detained and arrested on more than five occasions between 1977 and 1990. He was a founder member of the National Coalition for Gay and Lesbian Equality, and from 1994-1997 was national director of the AIDS Law Project. Zackie lives with HIV, and refused treatment until the South African government agreed to implement a publicly funded national treatment programme. He remains a critical member of the ANC. He holds several prestigious honorary degrees, including an Honorary Doctorate in Law from the University of Natal, and in 2001 was awarded the first Desmond Tutu Fellowship. Amongst other honours, Zackie has received the Jonathan Mann Award, The Nelson Mandela Award for Health and Human Rights, and the Newsmaker of the Year Award. In 2003 Time Magazine cited Zackie as one of the world's most influential newsmakers. In 2004, Zackie and TAC were nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize'.