"A short, sari-clad woman with an impatient edge to her sharp intelligence, Frene [Ginwala] was widely respected."
This is how human rights activist and former ANC MP Pregs Govender described Ginwala in her 2007 book, Love and Courage: A story of insubordination.
Govender was describing her meeting with Ginwala in 1992, but it was an apt description for the woman who would go on to become the country's founding Speaker of our democratic Parliament, a constitutionalist and a champion for women's rights.