Gool, Zainunnissa, 1897-1963

Biography

Mrs. Zainunnissa Gool was born in 1897 and died in 1963. She was the daughter of Dr. and Mrs. Abdullah Abdurahman. In 1919 she married Dr. Abdul Hamid Gool, a graduate of Guy's Hospital, London. They had three children, Rustum Gool, (1923- ), the other two names unknown.

Mrs. Gool was educated at the University of Cape Town, where she obtained her B.A. and M.A. degree in 1936.

In 1935 she was elected as president of the National Liberation League, an anti-segregation and anti-imperialist organization.

In 1938, Mrs. Gool was elected as president of the Non-European United Front, formed to coordinate organizations into an anti-segregation front.

Mrs. Gool was elected to the Cape Town City Council in 1938, the first Non-European woman in the Union of South Africa to become a City Councillor, and served until her death in 1963. As City Councillor, she served on such committees as the Housing, Health and Public Committees, and fought for equality for Non-Europeans.

In 1943 she became a national executive member of the Anti-C.A.D. Organization and the Western Province Unity Movement. In the same year she was also a fraternal delegate to the South African Indian Congress Conference in Transvaal. In the 1940s Mrs. Gool was active in the Cape Passive Resistance Council.

Citation:

A Biography of Cissie Gool, Cape Standard, Cape Town, July 12, 1946; Letter from Prof. Dr. P.L. Scholtz, Director of the I.H.R., dated April 8, 1976

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