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Who is Cheryl Carolus?
Carolus matriculated in Bridgetown High School. She was
involved in sports.
She studied at the University of Western Cape in 1976.
She has two degrees - BA Law and Education.
She was a teacher at schools in the Cape Flats from 1983.
She played a prominent role in the Un ited Democratic Front.
In 1994, she was appointed the
ANC deputy secretary general.
In 1998, she became the High Commissioner in
London.
Between 2001 and 2004, she was the chief executive officer
of SA Tourism where she
introduced the Shot’ Left campaign.
She is currently the executive chairperson of Peotona
Holdings, an investment company that
deals with business development.
She is also the Board Chairperson for South African National
Parks (SANPARKS).
She
is married and lives in Johannesburg.
Growing
up in the
Cape
Flats, Western Cape Cheryl Carolus realised: “There is nothing
romantic about poverty”.
Both
her parents were sick. Her father had tuberculosis whilst her mother
was epileptic.
When
they divorced, Carolus and her three sisters were put in a very
difficult situation in the Silvertown township known for all sorts of
crimes including drugs.
But one
thing the girls did not lack was “love and security” from their
parents.
“It was
the love they gave us which turned things around. They taught us
responsibility and never took us to shebeens,” she said.
Today,
Carolus is a woman in her 40s who is proud, independent, a role model,
political figure and a successful business woman.
In fact
she calls herself a “survivor and not a victim”.
She
started in politics at the age of 13 in the early 1970s and joined the
National Youth Organisation. She then continued her activism within
the United Democratic Front.
Why
politics at an early age?
“I
would not allow a certain class of people to undermine me. The Black
Consciousness Movement of my time taught us to stand up for our
rights. I worked with the likes of the late Steve Biko, Mamphele
Ramphele, Terror Lekota and Dorothy Nyembe, one of the women who
suffered under apartheid without much support,” she said.
Carolus’s motto in life is: “Don’t wait for handouts, get up and do it
yourself and other people will recognise you and help you.”
She is
encouraged by strong women who do not want to be men. She relaxes by
driving on roads in rural areas and spending time along the river
banks appreciating nature.
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