Bhadra Ranchod

Ranchod was born in 1944 and was classified as Indian under apartheid.'''''' He studied law at the University of Cape Town and completed his postgraduate education abroad at the University of Leiden. From 1974 to 1986, he was the head of the private law department at the University of Durban-Westville, a majority-Indian university. He also served as the dean of the university's law school from 1976 to 1979, and in 1985 he was appointed to the board of the South African Broadcasting Corporation. == Apartheid government ==

In 1986, Ranchod was named as South African Ambassador to the European Common Market in Brussels and thus became the country's first non-white ambassador.''' In February 1993, President F. W. de Klerk announced that he had appointed Ranchod to his cabinet in a reshuffle, naming him as Minister of Tourism. He and two others appointed at the same time – Jacobus Rabie and Abe Williams – became the first non-white politicians to serve in the South African cabinet, in a move viewed as an attempt by de Klerk's National Party (NP) to broaden its appeal ahead of the upcoming multiracial elections. == Post-apartheid government ==

In the 1994 general election, South Africa's first under universal suffrage, Ranchod was elected to an NP seat in the new National Assembly. In the aftermath of the election, he was also appointed Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly as a result of an agreement between the NP and the governing African National Congress (ANC); he deputised Speaker Frene Ginwala of the ANC. The Mail & Guardian said that Ranchod was among the "verligte" (Afrikaans for enlightened, meaning progressive) ranks of the NP. In early 1996, Ranchod announced that he would resign from the National Assembly in March to become South African High Commissioner to Australia. He apparently had not discussed the appointment with his party beforehand. == References ==