Thandi Modise
South Africa

Thandi Modise is the elected Chair of the Portfolio Committee on Defense and the Joint Standing Committee on Defense in South Africa's Parliament. She has led the charge for a more moral policy on arms sales, strongly asserting parliament's oversight role, which would give the power to approve or veto pending arms exports. A member of the African National Congress Women's Executive Committee since 1994, she held the post of Deputy President until 1997. She also chaired the Ad-hoc Committee for the Ratification of the Convention to Eliminate All Forms of Discrimination against Women at South Africa's National Assembly. Ms. Modise's political activity began in 1976 when, as a student, she was jailed for ten years for fighting the apartheid regime. Her work has helped South African women secure a place in the decision-making process to address the challenges of peace building, economic growth, and political stability. She is a councilor of the Robben Island Museum, which is a seat for political debates and a site for reconciliation, and a member of the Women Waging Peace Policy Commission.

Ms. Modise's peace-building activities include:

• participating in several peace missions to conflict regions such as Rwanda, East Timor, and Nigeria;
• contributing to numerous international conferences, highlighting women's roles in peace negotiations and peace building;
• campaigning for the adoption and implementation of affirmative action programs to combat the legacy of past gender and race discrimination in South Africa;
• leading debates in the National Assembly on investigations into South Africa's controversial multi-billion rand arms deal with Yemen; and
• leading South Africa's parliamentary fact-finding mission to the Israeli/Palestinian conflict, which recommended South Africa's position on the conflict.

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