Zackie Achmat

Zackie Achmat Zackie Achmat is a political activist, most widely known as founder and a chairperson of the Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) and for his work on behalf of people living with HIV/ AIDS in South Africa. Born in 1962, Zackie joined the African National Congress (ANC) in Victor Verster prison in 1980 as an anti-apartheid organiser. From 1985 to 1990, Zackie was a member of the Marxist Workers Tendency of the ANC, playing a leading role in establishing its underground structures during the last years of apartheid. He remains a critical member of the ANC. Identifying as a gay man, Zackie co-founded the National Coalition for Gay and Lesbian Equality in 1994. He served as its director during the mid-1990s. With the goal of ensuring the protection and rights of gay and lesbian people in the new South African Constitution, the Coalition was instrumental in bringing cases that ultimately led to the decriminalisation of sodomy, among other achievements.