André Gaum

I served as a Commissioner of the South African Human Rights Commission from January 2017 to December 2023.  My specific focus areas at the Commission were the rights to equality, education and disability, but I dealt with all human rights as a member of the Legal Committee of the Commission which steered all litigation matters.  I spearheaded the Commission's intervention in Caster Semenya v Switzerland in the European Court of Human Rights.  From 2014 to 2016, I was legal adviser of the Deputy Minister of Home Affairs and in 2010 legal adviser of the Minister of Cooperative Government and Traditional Affairs.  I was Deputy Minister of Education of South Africa (2008-2009) and MEC of Education in the Western Cape (2001-2004).  I served as a Member of Parliament at several intervals between 1999 and 2014.  I was at the Office of the State Attorney from 1992 to 1995, where I practised as attorney, after which I served as legal advisor to a political party represented in Parliament.  I was also a state prosecutor when I started my career in 1992.

I started my career as a State Prosecutor in 1992 and was admitted as attorney and then as advocate in 1995, after which I was legal advisor to a Parliamentary political party from 1995-1999.  From 1999 to 2014, I was a Member of Parliament at various intervals, Deputy Minister of Education of South Africa (2008-2009), MEC for Education in the Western Cape (2001-2004), legal advisor of the Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (2010) and legal advisor and Parliamentary Liaison Officer of the Deputy Ministe of Home Affairs (2014-2016).  From January 2017-December 2023 I was a Commissioner of the South African Human Rights Commission.

BA (Law), LLB, Master's Degree in Constitutional Law (LLM), Certificate in Labour Law, all from Stellenbosch University