Zulaikha Patel

Zulaikha Patel (born 2002) ^[1] is a South African anti-racism activist. She became a symbol of the fight against Pretoria Girls High School's policy regarding Black girls' hair in 2016, at the age of 13. She and her classmates held a demonstration that led to not only a change in school policy but also an inquiry into allegations of racism at the school. She is quoted as saying, "Asking me to change my hair is like asking me to erase my blackness." ^[2]

Early Life

Zulaikha Patel was born in South Africa into a biracial family with Black South African and Indian heritage. During her early childhood, her parents’ interracial marriage was also frequently questioned. She has shared that growing up she felt like she struggled with rejection from both sides of her family due to her mixed-race identity and feeling as if she did not fully identify with either part of her heritage. As a child, Patel said her first experience of racism came from her Indian family and that linguistic barriers continued to separate them. On her mother’s side, she described how people in her mother’s village criticized her for her hair, which resulted in early conversations and reflections about her curly hair. ^[3]

Protest

Pretoria Girls' High School is located in Pretoria, Republic of South Africa. The school was founded in 1902 and was all white since its founding until 1990, as South African schools were segregated before apartheid, but since 1990, the school has been open to all races. According to CNN, Pretoria Girls' Code of Conduct does not specifically mention afros, but it does lay out rules for general appearance, including prescribing that all styles "should be conservative, neat and in keeping with the school uniform." Teachers had told the students that their Afro hair is "exotic" and needed to be tamed. ^{[4] [5]} It was implied that girls' hair needed to be straightened or tied back, not worn as Afros.

Zulaikha Patel was among the students who led a demonstration against Pretoria Girls High, against the all-girls school's hair policy. [6]

Aftermath

In a 2017 case study on school governance, Section 27 documented how the 2016 protest at Pretoria High School for Girls grew out of students’ everyday experiences with the school’s appearance rules. Although the code of conduct emphasized values such as Ubuntu, equality, and inclusivity, learners reported that these principles often felt disconnected from how the rules were enforced. After the incident, the Gauteng education department suspended the hairstyle clause and directed the school governing body to workshop and rewrite the policy with meaningful input from learners. Section 27 framed this intervention as an example of how appearance rules must align with constitutional protections for dignity, equality, and cultural expression.

Zulaikha Patel's actions inspired other protests in South Africa, at Lawson Brown High School in the Eastern Cape, and St. Michael's School for Girls in Bloemfontein where parents marched as well. People worldwide began sharing pictures of their own afros on social media in solidarity with the female students of Pretoria Girl's High School. International press coverage ensued. ^[7] The protests showed that racial divisions persist, despite the 1991 end of apartheid. ^{[7] [ failed verification ]}

Patel's defiance initiated more protests and change. Gauteng Education MEC, Panyaza Lesufi visited Pretoria Girls' High School to hear the Black students’ grievances, not only about the hair policy but also about racism in general at the school. For example, girls are not permitted to speak African languages on the school premises, only English or Afrikaans. Patrick Gaspard, US ambassador to South Africa, tweeted: "All societies have rules. And sometimes those rules are biased and need to be exposed and protested."^{[ failed verification ]} An online petition had almost 25,000 signatures within a day. ^[8] The Gauteng Department of Education suspended the hair policy. ^{[6] [ failed verification ]}

Over the next few years, Patel widened her work to challenge how the beauty industry and major brands often reinforce anti-Black standards. ^[9]

Recognition

Patel was recognized as the youngest on the BBC News 100 Women List in 2016. She also received many other awards, such as the Avance Media 100 Most Influential Youth in South Africa in 2017, the Breaking Down Borders Inaugural Leadership Award in 2018, and the New African 100 Most Influential Africans in 2019.  ^[10]

In 2017, American muralist Lexi Bella painted a mural in honor of Zulaikha Patel in New York after being inspired by her activism in South Africa. The mural is of the same viral image of Patel during the demonstration with her natural hair and a fist raised to the sky as a sign of liberation. ^[11]

Public figures have also expressed their support and admiration for Zulaikha Patel, including Solange Knowles, who commended her on Twitter (now X) for her work in the movement. ^[12]

Books

• Patel, Zulaikha (July 2021). My Coily Crowny Hair. Lingua Franca. ISBN   978-1928535904.
• Patel, Zulaikha (3 March 2025). Brave Like Me!. Pan Macmillan South africa. ISBN   978-1-77999-087-7.

References

1. "BBC 100 Women 2016: Who is on the list?". BBC News. 21 November 2016. Retrieved 28 July 2019.
2. "Four South Africa women make it on BBC's 100 Women List 2016". YOU. 22 November 2016. Archived from the original on 20 December 2016. Retrieved 8 December 2016.
3. Dlamini, Ntombizodwa (2081-07-08). "Between Two Worlds | Zulaika Patel's painful journey of dual family rejection". IOL. Retrieved 2025-11-18.{{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
4. Thabile Vilakazi, for (31 August 2016). "Students say school's hair policy is racist". CNN. Retrieved 8 December 2016.
5. Shelton, Michaela (1 April 2020). "Regulating Cultural Expressions in Post-Apartheid South Africa: A Case Study on Pretoria High School for Girls". Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection.
6. Malgas, Natalie. "Four South Africans make it on BBC's '100 Women List for 2016'". Archived from the original on 24 November 2016. Retrieved 8 December 2016.
7. Thabile Vilakazi (31 August 2016). "South African students protest against school's alleged racist hair policy". CNN. Retrieved 20 June 2021.
8. Safdar, Anealla (30 August 2016). "S Africa: Black students protest 'racist' hair rules". Al Jazeera . Retrieved 10 December 2016.
9. "SAHRC begins hearings into racism in advertising". Sowetan. 14 March 2022. Retrieved 17 November 2025.
10. Smith, Scott Peter (9 June 2023). "Zulaikha Patel". The Mail & Guardian. Retrieved 18 November 2025.
11. Reporter, Staff (18 February 2017). "Young SA activist honoured with mural in New York". News24. Retrieved 18 November 2025.
12. Modisane, Kgosi (1 September 2016). "Solange Knowles gives Pretoria Girls protester Zulaikha Patel a shout out". The Citizen. Retrieved 18 November 2025.