CEPD was a leading research body and think-tank in education, contributing to policy development and The Centre for Education Policy Development (CEPD) is a professionally autonomous, independent trust, governed by a Board of Trustees. It was established in 1993 during the dying days of apartheid, in order to develop alternative education and training policies that would serve a future democratic South Africa.

Champion, A.W. George - Mahlathi (African politician and entrepreneur) 1893-1975

Alison Weasels George Champion, born in Natal in 1893, was named after an American missionary who had adopted his father. After an abbreviated schooling at Amanzimtoti Zulu Training College - later Adams College he became a policeman in Johannesburg, Natal and Zululand until World War1 then a mine clerk and first President of the Transvaal Native Mine Clerks Association; by the early 1920's he was becoming increasingly prominent as an African spokesman, particularly by means of the forum provided by the Johannesburg Joint Council.

In 1925 Champion met Kadalie and shortly thereafter joined the ICU, first as its Transvaal, and subsequently, Natal Secretary. Under Champion, the Natal branch soon became the strongest. However, a personality clash - amongst other reasons - with Kadalie, led to a split within the ICU, Champion forming the ICU Yale, Natal. In 1930, having been accused of fomenting unrest at the time. of the Durban Boer Protests of 1929, Champion was banished from Durban until pardoned in 1933.

Champion meanwhile, had become active in the African National Congress, siding with the more progressive faction within the Congress in the late 1920's and serving as Minister of Labour under J.T. Gumede. A right-wing backlash against Gumede's policies brought Pixley Seme to the fore and simultaneously cost Champion his position in the inner councils of Congress. In 1937 Champion returned to the executive of Congress, where he remained for the next 14 years.

The Natal Congress under Dube's leadership since its inception, had become increasingly stagnant and insular; when Dube resigned in 1944, a power struggle developed between Mtimkulu, his designated successor, and Champion. A Congress Youth League had been formed in Natal in the course of 1944 and, seeing in Champion a character capable of bringing the aberrant Natal Congress back into the main stream of Congress politics, the younger members of Congress backed Champion.

He served as President from 1945-1951. Relations with Xuma deteriorated in this period; aware of Champion's power to command popular support, Xuma had been prepared to make compromises and concessions to avoid any antagonism developing between them. However, as Congress gradually began to move in a more progressive direction, swayed by the Youth League and the broad left, concessions to Champion became Increasingly difficult as his rear-guard actions intensified. Convinced that the Youth League was 'driving the train against the red light' he warned that precipitate action would be fatal for Congress. In 1451 he was succeeded as Natal president by a less controversial figure, Albert Luthuli.

Champion had been involved in other forms of political activity in this period. In 1942 he had been elected to the Natives Representative Council, and was re-elected in 1945 and 1948 - eventually becoming one of the last people to remains a member of the discredited council. In addition, Champion chaired the Durban Combined Advisory boards for many years, a portfolio that complemented his essentially reactionary beliefs.

One dimension to his popularity lay in his appeal to Zulu ethnicity. Indeed, he devoted much time to establishing a National Fund in the name of the Zulu nation, aimed at promoting economic development by stimulating entrepreneurship with loans. The sums collected were small however, and after his death were incorporated into the Luthuli Memorial Fund. Of more lasting impact was a scheme he claimed to have instigated - the Bantu Investment Corporation, established in 1959 to promote African enterprise in the reserves.

Champion died in 1975.

Justice Arthur Chaskalson was the President of the Constitutional Court of South Africa from 1994 to 2001 and Chief Justice of South Africa from 2001 to 2005.

Shun N. Chetty was born in 1941 in Durban. He was educated in Kwazulu-Natal and graduated in 1968 from the University College in Durban with a Law degree. He has been admitted to practice as an attorney in 1971. From 1974 up to 1979 Chetty practiced under the name of Shun Chetty and Company. During this time he was involved in political activities and acted on behalf of various members of the ANC, the PAC, the Black Consciousness Movement and in the Trial after the 1976 uprisings. In 1979 he fled South Africa, leaving the country illegally without a passport which was seized earlier by the police. In 1980 at the instance of the Law Society of the Transvaal, his name was struck off the roll of attorneys by the High Court of South Africa. While living abroad S. Chetty applied to the High Court of S. A for reinstatement as an attorney albeit unsuccessfully.

Chetty worked for the United Nations High Commission for Refugees in Geneva. He was also the Legal Advisor for Asia and Thailand. In 1995 Chetty moved to Australia where he was appointed as Chief Executive Officer of the Refugee Review Tribunal. In 1998 he returned to South Africa and was the Regional Representative in Pretoria of the International Organization for Migration.

A year later he once more applied to the High Court of S.A. for reinstatement as an attorney in order to pursue a career within the legal profession. Chetty died in 2000 and was only reinstated posthumously in 2006.