[2] Her parents had emigrated to South Africa in 1949: her mother, Dora Rabinowitz, was Jewish and a survivor of Stutthof concentration camp, while her father, Frank Love, had been a British soldier.
[1] She left the country in late 1977, during the repressive state crackdown that followed the Soweto uprising; though only intending to leave for a brief sojourn, she remained in exile for the next decade, joining Umkhonto we Sizwe and working for the overseas missions of the ANC and South African Congress of Trade Unions.
[3] In 2006, though not herself a lawyer, she was appointed as national director of the Legal Resources Centre, South Africa's largest public interest law firm, known for its pro bono work.
[12] In October 2009, Parliament recommended Love's appointment as a part-time commissioner to the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC),[13] a position which she ultimately held for a seven-year term ending in 2016.
[16] Although the opposition Democratic Alliance had supported Love's appointment, the party's leader, Helen Zille, argued that Mantashe's framing should "set alarm bells ringing for anybody who treasures the independence" of the SAHRC and other Chapter Nine institutions.
[18][19][20] In 2010, a number of prominent figures in civil society and law – including Geoff Budlender, Zackie Achmat, Paul Verryn, Pierre de Vos, Richard Calland, and Judith February of the Institute for Democratic Alternatives – signed an open letter which defended Love.
[17][21] The letter read in part:We are surprised and dismayed by Premier Helen Zille’s implication that [Love] will not act independently of narrow party politics in her capacity as a human rights commissioner.
[22] In March 2016, following an interview process, the National Assembly recommended that Love should be appointed as a commissioner at the Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC), filling the vacancy left by Raenette Taljaard's resignation.