[2][4][3] Achmat set fire to his school in Salt River in support of the 1976 student protests and was imprisoned several times during his youth for political activities.

[16] In 2006, Achmat called on fellow party members to formulate appropriate HIV policies and oust Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang.

[14][16][20] Achmat stood as an independent for national parliament on the Western Cape regional list in the 2024 South African general election.

[26] Achmat's motives have never been independently established and he does not mention this incident in affidavits that he has submitted on public interest matters containing his life history.

[17][28] In 2008, Achmat co-founded the Social Justice Coalition (SJC), an organisation with the aim of promoting the rights enshrined in South Africa's Constitution, particularly among poor and unemployed people living in the country.

[1][29] In 2013, Achmat and 18 other SJC activists were arrested for an illegal gathering outside the Cape Town Civic Centre, where they were protesting about sanitation services in the township of Khayelitsha.

[30] In 2018, Achmat was accused of intimidating women against speaking about sexual harassment while he was the chair of the board of Equal Education, specifically regarding allegations against Doron Isaacs.

Achmat denied threatening complainants but admitted that he had "spoken firmly to people who have spread rumours or allegations of sexual or other misconduct without evidence as fact or faith".

[46] On 5 January 2008, Achmat married his partner and fellow activist Dalli Weyers at a ceremony in the Cape Town suburb of Lakeside.

The ceremony was attended by then Mayor Helen Zille and presided over by his close friend Supreme Court of Appeal judge Edwin Cameron.