Christine Qunta was born in South Africa and was in exile while studying law at UNSW. After graduation, she practised in Botswana and Zimbabwe until she was able to return home to South Africa in 1993 after the release of Nelson Mandela and the lifting of the ban of the liberation movements.

Christine was then employed as a legal advisor at one of South Africa’s major financial institutions, Sanlam, and in 1995 she set up her own legal practice, Qunta Incorporated. During apartheid, Black professionals could not have their offices in the city and were forced to have practices in ‘Black areas’. Even after these restrictions were removed, most Black firms operated in ‘Black areas’. Qunta Incorporated was the first Black firm to concentrate exclusively on corporate and commercial law in the CBD at that time.

Christine is also involved in non-legal work as the government relies on skilled Black people to assist in the institutional transformation of the country. She is currently Deputy-Chairperson of the South African Broadcasting Corporation, member of the panel of experts on the Development of Policy on the Regulation of Ownership of Land in South Africa by Foreigners, and the President Task Team on African Traditional Medicine.

May 2008