Fiji’s first female deputy prime minister Taufa Vakatale will be remembered for her long and distinguished career as a civil servant, educationist, diplomat, and politician.
Fiji Labour Party leader and former prime minister Mahendra Chaudhry said this while paying tribute to Ms Vakatale who passed away last Saturday.
“I am saddened by the passing of Taufa Vakatale, friend and former political colleague,” he said.
“She (Ms Vakatale) had an outstanding record of public service marked with integrity and dedication to her duties and responsibilities.
“Throughout her life she was seen as a pace setter achieving many firsts particularly as an indigenous woman of her time — the first university graduate, the first high school principal and later, after she entered politics, as the first female deputy prime minister.
“Despite her many achievements, she remained a friendly, simple, and humble person throughout her life, approachable and willing to assist whenever she could. Indeed, she set the pace for other women to emulate. It is in recognition of her integrity and remarkable public career, that she was appointed a member of the interim Public Accounts Committee in 2008 and later in 2012 served as a member on the Constitution Review Commission headed by Professor Yash Ghai.”
She was awarded the Honorary Doctorate of Letters from the University of St Andrews in Scotland for her contribution to the cause of Pacific women and was a recipient of the Order of Fiji in 1996.
Vakatale will be remembered for her principled stand on issues.
In 1995, she lost her Cabinet position when she opposed the French nuclear weapons testing at the Mururoa Atoll in French Polynesia, against the stance taken by SVT at that time.
