11 Facts About Taufa Vakatale

Taufa Vakatale was born on 1 February 1938 on Batiki in the Lomaiviti Islands.

Taufa Vakatale's parents were Alanieta Naucukidi and Mosese Vakatale, a Methodist minister.

Taufa Vakatale attended primary school on Gau Island before enrolling in the first cohort of students at Adi Cakobau School, a government boarding school for girls on Fiji's main island, Viti Levu, in 1948.

Taufa Vakatale received the New Zealand School Certificate in 1954.

Taufa Vakatale was the school principal from 1973 from 1979, making her the first indigenous Fijian woman to serve as a secondary school principal.

Taufa Vakatale left the school to become a diplomat in 1980 and became the first indigenous Fijian woman appointed a deputy high commissioner.

Taufa Vakatale held various positions in the civil service, particularly in the field of education, and became Chief Education Officer in 1983.

Taufa Vakatale ran for election in 1992 under the Soqosoqo ni Vakavulewa ni Taukei party ticket; she was elected and won a bid for re-election in 1994.

Taufa Vakatale was Minister of Education, Science and Technology from 1993 to 1995, but she was dismissed from her cabinet post in 1995 because, in contrast to the SVT's policies, she opposed French nuclear weapons testing in Moruroa Atoll in French Polynesia.

Taufa Vakatale resigned from the SVT in 2000 in opposition to the coup d'etat by i-Taukei nationalists which had removed then-Prime Minister Mahendra Chaudhry from power.

Taufa Vakatale was made an Officer of the Order of Fiji in 1996 and was awarded an honorary Doctor of Letters degree by the University of St Andrews in 2009.