Kunta Skulu joined ISLA in September 2023 as the Legal Programmes Coordinator.

Kunta obtained a B.Com Law (Cum Laude) degree from the Midrand Graduate Institution in 2014, continuing to pursue her LLB degree from the University of Witwatersrand in 2016, and, finally, an LLM degree from the University of Cape Town in 2017.

Whilst completing her LLM, she was also undertaking a learnership programme as a legal researcher at the Supreme Court of Appeal. In preparation, she took a short course where she earned a Core Skills for Legal and Judicial Researchers certificate from the Dean of the Law Faculty, gaining essential analytical research and writing skills in the legal field.

Moreover, she worked as a legal intern at Lawyers for Human Rights, gaining a greater appreciation for the duty of those who work in non-profit organisations – she feels that there is an overwhelming need for such professionals in the field whose passion is to use the law to help those who cannot necessarily ‘afford their rights’, as well as those who feel like the system has failed them.

In 2019, Kunta did her articles at Aitken Attorneys which further helped her to apply, and add to, her strengths as well as to learn extensively about the legal field.

Kunta is a member of and secretariat for the International Labour Organization Convention No. 190 Task Team which focuses on the National Strategic Plan on Gender-Based Violence and Femicide, with an overall goal of, first, acknowledging the epidemic of GBVF in South Africa as a national crisis, and second, to deliver the overarching policies and programming frameworks that respond to the crisis of GBVF by the government of South Africa.

Arising from the abovementioned volunteering, she started as a Junior Intern Administrator for GBVF Team of the Private Office of the President of South Africa, in May 2023. Again, gaining the access to information on a social issue that has a group of people, who should be protected by the government and the law, left so depraved and hopeless; but the opportunity to learn, participate and assist in reaching the overall goal of a safer South Africa for women, children, and people with disabilities with the legal skills and knowledge.

Kunta is a keen reader and in December 2022, she had the opportunity to proofread and offer inputs to Judge PM Mojapelo’s manuscript.