Hendricks was born on 14 September 1949 to Imam Shaikh Ebrahim Latiff from Durban and Ghairoennisaa Ally Hendricks from District Six. His mother was a political activist. Both his maternal and paternal grandparents were from Johannesburg and they were involved in the struggle against apartheid. The Latiff family had to change their surname to Hendricks in order to avoid being deported to the Natal Province during the 1960s.