Helen Suzman died January 1, 2009, at the age of 91. She was known for her lonely struggle against apartheid in South Africa. In the 1960s and 1970s, she was the only Progressive Party MP and openly opposed Apartheid among the rest of the white parliament. Her regular prison visits led to important improvements in prisons and a warm friendship with Nelson Mandela.
Who was Helen Suzman
She was born in Johannesburg as Helen Gavronsky to Lithuanian Jewish immigrants. Her mother died two weeks after her birth and her father remarried a few years later. She was educated at Parktown Covent in Johannesburg and at the age of 19 she married Mozes Suzman, a neurologist.
In 1941, after the birth of her first child, she obtained her Bachelor of Commerce degree from the University of Witwatersrand in Johannesburg. In 1944 she was appointed as a lecturer at the same university.
Her political career
In the elections of May 1948, the African Nationalists defeated the United Party. During the Second World War, this party made South Africa the ally of Great Britain. The Nationalists had sided more with Nazi Germany and won the elections with the slogan: ,apartheid,. The ideas began to spread and reinforced racial discrimination against the black majority. The United Party was still relatively liberal at the time and Helen Suzman started a branch of this party at the university. In 1953 she stood as this party’s candidate in Houghton, a constituency that largely consisted of wealthy Jewish voters. She won a seat and remained an MP for 36 years. The United Party was already in decline at that time and, if in a weaker form, they too were in favor of apartheid. Around 1959, the nationalists had arrived at an ideology of so-called separate development of white and black. The black population was placed in separate mini-states.
The Progressive Party
Suzman was one of 11 members of parliament who left the United Party and joined the Progressive Party. They were against apartheid and wanted opportunities for every South African. During the 1961 elections, the party plummeted from 11 to 1 seat and Guzman was the only member of that party in Parliament. The major black organizations, the African National Congress (ANC) and the Pan-African Congress (PAC), were not allowed in Parliament, even banned in 1960.
During the years in which they grew as the sole representative of the Progressive Party Helen Suzman is a politician of stature. She always asked for space and spoke in one debate after another. She did not look at skin color or political beliefs. Her goal was the fight against the injustice of apartheid. All that mattered was that a person who was suffering needed to be helped. That made her unique in the difficult years, when only whites ruled, blacks were ignored and left-wingers were feared.
In parliament she was also personally attacked by the other members. She was told again and again that she should , go back to Israel,, the newspapers regularly drew her caricature: an attractive but small woman with a huge curved nose and her fingers full of expensive rings. She was known for her humor and sharp tongue. So once said to a minister: It is not my questions that embarrass you, but your answers.
In 1974 her party won another six seats. After 13 years she was no longer alone, but suddenly had a team. In 1977 the party became the Federal Progressive Party and in 1985 they won 26 seats.
In recent years
In 1989, Helen Suzman retired after 36 years as a Member of Parliament. During her lifetime she received 27 honorary degrees from universities around the world, including Cambridge, Oxford, Harvard and Cape Town.
She died on January 1, 2009 at the age of 91.