A month of celebrating phenomenal South African Women: Helen Suzman
Despite all the recent chaos and uncertainty that has been taking place, one thing we can all proudly agree on in South Africa is that we have phenomenal women. Women who have gone out and pushed through multiple barriers to have a voice and ignite change.
For August, we will be paying tribute to a few of these remarkable South Africans.
Today, we pay tribute to Helen Suzman (nee Govronsky). Born on the 7th of November 1917 in Germiston, Suzman’s parents were immigrants of Eastern Europe who fled to South Africa to escape the cruel treatment of Jews in Russia.
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Suzman proudly studied at the University of Witwatersrand (WITS) and later became one of South Africa’s most recognised parliamentarians and human rights activists.
In 1953, Suzman was represented in Parliament for the first time and became recognised for her strong criticism against the apartheid government.
As a member of Parliament, she ensured that she visited prisons and specifically inspected the prison conditions of former president Nelson Mandela.
A woman with a voice, Suzman was vocal about unpopular issues and in 1957 tackled discrimination against black South African women.
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For many years, Suzman served as a statutory Human Rights Commission member and was with Nelson Mandela when he signed the Constitution in 1996.
Awarded for her service to her country and its fight against oppression, Suzman was nominated twice for the Nobel Peace Prize. She published her autobiography, In No Uncertain Terms: A South African Memoir, in 1993.
A woman we can all learn from and aspire to be, Suzman died peacefully in her sleep at the beautiful age of 91.