Helen Suzman: The passing of a giant

Having spent the first 34 years of my life under the rule of apartheid South Africa I am acutely aware of the enormous role played by Helen Suzman in not only attacking that evil system but also, unlike Breyten Breytenbach, having the courage of her convictions to usher in and try to improve the new society she had helped to create. South Africa has lost one of our two “great ladies”, and we are all the poorer for her passing.

Suzman, at a time when strict controls were exercised over the media, opposition to the National Party government could mean being pushed out of the windows of police stations or having your phones tapped and being followed by members of the the security apparatus, refused to be cowed and let the country and indeed the planet know the system stank from the head down.

The 1960’s and the first half of the 70’s saw her as the old Progressive Party’s sole member of Parliament firing “bullets” at the verkramptes who made up the National Party’s parliamentary caucas. While her presence must have irritated the hell out of them they grudgingly conceded that here was an indomitable lady who was not going to bow down to pressure. She simply kept on informing the outside world of the horrors of apartheid, visiting political prisoners on Robben Island and using her platform to call for its end.

Looking around the internet you will find endless tributes to Suzman including these from IOL, Times of London and the
Mail & Guardian.

I don’t propose to add any further background information to these articles but would rather focus attention on two points.

Firstly, that as you read through the many tributes being paid to this immense lady note how they transcend political affiliations and even politics itself. Everyone from Madiba through to the ANC, Cope, the DA, Bantu Holomisa, Patricia De Lille and everyone else recognises the enormous part she played in the birth of our multiracial democracy and the death of apartheid.

Secondly, that we must also consider those other fine ladies who continue to play their part in the building of this great country even today.

The other “great lady” I referred to above is Winnie Madikizela-Mandela who fought a running battle with the full forces of apartheid at a time when she could have been blown away on any given day. In plain sight, in South Africa and in their faces, she stood her ground. Little wonder she was voted the sixth greatest South African in the poll conducted by SABC3. I would like to see this lady who was voted number one by the ANC delegates at Polokwane receive far more credit before she too is no longer with us.

In addition, there are our other tigers who daily improve our lives with their courage and their integrity — Helen Zille — a credit to us all and worthy bearer of the crown worn by Suzman before her. Another is Patricia De Lille, who has taken on the ANC’s arms deal with the courage of a Suzman and Ferial Haffajee, the Mail& Guardian editor who has never been afraid to cross swords with any political party in her efforts to keep the public informed.

With the passing of one of South Africas Great Ladies it is an appropriate time to celebrate her life as well as those ladies who make South Africa a better place to live. Women who are wives, daughters, friends, colleagues, professionals and in whatever ever other guise we find them.

Without them we’d all be far poorer.