Helen Suzman

Helen Suzman died today.

She was a persistent thorn in the side of the apartheid regime, calling for peaceful but relentless opposition to the evil…

For thirty-six years, thirteen as the sole member of Parliament from the Progressive Party, she used her place to denounce apartheid and to call for a nonracial South Africa. And, finally, she stood at her old friend Nelson Mandela’s side when in 1996 he signed the country’s new nonracial constitution.

A person of strong personality and contradictory traits, she was not without critics even among those with whom she worked.

Perhaps of course, once the old regime fell, she became a thorn in the side of the new government, relentlessly pointing out their failures and calling for constant reform.

She was nominated for the Nobel Peace prize twice.

Should have won one of them…