Anti-Apartheid Crusader Suzman Dead

Was one of few white South African pols to denounce segregation
By Kevin Spak,  Newser Staff
Posted Jan 1, 2009 1:26 PM CST
Anti-Apartheid Crusader Suzman Dead
Winnie Mandela, left, then-wife of the imprisoned Nelson Mandela, speaks with then Progressive Federal Party member Helen Suzman in Orlando West, Soweto, South Africa, in this 1986 file photo.   (AP Photo/File)

Anti-apartheid icon Helen Suzman has died peacefully in her Johannesburg home, her daughter announced today. She was 91. Suzman served in South Africa’s parliament at a time when few whites criticized apartheid, and for 13 years was the only legislator to publicly do so. She was twice nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize for her efforts. “She really was indomitable,” said a South African archbishop; the Mandela foundation called her “a great patriot.” (More apartheid stories.)

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