Helen Suzman was a woman of quite remarkable character and bravery. To have been the sole anti-apartheid MP in the South African parliament for so many years must have required a level of courage and a dedication to principle that few of us can imagine.
Suzman was a good liberal, in the proper sense of the word. She opposed the great evil of apartheid, pointed out the failings of the Mbeki government over AIDS and Zimbabwe and denounced Mugabe. As she put it herself:
“I am proud to acknowledge that I am a liberal…who adheres to old-fashioned liberal values such as the rule of law, universal franchise, free elections, a free press, free association, guaranteed civil rights and an independent judiciary.”
May she rest in peace.
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