Helen Suzman, a 'cricket in the thorn tree'

I love this photo.  It is of Nelson Mandela and Helen Suzman and was taken in 1990.  Helen Suzman died yesterday at age 91.

I had never heard of Suzman before yesterday, which is slightly embarrassing as my family lived in South Africa from 1963 to 1965.  Granted, I was a bit too young to be following the South African political news of those years, but I haven't given it much attention recently either.

Suzman was a wealthy, privileged, white South African woman who was disgusted by the system of apartheid and worked tirelessly to end it.  She became a member of Parliament in the 1950's and later founded the Progressive Party.  She was acerbic and controversial, especially when she opposed economic sanctions against South Africa in the 1980's.  "I don't see how wrecking the economy of the country will ensure a more stable and just society," she told a New York audience in 1986.  She wisely understood that sanctions would only serve to hurt the already poor blacks much more than than the privileged white minority.  And, as it was, thousands of blacks lost their jobs in a country which had no social support system.  That fueled waves of crime and violence which continued to be South Africa's major problem, Suzman noted in a 1996 lecture at Stanford University.

She once urged a former Prime Minister of South Africa to visit the black townships, but to go "heavily disguised as a human being."  

"I stand for simple justice, equal opportunity and human rights, the indispensable elements in a democratic society -- and well worth fighting for."