Helen Suzman Quotes

• Tool of Communist agitators… it’s really a joke, isn’t it? Because, quite clearly, we are a party of real moderates. It just shows how little they understand.

  Helen Suzman

• This country is armed to the teeth, and none of these African states could begin to attack South Africa.

  Helen Suzman

• The employment laws are completely unrealistic. You cannot overcome that in only 10 years. It will take at least another generation before young people are properly qualified.

  Helen Suzman

• That’s my life in there. It would never be possible today to ask as many questions as I did.

  Helen Suzman

• My own electorate, which I represented for 36 years as an anti-apartheid politician, had a considerable number of Jewish voters supporting me throughout my career.

  Helen Suzman

• It is the answers, not the questions, that are embarrassing.

  Helen Suzman

• I used to be a fan of proportional representation, but I am not at all now I have seen it in action.

  Helen Suzman

• I stand for simple justice, equal opportunity and human rights. The indispensable elements in a democratic society – and well worth fighting for.

  Helen Suzman

• I represent all the enlightened people in this country, and that’s a fine thing to be able to do. It infuriates my opponents when I say this, but it is true.

  Helen Suzman

• I don’t think we will ever go the way of Zimbabwe, but people are concerned.

  Helen Suzman

• I can say unequivocally that the boycott does not work. It’s never complete enough to have impact unless it’s backed by force, and I don’t think anybody in America seriously proposes that.

  Helen Suzman

• I am provocative, and I admit this. It isn’t as if I’m only on the receiving end, a poor, frail little creature. I can be thoroughly nasty when I get going, and I don’t pull my punches.

  Helen Suzman

• I am hopeful about any future for whites in this country, but not entirely optimistic.

  Helen Suzman

• For all my criticisms of the current system, it doesn’t mean that I would like to return to the old one.

  Helen Suzman

• Debate is almost non-existent and no one is apparently accountable to anybody apart from their political party bosses. It is bad news for democracy in this country.

  Helen Suzman

• All these stories are grist to the mill of the government because they build up a very useful war psychosis.

  Helen Suzman

Helen Suzman (16)

Birth:	7th November, 1917
Death:	1st January, 2009
Nationality:	South African
Profession:	Politician

About

Helen Suzman was born in Germiston, South Africa. She was a South African politician. She studied as an economist and statistician at Witwatersrand University. She was elected to the House of Assembly in 1953 as a member of the United Party for the Houghton constituency in Johannesburg. Suzman and eleven other liberal members of the United Party broke away to form the Progressive Party in 1959. At the 1961 general election all the other Progressive MPs lost their seats, leaving Suzman as the sole parliamentarian unequivocally opposed to apartheid for thirteen years from 1961 to 1974. She spent a total of 36 years in parliament. She was awarded 27 honorary doctorates from universities around the world, was twice nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize and received countless other awards from religious and human rights organizations around the world.

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Today's Anniversary - 21st November

Births

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Deaths

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