Not true to Helen Suzman
GARETH VAN ONSELEN: How is it the Helen Suzman Memorial Lecture has become a platform for ANC politicians?
The veteran parliamentarian, who lashed generations of Nat MPs and ministers with her quick wit, would be surprised at how a lecture in her name has become a platform for ANC politicians
On November 7, Helen Suzman would have been 100 years old. There were numerous tributes to her on the day, but one in particular stands out as difficult to understand. The Helen Suzman Foundation (HSF), the formal custodian of her legacy, invited former ANC deputy president and SA president Kgalema Motlanthe to deliver the annual Helen Suzman Memorial Lecture. There have, to date, been 10 Suzman memorial lectures, though the first, in 2008, took the form of a panel discussion between the late Colin Eglin, former leader of the Progressive Federal Party and the official opposition, and the late Kader Asmal, former ANC minister of education. Since then, the speakers have been: Mamphela Ramphele (2009); Judge Meyer Joffe (2010); Judge Kate O’Regan (2011); Prof Jonathan Jansen (2012); Judge Zakeria Mohammed Yacoob (2013); former minister in the presidency Trevor Manuel (2014); former governor of the Reserve Bank Gill Marcus (2015); former deputy chief justice Dikgang Moseneke (2016); and...
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