SUZMAN, HELEN

ne Gavronsky born Nov. 7, 1917, Germiston, S.Af. white South African legislator (195389) who was an outspoken advocate for the nonwhite majority. The daughter of Lithuanian Jewish immigrants, Suzman graduated (1940) from the University of Witwatersrand in Johannesburg with a degree in commerce. She served as a statistician with the War Supplies Board from 1941 to 1944 and then returned (194552) to her alma mater as a lecturer in economic history. In 1948, when the largely Afrikaner, proapartheid National Party won the national elections, Suzman joined the United Party, a moderate coalition of Afrikaners and English-speaking white South Africans. She was elected to Parliament in 1953. Six years later, she and 11 other liberal members of Parliament formed the aggressively antiapartheid Progressive Party; Suzman alone of the 12 was returned to office in the elections of 1961. From 1961 to 1974 she was the sole antiapartheid member of Parliament. Serving as a voice for the disenfranchised, Suzman was in constant conflict with her conservative colleaguesparticularly with P.W. Bothaand she often cast the lone vote against an increasing number of apartheid measures. Until her retirement, Suzman remained a consistent and significant voice in the South African Parliament, though after 1974 she was no longer the sole opposition voice.