[DEBATE] : WP: Ellen Kuzwayo passes

[Daniel Moshenberg]

Ellen Kuzwayo; South African Rights Pioneer

By Alexandra Zavis
Associated Press
Thursday, April 20, 2006; B07

South African author, women's rights and anti-apartheid champion Ellen 
Kuzwayo died April 19 after a long illness. She was 91.
Ms. Kuzwayo was admitted three weeks ago to Soweto's Lesedi Private 
Clinic, suffering from complications associated with chronic diabetes, 
one of her sons told the South African Press Association.
She was the first black writer to win South Africa's premier CNA 
Literary Prize for her 1985 autobiography, "Call Me Woman," a book 
that made her a spokeswoman for the suffering and triumphs of black 
women under apartheid.
"My motivation for writing the book was born out of the negative image 
about black women in South Africa, promoted by the general community 
of white people of this country, in particular the women . . . who 
employed African workers as domestic workers," Ms. Kuzwayo said.
In 1996, she published a collection of short stories, "Sit Down and 
Listen: Stories From South Africa." She also collaborated on films.
Born in rural Free State, Ms. Kuzwayo inherited the family farm, only 
to lose it soon afterward, when the area was declared for whites only.
Trained as a teacher and social worker, she moved to the sprawling 
Johannesburg township of Soweto, where she became an active opponent 
of the brutal white-minority regime after police gunned down students 
in 1976 protests against the introduction of Afrikaans as the language 
of instruction in black schools.
Arrested for her political activities, she spent five months in 
detention in 1977.
Ms. Kuzwayo was elected to Parliament in South Africa's first all-race 
elections in 1994, serving five years. She was also active in projects 
to educate women and improve living conditions in Soweto, becoming an 
institution in the township, where her advice was sought by schools, 
church groups, welfare agencies and many others.
Survivors include two sons, six grandchildren and three great-
grandchildren.
© 2006 The Washington Post Company
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