By Alexandra Zavis
Associated Press
Thursday, April 20, 2006

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.