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Melanie Verwoerd
When Melanie Verwoerd met Nelson Mandela for the first time, she was 23 and married to the grandson of HF Verwoerd. At that meeting, Mandela told her: "You only need to remember th...view moreWhen Melanie Verwoerd met Nelson Mandela for the first time, she was 23 and married to the grandson of HF Verwoerd. At that meeting, Mandela told her: "You only need to remember that with the surname you carry, you have a voice. People will listen to you. So you have to think carefully what to do with that power."
She became actively involved in politics and was elected ANC chair in Stellenbosch, for which she was disowned and barred from the Verwoerd family home. Later, at the age of 27, she became the youngest female MP in the history of the South African parliament. In 2001 she was appointed as South African Ambassador to Ireland. After her term of office ended in 2005 she was appointed as the Executive Director of UNICEF Ireland, a position she held until 2011. She is currently the Executive Director of an American NGO, Tremendous Hearts.
Her memoir, 'The Verwoerd Who Toyi-toyied', was published in South Africa in 2013, after first being published in Ireland as 'When We Dance'.view less