Mudene "Dene" Smuts was a South African politician.
12 Facts About Dene Smuts
1.
2.
Dene Smuts was a member of Parliament for the Democratic Alliance, serving in various capacities, including as Shadow Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development.
3.
Dene Smuts was editor of Fair Lady magazine, managing editor of Leadership, and was a prize-winning author.
4.
Dene Smuts was Broadcasting and Telecoms spokesperson for both the Democratic Party and Democratic Alliance from 1994 and 1996 respectively and specialised in free speech issues.
5.
Dene Smuts launched her political career in 1989 when she was elected MP for the five-month old Democratic Party for the Groote Schuur constituency, and on 6 September that year, she participated in the great Peace March in Cape Town, a seminal date in that it coincided with her swearing in as an MP.
6.
Dene Smuts served as a constitutional negotiator for the DP during the transition from Apartheid to democracy.
7.
Dene Smuts participated from that day until its conclusion in 1996 specialising in the drafting of the Bill of Rights for the Final Constitution.
Related searches
Mmusi Maimane 8.
Dene Smuts served as the DP spokesperson on the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, the Constitution and human rights.
9.
In 1992, Dene Smuts became South Africa's first female whip in Parliament and served as DP party chairperson from 1994 to 1997.
10.
Dene Smuts served on the special committee on the controversial Protection of State Information Bill known as the Secrecy Bill, opposing clauses which literally made everything, including corporate information, a state secret and which would have made it an offense for journalists to publish any information not vetted by the state.
11.
Dene Smuts served the DA as Shadow Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development.
12.
At her public memorial at Parliament's Old Assembly chamber, Democratic Alliance leader Mmusi Maimane remembered her with these words: 'Dene Smuts said that every one of us needs to be accountable to our conscience, to our country, to our Constitution and to our constituency.