Helen Suzman, a celebrated South African MP and anti-apartheid campaigner, has died at the age of 91.
Ms Suzman, a member of parliament first for the United Party and later the liberal Progressive Party, was an outspoken critic of apartheid.
For 13 years, Suzman, the daughter of Lithuanian Jews, was the only MP to openly condemn South Africa's whites-only apartheid regime.
She was made an honorary dame by the Queen in 1989.
She was also twice-nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize.
The former MP, who had been in a frail condition recently, died at her home in Johannesburg early on Thursday.
Ms Suzman, who first entered the South African parliament in 1953, was a thorn in the side of the apartheid regime, BBC correspondent Peter Biles said from Johannesburg.
She was a frequent visitor of jailed African National Congress (ANC) leader Nelson Mandela when he was held on Robben Island prison for 18 years.
Despite her condition, Ms Suzman, who stepped down from parliament in 1989, continued to speak out against what she saw as the failings of South Africa's post-apartheid ANC administration.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7807070.stm
