Shulamith Muller (née Movshowitz, December 1922 - July 1978) was a South African lawyer,
communist
Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a ...
, and anti-
apartheid
Apartheid (, especially South African English: , ; , "aparthood") was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. Apartheid was ...
activist.
Muller was one of the attorneys for the
1956 Treason Trial.
Biography
Muller was born in
Pretoria
Pretoria () is South Africa's administrative capital, serving as the seat of the executive branch of government, and as the host to all foreign embassies to South Africa.
Pretoria straddles the Apies River and extends eastward into the foot ...
in December 1922 to a Jewish family.
Muller attended the University of Pretoria where she studied law and became an attorney in 1948.
In her practice, she worked with
Oliver Tambo
Oliver Reginald Kaizana Tambo (27 October 191724 April 1993) was a South African anti- apartheid politician and revolutionary who served as President of the African National Congress (ANC) from 1967 to 1991.
Biography
Higher education
...
,
Nelson Mandela
Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela (; ; 18 July 1918 – 5 December 2013) was a South African anti-apartheid activist who served as the first president of South Africa from 1994 to 1999. He was the country's first black head of state and the ...
,
Arthur Chaskalson and
George Bizos.
Muller allowed the
South African Congress of Trade Unions (SACTU) to work secretly from her offices.
Muller worked as
Viola Hashe's counsel in 1956 and prevented her from being deported.
Muller also did appeals for
Sophia Williams-De Bruyn
Sophia Theresa Williams-de Bruyn (born 1938) is a former South African anti-apartheid activist. She was the first recipient of the Women's Award for exceptional national service. She is the last living leader of the Women's March.
Early life
S ...
. Muller was also involved with the
1956 Treason Trial as one of the instructing attorneys, taking the case on when she was seven months pregnant.
Muller was arrested during the post-Sharpeville Emergency and was jailed first at the
Johannesburg Fort
Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu and xh, eGoli ), colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, or "The City of Gold", is the largest city in South Africa, classified as a megacity, and is one of the 100 largest urban areas in the world. According to Demo ...
and later taken to the
Pretoria Central Prison.
In prison, she helped others with
legal assistance.
She was subject to bannings and harassment by the
Special Branch so that she could no longer practice law effectively.
In 1962, she and her family fled to
Swaziland.
In August 1962, after she went to Swaziland, a gag order was imposed on her and 101 other South African activists, preventing the publishing of their spoken words and writings. South Africa struck her from the Roll of Attorneys in August 1971.
She died in Swaziland in July 1978.
After being struck from the list of attorneys in South Africa for more than 30 years, Muller was finally posthumously reinstated by the
Johannesburg High Court in 2005.
Her son, Arnold, had petitioned for the reinstatement.
See also
*
List of people subject to banning orders under apartheid
References
External links
*
Juveline Delinquency and the Colour Bar' by Shulamith Muller (1959)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Muller, Shulamith
1922 births
1978 deaths
People from Pretoria
Anti-apartheid activists
Jewish South African anti-apartheid activists
South African Jews
South African women lawyers
University of Pretoria alumni
20th-century South African lawyers
20th-century women lawyers