Sue van der Merwe

Susan Comber van der Merwe (née Young; born 29 May 1954) is a South African politician who served as Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs from April 2004 to November 2010. Before that, she was parliamentary counsellor to President Thabo Mbeki from January 2001 to April 2004. Formerly a Black Sash activist in the Cape Province, she represented the African National Congress (ANC) in the National Assembly from January 1996 until her resignation in October 2013.

Quotes

• My mum will tell stories of me hiding behind her skirt when we went up the road to visit her closest friend, whose daughter was my best friend.
  • [1]
• And I wouldn’t go into the convenience store. Mum would pull up outside and ask if I would run in and get a loaf of bread. I would say: ‘Oh no, I won’t go in.’ I was way too shy.”
  • [2]
• It’s having that full control over our destiny, our focus and not having to compete for capital. That allows us to prioritise what we think is important for our business in terms of capital, all our resources, operational expenditure, everything.”
  • [3]
• There have been licences come up overseas, where they’ve been short term and the government wanted to retain control over lots of important elements, around what products you can have, whether you can change them and the retail network.
  • [4]
• Not doing your best and putting the utmost into it was not acceptable,
  • [5]
• I’ve loved this industry for so long and am so passionate about it. People talk about lotteries as something that provides a lift in their day. [The lottery] gives people something to hope for and to look forward to.
  • [6]