Black Sash stalwart Sheena Duncan has died, the organisation said on Tuesday.
“Sheena died peacefully in her sleep at her home in Johannesburg in the early hours of this morning,” it said in a statement.
“She was 78 and had been battling illness for some time.”
Duncan’s mother June Sinclair had been a founding member of the Sash, and Duncan herself had joined the organisation in 1963. She served two terms as national president before becoming the founding chairperson of the Black Sash Trust and later the organisation’s first patron.
She was a leading member of the SA Council of Churches, becoming its honorary life president, and chairperson and patron of Gun-Free South Africa.
In 2006, she was made grand counsellor of the Order of the Baobab for what the citation called “her excellent contribution to the struggle for a non-sexist, just and democratic South Africa”.
Sash national director Marcella Naidoo said Duncan had been the leading expert in understanding the effect of the apartheid-era pass laws and exposing their absurdity.
“Equally important was her commitment to finding peaceful ways of opposing oppression and injustice,” she said.
“Indeed, this will be her legacy: an enduring commitment to work for justice, an unshaken faith in peaceful ways of doing so, a warm and courageous heart for supporting those who suffer.”
Duncan left two daughters and two grandchildren, the Sash said. – Sapa