Melanie Verwoerd

Melanie Verwoerd pictured with her partner Gerry Ryan at the opening of the Grand Canal Theatre in March 2010

Melanie Verwoerd (pronounced [fɛrʋurt]; née Fourie; born 18 April 1967) is a South Africa-born politician, ambassador and former director of UNICEF Ireland.

Verwoerd was elected as a Member of Parliament for the African National Congress (ANC) during the first democratic elections in South Africa in 1994. She was the youngest woman ever to be elected. She was re-elected in 1999. In 2001 she was appointed as South African Ambassador to Ireland a position she held until 2005. Between 2007 and 2011 she was the Executive Director of UNICEF Ireland.^[1][2] In 2007 Melanie was awarded with the Irish Tatler, International Woman of the Year award. ^[3]

Early life

Melanie Verwoerd was born Melanie van NIekerk in Pretoria, South Africa on 18 April 1967 into an Afrikaner family. After the family’s move to Stellenbosch in the Western Cape she attended Bloemhof Girls High School. After school she considered a career as a dancer, but eventually enrolled in a degree in theology, philosophy and psychology at the University of Stellenbosch. She was the only woman in her class. Thereafter she received a Honours degree in philosophy and a Masters degree on the topic of feminist theology.

During this time she met her future husband Wilhelm Verwoerd, grandson of Dr. Hendrik Verwoerd, Prime Minister of South Africa between 1958 and 1966. Hendrik Verwoerd is generally regarded as the architect of apartheid. After their marriage Wilhelm and Melanie moved to Oxford, England in 1989 where Wilhelm was studying on a Rhodes scholarship. During this time, she met and interacted with South Africans in exile, in particular ANC members who were promoting the struggle from abroad.

Following the unbanning of the African National Congress in 1990, she returned to South Africa, where she met with the newly released Nelson Mandela. Shortly after she joined ANC and spoke publicly about the brutality of apartheid and the suffering of black people under this regime. Being married to the grandson of the former Apartheid Prime Minister, Hendrik Verwoerd, (who was assassinated in 1966) it not only became of enormous public interest, but also caused various security threats to her and her husband. Amongst others they were on the death list of the far right, conservative, white organisations.

Political and diplomatic career

During the first democratic election in South Africa in 1994 Melanie was elected as a member of the National Assembly of South Africa for the ANC. At 27 she was the youngest woman ever to be elected. She was re-elected in 1999. During her time in parliament she was part of the writing of the new constitution and served on various committees, such as the Local Government and Constitutional Affairs, Youth Committee, Broadcasting and Communication and the Tourism and Environmental Affairs Portfolio Committees. She also traveled extensively on fact-finding mission, amongst others to Holland, UK, Sweden, Cuba, Chile, Australia, Brazil, Argentina and the US. She was very involved in the Women’s Caucus, served as a resource person on the Women’s Budget and was a member of the Standing Committee investigating Surrogacy.^[4] In 2001 she was appointed as South African Ambassador to Ireland. During her period as ambassador she focused successfully on increasing tourism from Ireland to South Africa. Whilst she was ambassador trade with and investment into South Africa increased greatly. She also spoke widely on the challenges facing South Africa and the developing world in particular the challenge of HIV/Aids.^[5]

Time in Ireland

RTÉ

In 2005, she completed her term as Ambassador and decided to remain in Ireland. She presented a weekly radio programme, Spectrum, on RTÉ Radio 1 on the theme of multiculturalism, which addressed the challenges facing the New Ireland and examined the issues that arise in a multicultural society.^[6] She also represented the Mandela/Rhodes Foundation in Ireland and did consultancy work on development and multi-culturalism. In 2007 Melanie was awarded the Irish Tatler International Woman of the Year award.

UNICEF

In April 2007, Verwoerd was appointed as Executive Director of UNICEF Ireland. She presided over an increase in income from €4,7 million in 2005 to €8,4 million in 2010 despite a crippling recession in Ireland from 2008 onwards.^[7][8] During her term as Executive Director Melanie travelled extensively to UNICEF field offices, amongst others, Mozambique, Rwanda, Kenya, Swaziland, and Zimbabwe. She was involved in lobbying the Irish government to introduce new legislation to protect women from FGM (Female Genital Mutilation) and was instrumental in introducing a child friendly asylum process.

Personal life

Melanie married Wilhelm Verwoerd in 1987. They have two children, Wilmé (born 1990) and Wian (born 1992). Both are studying at Trinity College, Dublin. The couple divorced in 2005.

In 2008, Melanie became the partner of Gerry Ryan, a well-known radio and TV personality in Ireland. Gerry died suddenly on 30 April 2010 and Melanie found his body.^[9] In July 2011, the Board of UNICEF Ireland fired Melanie citing the media attention following the death of her partner Gerry Ryan as the reason. This resulted in a huge public outcry. She logged unfair dismissal proceedings.^[10][11][12] UNICEF settled the case out of court in April 2013 and issued a statement stating that "her departure was in no way a reflection of her performance, which was always of the highest standards."^[13]

Current work

She currently resides in Cape Town, South Africa where she is doing consulting work for various NGOs. Her memoir When We Dance was published by Liberties Press in October 2012. It was quickly removed from sale pending a court action regarding alleged defamation. ^[14] The action was set aside and the book returned to the shelves with a clarification being inserted into each printed copy./ref> The first edition of the book sold out in the first week. It entered the Irish non-fiction best seller chart at number 2 and became the number 1 best seller the second week. According to the Nielsen BookScan figures it was in the top 10 best sellers list for 6 weeks.^[15]

References