Obituary: Ellen Kuzwayo

South African author, women's rights and anti-apartheid champion Ellen Kuzwayo has died after a long illness. She was 91.


Kuzwayo was the first black writer to win South Africa's premier CNA Literary Prize for her 1985 autobiography Call Me Woman, a book that made her a spokeswoman for the suffering and triumphs of black women under apartheid.


In 1996, she published a collection of short stories, Sit Down and Listen: Stories from South Africa. She also collaborated on films. Born in rural Free State, Kuzwayo inherited the family farm, only to lose it soon after when the area was declared for whites only.


Trained as a teacher and social worker, she was arrested for her political activities and spent five months in detention in 1977.


Kuzwayo was elected to Parliament in South Africa's first all-race elections in 1994, serving five years. She was also active in projects to educate women and improve living conditions in Soweto.