Ruth Rabinowitz
Ruth Rabinowitz (née Zilibowitz; born 9 October 1943) is a South African politician and medical doctor who represented the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) in Parliament from 1994 to 2009. She served in the Senate from 1994 to 1997 as a delegate from KwaZulu-Natal, and thereafter she was a member of the National Assembly.
Ruth Rabinowitz | |
|---|---|
| Member of the National Assembly | |
| In office 1997 – May 2009 | |
| Member of the Senate | |
| Assembly Member for KwaZulu-Natal | |
| In office May 1994 – 1997 | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 9 October 1943 Springs, Transvaal Union of South Africa |
| Political party | Inkatha Freedom Party |
| Alma mater | University of the Witwatersrand (MBBCh) |
A doctor by profession, Rabinowitz became involved in political activism during the democratic transition as a supporter of federal proposals for post-apartheid South Africa. Through her activism, she encountered Mangosuthu Buthelezi and his party, the IFP, which nominated her as a candidate in the 1994 general election, South Africa's first under universal suffrage. Throughout her three terms in Parliament, Rabinowitz served as the IFP's spokesperson on health and was a consistent critic of President Thabo Mbeki's HIV/AIDS policies. During her third term, she established a non-partisan grouping of MPs to lobby for improved policymaking on renewable energy. She failed to gain re-election in the 2009 general election.