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Q 1. Tell us about your background – your story of self-discovery and your amazing achievements
I am the youngest child in my family. My mother was one of the first female graduate professionals and government appointees to public service during the time of Genl. Jan Smuts, who opposed the Nationalist government under JG Strydom, regarding the District 6 debacle. She had to end her political career and became a farmer. She inspired me, and I became very conscious about the political situation and life in South Africa. This carried into my young adult years, when my convictions of non-racialism and equality made me stand up as an activist against injustice, segregation and the lack of freedom within the apartheid system.
My first husband was Leon Steenkamp, the “father” of black empowerment in South Africa and founder of the South African Black Taxi Association (SABTA), FABCOS and later Future Bank. We worked together on several matters prior to and whilst we were married. Leon, my stepson and several friends met untimely ends during the final apartheid years… Having been married to Leon, as economic activist and black-business front man, there were several attempts made on our lives between the years of 1985 to 1994. Because of our activism, I had been abducted by the Apartheid Government during July 1987, when my eldest daughter was a mere 5 months old.
I met my second husband during the time when I was a traumatized woman who had lost her first husband. Initially he offered love and peace in place of the turmoil I knew so well. We lived as partners for several years, but after our official marriage, his behavior started to turn toxic – he became my worst nightmare, lied to me, and exposed us to financial exploitation in our businesses and the abuse of the assets of our joint estate. His behavior began to slowly undermine me, leaving me mentally and emotionally exhausted. This led to my physical collapse in 2007, soon after the birth of my fourth child.
Steel Magnolia