Sheila Camerer

Sheila Margaret Camerer
South Africa Ambassador to Bulgaria
In office 2009 - 2013
Member of Parliament
In office 2004–2009
Member of Parliament
In office 1994–2003
Member of Parliament
In office 1987–1994
Constituency	Rosettenville
Personal details
Born	(1941-12-15) 15 December 1941 Cape Town, South Africa
Political party	2003-present Democratic Alliance 1997-2003 New National Party 1982-1997 National Party
Spouse(s)	Alexander Camerer
Children	1 son, 2 daughters
Residence	Cape Town, South Africa

Sheila Margaret Camerer is a South African politician and senior Member of Parliament of the main opposition Democratic Alliance(DA).

Although Camerer's father, Robert Badenhorst-Durandt had been a Member of Parliament for the ruling National Party (NP), as a young lawyer in the mid-1970s she worked on the legal defence strategies of anti-apartheid activists, including that of the Soweto Committee of Ten. The latter included Winnie Madikizela-Mandela.

She joined the NP herself and in 1982 was elected NP member of the Johannesburg City Council. In 1987 she was elected Member of Parliament for the Johannesburg constituency of Rosettenville and two years later appointed deputy justice minister in the government of reformist NP leader and South African president FW de Klerk.

During the constitutional negotiations on a democratic South Africa, Camerer was employed to lead the NP in drafting a Bill of Rights. Later she became a prominent spokesperson for the party in parliament, and served shortly as deputy justice minister after 1994 until De Klerk decided to suspend the party's participation in the Government of National Unity (GNU). In 1997, she became leader of the NP in the National Assembly, the first-ever woman and English-speaker in the party's history to hold the post.

Camerer was seen as opposing the withdrawal of the now renamed New National Party (NNP) from the Democratic Alliance (DA) in 2001, but remained an NNP member until 2003 when newly promulgated legislation allowed her to defect to the DA without losing her parliamentary seat.

In November 2006 Camerer voted in favour of legislation permitting homosexual civil unions.

After the South African general election, 2009 Camerer was appointed as Ambassador to Bulgaria.

In March 2013 Camerer completed her term as ambassador and is currently retired.

External links

• Camerer's Blog
• Who's who- Sheila Camerer