Margaret Ballinger

Margaret Ballinger (née Hodgson; 1894–1980) was the first President of the Liberal Party of South Africa and a South African Member of Parliament. In 1944, Ballinger was referred to as the "Queen of the Blacks" by Time magazine.

She represented the people of the Eastern Cape from 1937 In 1943 she was proposing new laws and in 1947 her plans included new training and municipal representation for "blacks" and improved consultation with the NRC.

When the Liberal Party of South Africa was formed in 1953 she was its first President. The party was founded around Alan Paton, who was one of the vice Presidents. She was one of the few people to speak against the apartheid views of Hendrik Frensch Verwoerd.

She left the party before it was wound up by its own membership in 1968. At that time it became illegal for a political party to have members from more than one race. The party preferred to die rather than choose.

Works From Union to Apartheid - A Trek to Isolation, 1969

Legacy The home for sick children which she had established was closed down during the apartheid era, but it has taken new shapes. Ballinger had started three schools in Soweto without official permission, the first is named in her honour.