Sheena Duncan

Sheena Duncan (7 December 1932 – 4 May 2010) was a South African anti-Apartheid activist and counselor. Duncan was the daughter of Jean Sinclair, one of the co-founders of the Black Sash, a group of white, middle-class South African women who offered support to black South Africans and advocated the non-violent abolishment of the Apartheid system. Duncan served two terms as the leader of Black Sash.

Background Sheena was born in Johannesburg, South Africa in 1932 of parents Robert and Jean Sinclair. Her father an accountant, was born in Scotland and came to South Africa after the First World War and was influenced by his views of the oppression of land clearance in Highlands of Scotland. Her mother Jean was involved in local politics in the United Party, Progressive Party and as city councilor. During her youth she spent some time in Southern Rhodesia before leaving for Scotland where she was educated at the Edinburgh College of Domestic Science, qualifying in 1953. On the retirement of her mother in 1975, Duncan became president of the Black Sash from 1975 until 1978 then serving as vice president before being elected again in 1982 until 1986.

In addition to her Black Sash work, her work as a Human Rights campaigner include her as a member of the National Coordinating Committee for the Return of Exiles, the Independent Board of Inquiry into Informal Repression, a Patron of the Society for the Abolition of the Death Penalty and worked with the End Conscription Campaign. She was also awarded the Order of Simon of Cyrene, by the Anglican Church of Southern Africa and made Grand Counsellor of the Order of the Baobab (in Silver). She received honorary doctorates from the University of Cape Town (1991), the University of the Witwatersrand (1990) and the University of KwaZulu-Natal. The Order of Simon of Cyrene

Death Duncan died at her home in Johannesburg, South Africa, of cancer on 4 May 2010, at the age of 77. She had two daughters, Lindsay McTeague and Carey Haouach.