Positions last held in government
Ms Susan van der Merwe served as a Deputy Minister of International Relations and Cooperation of the Republic of South Africa from 11 May 2009 until 2010. Prior to her appointment as minister of International Relations, she served as a Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs from 29 April 2004 - 10 May 2009. She was a Member of Parliament for the African National Congress (ANC) from 1996.
Academic Qualifications
Ms van der Merwe completed Matric at Collegiate High School in Port Elizabeth in 1971 and thereafter obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree from University of Cape Town in 1976.
Career/Positions/Memberships/Other Activities
Ms van der Merwe was a Coordinator for the Black Sash Advice Office in Cape Town from 1988 to 1991 and a participant in Mont Fleur Scenario Planning Exercise from 1991 to 1993. She was an Executive Assistant for the Open Society Foundation for South Africa from 1993 to 1995 and a Member of the Board of Directors of UMAC, a Non-Governmental Organisation working in Western and Eastern Cape from 1992 to 2002.
She was a Trustee of South African Wine Industries Trust from 1999 to 2001; a Parliamentary Counsellor to the President from 2001 to 2004; and she served as member of the following committees, Portfolio Committee on Finance, Communication and Environment and Tourism; and Joint Standing Committee on Intelligence.
Source: Deputy Ministry of Foreign Affairs
