Ellen Kuzwayo activism included serving as the president of the Black Consumer Union of South Africa and the Maggie Magaba Trust. On the 1985 publication of her autobiography, "Call Me Woman", in which she described being beaten by her husband, Kuzwayo became the first black writer to win South Africa's leading literary prize, the CNA Award. After Nelson Mandela was inaugurated as South African president in 1994, Kuzwayo became a member of the country's first multiracial Parliament, aged 79, and served for five years until June 1999, when she was South Africa's longest-serving parliamentarian. With director Betty Wolpert, Kuzwayo was involved in
Brazil–South Africa relations strong relationship with the apartheid-era government, and instead developed ties with the allies of such anti-apartheid organizations such as ANC and SWAPO. After South Africa held its first multiracial elections in 1994, president Fernando Henrique Cardoso became the first Brazilian head of state to visit South Africa in 1996. Relations developed quickly between the two countries, especially after the election of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva as president in 2002. Lula's government has developed strong ties with Thabo Mbeki's government in South Africa, particular in the areas of AIDS/HIV, fair trade, reform in the United Nations Security Council, land reform,