Suzman was inundated with requests for assistance from individuals harmed by the apartheid laws and bureaucracy. She regarded herself as the "honorary ombudsman of the dispossessed" and sought tirelessly to make representations on their behalf to the relevant authorities. Nadine Gordimer commented: "over the years I have observed – that when people are in trouble, she has been the one they have appealed to. She is the one everyone trusted…Suzman never refused anyone her help, that I knew of. No matter how unpleasant or hostile the individual's attitude to her and her political convictions had been."