{{Short description|South African politician}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2023}} {{Infobox officeholder | party = African National Congress | office1 = Member of the National Assembly | term_start1 = May 1994 | term_end1 = May 2009 | citizenship = South Africa | relations = {{plainlist| *Molly Blackburn (sister) *Edgar Bellhouse (father)}} | other_party = Black Sash | birth_place = Port Elizabeth, Cape Province<br />Union of South Africa | birth_date = {{birth date and age|1932|11|16|df=yes}} }}
'''Judy Chalmers''' ({{Nee|Bellhouse}}; born 16 November 1932) is a South African retired politician and activist who represented the African National Congress (ANC) in the National Assembly from 1994 to 2009. During apartheid, she was the chairperson of the Black Sash in the Eastern Cape.
== Early life and activism == Chalmers was born on 16 November 1932<ref name=":02" /> in Port Elizabeth in the former Cape Province.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |last=O'Malley |first=Padraig |title=Chalmers, Judy |url=https://omalley.nelsonmandela.org/index.php/site/q/03lv02424/04lv02426/05lv02456.htm |access-date=2023-04-10 |website=The O'Malley Archives}}</ref> Her father was Edgar Bellhouse, a founding member and former chair of the liberal (white) Progressive Party, and her elder sister was renowned activist Molly Blackburn.<ref name=":1">{{Cite news |date=11 May 2016 |title=Fearless Blackburn made real difference |work=IOL |url=https://www.iol.co.za/capetimes/news/fearless-blackburn-made-real-difference-2020083 |access-date=11 April 2023}}</ref> She was educated in Port Elizabeth and briefly attended college in England.<ref name=":0" /> As apartheid intensified, Chalmers and Blackburn grew disenchanted with traditional white politics, particularly after they attended the funeral of Robert Sobukwe in Graaff-Reinet in 1978.<ref name=":1" />
By the early 1980s, Chalmers had joined the Black Sash; she became its chairperson in the Eastern Cape. During this period, with Blackburn and others, she reopened the Black Sash's Port Elizabeth Advice Office, through which she conducted outreach with black residents of the region and monitored human rights abuses by the apartheid government.<ref name=":1" /><ref>{{Cite news |date=1988-12-25 |title=White South African Women Step Off Their Pedestals to Fight Apartheid |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1988/12/25/world/white-south-african-women-step-off-their-pedestals-to-fight-apartheid.html |access-date=2023-04-11 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> The office was often subject to vandalism and was ultimately set alight.<ref name=":1" />
In late December 1985, Chalmers and Blackburn were in a car accident while driving back to Port Elizabeth from Oudtshoorn with fellow Black Sash activist Diana Bishop. Chalmers and Bishop were injured, but Blackburn and Bishop's husband, Brian, were killed.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Parks |first=Michael |date=1985-12-30 |title=2 Campaigners Against Apartheid Die in Head-on Car Crash in South Africa |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1985-12-30-mn-29854-story.html |access-date=2023-04-11 |website=Los Angeles Times |language=en-US}}</ref>
== Parliament: 1994–2009 == In South Africa's first post-apartheid elections in 1994, Chalmers was elected to represent the ANC in the National Assembly.<ref>{{Cite web |date=24 May 1994 |title=Minutes of proceedings of the Constitutional Assembly |url=https://www.justice.gov.za/legislation/constitution/history/MINUTES/CA24054.PDF |access-date=2 April 2023 |publisher=Department of Justice and Constitutional Development}}</ref> She served three terms, gaining re-election in 1999 and 2004, and she represented the Eastern Cape constituency.<ref name=":02">{{cite magazine |date=11 June 1999 |title=General Notice: Notice 1319 of 1999 – Electoral Commission: Representatives Elected to the Various Legislatures |url=https://gazettes.africa/archive/za/1999/za-government-gazette-dated-1999-06-11-no-20203.pdf |magazine=Government Gazette of South Africa |location=Pretoria, South Africa |publisher=Government of South Africa |volume=408 |issue=20203 |pages= |access-date=26 March 2021}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine |date=20 April 2004 |title=General Notice: Notice 717 of 2004 - Electoral Commission – List of Names of Representatives in the National Assembly and the Nine Provincial Legislatures in Respect of the Elections Held on 14 April 2004 |url=https://www.gov.za/sites/default/files/gcis_document/201409/262770.pdf |magazine=Government Gazette of South Africa |location=Pretoria, South Africa |publisher=Government of South Africa |volume=466 |issue=2677 |pages=4–95 |access-date=26 March 2021}}</ref>
== Personal life == Chalmers is married and has three daughters and several grandchildren.<ref name=":0" /> After leaving Parliament, she retired to Summerstrand in Port Elizabeth.<ref>{{Cite web |date=6 April 2020 |title=Former ANC MP Judy Chalmers doing well after Covid-19 diagnosis |url=https://www.dispatchlive.co.za/news/2020-04-06-former-anc-mp-judy-chalmers-doing-well-after-covid-19-diagnosis/ |access-date=2023-04-11 |website=Daily Dispatch |language=en-ZA}}</ref>
== References == {{Reflist}}
== External links ==
* [https://www.ancparliament.org.za/content/speech-judy-chalmers-occasion-nelson-mandelas-birthday Speech on the occasion of Nelson Mandela's birthday] (2008) * [https://search.alexanderstreet.com/preview/work/bibliographic_entity%7Cvideo_work%7C3401993 Interview by Diana Russell] (1987)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Chalmers, Judy}} Category:African National Congress politicians Category:Members of the National Assembly of South Africa 1994–1999 Category:Members of the National Assembly of South Africa 1999–2004 Category:21st-century South African women politicians Category:Living people Category:20th-century South African women politicians Category:1932 births Category:Politicians from Gqeberha Category:Black Sash Category:South African women civil rights activists