Melanie Verwoerd was born into an Afrikaner family and grew up during the height of Apartheid in South Africa.
She attended Stellenbosh University where she studied theology- the only woman in a class of fifty. She went on to get her Master’s degree in Philosophy, focusing on feminist theology.
She married Wilhelm Verwoerd, the grandson of the former Apartheid Prime Minister HF Verwoerd, generally regarded as the architect of Apartheid. In 1990, after a brief spell at Oxford and following the unbanning of the ANC, she and her then- husband returned to South Africa.
Shortly after their return Melanie met with Nelson Mandela, who encouraged her to “use her surname and voice for the bigger good”. She stunned many by joining the ANC. Her political involvement led to her being ostracised from her community and numerous death threats from far-right Afrikaner movements.
During the first democratic elections in 1994, Melanie was elected as a Member of Parliament for the ANC under President Nelson Mandela. At the age of 27 she was the youngest female MP in the history of the South African parliament. During her time in Parliament she worked closely with Nelson Mandela and participated in the writing of South Africa’s constitution. She was re-elected in 1999, and in 2001 was appointed as South African Ambassador to Ireland.
After her term of office ended in 2005, Melanie became the Executive Director of UNICEF Ireland, a position she held until 2011.
Between 2005 and 2007 Melanie presented Spectrum, a weekly radio show on Rté (the national broadcaster in Ireland), and wrote regular columns on current affairs for the Daily Mail Ireland.
Since her return to South Africa in 2013, she advises companies both domestically and internationally on political developments in South Africa and Africa. She does regular roadshows to asset management companies and other financial institutions and, for 8 years, wrote a weekly column for News24.
In 2007 Melanie received the International Woman of the Year Award in Ireland. In 2018 she was ranked one of the top two political analysts in South Africa in the Financial Mail analysts’ ratings.
In recent years, Melanie has been consulting for organisations including World Animal Protection (WAP), the Wilderness Foundation, and the International Conservation Caucus Foundation group (ICCF), holding Parliamentary briefings on animal conservation, advocacy, and banning the trade of wildlife. She has most recently released a book and podcast based on her radical hysterectomy experience entitled Never Waste a Good Hysterectomy.