Jennifer Ferguson is a South African singer-songwriter and political activist, and former member of Parliament for the

African National Congress The African National Congress (ANC) is a political party in South Africa. It originated as a liberation movement known for its opposition to apartheid and has governed the country since 1994, when the 1994 South African general election, fir ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

. She recorded her first two albums of music through

Shifty Records Shifty Records was a South African anti-apartheid record label founded by Lloyd Ross and Ivan Kadey in 1982/1983, which existed for around ten years. History Lloyd Ross and Ivan Kadey founded Shifty records in 1983.) but Kontaktnätet a Swed ...

and was part of a burgeoning political music, theatre and cabaret scene in Johannesburg during the late 1980s. A 2007 book described her songs as being "about the insanity of racism and war and the importance of humanity, peace and harmony". Under

Apartheid Apartheid ( , especially South African English: , ; , ) was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. It was characterised by an ...

, Ferguson was known for her blatant support for the then-banned ANC from the stage, which saw her targeted by security police. In one instance government agents, using tickets bought with state funds, disrupted one of her concerts by releasing

tear gas Tear gas, also known as a lachrymatory agent or lachrymator (), sometimes colloquially known as "mace" after the Mace (spray), early commercial self-defense spray, is a chemical weapon that stimulates the nerves of the lacrimal gland in the ey ...

in a theatre. In 1997 Ferguson resigned from Parliament and started to split her time between South Africa and

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

. Shortly before, she had abstained on a vote about abortion, despite party orders to vote in favour of it or stay away on the day of the sitting. In October 2017 Ferguson accused football administrator and politician Danny Jordaan of raping her 24 years before. She said the #

MeToo #MeToo is a social movement and awareness campaign against sexual abuse, sexual harassment and rape culture, in which women publicize their experiences of sexual abuse or sexual harassment. The phrase "Me Too" was initially used in this con ...

campaign had inspired her to speak out. Jordaan denied the allegation. In March 2018 Ferguson laid a charge of rape against Jordaan and said she expected more women to come forward about assault by Jordaan. Jordaan claimed that the criminal charges had been catalysed by his professional rival Irvin Khoza, and said Khoza had paid for Ferguson's flight to South Africa to lay the complaint. Khoza denied this, Ferguson produced documents to the contrary, and leaked evidence of Khoza's purported involvement was reported to have had "worrying discrepancies".

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ferguson, Jennifer Date of birth missing (living people) Living people 20th-century South African women singers South African politicians Members of the African National Congress Place of birth missing (living people) Year of birth missing (living people) Members of the National Assembly of South Africa 1994–1999 20th-century South African women politicians