Madeleine Hicklin

Madeleine Hicklin (born 3 September 1957) is a South African politician who has served as a Member of the Gauteng Provincial Legislature since June 2024. Previously, she served as a ward councillor in the City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality from August 2016 to May 2019 and as a Member of the National Assembly of South Africa from May 2019 until May 2024. Hicklin is a member of the Democratic Alliance. Quotes I couldn’t subscribe to fanaticism on any level. I had to be on very strong middle ground. For me, it was more about the human side of life,” she says. She therefore found her political home in the Progressive Party, but she would still pay a price. She once had to escape a building that was set alight, and a special branch car was a regular feature outside her family’s home – an ever present threat of deportation for her mother. I was seven when Denis was arrested. My mother had come to South Arica from Vilnius, and on the very day of his arrest, they revoked her permanent residency. My cousins and aunt came to live with us before going into exile. I would hear my aunt Esme crying every night, People ask me how I can have a Muslim councillor as a friend. I respond, ‘how can I not?’ I am a staunch Jewess, and used to be in shul every Shabbat and every chag. Politics doesn’t allow me to do that, but it does allow me to live my Jewish values. We need to fight for each other in this country. A lot of South African Jews don’t see the battle for equality as their fight. But someone fought for my mother to get out of Europe. If we don’t fight for others, who will be left to fight for us? We need to work for a better South Africa – both for my son and my domestic worker’s son.” External links Category:Living people