Sybil Anne Seaton (born 14 August 1948) is a retired South African politician who represented the
Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) in the
National Assembly from 1994 to 2009, serving the
KwaZulu-Natal constituency.
Legislative career
Seaton was born on 14 August 1948.[1] She was elected to represent the IFP in the National Assembly in the
1994 general elections[2] and served three terms, gaining re-election in
1999[1] and
2004;[3] she represented the KwaZulu-Natal constituency. During her second term, she was the deputy chief whip of the IFP caucus;[4] she continued in that position in her third term[5] and later became the party's spokesman on
correctional services.[6] In that capacity she argued that Parliament should "reconsider" the abolition of
capital punishment.[7]
During her time in Parliament, Seaton spearheaded a campaign to improve MPs' remuneration packages. She raised the inadequacy of the prevailing package as early as 2003.[8][9] In 2008, she drafted a
private member's bill to increase MPs' pension,[10] which received cross-partisan support and led to the formation of a multi-party task team that met with President
Thabo Mbeki over pension packages.[11] She retired ahead of the
2009 general election.[12]