Frederik van Zyl Slabbert

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Frederik van Zyl Slabbert
Leader of the Progressive Federal Party
In office
1979–1986
Preceded byColin Eglin
Succeeded byColin Eglin
Personal details
Born(1940-03-02)2 March 1940
University of Stellenbosch
OccupationAnalyst, businessman, politician

Frederik van Zyl Slabbert

House of Assembly from 1979 to 1986.[1]

Early life, education and academic career

Born in

Limpopo Province of South Africa).[1]
He matriculated from Pietersburg's Afrikaans High School in 1958. After graduating, he studied theology at the
University of Stellenbosch for 18 months before deciding that sociology was his calling. He completed a BA Honours at the university, and a doctorate in 1967.[1]

After completing his studies he worked as a sociology lecturer at Stellenbosch University, Rhodes University and the University of Cape Town. In 1973, he was appointed head of the sociology department of the University of the Witwatersrand.[1]

Political career

During his academic studies, Slabbert developed an active interest in politics, which led him to reject apartheid and to stand for a seat on Stellenbosch University's Students' Representative Council. He lost the election as he was considered to be too liberal.

In the 1974 general election, Slabbert stood for election as a Progressive Party (PP) candidate for the constituency of Rondebosch.

Although he was not expected to win the seat, he beat the United Party (UP) candidate by 1,600 votes. Slabbert defended and retained this seat in the parliamentary elections of 1977 and 1981.[1]

Slabbert rose through the ranks of the PP and came to play an important role in the development of the party's ideology, particularly as the chairman of its Constitutional Committee. Using his influence, he helped to position the PP and its later incarnations as a liberal movement which advocated the creation of a non-racial democracy in South Africa. A respect for individual liberty became a cornerstone of the PP because of the work of Slabbert and others.

In 1979, he became leader of the

House of Assembly from 17 to 26 seats.[2]

In 1986, Slabbert resigned from his position as leader of the opposition because he felt that Parliament was becoming an irrelevant institution in the context of South Africa's political problems. Prior to his resignation, he published a book entitled The Last White Parliament in which he explained his actions, and his predictions for the future of South Africa.[3]

Following his resignation, Slabbert and

IDASA (Institute for Democracy in Africa)[1][4] with funding from, among others, the Ford Foundation, the United States Agency for International Development and the National Endowment for Democracy.[5][6] Critics from the left charged that it "pushed an essentially neoliberal agenda" focussing on limited forms of representative democracy in which economic questions were not subject to democratic control.[7]

As head of IDASA, Slabbert played a leading role in initiating dialogue between white South Africans and the

CODESA
) which changed the course of South Africa's history.

In 2002, Slabbert was appointed by the then Minister of Home Affairs, with the approval of Cabinet, as the chair of the Electoral Task Team. The team had the responsibility of coming up with a new Electoral Act for South Africa. The task team completed its work by early 2003, and presented a report to Cabinet, including draft legislation, recommending a closed-list, mixed member proportional electoral system. However, the team's recommendations were never implemented.

Business career

From the 1990s until his death, Slabbert was a successful entrepreneur and businessperson. Slabbert also worked as regional facilitator for the

Open Society Initiative of Southern Africa, which identifies and invests in worthy projects in nine African
countries.

In addition, he co-founded Khula — a black investment trust — in 1990. Slabbert was appointed as chairman of the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) listed Adcorp Holdings in 1998 and also sat on the boards of several other JSE-listed companies such as Wooltru, Investec, Caxton and Radiospoor.

Final years

Slabbert was appointed as the 13th chancellor of

pacemaker inserted.[1] He resigned from the post for health reasons in September 2009.[9]

In early May 2010, Slabbert was discharged from hospital after receiving treatment for a liver related illness. He died at home on 14 May 2010. Slabbert was survived by his wife Jane and two children from his first marriage—Tania and Riko. He reportedly was bitter because he gave his whole life to the struggle of the ANC and felt betrayed when Thabo Mbeki didn't appoint him as a Minister. [1]

Legacy

Many public figures in South Africa paid tribute to Slabbert for the role he played in ending apartheid.[4][10][11]

In 2004, Slabbert was voted 82nd in the

Top 100 Great South Africans
.

Works

As editor


References

  1. ^
    The Citizen
    , Johannesburg, 15 May 2010
  2. International Parliamentary Union
    . Accessed 31 July 2023.
  3. ^ The Last White Parliament, Frederik van Zyl Slabbert, J. Ball Publishers, 1985.
  4. ^ a b "Frederik van Zyl Slabbert, white anti-apartheid leader, dies at 70", The Washington Post, Washington, 15 May 2010
  5. ^ Neo-liberalism and Democracy: The Role of Intellectuals in South Africa’s “Democratic Transition”, Ian Taylor, Political Cultures in Democratic South Africa, Edited by Henning Melber, Nordiska Afrikainstitutet, Uppsala, 2002
  6. ^ Robinson, William I. (1996). Promoting Polyarchy: Globalization, US Intervention, and Hegemony. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
  7. ^ Neo-liberalism and Democracy: The Role of Intellectuals in South Africa’s “Democratic Transition”, Ian Taylor, Political Cultures in Democratic South Africa, Edited by Henning Melber, Nordiska Afrikainstitutet, Uppsala, 2002
  8. The Citizen
    , Johannesburg, 16 May 2010
  9. ^ SU loses a leader of stature, Stellenbosch, 14 May 2010, archived from the original on 22 July 2011{{citation}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  10. The Citizen
    , Johannesburg, 31 May 2010
  11. ^ Van Zyl Slabbert - Podcasts of Memorial Service in Cape Town, Cape Town, 28 May 2010, archived from the original on 3 September 2010{{citation}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  12. ISBN 0-7969-1646-2, archived from the original
    on 28 December 2010
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