- Frederik van Zyl Slabbert
Frederik van Zyl Slabbert (born
March 2 ,1940 ) was aSouth Africa n politician and is currently a political analyst and businessman. He is best known for being the leader of theofficial opposition — theProgressive Federal Party (PFP) — in the South Africanparliament from1979 to1986 .Born in
Pretoria to anAfrikaner family, Slabbert grew up in what is now theLimpopo Province of South Africa. He matriculated from thePietersburg Afrikaans High School in1958 .The following year,
1959 , Slabbert started his tertiary studies at theUniversity of the Witwatersrand , but moved toStellenbosch University after completing his first year, primarily to playrugby union . He went on to receive a Bachelor of Arts Degree in1961 , a Bachelor of Arts Honours Degree (Cum Laude ) in1962 , a Master of Arts Degree (Cum Laude) in1964 and a Doctorate in Philosophy in1967 .After completing his studies he was a
sociology lecturer at the universities of Stellenbosch, Rhodes, Cape Town and the Witwatersrand before being appointed asprofessor in1973 .He entered full-time politics the following year, eventually retiring as leader of the official opposition twelve years later.
Slabbert is married to Jane and has two children from his first marriage.
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 South African general elections of
1974 Slabbert stood as parliamentary candidate for the constituency ofRondebosch on behalf of the Progressive Party (PP). Although he was not expected to win the seat he beat the United Party (UP) candidate by 1,600 votes. He retained the seat for the PFP (the successor party to the PP after two mergers with defectors from the "left-wing" of more right-wing parties) in the general elections of1977 and1981 .Slabbert rose in the ranks of the PP/PRP/PFP and came to play an important role in the development of the party's ideology, particularly as the chairman of its Constitutional Committee. In
1979 he was elected as leader of the PFP and thus became the leader of the parliamentary official opposition. Slabbert retired as leader of the PFP and quit active politics in1986 ; this decision was mainly due to his feeling that Parliament had become an irrelevant institution in the context of South Africa's political problems of that time. He published a book at this time entitled "The Last White Parliament".However, Slabbert re-entered politics in
1987 in order to further negotiations between white South Africans and theAfrican National Congress (ANC). This led to theDakar conference , which took place between the anti-apartheid movement and leading (mainly Afrikaner) politicians, academics and businessmen inSenegal during the same year. The conference was organised by theInstitute for a Democratic South Africa (IDASA), of which he later became the director of policy and planning.Slabbert also works as regional facilitator for the
George Soros -backed funding organisation, theOpen Society Foundation of Southern Africa , which identifies and invests in worthy projects in nineAfrica n 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 in1998 and also sits on the boards of several other JSE-listed companies such as Wooltru, Investec and Radiospoor.Slabbert was voted 82nd in the Top 100 Great South Africans in
2004 .Works
* "South Africa's Options: Strategies for Sharing" with David Welsh. London: Rex Collings (1979). ISBN 0-86036-116-0
* "The Last White Parliament: The Struggle for South Africa, by the Leader of the White Opposition". Sidgwick & Jackson (1986). ISBN 0-283-99349-9
* "Comrades in Business: Post-Liberation Politics in South Africa" with Heribert Adam and Kogila Moodley. Cape Town: Tafelberg Publishers (1998). ISBN 0-624-03601-4
* "Tough Choices: Reflections of an Afrikaner African". Cape Town: Tafelberg Publishers (2000). ISBN 0-624-03880-7
* "The Other Side of History: An Anecdotal Reflection on Political Transition in South Africa". Johannesburg & Cape Town: Jonathan Ball Publishers (2006). ISBN 1-86842-250-X (Also in Afrikaans as "Duskant die geskiedenis", ISBN 0-624-04357-6.)As editor
*"Youth in the New South Africa: Towards Policy Formulation - Main Report of the Co-Operative Research Programme: South African Youth" with Charles Malan, Hendrik Marais, Johan Olivier and Rory Riordan (Eds.). Cape Town: Human Sciences Research Council Press (1994). ISBN 0-7969-1646-2
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